Paul in London

Ad and I were talking to some Austrians at a bar in Soho on Friday night… Ad : Well Austria's greatest contribution to society was Hitler wasn't it? Austrian Woman : You are so rude! Paul (to the woman) : Yes he's terrible. And if the drinks weren't so expensive I'd tell you to throw your glass of wine at him…

Scenes from W1 approaching Dickens and Jones Saturday 12:50 - Does anyone still wear a wrap? 

On Thursday evening I travelled out to White City to the BBC Television Centre to watch a taping of a variety show on musicals. It was two years since I last did this and forgot that television recordings are a five hour odyssey. At the time I thought it was just because I was seeing a taping of Celebrity Mastermind which made it dull, but this was an odyssey too. It was one full of bad jokes (the warm up man used the line "dirty stinkin' gypos" which I thought surely wasn't very BBC-ish), hideous sets, and endless repeats of poorly arranged songs. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they managed to find an arrangement to do so. Television is a curious thing as well as what makes it what it is, is local celebrities and local in-jokes, so it is a difficult thing to appreciate culturally as well if you have not had the years of exposure to it. The host was a typical garden variety smarmy type who had hosted several game shows and curiously seemed to be...

On Tuesday evening as a diversion from waiting for news on other matters, A took me to see The UN Inspector at the National Theatre. Well first we went for tapas at Meson Don Felipe where after a bite to eat washed down with sangria it certainly put one in the mind for a silly sort of comedy update of Gogol's "The Government Inspector". This version was set in a Ukrainian-style country where an English conman was mistaken for a UN inspector looking into the country's human rights record. Michael Sheen was quite funny as the bumbling English conman but every once in a while the comedy ground to a halt when someone's tongue was ripped out, or people were killed. A little bit too black and not enough comedy perhaps. Also at nearly three hours, it tended to drag a bit. Geraldine James as the President's wife was also particularly amusing, although A suggested that Jewel in the Crown and Gandhi were the days of her better work, but I suggested her best work sur...

Paul borrowed some socks off A last week and after washing them returned them to him this week… A : Thanks for washing them. What washing powder do you use they smell terrific? Paul : Why I use Fairy … Non bio… At this point Paul does not mention the M&S fabric softener as A is too busy cracking up…

On the weekend I managed to have brunch both days with Ad. We went to the same café in Soho on both days which was a cause for concern for Ad as he was worried that people would think that we were an item, as we usually end up laughing and looking like we are having a good time (and that would hurt his chances of picking up). I told him that there was nothing to fear as if by chance he saw something that took his fancy I would rush to the bathroom or make some sort of quick exit. Of course Saturday and Sunday mornings in Soho are not the places you are going to find the most eligible men in the city so I figured I would not be making any quick departures… On Sunday Ad had the skirt steak and it was a source of much discussion as to what part of the animal this came from . The waiter was none the wiser on its location. It was of particular discussion as Ad said it was tough (and it looked like old tyre tread). The waiter agreed and he suggested to Ad that he feed him something else next...

IM005371 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Scenes from Tottenham Court Road Sunday 12:21. A quiet start to the day...

Just as the suicide bombers hit Bali yesterday a power surge at London Bridge caused a few sparks along the tracks and caused a mild case of pandemonium south of the Thames. Meanwhile closer to WC1, there were plenty of punters out and about as Oxford Street closed to traffic so there could be a street party . The effort was to boost sales that have been sluggish even before the July bombings. No number of street performers bussed in from Covent Garden can conceal the fact that Oxford Street is a bit of a disaster. The shops east of Oxford Circus are mostly rubbish, and what is west to Marble Arch you have to fight through the crowds on poorly maintained footpaths. Oxford Street is really something to cross to get to the gym, to get to Soho, or to go anywhere else… Later in the day the punters were out at the Astoria in force as Robbie Williams was doing what was described as "a small preview concert" of his latest album. Who would have thought so many females under 25 coul...

Scenes from South Kensington Tube - Tuesday 16:41. District Line Eastbound. 

Not much to blog about in the past few days… Well there has been but I have been otherwise preoccupied on my holiday, but this weekend will be a chance to put that right…