London Still Rocks!

These two days are with  Meetup . This evening, back with  Up in the Cheap Seats  - this time, at  Southwark Playhouse , for  The Frogs . Based on a play by  Aristophanes , this version actually has music and lyrics by  Stephen Sondheim . Got a free ticket on my  PAYG  subscription. Funnily enough, also starting tonight in the other theatre there was  Who Is Claude Cahun?  starring  Amelia Armande , who was at the  storytelling .. and promoting it.. Planned to eat beforehand, as usual, in Mercato Metropolitano - which I could walk to. Except.. firstly, I left it a little late (ooh, surprise!) and secondly, it was too damn hot to walk for half an hour. So I was on the bus - and just in time for it, again. Made it to the Mercato in good time - the Wine Bar, I see, has changed their menu of wines by the glass! Gone is the Albarino - I had Sauvignon Blanc instead. Had to go to the back to order it, where I found all the sta...

Last night , with CT at the  Backyard Comedy Club , for the first time in an  age ! They had an  Irish night .. Now, I know the place opens at 6, so timed it so I wouldn't get there before that. Indeed, I made it at a couple of minutes past - to find one of the staff trying to get in, the door still being locked! Well, after she got in, I changed out of my sunglasses and into my regular glasses to give her a moment, then followed her, and ordered a drink. I remembered they don't do Sauvignon Blanc by the glass - couldn't remember what they actually have, so just asked for "white wine". Of course, I was the first there - picked a table and checked the menu. Sure enough, they only have one white wine by the glass - and it's Pinot Grigio.. I'd also ordered food, and they'd given me a buzzer - but then the one in the kitchen had a word with the one behind the bar, who came over to tell me the kitchen wasn't open yet, as it wasn't busy. I said I had...

Back in London  - and wow, such unanticipated heat! Major outfit change today, as I ditched tights, long sleeves, and a coat. Tonight, I was thinking film - what was coming up was  Lollipop , a drama about a mother, released from prison, whose children have been taken into care, and who is now dismayed to discover that social services want them to stay in care! Looked ok - not as depressing as you might expect. Showing in the  Curzon Bloomsbury . Checking seat availability on the app, as soon as I saw my member's discount was available, I jumped at it - their tech is notoriously unreliable, and discounts have a habit of disappearing. Doesn't seem to matter whether I'm using the app, or staff at the cinema are - whoever first sees the discount should grab it. So I did, the only problem being the navigation of the ridiculous booking system, which won't let you leave single seats. I wanted the middle row, but two seats had been booked on the aisle, leaving four free sea...

I'm back in Ireland - for the last time this month - for my mother's  Month's Mind . Now, I only just recently booked my flights - quite last minute - and while the return flight was quite expensive, I was pleasantly surprised at the low cost of the outbound one! Could it really be because it was on Friday the 13th..?! ;-) Certainly, despite the date, it's one of the very few times I remember it actually leaving on time.. possibly, no other flights were leaving either! Anyway, I arranged to meet that friend who couldn't meet when I was back before - we had lunch today at the   Kilmurray Lodge . My cousins are otherwise occupied, and couldn't make it. For all that the weather app promised faithfully it wouldn't rain, of course it did, on the way there. Never mind, it cleared up for me to go in. He'd beaten me to it. We both had the soup - vegetable, tasty (well, I thought so, although he liberally applied pepper), and deliciously hot. Served with soda bre...

Wednesday saw me back, at last, for storytelling at  Torriano ! Hosted, as ever, by  Nell Phoenix , this one wa s  The Shahnameh  -  Persian , delivered by Xanthe Gresham-Knight . I headed off in good time - Northern Line , as it was far.. so much less crowded then the Jubilee Line I'm used to! I even got a seat - was still glad to get off though, it was stuffy. Ate in Nando's , as ever, which is an excellent branch. Skipped dessert - not only did I have a bit of a walk ahead, but I was stuffed.. Made the meeting house just in time, got some fruit punch (with a shot), which comes free, and took a seat near the front. First up, Nell got someone in front of me to "volunteer" - her story was about trees. Funnily enough, so was the first scheduled storyteller's, Amelia Armande , who gave us a rather excellent story about why the yew tree looks the way it does. Funny, she looks much younger in person than in her official headshot online.. I had a direct view of her ...

Tonight, headed with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for the second night in a row - to the  National Theatre  this time, for  London Road . Booked to eat at  The Archduke  - hoping for better service than  last time ! A couple more were to join me there, so I amended the booking. Then one cancelled, but when I tried to amend it again, to a booking just for two, I couldn't have got the same time - so I left it as was. I was in meetings all afternoon - the first ran into the time for the second, which I thought was never going to finish.. mercifully, working from home, I could get ready while they were talking, and so I had my coat on and everything ready to leave by the time they finally decided they'd had enough - and just in time for the bus that would get me there in time for my booking. Which, of course, changed destination en route, as they all seem to be these days - happily, I wasn't going far enough for that to affect me. Of course, my companion arr...

These two days, I'm with  Up in the Cheap Seats  (UITCS) - tonight for  Stereophonic , in the  Duke of York's Theatre . Supposed to be the most  Tony -nominated play of all time, this is set around the music industry. Got a cheaper ticket with CT. I booked to eat in  Cote St. Martin's Lane  beforehand. Left work early - was ahead of myself for once. Arrived at the restaurant early, but not too much.. got the last seat by the window - apparently a desirable spot, although I have no idea why, having had no desire to look out the window myself.. had calamari to start, lovely. Had the steak frites for main - as, funnily enough, did almost everyone around me! Well, it's cheap, it's quick, it's not that heavy.. and it was very good. Wine, and ice cream for dessert, and I hopped across the road to the theatre, ran to the loo, and joined the others in the Upper Circle Bar. Where we chatted until it was time to go in. Lovely seat - part of the left of the sta...

Today, I also planned film - headed to the  Cine Lumiere . The film I was interested in was  Au Revoir les Enfants , about a couple of schoolboy friends in an exclusive  Catholic   French  boarding school, around the time of the outbreak of the  Second World War . The secret that one of them carries, however, is that he's actually  Jewish .. Now, it was on quite early, and I thought I might not feel like getting up for it, being so far away. So I didn't book - it wasn't selling out yet anyway. Next on the list was in the same place this evening -  The Marching Band , again French, but contemporary, is a comedy I'd been meaning to see for a while. But when I checked last night, Au Revoir les Enfants was mostly sold out - so I booked for that. I also booked for dinner in the  Zetland Arms , a pub just over from the  French Institute , where the cinema is - for a time that should suit me for either film, being in between! In the upstairs ro...

Last night,  The Hideout  was headed to see  Clown in a Cornfield , in the  Vue West End . However, I found what I thought was a better horror film, also showing in  Leicester Square , but in the  Cineworld  -  Detective Kien: The Headless Horror  is a  Vietnamese  film, set in the late 19th Century. Sadly, it started about the time the others were meeting for a social, or I'd have joined them. Anyway, I did, of course, head to  Bella Italia Cranbourn Street  beforehand, as usual. The bus driver actually decided, en route, to stop short - never mind, I changed to a more direct bus , and actually got there early! Was seated without problems, and dinner was as delicious as ever. Over dinner, I got a message from someone attending Clown in a Cornfield - I explained my situation, and he suggested we meet after our films were over, for a drink! So cool, I agreed to that. Finished in good time for the cinema - and when I went i...