London Still Rocks!

Last Friday - well now, I was hardly going to miss  The Hideout 's trip to  The Conjuring: Last Rites , which opened that day.. starring  Patrick Wilson  and  Vera Farmiga  as  Ed and Lorraine Warren , it covers the 1986  Smurl haunting . And they're supposed to be making this the last case. Well, I love this stuff, so that was a no-brainer. Showing in the  Odeon West End , advertised social in   All Bar One   after. Had booked for Bella Italia - third day in a row - and traffic must have been very delayed, because my bus was late - so I was about 10 minutes late for my booking. Not a problem! Again, as the day before , I had the new katsu carbonara - and reminded my waiter that I'd suggested a pinch more katsu in it. Well, when it came, they sure had done that.. you could smell the katsu. The dish was swimming in katsu sauce - and it was yummy. I can't say whether most people would prefer this ratio of katsu to carbonara, but I w...

Now in the middle of a whole heap of  Meetup .. On Friday.. well,  The Hideout  was off to  Friday 13th Part VIII  in the  Prince Charles  (PCC).. and the organiser offered me a free ticket. Otherwise you couldn't drag me to it, TBH. We were meeting in  Victory House  beforehand - and I had no time to eat before that. On a hot day, the bus was sweltering.. even walking around the streets was like being slowly cooked. Two of the group had beaten me to it - and wow, it's three months since I last saw Jonny, the organiser! Great to catch up. Predictably, Victory House are no better than ever at serving wine.. I asked for Sauvignon Blanc, had to specify that was white wine.. and it'd be in the fridge.. and it was a lucky thing I spotted her putting ice in the glass, and made her take it out again! They finished the bottle on me, and weren't sure it'd come to the extent of a large glass - it just about did. The girl on the till said they only cha...

Last night, I booked at  Sadler's Wells  with  Up in the Cheap Seats  (UITCS) again, for  Oona Doherty-Specky Clark . Which sounded.. curious, being an interpretation in dance of a family history involving a family of butchers and, on the other side, working in an abattoir.. Anyway, also booked for  The Wilmington  again. But then the organiser of   The Hideout   messaged me, late the night before, to ask whether I was free - and offered me a free ticket to the   Final Destination double bill  (the original, in which people who have cheated Death have it come after them, in the order in which they were originally supposed to die, plus the new one,   Final Destination: Bloodlines , in which we see a family connection) at the   Odeon West End   yesterday evening, for which they had an   event ! He couldn't go, in the end.. well, gee, sounded good - I'd have booked in the first place, if I hadn't been booked for the...

Tonight, I was back with  Movie Roadhouse London  (MRL) for  Last Breath , starring  Woody Harrelson  in the true story of the rescue of a deep-sea diver, Chris Lemons . We were heading to  the  Odeon Luxe West End . So I booked  Bella Italia on Cranbourn Street  again for beforehand. As I planned my journey, I noticed the TFL warning about a route change for this month - ahah, so the #188 is terminating, temporarily, at Holborn because of roadworks! Well, now I know. And so, when Google Maps - which, despite advertising TFL's warnings, obviously doesn't take them into account - suggested a number of route options involving the #188.. I made sure to choose one that involved changing to another bus. Which went just fine, and I made my booking with 10 minutes to spare. A huge welcome from the staff, and I was seated upstairs - handy, as I remarked, considering that's where the ladies' is, and I needed it! The waiter pre-empted my wine order...

Last Friday , I was hardly going to miss a trip to see  Smile 2  with  The Hideout ! I loved the  original , was always interested in seeing this anyway.. we were seeing it in the  Odeon West End . And I booked beforehand in Bella Italia -  Cranbourn Street , not  Irving Street , which is nearer, but booked up before I could get to it. Ooh, and I was to get a free starter because I reviewed my  last trip  to a branch of theirs!  Well, the bus was one of the slowest ever. It stopped twice to "even out the gaps in the service", then we stopped to change driver.. and to cap it all, it terminated at Aldwych . Checking, I figured walking was as fast as any other way of getting to the restaurant - so, walk I did. I arrived half an hour late - thought I might as well try them, I'd planned on being early anyway, which meant I now still had time to eat before meeting the group! I asked whether they had a table for one - she said yes, if I didn't...