London Tourists…

This weekend we went and played tourists in London and had a thoroughly enjoyable (and moderately expensive) time.

We bought discounted tickets to see Barking in Essex, a comedy stage show at the Wyndham Theatre with Shelia Hancock, Lee Evens, Keeley Hawes, Karl Johnson and Montserrat Lombard in it. We were warned that there was a lot of foul language, but it was still an enjoyable shock to here Shelia Hancock drop the C bomb for the first time. On the whole it was the women who ‘owned’ the most shocking word with other expletives used more like punctuation. We were up in the nose-bleed section but luckily the Wyndham is quite a compact theatre so we didn’t feel to far away from the action.

‘Freedom finally beckons for delinquent villain Algie Packer. He’s done seven years inside and now he’s coming home to spend his carefully stashed cash – ￡3.5 million in untraceable notes. But there’s something Algie’s family has forgotten to mention…

Meet the Packers – just your perfectly average, totally dysfunctional, ‘well-dodgy’ Essex crime family with a BIG problem. Are they going to be able to cover their tracks before Algie arrives home? Maybe it’s time to go on the run…’

We booked to stay in one of the lastminute.com’s Top Secret Hotels (you don’t know the identity of the hotel until after you confirm your booking so as to get a better deal). We ended up at the Copthorne Hotel at theChelsea Football Club (I understand it is a popular team game with a round ball). The hotel was fine though we had to argue to be moved from a room with two singles in it to one with a double.

We went into town on the Friday and had booked to have lunch at the Koffmann's restaurant in the Berkeley Hotel. We had been told by Sue’s uncle Tony that they do a very nice fixed price menu (though we were warned not to go off-piste). We went for the upgraded menu that included three courses, wine, coffee and petit fours for £39 per person. We thought it was very reasonable price for a top quality meal and superb service.

After lunch we strolled passed the Ferrari dealership to Hyde Park Corner and into Mayfair, across Berkeley Square and lingered for a moment at the Rolls-Royce and Bentley dealership until we got to the HalcyonGallery on New Bond Street that we holding an exhibition of Bob Dylan’s metal work of gate-like pieces called Mood Swings. Elsewhere in the gallery were some of his paintings and his reimagining of magazine covers and a group of fantastical machined gunned car doors of famous gangsters.

From there we crossed into Carnaby Street (now less edgy fashion and more big name brand labels) where we saw an interesting promotional street performance for a new men’s fashion store. Crossing Piccadilly Circus we saw the statue of Eros enclosed in a giant snow dome for Christmas as we continued on down to the National Gallery where we had a sit down and coffee and tea as we looked out over Trafalgar Square with a large blue cockerel on one of the Fourth Plinth, Nelson’s Column and the London Eye in the background.

Once recovered we went to visit the National Portrait Gallery that was showing more of Bob Dylan’s work amongst some other fabulous portraits.

After our highbrow excursion we went to have a drink (just the one at those prices) and onto eat dinner at the J Sheekey Oyster Bar (neither of us was brave enough to have oysters, and we were still full from lunch, so we ended up having a starter and a desert each). This fun place is located next door to the theatre so we could just stagger over and up to the bar in plenty of time for the opening curtain.

Afterwards we decided we had enough excitement for one day so we jumped on a bus and took in the Christmas lights as we returned to Chelsea and bed.

We had hoped to spend the whole of Saturday with Lucy and her dad Chris but Lucy had just got a part time job so we arranged to meet up with them near Waterloo later on for dinner. We had a leisurely start and a hearty breakfast at a pub called the Butcher’s Hook opposite the hotel.

Feeling much fortified Sue and I went to the Vinopolis shop (via the much improved and touristy Borough Market) to buy some gifts that we stuffed in our bag and left at the train station left-luggage place.

We then traveled north to Camden Lock Market where I wanted to visit a particular shop for another gift. We had a wander around the fascinating warren of stalls and shops until we were worn out and in need of another sit down. Another bus trip across town brought us back to Waterloo Bridge where we wandered through the Christmas stalls in front of the South Bank Centre before going in and enjoying a bit of free jazz that was being performed for the London Jazz Festival.

We took in a few more shops and had a quick drink before Chris and Lucy arrived and we all went to Ping Pong for a wonderful dim sum meal.

Afterwards we went and took in the atmosphere of the Christmas Market and all the twinkly lights before getting on our respective trains and going home.

Sunday we had planned to visit my uncle Terry and friends to celebrate his birthday, but the car got a puncture and since I have one of those ‘fancy’ cars with run-flat tires I don’t have a spare, so we had to return home and ring and make our apologies.

Fireworks and Fish Chowder…

We love our little local fireworks display. There are other much larger ones in the area but they are too big with huge crowds and queues for everything. The one in Westcott is within walking distance and we like to play host to friends with a hot buffet (fish chowder and homemade soda bread, sausages and chips, cheese and biscuits, and chocolate cake and toffee by Deb and Dave) and some warming drink and sparkling company. This year we were joined by the Browns, the Whitenburys and Jodie and Mel and we had a lovely time. The rain stayed away for the event which was quite spectacular with many an ooh and ahh.

Game On…

Recently I went to the International Spieltage at the Messe Essen centre in Germany with Marc Harrison. It is probably the largest event of its type in the world with something like 150000 people visiting during the 4 days.

Marc and I were not there for the whole event but we did spend a good couple of days visiting the many stands, playing several entertaining board games, looking at the wide array of folk wandering about (families with small kids, enthusiasts with sack-barrow loads of purchases, strangely costumed LARP fans, comic writers and artists, and all many of geeks of all shapes and sizes). It is a vast place spread of three major halls with an emphasis on board games (although there are a number of other table top games, role play games, live-action-role-play stands, comics, dice shops, scenery and paraphernalia, and much more on display. Some of the games have a generic popular appeal and others are quite niche (such as the Glass Blowing in the Bavarian Forest board game that was very popular).

We stayed out of Essen at the small town of Mulheim an der Ruhr beside the river at a hotel recommended by our friends Gary and Mary who have been here before. Hotel Handelshof is a pleasant place with friendly staff who were happy to provide a large room where we could play our newly bought games with fellow gamers.

As I was flying budget and only had hand luggage I only bought one game (some of the other guests from the UK had driven over so that they could fill their cars up with games). I was captivated by the prettiest game on show called Tokaido where the object is to travel this renowned Japanese route and become the most well-travelled player, tasting the most exotic food, buying gifts, viewing majestic scenery, donating to roadside temples, meeting people and bathing in hot pools. It is a simple game to pick up and is ideal for the more social rather than hard-core gamers.

The plan was for Marc to go on to the UK where he had another event to attend before returning to his home in Sweden, but sometime after arriving in the UK he lost his passport so he had an unexpected delay and spent some time staying with us (where we got to play some more games), before he got a replacement and managed to get home just in time for Heather’s birthday.

More of wot I have heard…

Self titled album by Jake Bugg

This is the first album from a young man with a remarkable voice. His sound is reminiscent of the American blues tradition of many decades ago and sounds incongruous coming from his baby faced mouth. I am not sure he has developed much of a range as of yet but his new album is already out so he is working hard on his sound.

Time by Rod Stewart

I got this album for Sue who is a big fan of Rod but I found that I like his new sound and the personal lyrics of these newly penned songs. I think the style complements his vocal range and it is an easy listen.

More of wot I have read…

The hundred-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the humorous travels through major historical events by the aged lead character.

‘Desperate to avoid his 100th birthday party, Allan Karlsson climbs out the window of his room at the nursing home and heads to the nearest bus station, intending to travel as far as his pocket money will take him. But a spur-of-the-moment decision to steal a suitcase from a fellow passenger sends Allan on a strange and unforeseen journey involving, among other things, some nasty criminals, a very large pile of cash, and an elephant named Sonya. It’s just another chapter in a life full of adventures for Allan, who has become entangled in the major events of the twentieth century, including the Spanish Civil War and the Manhattan Project.’

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

this is the sequel to Rivers of London and I found the joke was a little forced in places, but nevertheless the story trips along nicely and the descriptions of the places in and around London demonstrate the authors fondness for the city its history and his characters.

‘I was my dad's vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that's how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it's why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn't the first.

No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene. I didn't trust the lovely Simone, Cyrus' ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens' portrait, but I needed her help: there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.

And as I hunted them, my investigation got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard 'Lord' Grant - my father - who managed to destroy his own career, twice. That's the thing about policing: most of the time you're doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you're doing it for justice. And maybe once in a career, you're doing it for revenge.’