Tonight, decided on film again - second in a row, now - and what was coming up was The Sacrifice, a film about a family who've just discovered there's to be a nuclear war. Closest evening showing is in the Curzon Soho. But looking at a more complete listing, I saw the Prince Charles was showing Contes d' Été (A Summer's Tale), a wee story of a young lad juggling several simultaneous relationships. Looked decent, and was mostly sold out again, so I booked.
Walked down there from the office, and left in my rucksack - they don't let you take it into the screen. Got a Sauvignon Blanc, and some Maltesers - I was hungry. I was sitting near the end of the row - and gee, did I have to get up and down several times to let people in and out!
Seems this is one of a series - Contes des Quatres Saisons (Tales of the Four Seasons). Anyway, I was glad I came to see this - it is a really understated, but very funny piece, about a pretty oblivious young man, hanging out in Brittany during the summer, having graduated college and waiting to start a job. Well, he has an on-off girlfriend, who's supposed to join him, but there's no sign of her.. then a waitress at the cafe he eats at comes on to him.. then she introduces him to a group of friends, and one of the girls gets interested in him..
Honestly, I can't see what they all saw in him, myself. He looks pretty ordinary - perhaps he gives off a kind of artistic vibe. Certainly, he spends a lot of time songwriting. Comedy ensues as he tries to ensure they never meet.. I won't give the plot away - but his sheer nonchalance is hilarious, as they all get mad at him in due course. Highly recommended.
I ate at Bella Italia afterwards, because it was an early film - and was glad I booked, because they were pretty busy. More French-speakers at the table beside me - a real feature of the evening. The food was great, as always, and I let myself be persuaded into a third glass of wine - as I said, I am on holiday now. Anyway, I now have the three meals required to qualify for half-price dinners right up to the end of October, yay! Oh and BTW, it's great that the roadworks outside my place are now finished, and the buses running as intended.
And woohoo, tomorrow sees the kickoff of London Museum A-Z's Dracula trips! The book goes to Whitby this weekend - and so do we! With 19 signed up, as someone at work remarked, that's a lot of cats to herd.. Now, we were having dreadful trouble trying to figure out how to get there, with complicated travel routes - until I was at one of Laurence Summers' walks, we were having lunch afterwards, and talking travel, and I mentioned this trip to Whitby. "Whitby!", exclaims the woman sitting opposite me, "I love Whitby!" She's always there, it seems.. to which, of course, my response was - "How?!"
So, she always gets the fast train to York and an Uber from there - says it's the quickest, and cheapest, among any of the alternatives. So.. we're all getting the fast train to York! tomorrow, meeting early at the station, where some are having breakfast. I booked with Uber, which got me the best deal - and points - and I had credit with them. Most of us are heading in the morning - I'm taking the day off - and then some are heading straight to Whitby by Uber, some by connecting trains or bus, and some of us are staying in York for lunch and a wander around - it's a beautiful city. (And we're a flexible group.) We're then carpooling Ubers to Whitby - one of the other organisers, Shelley, told me about Uber's feature to share the cost of a ride, so we might use that - and have booked The Fat Badger in Whitby for dinner that night. 13 have signed up for dinner.. how appropriately spooky! Food has now been prebooked. We all booked our own accommodation - I'm in The Captain's Lodge, and it seems a few more of the group are next door.
Saturday looks jam-packed - not least because there's a regatta in town! A number of us have booked to go to the famous abbey that day, where there are two showings of a Dracula play.. and Shelley has put together a Bram Stoker walk. We're eating in The Moon and Sixpence that night. Meantime, there are a few Goth fans in the group, who are likely to hit the apparently numerous Goth shops in the town - as told to me by someone on another of those walks!
Now, I was on yet another walk when the guide said to me that the Dracula Experience in Whitby is great fun.. Well, I'll try and squeeze it in on Sunday, although I'm guessing we'll be having lunch, and then we're heading back home in the late afternoon - watch this space. Altogether though, expecting a great trip!
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