Concert: In Sweet Music is Such Art

Currently in the middle of three days of music with CT, the first two of which are classical music. Last night, I was in Conway Hall for their Sunday concerts - on this occasion, it was a choral concert entitled In Sweet Music is Such Art.

It was pretty last-minute when I decided to eat in the nearby Pizza Express. I'd never been there before - traffic was bad, so since I was coming by bus, I arrived 5 minutes late, and took a cosy table in the corner - it wasn't busy. When the server came over, she started talking as though I was a regular, said my regular waiter wasn't there, and he knew my wine order, but she didn't.. when I said I'd never been in this branch before, she apologised and said she'd obviously mistaken me for someone else!

Anyway, the food was good.. but service is quite slow here, in comparison with other locations - it took a while to give my order, and when I wanted a second glass of wine, I was going to ask for it when my pizza came, but the waiter was gone so quickly I hadn't a chance. I finally had to raise my hand, and it still took forever to get anyone's attention (there seemed only to be two people waiting tables), and when I got hers (I saw her look), it was another five minutes before she dropped by, on her way to another table. At least she got it to me just before I finished the first glass.

So, it all took longer than your average meal. When the time came to pay, it was her again - and sure enough, she asked whether I had the app - no - and started on about how, as a regular, I really, should.. when I told her I wasn't a regular, she actually looked pained, like she didn't believe me. And then she had to go back and recalculate my bill, because she'd applied a discount. The kicker is, she did look familiar from somewhere.. but definitely not here, I've never been to this branch before and I hardly ever go to Pizza Express. V weird, and I was glad to get out of there.

Just made the hall in time - no tickets to collect, she ticked my name off a list and I took a seat - they're unassigned.

Well, it was a choral concert - and to be honest, this kind of choral music, chamber choral music, isn't something I'm mad about. I was a bit stuck for something for yesterday, and this was what came up. It was nice and soothing, but honestly, mostly didn't appeal - I did appreciate the little blurb they gave around each piece, but the music I could take or leave. We'd got free programmes on the way in, which advertised refreshments, so at the interval I wandered off in search of the bar, where they have wine in cans - decent, and cheap. The second half was a bit better - my favourite of the night was the last one, Love Calls Through the Summer Night. Really though, I must stop coming to these choral concerts.. I don't appreciate them.

On the way home, as usual, our bus stopped to change drivers - and our driver promptly pressed the button to announce that this was the last stop, and everyone had to get off! He then got off himself, locked the bus, and stormed off. You know what had happened.. his replacement wasn't there, he didn't want to wait, so he made us all get off in the cold - and it was cold, I really must layer more - to wait until the driver arrived and let us on!

Now, it ran too late last night to blog, as I was booking ahead again. Read on..

And tonight, I'm going to The Liberal Club, of all places, to the David Lloyd George room, where they hold all their public events, for a piano concert called Norwegian Seasons. Fun thing is, CT made sure to warn me that it was formal dress.. but I checked online, and both the club website, and AI, seem to agree that it's smart casual! Well, that means I shouldn't have to go and buy an evening dress.. if they throw me out, I guess they throw me out!

And tomorrow, I'm at the Albert Hall for The Moonwalkers, with a score performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and two specially created films about space exploration, the titular film narrated and co-written by Tom Hanks. 

On Wednesday, I'm back with London Fun at Leicester Square Theatre, for Rosie Holt: The Illegal Aliens Have Landed! Eating beforehand, of course, at Bella Italia Cranbourn Street. Now, that is somewhere I'm a regular..

And then I'm on holiday for the rest of the month! And thus begin 24 straight days of Meetup, and 11 straight days of horror.. On Thursday.. I fly to Dublin for the Bram Stoker Festival (starts on Friday)! Again, part of the London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) Dracula shenanigans. Flying to/from Gatwick - out with Ryanair, back with Easyjet. I'm flying a day early and returning a day late, to make sure I don't miss anything - and am hosting a group there. I'm meeting up with an old, Dublin-based friend and her fiancé that evening. We decided to have dinner in the Good World Chinese restaurant, which was always a favourite of ours. Now, when I was booking this, it had to be by phone or internet form - it was noisy where I was, so I filled out the form. Never did get a response, so I finally rang them - no record of the booking, of course, but we're now booked. Anyway, I'm staying in Staycity aparthotel in the Liberties.

The festival kicks off on Friday - and one of the group flagged a series of events, including a free guided walk - Life, Disease and Death at Collins Barracks, which I might go on. Seems it used to be part of the festival, but not any more. Rough plans to meet my sometime companion for lunch - she's on the trip as well. Do you know, as we were browsing the schedule, events were selling out in front of us! So the only thing I managed to get booked in the festival that day is a live horror podcast called Petrified, showing in the Project Arts Centre. Eating at Smokin' Bones afterwards - and with people in the group arriving at different times, I only have one companion for that, at time of writing. How bad! I started out with bar seating, but when I amended the booking to two people, I got standard seating.. much better..

On Saturday morning, again as part of the festival, there's a treasure hunt in the National Library. Tickets are free, and were supposed to be available from midday last Wednesday - but when I checked, I discovered they weren't available because of industrial action, and indeed, they have to check whether the event is still happening!

That evening, a couple of us are going to a play that's running throughout the festival - Stitch is billed as an homage to Frankenstein, and claims to explore our capacity to be both monster and maker. Playing at Smock Alley Theatre - some of us are eating at Lundy Foot's afterwards, which is right beside it, and wouldn't give us a booking after 8pm! which is when the play finishes. So we're rushing right there.

On Sunday, we were talking about starting with brunch/lunch in Doyle's - another internet form, another non-reply. But behold and lo, I hadn't noticed that they don't open that early there on Sundays! Shelley, who's also coming, found us an alternative, and we're now brunching/lunching in Cafe 1920 at the Fleet Hotel. Anyway, it's convenient to Trinity College, where we're headed to a couple of talks that afternoon, in the Graduate Memorial Building - to which, I must say, they provided excellent directions! First up is Dacre Stoker, a relative of Bram, with a talk called Stoker on Stoker.

Later, there's a talk on Stoker on the Runway: The Gothic in Contemporary Fashion.

And that evening, again at Shelley's suggestion, a few of us are dining at Fallon & Byrne. All these eateries are new to me, BTW!

For those of us left, there's a Macnas parade ("Fiáin", which means "wild") next Monday. We might head out of the city a bit on one of these days, for some sightseeing..

I fly back on the 27th, and am rushing off, with The Hideout, to the Prince Charles Hallowe'en Quiz that night. Victory House bar beforehand, as usual.

On the 28th, well, Clare from LoMAZ flagged a different storytelling group to me - so I'm hosting a trip to see the Bloomsbury Folklore Club talk about vampires and the undead, downstairs at Waterstone's Bloomsbury. Tickets from Eventbrite. And there's a bar down there too!

On the 29th, the Prince Charles (PCC) is doing a vampire day! So I said I'd take the day off for that.. and with the first two days of the week off as well, why, I said I might as well take the whole week off! so I am. This vampire day has a variety of vampire films.. I'm starting with From Dusk till Dawn, because I've never seen it - stars Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Juliette Lewis, Tarantino (would you believe), who also co-wrote it, and Salma Hayek.. it's about a couple of criminals who hole up in a truck stop that turns out to be populated by vampires! With Salma Hayek's character name of Santanico Pandemonium, I have to wonder whether she isn't one of them.. 

Then I'm seeing Sinners, because I just love it. Afterwards, I should just have time to eat in Bella Italia..

Before I join The Hideout for The Lost Boys, about a town full of vampires (Kiefer Sutherland is one of them), and which I've also never seen! Back to Victory House again beforehand, of course.

On the 30th, second day in a row with them, back with The Hideout for Crawlers.. the latest spider horror! Details TBC.

And on Hallowe'en itself.. I have two Meetups! First up is Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, with a walk around Sensational Soho!

And that evening - I couldn't resist Hallowe'en at the Museum! Happening at the Natural History Museum, with a vampire theme - they have a vampire wedding, a vampire council, vampire bands.. and I am so dressing up for it. I'm hosting with The Hideout (making it my third Hideout day in a row of four - and the first time I'll have hosted for them), and also with LoMAZ - fewer on the LoMAZ side. As of now. Well, tickets are £65..

On the 1st, back with Museums, Art & Culture Socials for the Korean exhibition at the British Museum. Pub social afterwards, location TBD.

I can't stay long though - back that evening with The Hideout for the director's cut of Ken Russell's The Devils, at the PCC! Couldn't resist, I love this debauched vision (even censored) of the possessions at Loudun, where a hysterical group of young nuns gave testimony that the magician responsible was one Fr. Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) - the fact that he'd gone up against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu probably didn't help. Also stars Vanessa Redgrave. Meeting in Victory House beforehand, as usual.

Next, two days of Up in the Cheap Seats - on the 2nd, at Dogstar, at Hampstead Theatre.

And on the 3rd, Five Days in the Sun at Sadler's Wells. Eating at The Wilmington beforehand.

On the 4th.. wow, I cannot believe I didn't think of this! I'd seen this talk on The History of the Female Vampire advertised so often.. but I guess I was more relaxed yesterday, and finally realised it was happening on the very day I was looking for something to do. Eventbrite again, and happening in The Blues Kitchen Brixton again, which is an excellent venue! So, I advertised it on LoMAZ, and am having dinner there beforehand, of course.

On the 5th, back, for the first time in over a year, with the World Music Meetup! It's their 15th anniversary, and the concert is with Erroll Linton with Brixton Blues, happening in St. Mary's Church Rotherhithe. Bookable with TunedIn London, as usual. Unfortunately, it's a Thursday, so I'm in the office.. if I get the bus, I'll be passing my house, and can pop in and drop my laptop en route! Grabbing food could be tricky - there's never anything in Rotherhithe..

On the 6th.. the start of nine full days of LoMAZ-related stuff.. heading off on our final adventure with Lomaz's Dracula peeps! This is the big one - we're off to Transylvania! Specifically, Cluj-Napoca - there was talk of heading to Bucharest, which is easier for flights - but following my trip there last year, I know that's too far for the daytrip they want to do to Bran Castle. Oh, you can do daytrips from Bucharest to Bran - but it's mostly driving, and you'd miss out on Sighisoara. And you really don't want to miss out on that, believe me. So I put my foot down about Cluj.. and when we started getting great reports about it, others got behind it, and now that's where we're staying! The great thing is, there are direct flights from Stansted to Cluj, with Ryanair.. 

Now, the outbound flight is at (ahem) 5.55am.. Lordy, I literally have to take the very first Stansted Express of the day. And I think JW is the only other one to sign up for this torture.. although he says he'll sleep in the airport, as is his wont. Will probably Uber from the airport, I'll have a big bag. I'm staying in Ultra Central Apartments, booked through Booking.com - have just checked, and can't check in until 3pm! Ouch.. four hours after we arrive.. well, I'll either hang around in the airport, or in a cafe in town, I suppose. Because I ain't going sightseeing with a case! although I could ask about early check-in, closer to time. Most of the others are on a flight a couple of hours after ours..

On the 7th, we're talking about doing a walking tour of the town - Get Your Guide offers the cheaper ones. But it's a private tour, the cost per person depends on how many have signed up, and I'm currently trying to find out how many are interested, and which of the six available times they'd prefer! I suppose it'll be me booking, and chasing people for money afterwards. There's also a wine tasting I'm interested in, but it needs a minimum of two people, so I'm trying to persuade people from the group to join me that day..

On the 8th is our Dracula tour, to Sighisoara and Bran Castle. This, mercifully, is already booked, and we're just joining an existing tour, with George Tourism, so no chasing people for decisions. Ickily early start, but at least close to where I'm staying. This is the bit I've done before, so I'm busily answering any questions the others have.. as long as I don't give too much away..! ;-)

Most people are heading back on the 9th - there'll still be one person besides me, so we'll have to decide what we want to do!

Now, with flights back to Stansted only on Fridays and Sundays.. and our main tour on Sunday.. I decided to stay till Friday 13th (!). The next couple of days, I booked Get Your Guide tours.. on the 10th, a Communist Era Walking Tour of Cluj..

And on the 11th, a trip out of town.. has to be done.. I booked the Maramures Adventure: Tradition, Folk Art & Scenic Beauty.

I'm flying back on Friday 13th - how appropriate..

And on the 14th.. back with LoMAZ to see the Hunterian Museum. And we're dressing Steampunk for the occasion, meeting at the Princess Louise beforehand and gathering at Be At One afterwards. And do you think I have the time to be thinking about an outfit?! I had one day to make the basic choices, bought some stuff, dug out some more stuff, and have yet to find the time to put it together..!

Finally (assuming I'm still alive), back at Conway Hall with CT on the 15th. Also classical, but this time instrumental, so I should be happier.