Paul in London

Scenes from Clapham South tube Sunday 22:15 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Going up...

Friday night I caught The Seagull at the National Theatre. It is a new version of the Chekhov play by Martin Crimp that has been getting good notices but not so great audiences as they have been discounting tickets to get the punters in. Juliet Stevenson as Arkadina the fading leading leady features in a great cast in a story about artists and the new Turks, unrequited and lost love. Her son Konstantin is a new writer and is in love with Nina but Arkadina's lover Trigorin steals her away. Meanwhile Masha is in love with Konstantin but it is unrequited. In between the high drama there are a lot of things unsaid but then again this is Russia and Chekhov. The ending (spoiler to follow) left a lot of people dazed and startled when it ends in the suicide of Konstantin offstage with a loud bang. It certainly made me jump. Arkadina barely has enough time to scream at the news before the curtain came down. We all filed out of the theatre not saying much… Maybe the drama felt a little too

Preview for the film version of The History Boys is out now. It will open in London in October and there is already a huge buzz behind it. When I saw the play in April 2005 apart from thinking it was the best thing I have ever seen on stage, I also thought it definitely deserved to be turned into a film… Original cast all feature in the film including Frances de la Tour. For reason (that now escapes me) last year I decided not to mention her name in my post but talked about her character. She got the Tony this year for this performance…

From: R Sent: 18 August 2006 17:32 To: Paul Subject: Re: you are like a fione wione me dear…. full bodied and fresh.....haaaaaahhhhhhh ---- From: Paul Sent: 18 August 2006 17:33 To: R Subject: Re: Really? And I thought I was more like vinaigrette... Good to have around with lettuce... ---- From: R Sent: 18 August 2006 17:34 To: Paul Subject: Re: you calling me lettuce ---- From: Paul Sent: 18 August 2006 17:38 To: R Subject: Re: Like a roquet... ---- From: R Sent: 18 August 2006 17:41 To: Paul Subject: Re: any blue cheese involved here or just a salad medley ---- From: Paul Sent: 18 August 2006 17:50 To: R Subject: Re: Tossed salad... Maybe some blue vein... ---- From: R Sent: 18 August 2006 17:52 To: Paul Subject: Re: oh my god I have just spat tea out all over my desk..... ---- It was one of those days…

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...

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…

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 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...

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...

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