Storytelling: The Girl Who Married a Dog

Tonight, back with storytelling in Folklore! This time it was Nell Phoenix for the Crick Crack Club (CCC), performing The Girl Who Married a Dog, tickets with Dice as usual. Eating at The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand - and wow, it's a couple of months since I was last up that way!

It's a bitter, bitter cold snap in London right now - good timing for me to order thermal, fleece-lined gloves! I picked them up today - unfortunately, I didn't have gloves to wear en-route - and by the time I got home again, I had pins and needles in my frozen fingers. But hey, I got to wear them as I headed out again - and yes, I can testify they are wonderfully cosy! Not magnificent when using the phone though - I find I can swipe, but I can't pinch, and of course fingerprint recognition is a dead loss.. still, they'll come in very useful. For preventing my hands from seizing up in the cold.

I wondered why Google Maps suggested I get off a stop early - discovered why when I discovered the next stop was closed! A brief walk in the bitter cold.. I was a little early, which was just fine. The attendant showed me to a table at the bar - and yay, I lucked out tonight and got pretty quick service! (Not everyone around me did - I obviously won the lottery.) Ooh.. I'd forgotten how amazing the fried chicken is here.. If I'd had time, I'd seriously have had a second portion. Instead, from their revamped menu, I had a ginger margarita - lovely, with a very slight gingery taste. Again, I might have had another, but I had to gallop..

I was glad to get to Folklore, and in out of the cold - whereupon my glasses immediately fogged up. Got two glasses of wine on my way in, on the basis that the queue at the bar at the interval is impossible.. nobody bothered to check my ticket, and a few seats were available near the back. 

As it happened, there wasn't an interval - so it was just as well I started to drink the second glass after a while! Also a relief to get it off the floor, where I'd been trying to mind it. Anyway, tonight, Nell was telling stories of creation, of birth.. and after each one, she came out with "And that is how the world was made!" to which we were instructed to reply, "Who cares?", which led her into another. They were varied - they tended to share an Arctic theme, appropriately for the weather, and centred on Wolverine. All told with her customary humour. I still did have some wine left at the end, so sat in the bar to finish it, then visited the loo - for the first time in all my nights here! Where I discovered all the required facilities - apart from a hand dryer. You have been warned..

Tomorrow, back with Mandy and her new Meetup group (ahem) Rat-Arsed Tours! This is her Knightsbridge & Belgravia Crimbo Walk - and gee, she has a lot to live up to after the last one of these! Also advertised with London Herstory Walks. We were to meet in The Plumbers Arms, but the location has changed to Tattersalls Tavern. And just like last time, I'll be getting a workout with my laptop on my back, it being my one day a week in the office.. speaking of which, I'd better get to bed..

Then, two days of Spanish music, olé! On Friday, I've lucked out getting cheap tickets with CT to a concert of Spanish classical guitar music at Pixaudio! Regular tickets with Eventbrite. Ah, I adore this music.. eating in The North Pole beforehand.

And on Saturday, 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.

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

On the 27th, the CCC 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. On the 28th, 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..

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...