London Still Rocks!

These two days are something of a Meetup extravaganza. Tonight, I was back with  Up in the Cheap Seats  for  Miss Myrtle's Garden , at the  Bush Theatre . Eating beforehand at  Shikumen  Chinese restaurant. I was delighted to get a text from the theatre this afternoon, with a link to my ticket - so handy.. A long journey, it'd have to be Tube if I wanted to get there in under an hour. Mind you, no danger of me working late - Fridays are known in the company as "patch Friday"s, because that's when they do a bunch of software patches. Which, of course, sometimes banjax the software.. and that's exactly what happened to me; starting at some time around 4.30pm, every time I tried to open a file to work on it, it crashed the software. I submitted a fix request to IT, nearly 5pm on the first day of our company's "summertime" allowance, where they give us an hour off, and legged it, knowing full well that no-one would see to it this evening anyway. W...

Tonight, decided on film again - delving into the group of (now two) films, I thought  The Ballad of Wallis Island  looked like the one: another comedy, in which an eccentric lottery winner, living alone on a small offshore island, hires his favourite artists to play a private concert for him. (If only..!) Thing is, the artists used to be a couple, and have since broken up, which adds to the fun - she's played by  Carey Mulligan . I suppose I had to get around to it eventually. Still showing in  Picturehouse Central . I was in the office, and planned to stay later than I did - but organising all my own stuff for the last few days has meant I had a lot more time to spare, and have already put in a substantial number of hours this week: more than usual. So in the end, I gave up pretending to have something to do, and left. I could walk from there - although it wasn't exactly pleasant, pushing through the crowds on Shaftesbury Avenue . As usual, I picked the Angus Steak...

Was very excited about tonight - TAC played a blinder, with tickets for the  Gala de Danza  at  Central Hall Westminster ! This is billed as an extravaganza of music, dance, and art. Happily, how they're doing it is providing a code, which you then use to book your own ticket - as expensive as you like, you still get it for nothing but the admin fee! I booked to eat beforehand at  The Red Lion  - it's always crammed. Well, I stayed a little bit late working, to finish something - not too much. What delayed me more was running into my flatmate as I was trying to get out - he'd been away, wanted to tell me all about it. By the time I was finally ready to go, no bus would get me there in time - it'd have to be Tube . Mind you, it occurred to me that I could expedite matters by taking a bus to the station , considering traffic wasn't as bad as previous days - I'd picked the later showing, which made things easier for me. Sure enough, the #381 was soon along, and d...

Have been seeing films these two days.  Now, for today, I had something of a tie on my film list, with three films on the same rating - what appealed most was  The Way Way Back , a coming-of-age comedy about the summer of a teenage boy. Now, I'm not usually into coming-of-age films, but this did actually look funny -  Toni Collette  plays his mother,  Steve Carell  her obnoxious boyfriend, Allison Janney his sister, whom they join on holiday, and Sam Rockwell the manager of the theme park where they're holidaying, who becomes the boy's  mentor. Excellent actors, and it didn't look twee. I did fully intend to see it when it came out, but just never got around to it. It was showing in the  Prince Charles , part of their  Coming-of-Age Summer  season. I didn't book for it, as they're not selling out - and while, of course I'd want to eat in  Bella Italia Cranbourn Street  again, well, I didn't think I'd have any trouble getting ...

These two days, I'm thinking film - tonight, what came up was  The Last Journey , about a couple of  Swedish  tv personalities who take the father of one of them on what is probably going to be his last trip, a road trip to  France , which he's always loved. Showing in the  Garden Cinema . Nice to have a nice, late one - I could stay late at work, mosey into town when I felt like it - had plenty of time to eat beforehand, and as usual for here, headed for Nando's Holborn . He asked me where I'd like to sit.. there was quite a lot of space. Funnily enough - I didn't notice until I sat down - I picked Table 13.. perhaps that's why my wine was so delayed. When the food arrived, I asked after it - the server remarked that nobody had mentioned it to him, but he went to inquire.. soon after, my first server reappeared, drink in hand, massively apologetic. That was the only hitch though. Mind you, I'd arrived later than intended - terrible traffic on Kingsway agai...

Today, I finally got to see  Tutankhamen: The Immersive Exhibition , which I had previously booked and had to cancel. Now, this time, it was hosted by a group called  Fun Activities to Do in London on a Weekend . But gee, they bought tickets in advance, and charged extra.. so I just booked myself again, through the Fever app. And as I had booked before, I even got a couple of quid off! I'd never been to ExCel London before.. wow, it's a long way east. Too far for bus alone, and the Tube wouldn't drop me close enough - I decided on the Elizabeth Line , taking the bus to Liverpool Street to catch it. Of course, as always when it's needed, the #47 was delayed - by half an hour. But I'm used to travelling to Liverpool Street, and I know the alternatives - I caught the #381 to London Bridge , then the next bus that happened along heading in the right direction. Was in Liverpool Street before the #47 was even due to arrive at my home. And the Elizabeth Line, as exp...

Today, I was back with  Laurence Summers  and the  45+ Not Grumpies , for the rescheduled  tour  of the  Wallace Collection , yay! And what's more,  Helen  came to town.. complete with suggestions for the  Hurtigruten cruise  I've booked for later in the year, and which she's been on.. ;-) She's going on a different  one  next month. I took buses - the first was slightly delayed, but I still managed to get there in time. Almost. Her train was delayed, but she'd come early enough to get there first of anyone, it seems! Wow, it was a hot one though.. and as we stood outside initially, to talk about the ornate fountain, we could hear singing - seems there was a music festival nearby. Runs till tomorrow. Now, as to the fountain (which I didn't photograph) - I didn't photograph everything, having been here twice before with Meetups . And indeed, I remember Laurence himself talking about that fountain during another tour , of ...