Paul in London

An old school friend sent me a message asking if life in London was an endless stream of theatre productions and overheard conversations. Well basically I would have to say (in between the rest), yes... So bearing that in mind, Fraser and I went to see two short plays by the National Youth Theatre at the Soho Theatre (or should that be the national yoof featre?)... Anyway, the first play The Band was about a bunch of Manchunians bitching and moaning... I could relate to it as I lived with a Manchunian and that's seem to be what they do best... Fraser wasn't so enthralled by it with all its teen angst and overplayed drama. Besides he was still pissed that I had arrived late to the theatre and there wasn't time for a drink beforehand... Still even sober I thought it was great fun. Even better was that it was short and short is always a good thing... As mid week who has the attention span to last longer than 50 minutes before an interval or break? The second play was 20 Ciga

Man #1: Guess what happened to Graham yesterday? Man #2: No what? Man #1: He missed his flight. Man #2: No... Man #1: Got to Gatwick too late because of mmmmm... Man #2: Really? Man #1: So guess where he had to stay last night? Mmmmmm Man #2: Get outta here... Man #1: Mmmm hmmm. What Graham wants... Graham gets...

130820072159 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Waiting in a long line to see the Antony Gormley Blind Light (basically a foggy room). It was fun in a disorienting kinda way... And not without its thrills... I was with Anna and she got unintentionally groped by a woman desperately trying to find the exit in an "Oh my God I've gotta get outta here" moment. The rest of the exhibition was even better. It finishes this week...

Very nervous woman in car (to man): Excuse me sir... Excuse me. Man on street: Yes Very nervous woman in car: Can you tell me why all these people are heading this way? Man on street: They're coming from a concert at Albert Hall. Very nervous woman in car: Oh Too bad she didn't ask me. I would have told her we just wanted to get the hell out of South Kensington and get on with our lives... Perhaps she had visited the following website...

Lady: The wine was actually really nice wine... Not like that old stuff Man: Yes really nice. Really really nice. Not the old stuff at all...

120820072145 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . The crush to get back into the hall in time for Act 2 of Götterdämmerung . Some folks thought they could stop traffic but the black cabs had other ideas... At least an hour for a meal break was provided since it started at 4pm... It had another three hours to go... All things considered (like it was at Albert Hall, the catering is rubbish and it was a concert version), it probably was worth the effort... No chance of snoozing anyway when one was sitting in front of the augmented horns section...

I keep forgetting that I should avoid going to proms concerts. Albert Hall is stuffy, the acoustics are bad, the seats are terrible, and you always have to worry about some old person falling over you with their walking stick as they navigate the steep inclines. I really don't know why so many old age pensioners risk hip replacements coming to these concerts, but they do... Anyway, I found myself among the OAPs watching two OAPs on Wednesday night: John Dankworth and Cleo Laine (well they both turn 80 later this year). Despite the limitations of the hall, they managed to give it a feel as if it were a jazz club and they were just playing some music. The audience loved it and it was a bit of a treat ...