London Still Rocks!

Yesterday, I headed with  London Social Detours  to a talk on " Painting the Christmas Story " - a history of paintings of the nativity - at the  Wallace Collection . Which got me up a lot earlier than I otherwise would, uhh.. and, well, I could have taken buses, but frankly, I'd have had to be up earlier.. sleep being a priority, I took the Tube . Which actually made more sense, as we were meeting at a Tube station ! I even took a bus to London Bridge to catch the Tube, figuring it'd be faster than walking. But what with waiting for the bus, and waiting for the Tube.. I realised I'd be a little late. Happily, our organiser had provided her phone number, and reception was OK in London Bridge station, so I could let her know - and when I arrived, the group was stood outside, waiting for a few more people. It was a short enough walk to the Wallace Collection - which, on top of its regular treasures, was beautifully decorated for Christmas! The talk was in the lect...

Hallowe'en  is always an important night for me to plan - I had dreadful trouble this year finding something, though. But then,  London Social Detours  finally posted  something  for the day - a lunchtime talk about the  World's Weirdest Deaths  (happening at the  Guildhall Library ), followed by a mini horror walk . I booked it, and booked the time off work.. wanted to wait until I had a good reason. On my way out, the day started in suitable fashion - with two pumpkins and a matching cat! Got my hair cut first - at last, I had the time! and the beneficial effects were immediately evident, as it was a breezy day, and I now had less hair to blow around. It wasn't a long walk from the salon to the Guildhall - of course, I'd forgotten to bring cash, but there are plenty of ATMs en route. And I made it in good time. We were early for the talk itself, affording some time to look around: And it was lovely to see the Guildhall had gone to some effort, f...

Tonight, back with  London Social Detours  - first time in  nearly six months  - for a  talk  about  The Players' Theatre . Tickets were all gone when I looked - just as well she pre-booked! Unfortunately, it meant I had to leave work pretty early - but I managed. Could have got the bus, but I ended up on the Tube , for two reasons - faster, and I figured it'd be easier that way to figure out where the Palmer Street exit to St. James's Park Station was. At least the Tube was less busy at this hour than when I normally take it! Mind you, why Google Maps wanted me to walk from Westminster , when I could quite easily take the Tube, remains beyond me.. As for the Palmer Street exit - yeah.. no. The only signs were for " Park & Broadway" and "Victoria Street". Neither sounded right - eeny-meeny.. I chose "Park & Broadway", and happily, that was where our leader was. We waited there for a while, as she redirected people to where we were, ...