On Thursday, I was back at the cinema - this time, the Prince Charles, with the Hideout: Horror Sci-Fi Club London. We were seeing Tales from the Crypt - Demon Knight. Stars Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett Smith - how could I resist such a fun way to kick off the Hallowe'en season?! Drinks and socialising at Clubhouse 5, as usual.
So, headed in a bit early to find food - there's plenty around there. And I stopped as soon as I saw the Angus Steakhouse - I love it, and I was celebrating a very good job interview. Waited under 60 seconds for a table.. and decided I'd like chicken. For a change! Had their moreish calamari to start.. the chicken turned out to be doused in quite a spicy sauce, and I'm not sure I'd have it again. A carafe of Sauvignon Blanc - it's the most expensive, but I was celebrating - and I skipped dessert, as it was heading towards the time to meet the group. I was well fed, as always - but in future, I might stick to steak, there.
A short walk, then, to the pub - the organiser hadn't said where the table was, but I guessed upstairs, and I was right: and conveniently within sight of the door! A couple of folks I knew were joined by another I hadn't met before, and we had a lovely chat - and I had another glass of Sauvignon Blanc. And yes, another at the cinema. What can I say - I was in training..
It wasn't long before they let us in - and we were all in the front row. Not quite all sat together, until the interloper in our midst spotted that we were all a group, and graciously volunteered to change seats. So, an excellent view..
I hadn't seen this before, so it was something of an education. In fact, I hadn't seen anything from the Tales from the Crypt series, so I was introduced, for the first time, to the Cryptkeeper, a wisecracking skeleton director. Who gave a short introduction, before we were into the film proper.
Eh - it's good fun. Billy Zane is (spoiler) the leader of a troupe of demons being hunted by William Sadler, who holes up with the denizens of a small town in the local hotel. Which seems very run-down. Jada Pinkett-Smith is one of these. And the action involves them trying to keep the demons out..
Gee, but Billy Zane is nice to look at. And with ladies running around in lingerie, there's plenty for other folk to look at, if their interests lie in other directions! There is a certain amount of gore, and a backstory of what the Demon Knights are all about, for those of us interested in history. And basically, there's a lot of running around and killing.. like I say, good, horrific fun. Also great to meet up with this group again - looking forward to the next time! I couldn't get the blog done that night - needed to do the film list.
On Friday, scariness of a different sort, as I finally got back to the Crick Crack Club! Ben Haggarty was telling the tale of Mr. Sandmann, at Rich Mix.. It'd been too long: but they're doing a lot more stuff outside of London, these days. My sometime companion from Up in the Cheap Seats also decided to come - I had to come up with somewhere to eat.. with her not keen on ethnic food, and all the non-ethnic eateries in the area being a tad expensive, I eventually settled on Hawksmoor. Crikey, two expensive meals in a row.. ah well..
I arrived early, but they had no problem in seating me - it didn't get busy until about 7, when it really filled up! I had a friendly, chatty waiter, who turned out to be a horror buff himself, so I was recommending horror films to him as I waited. I ordered a bottle of wine to be going along with - unfortunately, this turns out to be one of the places where they secrete the bottle somewhere just out of sight, and bring you more as your glass empties. Hmph, I can do that myself - and indeed, when I asked at the end whether we'd finished the bottle, he said no, and proceeded to fetch it from somewhere else entirely! I do wonder what would have become of it if I hadn't said anything..
Food-wise, we went for the set menu. Two or three courses - £32 or £35 - with an included drink: which, however, could only be one of the three listed on the top (helps if you're a beer fan). My companion asked whether she could have a non-alcoholic drink - she was driving later - and they agreed she could have a bottle of water. They only had big ones, though - we drank most of it there, and had quite a struggle to get the guy to bring us back the cork so she could take it with her.
She had a starter, I didn't - and was glad I didn't; I had steak as a main, and it was quite filling. I had the choice to upgrade to fillet - the default is rump - and did, but was never told how much that cost. I also had pepper sauce, for which I presume they charged me the extra £4 quoted on the a la carte. Oh, and somehow we ended up with an extra portion of chips - for which I presume we were also charged extra. The food, to be fair, was delicious - but perhaps all the aforementioned charges explain why the total bill, for each of us, was twice the price of the set menu.. in short, I won't be back. Dessert for me was a sticky toffee sundae, for her a meringue. And was just about served in time for us to bolt it - it repeated on me the rest of the evening.
So, off we galloped, down the road - as usual, they started five minutes late, happily.
Well, it seems I wasn't the only one in the States recently - Ben Haggarty was there too. And he wove us a story of the plane being diverted to Tuscaloosa, where he came across an old-fashioned fairground - a "carney". Entering, he was persuaded to try a sideshow, with 10 attractions - which formed the basis for his show, as he wove a strange tale about each one..
Some were just plain weird - stories of hypnotism gone wrong, stories of deformities.. about halfway through, he got to go to the bar, where he was served a "special cocktail", containing absinthe. And then - as if it wasn't weird enough before - it became truly psychedelic. The resolution? Something he cleverly mentioned to us at the start.. how do you know you're dreaming..? You wake up! It was all a dream he had on the plane. Well, I don't know how much of this is truth - but it is the sign of a great storyteller, to keep an audience mesmerised for two hours on the imaginings dreamed by a man on a trip.. another tour de force by Ben Haggarty, and the Crick Crack Club.. Nice to see plenty of ghoulies and ghosties round about - there was a costume party downstairs, and plenty more becostumed people in the streets. Couldn't blog that night, I had to be up early.
On Saturday, I was trying to organise another get-together of my ex-coworkers. Back in the happy days when I had coworkers I could see in person.. So yes, back to herding cats again.. But Ivan said he'd prefer Sunday. So on Saturday, around midday, Expat Bucket List London finally scheduled something I was interested in, and could make. They were off to visit Neasden Mandir, Britain's first authentic Hindu temple and Europe's first traditional stone temple! Looked spectacular, apart from a worry I had about an enormous marble staircase..
It's a long, long way out there. And became longer when I just missed my Tube, and the next wasn't due for another 10 minutes - so I messaged him to say I'd be a tad late. Like, 10 minutes. I walked from the station - and a damned unpleasant walk it is, along main roads.. I have to say though, the temple is spectacular:
It's a long time since I've seen such security, mind - it could rival airports! I had to leave both my rucksack - which I needed for later - and even my (pretty small) handbag in the "baggage cabin" (prefab) across the road. I brought my phone - need hardly have bothered, as I couldn't take photos inside! (tragically). FYI We were told you can buy photos, at the prominent giftshop. Gee.. (shh, they're also available online). Anyway, I also had to go through a metal detector, and leave my shoes on a shelf, from which I later collected them.
Kudos to the organiser, knowing I was expecting to be about 10 minutes late, the group seems to have waited! So we were all in together. And after depositing our shoes, we mooched around the hall for a bit - happily, our organiser found us a guide! who kindly explained about the incredible wood carvings in the lobby (done in India), answered our questions, explained about the elephant god (Ganesh), depicted everywhere.. and in due course, he led us up a marble staircase (happily, not the imposing one outside) to witness an Arti (religious service).
The friend whom I was meeting for lunch afterwards is half-Indian, on his mother's side - and was quite surprised to hear that males and females were segregated for this! Anyway, we all sat on the floor.. and marvelled at the ornate carvings, the glittery icons.. the singing was lovely, the waving around of a tray with a lit candle on it was suitably exotic - to me, at least. I haven't the foggiest what was going on, but suspect it wouldn't have made much more sense to me if it had been explained. The guide, naturally, went with the others in my group, who were all male, and got to sit up the front. Never mind, we all got to file past the statues at the end of what I found quite a short service - and several left money. Whereupon I joined the others, the guide still talking about ornate carvings, and what a monumental task it was. No argument there - I highly recommend this, it's a unique experience, and a phenomenal building.
And so we basically made our way out. I noticed the main (ceremonial) outdoor staircase was roped off - just as well, I daresay it could be something of a hazard when it's wet. Being made of marble, like this entire section of the building. I'd have joined the organiser for lunch, had I not made prior arrangements.. well, hopefully next time; it was great to see him after so long, and we walked part of the way back to the station together. After I collected my bags!
That evening, I originally planned to continue the Hallowe'en theme with an idea by Design My Night. I was going to something called The House of Dust, which was ghost stories, with three included cocktails, for £40. Which sounded reasonable.. and then Ivan realised he had to be in Cambridge - where his company is based - early today. So I arranged to meet them on Saturday, after the temple trip, instead - Ivan was in Hackney, didn't want to have to drag his equipment all the way across town. James, on t'other hand, didn't want to go all the way out there. So I arranged to meet him for lunch in The Founder's Arms..
It's always a pleasant walk:
and kudos to the pub for getting their decorations out too!
We had a lovely afternoon - my only quibble was the mustard slathered over the croquettes I had as a starter. I loved the croquettes - never have liked mustard. We both had the chicken schnitzel, which came with new potatoes - very moreish. And a terrific chat was had. Might have had dessert if anyone had come near us, after we'd got our mains. 'Twas only a problem that we couldn't resolve the issue of the distance between there and Hackney, and it was with reluctance that we parted.
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