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Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

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If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging
Who gives a shit about Lara?

Tonight as I made my way through Leicester Square I found that I couldn't make my way through the square. There were barricades around a theatre. A movie theatre of course. Punters were out everywhere waiting for the premiere UK screening of the latest Lara Croft flick. The director was on the morning show this morning so the usual smoozing and PR is to take place. Alas cinema being at the forefront of our culture I guess this is what one has to put up with. You could say the square is a haven for shit flicks actually as apart from the Lara franchise at one of the theatres, there is the Terminator franchise at the theatre opposite and the Legally Blonde franchise at a theatre nearby. I sighed as I made my way to the TKTS booth to buy a ticket for the show The madness of George Dubbya... A retake on Dr Strangelove apparently...

Things I keep forgetting... is it jetlag?
* I got a haircut on Friday. I no longer have tourist hair. But the weather sure took its toll. The haircut was at a hairdresser at Covent Garden. Skye was getting hers done so I thought what the hell? The haircut was by Josh, an albino hairdresser from the Ukraine with soft fingertips. He kept trying to put more conditioner in my hair so thats why I knew about the fingertips. Neither of us could understand each other but I still believe we established a good inital hairdresser-client rapport.
* Aussie barbeques... On Sunday at Skye's place... We had sausages, golden circle beetroot (because the stuff here the aussies say is crap), and iced vovos. I had more Australian food on Sunday than I usually ate in Australia. We sat in a garden area and watched the pidgeons on the rooftops nearby.

I have a zzzzzzjaaab
While waiting for better offers, I am temping at a hospital and doing filing. This could be somebody's revenge as I never filed anything in Australia. I mainly just threw it out or stored it online. It is keeping me occupied until Thursday, and it isn't that bad. Have more real interviews for later in the week. Apparently I am so good at filing that I could get another offer to do it next week... Egad...

Lets stick to the weather
* London weather is returning to my expectations. No topless flabby pink Brits on the streets anymore as the temperature is maxing at the low 20s.
* Read a fascinating report on the state of London's health today (well I am working in a hospital). London has the worst pollution in the UK and among the worst in Europe (only Berlin, Paris and Moscow are worse). Nitrogen Dioxide levels exceed annual targets and fine particles have exceeded hourly targets here.

This got me thinking about yesterday's conversation with Alicia. While waiting for the train after a walk last night with Alicia around Hamstead Heath, she decided to ask me if I have noticed something about my nasal passages since getting here. This led to a fascinating conversation about why one's snot is black in the city. Alicia's view is that its the underground that is the main culprit. That breeze of air when the train comes rushing into the station isn't quite a fresh breeze. When it is hot in the underground any breeze is good though. London locals apparently say the black stuff goes away after a while. They believe it is because their nasal hairs are burnt off by then.

And as for Hampstead Heath, it was lovely. It was starting to get a bit drizzly yesterday when we went out for a walk but it gave it so much more ambient atmosphere. It was all a bit Wuthering Heights-ish... I was expecting Heathcliff to arrive on the scene any minute. An excellent place to go after work I thought. Have made a mental note to return again, and also to visit the cafe nearby where you can get a £5 monster breakfast.

Technominology
* I finally can access the internet anywhere... either using WiFi or my Orange phone. Easy internet is still cheaaaaper so that's where I am right now though!

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