London Still Rocks!

This couple of days , a couple of   Meetups : last night, back with  London Museums A-Z  (LoMAZ, yay!), who were, unusually for them, doing something midweek - specifically, a late at the  Cartoon Museum  - which is walking distance from the office, where I was yesterday. Ah, the hardship of timing work so it finishes neither too early nor too late.. when the time was finally closer to 5.30 than 5.15, off I popped, and walked to the museum. Jesu, my shoulders were aching from the laptop by the time I got there, slightly early - shortly afterwards, someone posted in the WhatsApp group that she had arrived, but was standing in the porch, 'cause it was too cold. As it certainly was - the overnight rain has warmed things up a bit, but it was bitter last night. And we all duly assembled in the porch, apart from a few who were running late. Well, it turned out that there was a tour group, which we obviously didn't want to get mixed up in. So we headed to the comic ex...

Last night, back at the cinema on my own - I bit the bullet and saw  Stalker . I've heard this described as one of the best films ever made - certainly, I found the trailer confusing enough that I did a lot of research before I decided to see it. Made in the late  Communist  era, it involves a surreal journey through the Zone, where normal laws of physics do not apply, to the Room, where a person's deepest desires may be granted. If they are proven worthy. It's thought to be a metaphor for the frustrations of the failure of the Communist system. Anyway, showing in the  Close-Up Cinema . And so, I decided to eat beforehand at Sheba , my new go-to place on Brick Lane ! You can get a discount if you book, but you can't book for just one person - I could have lied and put another person on the booking, but I didn't bother. Now, when I was there before , I found their wine insipid - so I planned to bring my own, which you can. Completely forgot, of course! Again, I could...

Yesterday, third Meetup in a row , I was with  Movie Roadhouse London , at  The History of Sound , starring  Paul Mescal  and  Josh O' Connor  as two young  Americans  travelling around and collecting folk music in the early years of the 20th century. Showing at the  Barbican , and the organiser wisely suggested we meet at the cafe on  Beech Street  - that building is a maze! (Funnily enough, on Saturday , when I mentioned this, some people thought I'd said " Ministry of Sound "..) Google Maps threw a hissy fit, telling me how to get there - gave me several options involving catching the #47 and changing, then one taking the #47 direct - only to strike through that option.. and seemed to say my bus stop was closed, and the service cancelled! (Or at least I think so - it's hard to tell, they never specify which stop they're talking about.) The #381 , on the other hand, which stops at the same place and runs the same route for a w...