Concert: Isabel Martínez

This is the start of two days of Spanish music, olé! on my own. Tonight, I lucked out getting cheap tickets with TAC to a concert of Spanish classical guitar music at Pixaudio! Regular tickets with Eventbrite. Ah, I adore this music.. booked to eat in The North Pole beforehand. Appropriately for this frigid weather.

There really was no way there except bus - so I took the first to come. It was slightly delayed - but oh! the worst was yet to come. Right after Canada Water - traffic slowed practically to a stop. We took 15 minutes just to go around one corner. As I watched the minutes tick by, I realised there was no way I'd make my pub booking - I amended it from 6pm to 6.30. Apart from the rush hour, and the roadworks en route, we finally came across the source of the jam - a broken-down bus, whose passengers flooded onto ours, one remarking that she just hoped this one WOULD actually go to Greenwich, they having been thrown off the last one..

After that, we fairly flew - I did have about a 10-minute walk once I got off, which turned out to be down Norman Road, along an uneven pavement that took me past tower blocks of flats, only to become a a desolate-looking location of warehouses and an industrial estate towards its far end. And this was where I came upon the North Pole pub, a scruffy-looking establishment whose doors I wouldn't have darkened if it hadn't been the only option in the area!

Inside.. my. It was a riot of fairy lights and chandeliers, a pink neon sign pointing to the upstairs restaurant. The sofas are upholstered in white, the tables and floor are black. I was a little late for my amended booking - I spoke to the guy behind the bar, who said yes, I could go upstairs, but I'd be the only one there.. or I could stay down here, except I'd have to put up with curious people coming in and out. He assured me it was the same menu. I decided to stay down - service would be quicker at the bar anyway. I asked for a glass of wine to be going along with - he smiled and told me to take a seat, soon bringing it over with a menu.

The menu leans heavily towards the Middle Eastern, which I wasn't in the mood for - also burgers, wraps, a vegetarian curry. Unenthused with most of the selection, I plumped for a steak - medium, with chips (discounted if bought with the steak), and onion rings. After watching the guys behind the bar for a minute, and seeing most of them do a whole heap of nothing, certainly not looking in my direction, I decided to order at the bar. Oh, heaven preserve us.. the guy who'd greeted me when I came in had gone, and I don't think the rest of them are used to people ordering from the menu. Nor is the first language of most of them English. I had the most confusing conversation with one guy, pointing at the menu items - he then called the older guy, who seemed to understand a bit more, so I gave him my order again and he seemed to get it. And then they called me over 10 minutes later to confirm the order that they were just now entering into the till..

Oh Lordy, I was bricking it that I wouldn't get to the venue in time - at least, looking it up, I discovered it was back the way I'd come, under five minutes' walk. Meantime, I contented myself in looking at my surroundings - a group of raucous ladies occupied one corner, a young couple came in and kept to themselves in another. Ooh, and then a lady arrived with an East End accent that wouldn't have been out of place in, well, Eastenders. Looked the part of a pub landlady too, glammed up as she was, yelling hello to the regulars, going behind the bar but briefly. She also greeted a pair of big burly guys that arrived - they turned out to be bouncers, whom she gave vests reading "Security" and who duly took up position outside the door. I was perplexed to see one of the barmen drag the cupboard with condiments, cutlery and the like in it over to the main door - I finally realised he was using it to block half the door, so people could only enter and leave through the other half!

My dinner arrived just after 7pm, brought down from upstairs. The guy was going to ask at the bar which table it was for, until I caught his eye and he brought it to me. And wow, the steak was lovely.. well, mostly, although the texture was the grainiest I've had in years. The chips were also excellent - the onion rings were sort of takeaway style, but tasty. The wine, by the way, was nondescript. Bless, all the waiting staff seemed quite inexperienced, but eager to please. Unfortunately, of course, I couldn't finish it - I just didn't have time. Got through about 2/3 of the steak, maybe half the rest - there was a huge bowl of onion rings. As I explained to the server clearing my table, I was just in a hurry..

The venue was in the industrial estate I'd passed - I scurried back there, to find the pedestrian gates at the side open. The front building was lit - now, I'd checked the location as closely as possible already, and looking that up again, I was delighted to find that this was the place! I was about exactly on time - headed for the bloke standing outside in the cold (poor thing!) in shirtsleeves, holding a clipboard, he ticked off my name and I was in. I zipped past the bar, checking the wine list as I went - had fully intended to get another glass of wine, but they only had Cono Sur, which I don't like. So I didn't - checked out the seating situation instead. It was pretty full, so unfortunately I ended up near the back. Like most people in the room, I left my coat on - the heating was blasting away, you could hear it, but it was hard to heat such an open space.

Mercifully, as I'd suspected, they did start late - and I could only sympathise, because she really didn't look as though she was wearing warm enough clothes:

Quite a Spanish outfit though, with a sparkly gold bolero jacket and a pair of matador-style palazzo pants, complete with cummerbund. Her black hair was left loose, and was long enough for her to sit on.. The announcer explained that this was the first in their Women Guitarists Concert Series! Isabel opened with four pieces I know and absolutely love: 

The first was Fantasia X by Alonso Mudarra, the oldest piece in tonight's concert, being 16th Century. Ah, I was in heaven.. The second was later, more contemplative - Variations on Mozart by Fernando Sor. And then two of my absolute favourites: Recuerdos de la Alhambra, by Francisco Tárrega, before which she explained that the music is meant to sound like flowing water, but she wasn't sure she could do it tonight, with her frozen fingers (she managed).. and Granada, by Isaac Albéniz. The "romantic period", she called it. For me, the Recuerdos was the highlight of all.

Sadly, I just wasn't as interested in the rest of the program, which was just over an hour long. But I still considered myself lucky to have been in a room with such beautiful music.. and with it finishing so early, I had the chance to do some much-needed shopping on the way home! Even if I did find myself just arriving in time to miss a bus, and having to wait 15 minutes in the bitter cold for another..

And tomorrow, the first of two Meetups in a row - although this first one is obviously one of those commercial groups, formed to promote an event - La Isla Flamenco Club is advertising an evening of flamenco, folk, & copla in Bistrot Walluc (tickets from Eventbrite). Now, this turns out to be a fondue restaurant - it doesn't appeal to me massively as a proper meal, so I discovered it's not far from the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch, and have booked there again for beforehand! The bistrot is, however, offering a cheap first drink if pre-booked, so I did.

Then on Sunday, second Meetup in a row, and first of two films in a row - I'm off with Movie Roadhouse London (MRL) to Nuremberg, a representation of the famous post-World War II Nazi trials, starring Russell Crowe as Hermann Goring and Rami Malek as the psychiatrist brought in to assess the mental state of the prisoners. They're seeing it in the Gate Picturehouse - and our resourceful organiser apparently has a restaurant in mind for after, for those interested! Crikey, it's 11.5 years since I was last there..

And on Monday, I'm thinking of heading to Dragonfly, on my own.. it's the story of an elderly woman (Brenda Blethyn) needing care, and the next-door neighbour (Andrea Riseborough) who steps in to save the day: possibly with ulterior motives.. Closest showing to me is in the Garden Cinema.

On Tuesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for a play called Jurassic, at Soho Theatre.

On Wednesday, headed with TAC to Maybe I Should Stop, at the Drayton Arms.

On Thursday, the Crick Crack Club is in action again, in the form of Ben Haggarty, who's performing The Blacksmith at the Bridge of Bones, at the Story Museum Oxford. Happily, they livestream it - available for a week afterwards - so I'm free to go with UITCS again that day, who are headed to Sadler's Wells for Ballet Black, performing Shadows. Eating beforehand in The Wilmington.

Then, two days with MRL, three with Meetup. Next Friday, we're off to Pillion - showing in the BFI, this is a love story between a man and a handsome young biker.. starring Alexander Skarsgard (most memorable for his role as vampire Eric in True Blood, woo!) Booked for the Archduke again beforehand..

On the 29th, we're going to Winter Wonderland! Oh, I've been to this so many times on my own, it'll be great to go with a group.. we're all going to The Ice Palace, then skating is scheduled - not my thing, I'll be going to Cirque Berserk shortly afterwards. Then we hang out together, doing whatever..

On the 30th, back with LoMAZ for a LoMAZ unlimited - they generally limit their numbers, but have the odd event with unlimited numbers. British Museum - on this day, focused on a Nordic Noir exhibition - and afterwards to Penderel's Oak.

And on the 1st, off with CT to Shake It Up - The Improvised Shakespeare Show, at the Hen & Chickens.. My sometime travel companion is coming too, and we're eating at La Pasta beforehand - handily, it's quite a late show, which gives us plenty of time.