Musical: Crazy For You, Walk: Revised! Passage through Pimlico, & Play: Octopolis

Back in London, last night, with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) again for Crazy for You, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Met another member of the group for dinner first - as we sometimes do - this time, I spotted the Prince of Wales pub just down from there, and thought I'd try that. This, of course, is the venue for the Horror Book Club's monthly meetings - so I knew that they rent out the upstairs room for functions, rather than use it as the main dining area. Sure enough, when I asked, the barman said our table would be somewhere over by the window, on the ground floor, with my name on it. And so it was.

I'd ordered by the time my companion arrived - I used the app, he ordered at the bar. He went for what used to be my staple, before the hot weather kicked in - steak and ale pie, which he ate with gusto. I wasn't in the mood, so had the BBQ chicken instead - for the first and last time. NEVER have I seen such a miniscule chicken.. in a congealed sauce. And the chicken was tough. Chips were ok. Well, I'll know in future..

The theatre is just around the corner, so off we went, meeting the group in the Sean Kenny bar, as arranged. Where the chat was, as they say, mighty.. Sadly, the person supposed to organise the event was delayed returning from holiday abroad, and couldn't make it - weather to blame, apparently. Probably the same thing that delayed me on Sunday night - they didn't say. Interestingly, as I queued at the bar for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, I perused the wine list; mine, at £12, was the second-cheapest. The most expensive? A large glass of Chablis would set you back - I kid you not - £20. Wine prices are rising faster than petrol..

And so to my seat, in the side stalls. The ticket said to enter via Door 3 - which is up a frightful number of stairs! When I returned to the bar at the interval, I was delighted to discover that the fastest way out - and therefore, in - was actually via Door 1, which had far fewer stairs. (For future reference, I was in K16..)

Ah well, I just thought this was delightful! I love the old show tunes, and several of these were massively familiar. Not to mention the fantastic choreography, the tap dancing, the terrific costumes - it's beautifully produced, with excellent singers, and more glitter-clad dancers than you could throw a hat at. Not to everyone's taste, certainly - the two young ladies beside me seemed distinctly underwhelmed, and left at the interval. Hey, more space for me! But for me, it was just a delight to see this old hit resurrected. Very highly recommended to fans of musicals - of all kinds; this old style is the precursor to them all. Currently booking until the 20th of January.

Today, back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners for the revised Passage to Pimlico! So I had to be up early, so no blogging last night. He's redone it - certainly glad to be back with them again. I got a couple of buses, and arrived quite early - on an even more blustery day than yesterday! with rain threatening. Not terribly pleasant. But it was great to catch up with some old faces - there were people I hadn't seen for ages!

We came to a couple of churches, and could go into the first - a great relief from the weather, apart from anything else. Our refuge was the church of Saint Saviour - High Anglican, it has many similarities to Catholic churches:

And while I maintain a healthy scepticism about it all, well, I figured it couldn't hurt to light a votive candle at this chap's statue - for the success of the job application for which I had such a promising interview, yesterday. Even if this was never my religion.. same-o, really..

I also donated, at their swanky electronic payment machine - you can swipe to increase, or decrease, the suggested £5, but I noticed they don't let you decrease past a certain amount! ;-)

We came across some plaques related to famous people, of course - Francis Crick is most familiar to me from the Francis Crick Institute:

We passed a fetching statue called The Helmsman:

Back at Dolphin Square, the flagpole rattled so violently in the wind, I had visions of it flying off:

And I thought this statue of Thomas Cubitt, responsible for building most of the area, was one of the more interesting statues I'd seen!

It was at this point that we picked up a local with an interest in guided walks, who joined us for the rest! The more the merrier.

Back to the plaques, and a discussion about whether "Swami" is a job title: it is.

Swami Vivekananda was, apparently, the one to introduce yoga to the West.

Unfortunately, our walk was cut slightly short - we were just walking down a street of restaurants, and thinking about lunch, when one lady in the group took a tumble on a loose paving stone, falling hard against a railing and knocking herself out, briefly. An ambulance was called, and the walk was curtailed as Laurence, and some of the group, stayed with her to wait for it. However, we agreed that there was no point in everyone staying, and a couple of us looked up directions to the Morpeth Arms - the pub Laurence had booked - and led the rest of the group there. He'd called ahead to let them know we'd be a bit late - there was no problem with that, and we got some tables pushed together for us, upstairs.

We ordered, when she came around - we had no idea how long the others would be. As it turned out, we had our drinks, but were still waiting for our food, when the others arrived, and put in their orders ASAP - except for Laurence, who decided to go to the hospital to check on the patient. Well, I hope she makes a swift recovery - and kudos to Laurence for being so conscientious. We missed both of them at the lunch..

I had steak and chips, which I have to say were very tasty. Pity they weren't hotter! The lady beside me had the same complaint about her rarebit. But we were fed, and again the chat was mighty.. And by the time we left, the squally rain that had plagued us on the walk there had cleared.

This evening, it was Octopolis, at Hampstead Theatre with UITCS again! And again, I took buses, arriving really early for the group - I figured there was little point in going home, so went straight from the pub. Got a drink - Chardonnay this time, I don't like this theatre's Sauvignon Blanc. And nabbed a table downstairs, where we were meeting, as the play was in the downstairs theatre - I popped up a message, and the others duly joined me there. We chatted until it was time to go in - seating was unassigned, and we ended up split on different sides of the theatre.

Well, this turned out to be one of those plays that I was the only one of the group not to like. Does happen. Basically, a recently widowed academic, living on university property, who - with her late husband - has spent her time researching a particular octopus, finds herself lumbered with another researcher, who moves into what had been her late husband's study. Jemma Redgrave takes the part, who, yes, turns out to be a member of the famous Redgrave acting family.

Now, it's no surprise that romance blossoms. As it's no surprise that he's not half as sympathetic to the octopus as she is. Let me say from the outset that I liked the soundtrack very much - and that's pretty much all I liked, although I'll acknowledge the actors' skills. I didn't believe in the romance for one minute, I wasn't at all surprised by the ending (apart from, possibly, what happened to the octopus), and frankly, I thought her reactions were utterly unbelievable. Maybe we can put it down to grief. Whatever, I just felt irritated throughout. And why they had to drag a poor octopus into this story, I dunno - it serves no purpose at all in the story, and seems an odd device to bring them together. Could just as well have been - a boa constrictor. Or a wombat. Anyway, runs till the 28th of next month, if you're interested.

Unfortunately, heading back home, for the first time today, the journey was too long to trust to buses, so I was on the more expensive, screechier, Jubilee Line, and had a 15-minute walk home. In the wind. Bah humbug.

Tomorrow, I'm with CT for a classical concert - a Chamber Recital at St. Mark's, Hamilton Terrace. Regular tickets from TicketSource.

And on Thursday, it's film - and I got enough of the film list done to come up with Phantom Parrot, a documentary about the unusual powers granted to UK Border Police. Q+A afterwards. Curzon Bloomsbury, of course - and already mostly booked out, so I booked. Funnily enough, although I'm still entitled to four free films, I couldn't see how to avail of that! so ended up just getting a discount instead. Will normally not be booking in advance, so should be less of an issue, with staff to help..