London Still Rocks!

Well.. flew back into London on Sunday night, with Aer Lingus because it was a bit cheaper than Ryanair  at short notice. Which meant I came into Heathrow . The flight was delayed.. how bad, I squeezed in a couple of glasses of wine while I waited. Unfortunately, this meant we were late into Heathrow.. and my only option was bus! So, I sought out the Central Bus Station in Heathrow, first time ever. It's findable.. and on the departures board, no fewer than five National Express departures for London Victoria  were listed, all leaving at 23.59. "Wait in Lounge", it said. I did for a while - it was about 23.30 - then thought it might behove me to buy a ticket. The app wasn't working, the ticket office was closed, the first of three machines in the wall wasn't working. I finally got a ticket from the next one along. Had a peek out both exit doors, spotted coach stops out of one, went out that way. Checked with one of the workers, strolling up and down the bays, t...

On Saturday , the fifth of six Meetup days in a row, I was back at last with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a walk entitled Heavenly Heights of Hampstead . Had forgotten to pay him (as I always do in advance by bank transfer, it's handier), would you believe, I've had so much on! So it's as well he reminded me.. Tired after the night before, I really wasn't with the program that morning, as they say. It had to be Tube , but Northern Line instead of the Jubilee , which I more commonly get. Of course, force of habit made me enter via the Jubilee gates.. so I had a trek through the station to get to the Northern Line. And then I just took the first train to come - which didn't go to Hampstead! so I had to change. All the same, I arrived a wee bit early into brilliant sunshine, and spotted him across the road . Crossed, whereupon he explained we were actually starting where I'd just come from. So, back we went again. Ah, what a morning.. And I en...

Last night  second in a row of six days of Meetups , and of three days of mythology - whee, I hosted storytelling with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) again! The Crick Crack Club  (CCC) - in the form of Lucy Lill - performed  Doom Scrolls - The Never-Ending Prophecies of the Sibyls in Folklore Hoxton . Female prophets, the theme - and I was still getting new sign-ups practically up to the end. It sold out at least two days beforehand, as they tend to do - two people cancelled after I said it. One person, mind, went on the CCC's waitlist and got a last-minute ticket! I booked to eat in the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand. Made it a bit early - the guy at the door recognised the name, and led me quickly to a booth - at that time, it was pretty empty anyway. Service, I have to say, was better than I've experienced here before in general - quite attentive. I had the roast chicken for the first time.. it came with a lovely, thick gravy, but on a bed of chickpeas, which I wo...