London Still Rocks!

On Saturday , the fifth of six Meetup days in a row, I was back at last with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a walk entitled Heavenly Heights of Hampstead . Had forgotten to pay him (as I always do in advance by bank transfer, it's handier), would you believe, I've had so much on! So it's as well he reminded me.. Tired after the night before, I really wasn't with the program that morning, as they say. It had to be Tube , but Northern Line instead of the Jubilee , which I more commonly get. Of course, force of habit made me enter via the Jubilee gates.. so I had a trek through the station to get to the Northern Line. And then I just took the first train to come - which didn't go to Hampstead! so I had to change. All the same, I arrived a wee bit early into brilliant sunshine, and spotted him across the road . Crossed, whereupon he explained we were actually starting where I'd just come from. So, back we went again. Ah, what a morning.. And I en...

This evening, fourth Meetup day of six, I was with The Hideout . It was supposed to be for Her Private Hell - a stylized, futuristic psychological thriller set in Tokyo , and starring Sophie Thatcher - but it seems there was, as so often, a distribution problem. So now, instead, we headed to Hope , a South Korean film (the most expensive ever made there, it seems) about a monster attack. Showing in Cineworld Leicester Square , and as usual, we were meeting in Victory House beforehand. I arrived slightly late - someone from the group, knowing my predilection for eating beforehand, asked, and I told him what time I was supposed to be there. I was there enough before him to get a starter - when he arrived, we ordered mains, and I did notice how much easier the rich tortellini go down with conversation! Pawel, the manager, was there this time.. and oh, how much quicker the service was.. as he said to me when I arrived and had been there a minute - "What's happening with the P...

T onight, third in a row of six days of Meetup and the last of three days of mythology, I was at Watkins Bookshop (yes, they have their own Meetup group) for the launch of a book called Pantheon, about the Roman Pantheon and the society that birthed it. Had to leave a bit early, as it was an early start - and thank goodness, as I'd absolutely run out of anything productive to do! but at least I could walk there from there.  Had forgotten where the stairs were, but found them eventually, and got a seat to the side: Hmm. From the beginning, as she spoke about "connecting" with these gods, it was apparent that she considers all gods, from time immemorial, as equally valid and in existence, just disregarded as the civilisations that worshipped them fell. She even described how, when she travels, she always takes the time to give her respects to the local gods where she arrives. She did make a couple of interesting points about, for example, how all the mother goddesses...

Last night  second in a row of six days of Meetups , and of three days of mythology - whee, I hosted storytelling with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) again! The Crick Crack Club  (CCC) - in the form of Lucy Lill - performed  Doom Scrolls - The Never-Ending Prophecies of the Sibyls in Folklore Hoxton . Female prophets, the theme - and I was still getting new sign-ups practically up to the end. It sold out at least two days beforehand, as they tend to do - two people cancelled after I said it. One person, mind, went on the CCC's waitlist and got a last-minute ticket! I booked to eat in the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand. Made it a bit early - the guy at the door recognised the name, and led me quickly to a booth - at that time, it was pretty empty anyway. Service, I have to say, was better than I've experienced here before in general - quite attentive. I had the roast chicken for the first time.. it came with a lovely, thick gravy, but on a bed of chickpeas, which I wo...