Walk: Phantom Femmes
Last night, the second of four nights of horror, and first of three days of Meetup. I was back with Museum, Art & Culture Socials (MACS), for a Phantom Femmes ghost tour with Herstorical Tours! We were meeting at Costa in Farringdon. And hallelujah for a guided walk on a Thursday, for once, I didn't have to go into the office, so I didn't have to lug a laptop on the walk - the power is out in the office building! Whee..
Well, I might have eaten in the nearby Sir John Oldcastle, but it was completely full. So I ended up going to Costa really early, where I had a moreish ham & cheese toastie, and managed to secure a table big enough for everyone meeting there. Interestingly, when the organiser, Camilla, arrived, she had a vegan toastie.. with "cheeze".. Anyway, when the others arrived, we chatted until it was time to congregate in front of the station - we didn't know exactly where, but sort of stood in the centre, where the guide, Maria, ultimately found us.
She had a very atmospheric lantern:
Now, to be fair, I've been on a ton of ghost walks, and around the same areas - which means I'm always impressed when a guide comes up with material I haven't heard before. Maria had us all do a spot of meditation first to guard against evil spirits.. and then proceeded to tell us a tale I hadn't heard, taking us around the back of the station (a place that used to be called Chick Lane) to tell us about a young girl called Anne Nailor (or Naylor), who met a sad end in 1758, abused by the mother and daughter who owned the hatmakers' to which she was apprenticed.. she was only 13 when she died as a result of their treatment, and now haunts the station.
And so around St. Bartholomew the Great, in whose churchyard Maria dispensed EMF meters.. cool, I was on a Paranormal Activity walk years ago, where we were also given ghost hunting equipment, but although they had EMF readers, I didn't get one, and ended up with dowsing rods. The meters were cool, ranging from green for no activity through orange and red - we got nothing really in the churchyard, but when we went outside..
We got another flash of orange as we passed the site of the Wallace memorial, currently hidden behind a construction hoarding:
Of course, we heard the tale of Scratching Fanny of Cock Lane.. couldn't leave that one out. Anyway, in due course we came to St. Sepulchre's:
with The Old Bailey across the road:
And I don't know whether it was the bodies in the churchyard, or the spirits of convicts around the area.. but our EMF readers went off the scale:
And so to t' pub. Which, as per their website, was the Viaduct. And we got to see the cellar - which seemed much more touristy than the last time I was down there, decorations reminding us how these used to be prison cells:
The EMF readers went crazy down there as well, of course. And so, after an exciting evening of ghost hunting, we repaired to the bar.. where, with me around, the talk naturally turned to vampires! ;-) Anyway, a lovely group, and we had a fun evening!
Well, I'd not really eaten properly, so I took the excuse to repair to The Sun Wharf.. which, amazingly, I made before they stopped serving food, despite the great dearth of buses heading in that direction.. and since U2 just yesterday evening announced their first tour dates in seven years (!), I celebrated by staying till closing, and having an extra drink. It ran too late to blog last night, though.
Now, two days of London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ).Tonight, another LoMAZ Dracula event - we're off to see the uncut version of Dracula (AKA Horror of Dracula) (1958) with Christopher Lee - the cut footage was apparently originally considered too scary for the general public - showing tonight only in Cineworld Leicester Square and now sold out. Eating beforehand in the Marketplace Food Hall, and heading to the pub afterwards - many thanks to Dar, who went to Dovetail with The Hideout and recommended it to me! So we've booked a couple of tables there. And Jonny H is to join us!
And tomorrow, I'm hosting more storytelling, courtesy of the Crick Crack Club - this time it's Daniel Morden, who's telling The Luck Child & Other Strange Tales in Jacksons Lane.
That being in the afternoon, I've also booked something for the evening - The Hideout is off to Hallowe'en at Kew, so I've signed up! We're meeting in The Tap on the Line beforehand, and I'm coming early to grab a bite to eat.
Then it's three days of music with CT, the first two of which are classical music. On Sunday, I'm in Conway Hall for their Sunday concerts - on this occasion, it's a choral concert entitled In Sweet Music is Such Art.
And on Monday, 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 on Tuesday, 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.
And then I'm on holiday for the rest of the month! And thus begin 13 days of Meetup, and 11 straight days of horror.. On Thursday.. I fly to Dublin for the Bram Stoker Festival (starts next Friday)! Again, part of the 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 next Friday - and one of the group just 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. 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 the morning of the 24th, 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 the 25th, 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") on the 26th. 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 MACS 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.
And finally, 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.
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