The Chaucer Walk & Talk: In Defence of Human Rights
On Wednesday, I was back with London Literary Walks (LLW) for The Chaucer Walk. Meeting at The Bell, and I ate there beforehand again.
I could nearly have walked there - it was lovely and close, for once. But I could also take the bus, which I did - arrived quite early, was directed upstairs - the stairs, FYI, are all the way at the other end from the entrance. And upstairs was deserted.. I quickly found my table, a sheet of paper marking it as reserved, and a smiley face inviting people to "keep the seats warm" until my guests arrived..
It also had an uncleared plate, which I moved to the side. (It hadn't been cleared by the time I left.) I picked up a menu there while I was at it - it's a Pieminister pub, so - good pies! The kitchen is, handily, on the upper level, but you have to order downstairs - I had the moo pie (steak & ale), as usual. And a Sauvignon Blanc, of course! And I got to watch Germany wallop Hungary..
The pie was delish - comes with gravy (also lovely) and mash (not so great). Anyway, when I was finished, I went down for another drink - and discovered that this teeny pub, which had been so packed when I arrived, was now almost deserted! So I moved myself downstairs, to the big table by the door, which would both seat us all, and be easy to find. And so it proved.. we had a good old chat there before we left. Unfortunately, I had meant to revise a bit of The Canterbury Tales beforehand, but of course didn't have the time..
We started with a number of guilds - such as the Tallow Chandlers, who made the tallow candles:
Followed by the Skinners Company:
And the Dyers!
All of which makes the nearby Pelt Trader pub well-named - apparently there used to be a market here that dealt in pelts!
Chaucer's father was, himself, a vintner:
We came upon one of the few statues with a mobile phone:
Much of our walk took us by the river - appropriately enough, considering that Chaucer's house was on the riverside!
'Twas at another pub, called The Banker, that we were told The Pardoner's Tale..
We had great fun at the sewage disposal centre, which has a public walkway running under the cranes that lift the crates of sewage down to the river for disposal. It has barriers at each end - we made it through safely, but got to watch as the warning lights came on and the barriers came down! See, those crates are so heavy, if one were to fall, it could easily crush the walkway, not to mention anyone passing underneath..
Fine smell of ammonia there was, too..
and the mosaic that tells the story of London through the ages. Well, it does include Chaucer - complete with some evocative plague rats!
We took a seat for the end of the walk to hear the Wife of Bath's Tale, again able to gaze at Vintners' Hall:
and a statue that commemorates their right to catch, and consume, swans! (usually the monarch's prerogative):
All this right beside the only church in the UK where you can get your Camino passport stamped! Known as the Church of St. James Garlickhythe, apparently sailors used to bring garlic here from Santiago de Compostela, hence the name, and the connection:
The walk finished rather later than anticipated - but apart from the chilly evening temperatures, I don't think anyone really minded! Fascinating walk, with plenty of medieval content, good company. A couple of us needed the loo, so repaired to the nearest pub, where the ladies' toilets were nicely decorated!
So I left my office visit to yesterday - didn't have time to blog on Wednesday night because I had to be up early, and was too busy at work to blog yesterday. Yesterday evening, back with CT for an LSO concert at the Barbican. Which gives me an excuse to head back to my old stomping ground of the local Cote! Except I wasn't.. I hadn't realised I'd double-booked! I was actually off to a talk called In Defence of Human Rights - part of the How-To Academy, at the Francis Crick Institute, thus fulfilling my year's requirement with TAC. So I had to cancel the concert.
The talk was at 7.30pm, so I planned to eat afterwards. Which meant I was the last to leave the office. I should have been in time to walk - it was close enough - but I left it a bit late, so bus it was.
The institute turns out to be up a side road beside St. Pancras - and the lecture theatre was easy to find, go in by the visitor entrance and you can't actually miss it! It's currently got an exhibition - Hello Brain! - right beside, which I took a few minutes to walk around; they have some interesting models of the brains of various animals, as well as some more high-level information about human brains. An exhibit at the end on hallucinations might have been interesting - particularly as it claims we all hallucinate all the time - but time was a-wasting, so I nipped to the cafe for a wine, which I'd been told I could take in, and I went and got a seat.
Shami, who turned out to have a great sense of humour, apologised for her funereal black. She's just written a book, of course, which she was signing afterwards - you should have seen the queue! She's a lawyer by trade, hence the lawyerly title..
She's a member of Labour, which she was quite open about, and yes, there was some talk about the upcoming election. Not so much, mind - although the Tories did come in for some (well-deserved) bashing: for example, Boris Johnson.. remember, as she said, when we all learned a new word - prorogation? As she explained, that's quite a normal thing - it's when Parliament breaks for a holiday - at Christmas, for instance, or Easter, or in the summer. Boris, of course, decided to prorogue Parliament because it was a nuisance. Until the courts explained to him that that was illegal. And, as she exclaimed, some people want him back..?!
Speaking of contempt for law, it seems to be a Tory thing - she reminded us how Rishi Sunak wants to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights! Leading her on to her main point, of how human rights around the world are under attack, and the stated theme of her book, which is the case for the defence. As I say, she has a great sense of humour, which peppered the talk - but the topics were serious, concerning the rights we should all hold essential. She gave an interesting example of addressing a group of young children once, and asking them what the most important human right was. As she said, there were many suggestions - the right to free speech, the right not to be tortured; but one little boy gave a brilliant answer - the right for us all to be treated equally. Because, as he explained, if we're all equal, then there will be no torture. There will be no persecution. There will not be illegal imprisonment..
There's a chapter in the book about climate change - did you know that Margaret Thatcher was an environmentalist? She gave a speech about it once.. there's also a chapter about AI, and Shami gave a funny anecdote about testing ChatGPT once, specifically on whether Margaret Thatcher was an environmentalist.. and then having an argument about that, where, as she said, ChatGPT acted like a sulky teenager..
The Q+A turned interesting when the lights suddenly went out, after someone's question - cue a quip about Big Brother! When they came on again after some minutes, she remarked - well, we are in the Francis Crick Institute - someone must know how to make light work.. All in all, an interesting and inspirational talk. And as she said, we should all read the book - if only to know what our rights are. Because, as she warned, they could be taken from us at any time..
Food beckoned afterwards. Unfortunately, there'd been a match, and most places were packed with people eating after it - I ended up in Nando's in Euston, a good place to know; I suspect they don't get as full because the entrance is a bit out of the way! I got seated immediately. Ordered on the app.. they have free WiFi, but, having trouble getting things to load, I switched to the WiFi offered by the Pret next door - and wouldn't you know it, it was much stronger!
Service was swift - the food was delicious, although the top of my garlic bread was burnt to a crisp. Had a wine with that - it comes in a can, but no harm. And, with nowhere to rush off to, I had dessert - first time in years, here! Yes, the choc-a-lot cake is still chocolate heaven. I had a scoop of gelato with it, which was lovely - except for the aftertaste.. Ordered another wine with that. And can you guess..? He brought a wine while I was waiting, and asked whether I'd like the dessert straight away - and then brought another wine with the dessert! The place was closing by the time I finished eating, so I finished the second wine and bagged the third, free one - it's reclining in the fridge right now, I must have it at some point.
Too tired to blog last night. This evening, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. Film for tomorrow is The Bikeriders - now, I've seen the trailer for this a couple of times, and it looks interesting. Stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Jodie Comer - unrecognisable as a brunette - but wow, what a cast. One review says that Austin Butler is constrained by the role, but that the others are excellent. Apparently based on a real-life biker gang, and set in 1965.. yep, if this is well done, it could be awesome.. Showing at a better time in the Odeon Limerick, so I've booked for there.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - this time, for an interesting-sounding play called Visit from an Unknown Woman, in Hampstead Theatre.
Tuesday is film, and what I've come up with is Happy as Lazzaro (Lazzaro Felice), showing in the Garden Cinema. It was nearly sold out when I came to it, so I've booked.
On Wednesday, back with LLW again - this is for Tyburn Gallows. Meeting at the Duke of Kendal, so I've booked to eat there as well.
And on Thursday, film again - next week is full of them - and I'm headed to a documentary in the Curzon Bloomsbury. This is How (Not) to Build a School in Haiti, and looks entertaining.. story of a (white) American guy who wanted to put his construction skills to use after the 2010 Haitian earthquake, and discovered it wasn't all that easy!
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