London Still Rocks!

Last night, back with  London Hot 100  - we were at the  New Wimbledon Theatre  for  Jimmy Carr Laughs Funny .  Tickets were from   Ticketmaster , and I got an email from them a couple of days before with strict instructions about how to display my ticket (screenshots don't work with theirs, of course). Option #1 - the app. Well, that wouldn't open for me. Happily, their second option was to save the ticket to a wallet on my phone, which I did - that is so handy.. So the laptop went on a little trek.. I also see it's got a nearby   GBK   ( Nando's   too, but I prefer GBK ), so skived off early to eat there. Would have left a bit earlier, but happily, instinct told me to hang on a bit - just as well, as someone approached me with a task, shortly after. Had to be Tube - quickest was Northern Line to South Wimbledon , then a bus . It's a really, really long way.. nearly to the end of the line. I had to be careful to catch a train going th...

This evening, back with  London Literary Walks  at last - my Wednesdays are just so busy! This was a  walk  about  Island Records  -  U2 's old label, so of course I have an interest.. dug out a U2 t-shirt n all.. We were meeting in  The Elgin , and I booked a table there to eat beforehand. That far out, it was Tube , as usual - mercifully, I got a seat after just two stops, and it was an OK trip. I'd left a little later than intended - arrived about 10 minutes late for my booking, but they weren't that busy. Service with a smile, and I was immediately shown to my table. It was funny - when he brought me to my table, he said he'd be right back with a menu. He wasn't. By the time he came back up that way, took a look at me and remembered, I'd had time to browse the drinks menu - they have a white rioja, so I ordered that. Love it. He'd brought me a food menu by now - by the time he brought my drink, I'd chosen the fish n chips, and ordered that. To...

Tonight ,  another  of those cheap ticket talks - this one was by  Asne Seierstad , and was at  The Conduit , on the subject of  Afghanistan  under  Taliban  rule. A  How To Academy  event, and quite expensive if you don't go with seat fillers.. I thought I'd head to   Cote in Hay's Galleria  again, but didn't book it - I said I'd wait to see how long the talk went on. Being an event by the same organisation as last week , I expected things to be organised in the same way. So I was perturbed when I hadn't got the link to the online talk by mid-afternoon - checked the booking, and wouldn't you know it, although the talk was live-streamed, this ticket was for the talk in person! which makes what I paid a substantial discount - tickets for the live event were over £30! (I paid £2.40.) Anyway, I had to head to The Conduit. Just as well I hadn't booked Cote - instead, I had a look at what was close by, and figuring how busy things g...

I was back to Ireland for the bank holiday weekend. And wouldn't you know it, not a single film showing in the afternoons that I was interested in seeing - I can't do evenings. Oh well, a quiet one for me then - I could do with it! Had enough errands to run anyway. TV finally provided an alternative though - in the form of a documentary, One Mile Down: Siberian Scramble , a documentary about the attempt of two Irishmen (one from Quin !), to break a couple of Guinness World Records at Lake Baikal : one for the longest distance travelled on a motorbike on ice, the other for the longest distance travelled in a 4x4 on ice in a week.. So, one was on a bike, the other in a 4x4 - which he customised himself and drove all the way from Ireland. When the other chap asked him - given that it was a Russian design anyway - why he didn't just get one there, his reply was "That wouldn't be any fun!". I should clarify that they weren't the only people on this trek - the...

Tonight, I was with  London Social and Cultural Meetups , first time in  months  - we were going to a  photo exhibition  at  Estorick . I just hoped they could facilitate backpacks, as I had to drag mine to the office today. Man, I hate dragging that bag around with me - and the walk from the bus was exhausting. Mercifully, almost the first thing I saw when I got in the door were lockers! which turned out to be free - even better. I got myself a ticket, then deposited my stuff. Chose a slice of cake and a glass of wine - which was very welcome. We all sat outside after arriving, chatting - someone had something like a toastie, which I should probably have gone for - I didn't peruse the menu closely enough. Never mind.. The bulk of the artwork housed here is upstairs, and comprises a permanent exhibition of Italian art - what we'd come to see was on the ground floor, where we started. Sergio Strizzi was a still photographer on film sets - meaning he got t...

Tonight, for once, I stayed in - I had a  Zoom  talk given by the writers of a book called  Seven Myths that Changed England . I then discovered it was an  LSE  event.. and blast it, I saw it on cheap ticket sites, but it turned out to be completely free.. but when I double-checked this evening, it turns out the free event, on YouTube and also in person, is on Tuesday! Tonight's event, on the other hand, was from the How To Academy (HTA) - and what I paid represented a substantial discount. So, a home event it was, then. It's a fascinating topic - their thesis is, basically, there's far too much grandstanding from politicians and other public figures, providing divisive ideas, and if we want to improve society, we'd do well to go back to basics - people working with people for practical solutions. After that had been established, all that was left was to provide anecdotes, and there were some interesting ones - for example, when Nigel Farage was asked (by one...

Tonight, back for the first time since  St. Patrick's Day  with  Buddies on a Budget (BoB) in London  - we were off to  The Globe  for  Richard III . With a woman in the title role.. could be interesting. Ah, The Globe - must be summer!  I can walk there, but with it pissing rain all day, I decided not, and took a bus. I booked a table in  The Anchor  for dinner beforehand. Arrived just in time, and found one of their many bars - it's a maze of a building - at which I asked about my reservation. She advised me that they didn't have booking details at that bar, I should go up to the next one, to which she pointed. So I did - the lady there found my reservation and said she'd show me to my table. Whereupon she led me back down the stairs, past that first bar, down more stairs, across and up some stairs and a landing, then up another flight of stairs, and another, down a short one, and ta-da! There was my table. She advised me to go to yet ...