Work Social & Concert: The Cardinall's Musick

Wednesday was our work social - we were headed to Boom Battle Bar, which has, em, axe throwing.. among other things. Augmented reality features. Well, I missed it at Shocktober..

I worked from home, as usual on a Wednesday - headed in slightly earlier than expected when the head of HR, who'd arranged it, mailed us all to say they wanted us there 10 minutes early to "settle in with a drink" before getting stuck into the games. I should still have made it on time - early, in fact - so was glad when the bus was predicted to come five minutes late; it'd kill time! But then they stopped for the proverbial change of driver - and to cap it off, the new driver decided to finish early, at Aldwych! So I ended up walking from there. I'd never noticed this place before - it's on Oxford Street, so I was pushing through shoppers. Got there about five minutes early, all the same - the guy at the door told me just to head downstairs, where everything happens, and it turned out I'd arrived with a co-worker right behind me!

Steel stairs lead down to a dark basement, music thumping, a disco ball sparkling:

I ran into said head of HR, who explained to us all that this was our table, our base for the night, and was where the food and drink would be placed. She also doled out drink tokens - two per person - which we could use to get whatever we wanted from the bar. Which I knew would be necessary - all they had given us for free was beer and prosecco. I don't drink beer, and I have a limited tolerance for prosecco - I don't actually know how much I drank, I just kept topping up whenever it fell low. There were two buckets of beer, each of which was replaced once, and one of prosecco - five bottles, which weren't replaced at all.

Food was to arrive at 6.30, so I wandered over to watch people playing the games. I also had a walk through the whole place - discovered the axe-throwing, crazy golf, and escape rooms towards the back. However, someone later told me that we couldn't do axe-throwing - apparently it wasn't in the package we'd had bought for us. Bah humbug! All we had were darts - which I hate, pool - which I don't really know the rules of, and have never played, shuffleboard - ditto, and crazy golf - which I might have gone for, but there didn't seem any enthusiasm for it among my co-workers. So I ended up playing nothing at all.

The food, when it arrived, was all fried - chicken wings, which were tricky to manage - chips, which had a gorgeous sauce - and breaded mini chicken fillets, which were far and away the hit of the night, and were the only ones to be snapped up completely. Absolutely gorgeous. We didn't get refills, but I did manage to get four of those. We had rather handy plastic baskets, lined with greaseproof paper, to put the food in, and were provided with wooden forks and napkins.

The head of HR was probably the one who encouraged the girls to get cocktails - they have an extensive menu, and I thought I might as well head and join them. They cost two tokens each. Happily, the menu includes margaritas - and mine was gorgeous! Then the nice head of HR returned to tell us that there was more left in the budget than anticipated, and we could have a second round - they also had daquiris, but I stuck to the margarita..

As the night wore on, our group dwindled - and when it was down to about seven, one guy went and got shots. He wouldn't tell us what was in them, but you could tell from the smell it was strong. I had a miniscule amount - I've had trouble that way before. I was the only one who didn't drink it - I was saved from having to when the guy who came to clear the table accidentally knocked it over. I used my last token for a glass of wine, and that guy who bought the shots bought me another.

The soundtrack was decent - 80s/90s - the staff were friendly, and it's a decent venue. And it's always a good chance to chat to people I don't really get much of a chance to get to, generally. I even managed some networking - and discovered I'm not the only U2 fan in the company! I was kind of glad when the bar stopped serving and it was time to go, though.. I was tired. And I had to be up early to go to the office, so no blog. And no blogging in the office, of course.

The same bus behaved itself to get me to the office on Thursday morning - apart from being 15 minutes late, and the driver getting into an altercation with a cabbie who cut him off. We had a "lunch n learn" in the office, which meant we had pizza - but I'm intolerant to tomato, so only had two slices. Which didn't fill me, so I went to Pret.

That evening, I was back with the London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Cardinall's Musick, performing a choral concert at St. Martin in the Fields. I left work a little late, wanting to finish something first - I walked there (more crowds) and intended to get something to eat in the Café in the Crypt, under the church: but there was a very poor selection. Someone complained about that, and was told the last food was put out at 3pm. I ended up just having a slice of lemon drizzle cake - which I must say was very nice. And a glass of wine - they seem to have stopped selling the small bottles, and now just pour it from behind the counter. All payment is now at the tills in the middle, which is a more sensible arrangement than what they used to have, with staff having to run between serving customers and taking payment.

We had a good-sized group - and quite a few newcomers! and had a most animated conversation until it was time to go up. I'd booked near the front, but behind a pillar - for concerts, I don't really mind.

Happily, after the interval, the guy to my right didn't return - I don't know whether he actually left, or just sat somewhere else, as the people to my left did. Well, I did get to see the conductor, and the singers at the edge on the far side..

The first half was Palestrina. Honestly, this music I've mostly heard on telly at Christmas, growing up.. Mostly having the pillar, complete with candles, to stare at, that's what I did. Hearing that, as someone said at the interval, I was engaging in meditation. I can't disagree. Anyway, it was beautiful, pure.

The second half was a treat, though.. They had programs, but I hadn't picked one up.. so it was a complete surprise to me to find the choir scattered after the interval, some at the altar, one guy in the middle of the gallery, others at the back. The reason was for the performance of Allegri's Miserere, which I suppose you could say we got in "surround sound". I don't believe I've ever heard something more beautiful.. and watching the rapt faces of the people around me, I don't think I was alone. To hear it in a church, as intended, with the acoustics.. at full blast. I melted. Divine, in the truest sense of the word.

There were other highlights, but that was the epitome for me. So very glad I came. Many thanks for scheduling it, folks!

More details in next post..