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Belters and bohemians: Opera Locos @Sadlers_wells

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At the start of the Opera Locos performance, the announcement says that they really are singing. You could be forgiven for wondering that, given the amplification turns up the backing track and the voices so loud that you can't always tell what's real. But this is a mostly harmless and slightly eccentric blend of opera classics fused with the occasional pop classic. However, recognising the pop tunes would help if you were over a certain age. The most recent of them dates back twenty years. It's currently playing at the Peacock Theatre .  Five performers play out a variety of archetype opera characters. There's the worn-out tenor (Jesús Álvarez), the macho baritone (Enrique Sánchez-Ramos), the eccentric counter-tenor (Michaël Kone), the dreamy soprano (María Rey-Joly) and the wild mezzo-soprano (Mayca Teba). Since my singing days, I haven't recognised these types of performers. However, once, I recall a conductor saying he wanted no mezzo-sopranos singing with the s

Scenes from Old Compton St Soho Wednesday 20:11

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Police seal off the street after a noxious substance was found eminating from Comptons bar. It wasn't flatulence from the punters (which wouldn't have been a surprise looking at the punters that go there), but to date nobody can quite explain what the gas was...

News: Big Bush in Brixton

Keeping in SW2, the big news today was that a man who trimmed his hedge into the shape of a whale could keep doing so , providing that it wasn't a blue whale size… Given that it is topiary it does require a little imagination to make out it is a whale. Some people have mistaken it for a peacock… Others have mistaken it for a hedge owned by a loony…

Scenes from a pub toilet in SW2...

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I'm not quite sure what this is all about... Was it somebody's experience with a skilled tradesperson? Photo was taken in the ladies by M...

Scenes from Clapham Sunday 20:04

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Scenes from Clapham Sunday 20:04 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . It was a bit of a cold and damp weekend... But it no doubt was nice to get the Porsche washed... I am not quite sure why everyone living on this street owns a black car... Maybe it is an SW4 thing...

Scenes from a bus on Oxford Street Saturday 17:18

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DSC02669 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Despite the sales concluding last week, people still persist in shopping on Oxford Street... I only go there for the John Lewis store and the egyptian cotton sheets... Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

News: We're critical how are you?

As travelers come to grips with what it means to be living in a CRITICAL security threat level , there is heated debate on the Newsnight website about the raids. Some people are sceptical about intelligence after Forrest Gate, Stockwell and many other recent arrests where suspected terrorists were subsequently let go. Others are troubled by the fact that under normal security measures does that mean you could smuggle nasty things on board? Newsnight is a fantastic news programme and I figured it was about time I made reference to the show on my blog.   The news media in this country is such a relief from the hysterics of back home or in the US. I was only in New York for a week and I felt impending doom based on the way they managed to inject fear and armageddon in every news   And for those of you asking if I have been affected by the new security measures I have to declare that I won't be taking breast milk on flights... But I am not flying in August anyway... Shocking tim

Travel: News on Heathrow at 9.00 BST

Hand luggage is banned from flights today as the highest security in recent times is implemented following the discovery of a plot to blow up planes mid-flight . Liquids and electronic items are a particular focus of the ban… Heathrow is closed at present to all incoming flights.