Work Social

Tonight was another work social - darts this time (!) at Oche.. now, I'd never thrown a dart, or even watched a darts match, in my life. Well, they didn't tell us not to come in to the office: but as someone pointed out yesterday, it'd probably be packed. Anyway, I could do without having to drag myself up in the morning.

And indeed, I had a lovely, long sleep. Headed in about when I should - the bus, of course, wasn't stopping in Lancaster Place, where Google Maps was telling me to get off - that stop has been closed for months. Not that they pay any attention to my telling them that. I walked from Aldwych, therefore, and arrived at the same time as others from the office, who I think had nipped out for a fag. It was nice to be recognised by so many, this time.. we were directed downstairs, where the company had booked three lanes.

I suppose you could call them lanes - each has a dartboard, three darts, lines on the floor delineating "Easy", "Hard", and "Pro", and a table. There's also some seating at the edge. We discovered that the way it worked, we had x drinks tokens, each of which entitled you to a soft drink, a bottle of beer (they have a large selection), or a medium glass of house wine. We were allocated two each..

The lady came straight away to take our drinks orders, and food was already arranged, it seemed, and would arrive in due course. She never did take another drink order.. The house wine was insipid, and I had to find the bar myself to use my second token. When I'd finished, I went back for a proper drink - which I had to pay for myself, unusually for a company social. To be fair, I suppose this is just the way they do things in this bar, with a maximum number of tokens. Anyway, their Sauvignon Blanc (which I had for my third glass), has a taste that is familiar to me.. I couldn't place it, but it's one I like. Whoopee.

As for the food - a bowl of chips arrived, and I dug in. I was starving. Eventually though, I'd had enough chips.. the pizza started to arrive thereafter, and I'm afraid there wasn't a great choice. Pepperoni - which I don't like: vegetarian, which had cucumber - which I don't like: one with peppers, which I don't like: there was one with a kind of pesto and salmon topping, which I had a slice of, but wasn't mad about. And that was it for food.

As to the darts - I wasn't interested when I went in, and am less interested now. There seems to be a round of games you play - the rules are explained at the start, but I am still clueless as to what the different areas of the board mean. Except the bullseye, which seemed to be a good hit under any circumstances. Unless you had a certain score you were aiming for, and overshot it. I don't think we had any spectacularly good players - the co-worker I ran into at the bar remarked that she "had some spectacular runs of luck, and lots of predictable misses". As did everyone, I suspect.

Would you believe, we only had the place till 7.30 (for some reason, one of the lanes ran to 7.45). And I'd only just got that large glass of Sauvignon Blanc.. I guzzled it and took off. I mean, there was a lovely bar around the side, but lots of people I'm friendly with hadn't come, and others were leaving promptly. Made my way straight to the Pret on the corner - I knew it'd still be open, I checked: and I was still hungry. So I sated my hunger there.

I got a bus across the bridge - and then had to wait half a b****y hour for my bus home. In light, but driving, rain. And desperate for the toilet. NOT appreciated. Oy, I am not going to that bar again..

Tomorrow, The Hideout again! Promises to be a much better night. Now, this time they beat off some stiff competition - but the film promises to be excellent. The Substance stars Demi Moore as an ageing star who finds her roles drying up as her looks are fading. So when she comes across a miracle drug - "the substance" - on the black market, which promises to restore her to a younger, more beautiful version of herself.. she jumps at it. Of course, it doesn't work out quite as planned. Dennis Quaid plays her boss, who fires her for not being young enough for her TV fitness show. And honestly, I can't remember when I saw a new-release horror film so highly rated.. few enough of any genre are so highly rated! It apparently got a standing ovation at Cannes, perhaps for its castigation of the emphasis on beauty in the media. We're seeing it at the BFI - and after my previous experience with Black & Blue, I'm returning to The Archduke for food. First time in a couple of months.

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. I had some trouble finding a film - either I'd seen them, or wasn't interested, or they weren't on at a suitable time! Finally settled on Megalopolis - a Francis Ford Coppola film, it's one of those with a roll-call of stars: Adam Driver is the visionary artist who dreams of a Utopia, coming up against the opposition of the greedy mayor, Giancarlo Esposito. Also stars Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, and Jason Schwartzman. It looks like a fantastical re-imagining of ancient Rome in present-day New York.. the characters seem to favour toga-style fashions, and even have ancient Roman names.. Certainly looks interesting. And wouldn't you know it, I have to go to Ennis to get a showing early enough.. Interestingly, The Hideout / Movie Roadhouse London is going to the same thing on Friday night..

On Monday, I'm at Bellringers, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) at Hampstead Theatre. Got a good seat from someone in the group who couldn't use it in the end.

On Tuesday, the same group were supposed to be at Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist. At The Other Palace. I booked my ticket from Todaytix. Eating beforehand at the Bag o' Nails, where I'd booked before and had to cancel, when my event was cancelled. Except.. guess what happened? The show's run is finishing (very) early! Before this date.. so the event is cancelled, and I got a mail from Todaytix, with a voucher code for the amount spent, to be used for future bookings. I preferred a refund - who knows when I'd get around to using the voucher? Checking the email carefully, I saw a link to the support page to request a refund - clicked the link, went on chat, probably got a bot - but as I had all my details, the process was pretty quick, and I got my refund. Yay. Ironic that I'd only just booked it - ironic, also, that I've now booked for the Bag o' Nails exactly twice, and had to cancel both times.. gee, must be cursed!

I had some trouble finding an alternative - with nothing decent on Meetup or my cheap ticket sites for the day, I was back to Time Out! I had to scroll a long way down, though.. Giant, with John Lithgow, at the Royal Court, was sold out for the day: Shifters, at the Duke of York's Theatre, had no decent seats available for the day at a decent price (and that theatre has plenty of bad seats).. after pages and pages of scrolling through things I didn't want to do, I've finally booked for Coriolanus, starring David Oyelowo, at the National. Eating at The Archduke again.

Next Wednesday, I finally leave on my long-anticipated trip to Romania with the 45+ Not Grumpies! That afternoon, most of us are flying Ryanair from Stansted, to be met by an English-speaking guide and transferred to the Continental Forum Hotel, in time for an evening tour of Bucharest. (I've already downloaded the Rough Guide to Romania!) Now, just the other day, on the WhatsApp channel for the trip, our guide explained that we'd be going straight on the sightseeing tour when we arrived. Which rang a warning bell for me - when were we going to eat? So I confirmed with her that we'd be better off eating in Stansted - just as well I checked! Mind you, that leaves a long day to get hungry - I think I'll probably eat something on the flight.

On the 3rd, we're heading straight off by coach to Transylvania.. walking tour of Sighisoara, where Vlad the Impaler was born! Staying in the Hotel Korona that night.

On the 4th, we're off to Brasov - apparently has the narrowest street in the country. Walking tour, staying in Hotel Kolping that night.

And on the 5th, we're headed to Bran - for the famous castle - and Sinaia, for Peles Castle - before heading back to Bucharest for our flights home.

Safely back - hopefully - on the 6th, I had booked with Cultureseekers for the Charlie Chaplin Guided Walk. Finishing at The Jolly Gardeners Pub. But you know - today, Over 40 Living the Life advertised a trip to the Immigrant Comedy Show at the Camden Comedy Club. And I'm guaranteed to have a good time with them, which I probably wouldn't with Cultureseekers - which I hadn't yet paid for.. so I've booked for that now instead. Could technically go to both, but I couldn't be a***d. And this gives me a chance to try out the food at the Blues Kitchen Camden, which is right across the road..

And on the 7th, back with UITCS, who are off to Southwark Playhouse for Foreverland - more biotechnology SciFi.. possibly less spooky than The Substance! Booked, as usual, on their excellent PAYG offer, where you pay in advance for discounted tickets to five shows, no time limit..