London Still Rocks!

Tonight, I headed to  Reykjavik , in  Hampstead Theatre .. which, ironically,   Up in the Cheap Seats   went to a while back. What an awful night to be headed out.. cold, pouring rain.. Anyway, I walked to the station to catch the Tube . And despite someone's groan as it pulled in and we saw how crowded it was, mercifully most of them got off, so we got on. And I even got a seat after a couple of stops! Ate at Ye Olde Swiss Cottage of course, as usual. I have to say, I've never seen it so busy! I was lucky to get a seat - not my usual table, but one at the other side of the bar area, which was fine. 20 minutes, I queued at the bar to get served - the lady behind me remarked that she'd never seen such a slow barman, but I think that was unfair! As I pointed out, there was only one of him - and the line of people never dropped off. Anyway, I duly had my order taken, and it wasn't too long before I got served - poor guy admitted that he'd forgotten where I was sittin...

Yesterday, back with  Laurence Summers  and the  45+ Not Grumpies , yay! This (new) walk started life as  Baker Street and its Quirky Surrounds , and was rechristened Baker Street and its Irregulars . So, back in the same direction as Friday .. gee, I should nearly have stayed the night! Ah, the buses.. I discovered I could get there by bus in under an hour. Apparently. I'd have to change at Waterloo . I left in plenty of time. Getting to Waterloo was no problem - getting out of there was a nightmare. The #139 was supposed to take me straight from there to Selfridge's , where we were to join the walk. Yeah - except it never came. With no bus apparently due, I got wary - I often run into problems like that at Waterloo - and took the other bus from that stop , the #176 , when it came. Then it had to stop dead for a while, to "even out the gaps in the service". Then traffic was terrible.. and finally it dropped me - on Tottenham Court Road . Now, I knew that was going ...

Now, a couple more days with  Meetup . Tonight, back with  Up in the Cheap Seats  (UITCS) for  The Glorious French Revolution  at the  New Diorama Theatre ! I booked to eat beforehand at the nearby  Greene Man , which is a  Greene King  pub, where good food can always be had. Most of the group actually ate at  Ravishankar  - but with it being vegetarian, I wasn't keen. Wow, it takes a long time to get there from where I live - had to be Tube ! I had planned to walk to the station - and just as well, because en route, I didn't see any bus pass that I could have got from home. Wow again, I don't recall ever seeing the Tube this busy - it took a while just to get through the barriers. The train itself, mind, was relatively ok, wherever that crowd were all going to.. and I got a seat most of the way. At Baker Street , I had to change for the Metropolitan Line - and arrived just in time to see it pulling away. The next one didn't come...

Tonight, I was to be back at  Watkin's Occult Bookshop , first time in ages - this was for a  talk  from the author of a new book - on  Book Curses ! Eating afterwards at  Bella Italia Cranbourn Street  again. But I subsequently decided to check out the film list - and top of the list was  No Other Land , a documentary formed from a young  Palestinian  boy filming every eviction from his village by  Israeli  forces. Teamed up with a sympathetic Israeli journalist to do it. Sounded more interesting to me. Closest showing to me was in the  BFI  - and with it mostly sold out, I said I'd better book. Also booked to eat in  The Archduke  beforehand. I stayed in the office nearly until closing time, and was the last out - well, all of this was on late! and it was a great chance to clock up some hours, what with having a timesheet to fill out. I chose to walk - I should have been able to make it in under half an hour, w...

T onight, the last of three musical evenings in a row, I was with  Over 40 Living the Life , for  The Magic of Motown  tribute show, at the  New Wimbledon Theatre . Ah Lordy, what a busy day - with one thing and another, I did leave later than I intended. With so much walking incorporated in Google Maps ' suggested journey, I thought I might make up some of the time by catching a bus to London Bridge , where I'd need the Northern Line  - no such luck. I arrived as a bus that would take me there was due - but it turned out to be terminating early, and the next that'd take me wasn't due for ages. I wanted time to eat before meeting the others, so the only option - as another person waiting obviously agreed - was to walk, and we set off. The Tube, when it came, was horrendously packed - happily, tons of people got off, and were replaced by tons of us. And ooh, we were squashed, although I've had worse - and at least I'd got on the first one. And after Kennington ...