Theatrical
Posted: Wed 27 April, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, London, Travel Leave a comment »Having gone to Hamlet and a couple of other things last year, I decided that this year I wanted to go to more theatre productions – and it all looks like it’s being pretty successful so far.
I’ve already seen Faustus in London, and seen Henry Rollins twice (not quite a theatrical production as such, but still qualifies for these purposes) but the bookings for the rest of the year are starting to look pretty impressive, including…
- King Lear at Manchester Royal Exchange
- Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick in London
- The Spoils in London
- No Man’s Land in London
- Doctor Faustus (again, but by the RSC) at the Barbican, London
- Aliens Live at the Royal Albert Hall (the film Aliens, with soundtrack performed by orchestra)
- The Tempest in Stratford-upon-Avon
I’d say that’s a pretty successful list for the coming months, and certainly fulfils the target of “Getting out and doing more”…
Stating The Obvious
Posted: Tue 26 April, 2016 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Domestic, Sweary, Television Leave a comment »Why is it that on just about every TV competition show – X-Factor, Masterchef, Bake Off, whatever – when it comes to the semi-finals, one of the hosts always has to say
Any one of these people could win it
Of course they fucking could, they’re in the semi-sodding-final. Stop stating the bloody obvious, you fatuous bollocks-spouting cretins.
More Travel
Posted: Mon 25 April, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »As I’ve said many, many times before, I can be a bit of an idiot – particularly when it comes to what I regard as ‘doable’ for travelling etc.
Today has proven that yet again. Well, I’ve organised it all today, but it’s happening on Saturday.
Over the weekend, I saw some really good reviews and opinions about the production of King Lear that’s currently going on at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, with Don Warrington as Lear. So today I had a look at whether there were any tickets still available.
Turns out, there were. Not many, but enough for me to book one to see it on Saturday afternoon. And that’s what I’m doing.
I’ve also (in the name of something approaching a sensible idea) booked myself on trains to get up there and back. But I did seriously think about driving, too. A 350-mile round trip to see a play. Like I said, an absolute idiot.
The reason I’m not making a weekend of it is because I’m also in London on the Sunday – although not ’til the evening – for another hopefully epic meal.
I am indeed an idiot, and quite possibly a lunatic.
Second Thoughts
Posted: Thu 21 April, 2016 Filed under: 1BEM, Charity, Cynicism, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), London, Stupidity 1 Comment »As I wrote a while back, I’ve signed up to the NSPCC’s “Climb the Gherkin” challenge in about eight weeks’ time. It involves walking (or, if you’re a lunatic, running) up the 38 flights of stairs inside the Gherkin in London to get to the top.
It’s fair to say, I’m having some doubts and second thoughts about the wisdom of it. It’s a lot of steps…
I’ve looked it up – because I’m an idiot – and now know that it’s over 1,000 steps to the top, and that’s making it all a bit real. There’s a lot of me to lift up that many steps, and really not many places where you can get to train or prepare for something like that.
I’ll still go, and I’m sure I’ll complete the challenge. It’s just that it might destroy me along the way…
London Weekend – Faustus and stuff
Posted: Sun 17 April, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Domestic, London, Reviews(ish), Travel Leave a comment »This weekend was another London trip, although spread over two days rather than one, which made life a bit less chaotic than usual.
The primary reason was to see Faustus at the Duke of York’s Theatre. A friend of mine had got tickets, and as part of my 2016 mission to see more stuff and so on, I went too. I know the basic idea of the story of Faust, although I’ve never read it, so had that as a basic idea of the play, but no idea of what else to expect.
As it turned out, it’s a very good production – if also very strange. I liked a lot of it – but admittedly started off thinking “This is garbage”, although I did reassess that quite rapidly. It’s got a whole lot of interesting ideas and propositions within it, so it’s an interesting production.
Other than that, the usual large-scale wandering around London, reconnecting bits of geography I hadn’t seen in a while, and generally doing a fair bit of walking, as well as everything else. As it was a weekend away, I decided to stay in a (far more expensive than usual) hotel in the area, which I’d eaten in before, but not stayed in.
All told, a thoroughly decent weekend, and much enjoyed. I should try this culture thing more often…
Foggy Roads
Posted: Wed 13 April, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Fog Leave a comment »After the gig on Monday, the drive home was one of the nastiest I’ve had in a long time – all the roads were covered in super-thick fog, which made the entire endeavour a lot tougher and slower than it would usually be. Thankfully, it was all a route I know really well – without that, I think it would’ve been even slower and I wouldn’t have known where the hell I was at any point.
The fog was so thick, in general I could only see about three cats-eyes ahead of me, so the concentration was ridiculous the entire way.
The other plus was that the roads were a lot quieter than they could have been – although the great majority of the people who were out were desperately bad at driving in fog, which really wasn’t ideal.
Still, it all passed peacefully and without any extra nastiness, so that’s got to be a bonus. It could have been so much worse along the way…
Fish, Aylesbury Waterside
Posted: Tue 12 April, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Gigs, Reviews(ish), Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Last night, once I’d finished work I drove over to Aylesbury for a gig. Fish, the ex-lead-singer from Marillion was back in their home-town, and performing one of their classic albums, Misplaced Childhood, in its entirety for the last time, on a tour called “Farewell to Childhood”, because it’s the 30th anniversary of it being released.
I’ve liked Marillion – well, I liked the Fish-era Marillion – since their start, so seeing this gig was always going to be a good one. It’s just a pity it had to be in Aylesbury. Understandable, but a pity all the same.
First of all, I’d forgotten just what a benightedly scabrous shithole Aylesbury is. By the time I got there (just before 6pm) it was pretty much all closed. It’s always been a boil on the arse of Civilisation, and never seems to improve, no matter what the planners, developers and town-centre managers do to it. It’s an unremitting dollop of shite.
I truly don’t know what kind of sins you’d have to have committed in previous lives in order to deserve living in Aylesbury, but they must be truly epic ones.
Anyway, the Waterside Theatre itself is really nice. I’d not been before, but it really impressed me, and is back on the list of places to see stuff. Again, it would be even better if it weren’t in Aylesbury, but there we go.
The gig was thoroughly enjoyable – my brain refused to store who the support act were, which is a disappointment, as I’d like to make sure I don’t see them again by accident. But once Fish and his band came to the stage, it was all good. They started with playing a number of tracks from Fish’s solo career (which, admittedly, I’m less familiar with – but I’ll be rectifying that) before playing the whole Misplaced Childhood album, and finally closing with a couple of other crowd favourites.
I really enjoyed it – Misplaced Childhood isn’t my favourite Marillion album by a long chalk, but it was still a good gig.
All told, a good evening – despite the location…