London Still Rocks!

Today, booked on another of  Barrie 's walks with the  45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners  - this time, it was  Mile End . But just yesterday, I saw   London Baroque Music Lovers   had scheduled a trip to see   Céphale et Procris , at   Grimeborn   at the   Arcola . So I booked that instead - it'd been too long since I'd seen them, and I hadn't actually paid for the walk anyway. Plus it was due to rain. In the event, it didn't rain till evening - but I had such interest from recruiters all day that I was very glad to be home to field calls! Then there was a palaver with my energy company from the last place, who seem to think themselves entitled to open an account for me in the new place, despite me telling them I don't need one ! I took it as far as I could - am I NEVER to get shot of that flat?! - but left it too late to eat. So I stuffed some chocolate in my bag, which I ate while waiting for the bus . The only rain I had was some drizzle...

Today, headed to  La Bamba  - a musical at the  Peacock . The matinee, since I had the choice - cheaper tickets that way. Just as well I checked though - I'd forgotten it was the matinee! Funnily enough, Mandy went yesterday evening . On the bus - which arrived promptly, and made good time - the driver was giving another driver a lift. And on one occasion when we were stuck in traffic, the guy who was getting the lift remarked how bad it was! Took him two hours yesterday, he said, to get from one end of the route to the other.. now, even with the rush hour, that's twice what it should take! So it's not just passengers who are inconvenienced by all these delays and detours.. I was in time to have a bite at Pret , across the road from the theatre, so I had brunch there, then moseyed across - with the crowds in the bars, and indeed the prices here, I took my seat straight away. Well, I say "straight away" - I had no idea where Row "ZB" was. Turns out, fi...

(As continued from earlier on Saturday ). So, when the time came, off we went to The Glenarma Tapes . Ah Kee-rist, what a waste of time. Complete rip-off of The Blair Witch Project - students and lecturers go missing in the woods (which have a bad reputation). In this case though, we get more exposition of what actually happened - not necessarily a good thing. Stars Emily Lamey , whom I know from Fair City . And so to Transmission - which I'm afraid was even worse. At least The Glenarma Tapes has a coherent plot - Transmission, on the other hand, is quite muddled. Oh, I get that it's about a dangerous transmission that seems to drive people mad - and that's all I really get out of this mess. What the people rating it on IMDB are thinking is beyond me. As someone in The Hideout said, the quality of Frighfest didn't seem great this year.. And so to bed - too late to blog, what with having to be up on Sunday , because I was meeting Ivan and James again, for our monthly...

On Saturday morning , I was back at last with  Laurence Summers  and the  45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners !  This walk was called  Filthy River .. and I'm now paying him by bank transfer, at his suggestion - much handier than having to find change all the time. Just arrived in time. It was a day that couldn't decide whether to be sunny, so I had fun all day deciding whether to have my sunglasses on or off, now that I have them. Also met someone else off to the Hideout social that evening, and had great fun regaling her with the story of Friday 's shenanigans.. Well, we started off looking at the buildings surrounding us, on the concourse in front of King's Cross . One is known as The Lighthouse : The station itself used to be the site of a smallpox hospital : And the Great Northern Hotel is curved, following the path of the Fleet - the very river we were concerned with! We followed the course through backstreets - and it is amazing how often I passed these place...

Today, I succumbed to the pressure, and joined  The Hideout: Horror SciFi Club London  for the  Frightfest  at  Cineworld Leicester Square , where we saw  It Lives Inside , an  Indian  possession horror . Yes, a morning film - ah well, they have a huge schedule to pack in. I groggily took a couple of buses - the second , unfortunately, I rode facing backwards, which I hate: so I was a bit worse for wear when I reached my destination. Where the cinema wasn't open yet - cue lots of people in black t-shirts, many with appropriately horrific logos on them, wandering aimlessly around Leicester Square on a sunny Friday morning. To the bemusement of tourists. I found the organiser in due course, and after some time, we were indeed let in. (There's quite a cool moving graphic on the stairs, but I couldn't get a good shot.) I bought some chocolate to keep me going - which turned out to be in an unopenable pack. Which problem was solved when he decimated t...