Paul in London

Scenes from Clapham Sunday 14.32 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Just what the hell are they doing to the place??

Scenes from Soho Sunday 00.27 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Waiting to get inside The Ghetto. It was some wait... Inside it was one of those bars where anything seemed to go... For instance, there were two lesbians getting it on in one corner leaving nothing to the immagination. They were doing it with enough vigour to suggest they had had a few vitamins over the course of the evening. Outside it may have been mild weather but inside it was rather hot. All that cigarette smoke and dancing no doubt contributed to the hot steamy atmosphere... Banal eighties, nineties and naughties music seemed to be the order of the day as well...

Scenes from Gordon's Bar Embankment Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Friday night 10.49 - the crush before last orders...

Scenes from Covent Garden 16.49 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Shorts Gardens WC2

Tuesday night I caught The Musical of Musicals which is playing at the Sound Theatre (part of that Swiss Building where those hideous chiming things happen on the hour in Leicester Square). I understand that at some point the building will be demolished, which will be a victory for decent architecture. Having said all that, the theatre is not a bad space. Even better was this production. If you like your musical theatre (and hey who doesn't as what's there not to like??) then this show offers the same story about a girl who can't pay the rent, in the five different styles: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Jerry Hermann, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb. The great thing about the show is even if the in-jokes sail over your head, the songs and the performances were good enough to stand on their own. While the Lloyd Webber segment managed to show how much the composer loves / copies / borrows from other composers, my favourite was the Kander and Ebb segment where ever

Scenes from Oxford St Easter Monday Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Shoppers

Scenes for Easter Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . As a tribute for Easter I thought I would highlight some of the religious iconography that pervades the house that I reside in. This one particularly takes my fancy as it is truly a shocker. This crucafix is damaged hence why there is a little bit of a lean to one side of it. One wonders what mini-skip this was rescued out of. Then again, my flat-mate is not the only Londoner who decorates using other people's garbage... It's a Londonthing...

Last night I caught part of the Shostakovich Symphony cycle, Symphony 1 and 14 , that the LSO is performing with conductor Valery Gergiev. Gergiev becomes the LSO's chief conductor next year (when Sir Colin Davis becomes the President) Anyway, Symphony No 1 is quite accessible and full of loud explosions and power and vigour so it is easy to like. The orchestra obviously had loads of fun playing it. Given my location in the cheap seats (front row to the side) as the performance was a sellout, I not only had a curious view of the backs of the string section, but also I heard what sounded like strange grunting sounds. At first I thought it was the conductor but then surely not. But throughout the four movements of the First Symphony I could hear it. Was it the bowing of the strings? Well the acoustic from my seat was giving me an interesting flavour of the performance so that was a distinct possibility. When it came to the second half with the much more subdued Symphony No 14 again I