it’s been a hard days night (again)…
…although to be fair, a fifteen hour Quentin Tarantino marathon with only ten minute gaps between films would test anybody’s mettle, and even I eventually admitted defeat and decided – with the aid of my trusty inflatable neck pillow – to treat Inglourious Basterds as one would treat a radio broadcast rather than a visual offering (I did wake up before the end).
After a lively enough couple of days in York for me to take time out on Friday morning to have a leisurely wander around the centre, do a spot of Christmas shopping and enjoy the sunshine, I had a lovely, if tiring, weekend and managed to tick a few things off my To Do list during my whistlestop dash to the capital including a celestially good Shackburger, crinkly fries and a FiftyFifty at a very festive-looking Shake Shack (not quite as festive as the Eros statue at Piccadilly Circus which is currently a giant snowglobe, albeit with overtones of The Prisoner which I tried not to think about) and a relaxing Sunday morning stroll through Green Park on the way back from the pictures. And last but not least, I finally got a look round Covent Garden’s London Transport Museum – yay!
Here, I wandered amidst the sedan chairs, tube trains and omnibuses of a lot of yesteryears, visited the poster exhibition (150 years of London Underground posters, some of which I even recognised from childhood visits – anyone else remember Fly The Tube?) and found out all about tunneling, hydrogen brakes and how central London once required over one thousand tonnes of horse poo to be swept from it’s streets every single day (including who did it, what they were paid, where it went and how long the sweepers brooms lasted depending on the weather). Sadly, I didn’t get to try the simulator which lets you have a go at driving a Northern Line train despite lurking around looking irritated for the best part of ten minutes, and I intend to make sure my next visit is at a time when children are at school. I did get to see one of the new Routemaster buses on my way back to the coach station in the morning and had I not been in dire need of porridge I would have been on like a shot; since they run to Sloane Square, opportunity may hopefully present itself during the Victoria leg of my December visit (a look round Peter Jones never hurts before Christmas, after all).
A cinema allnighter requires little in the way of explanation, but I whilst found myself envying the people (some no more than half my age, I suspect) who had never seen Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown before, it was enough of a delight to see them all together on the big screen and as anybody who has ever been to the Prince Charles Cinema will know, the huge seats and unique (as far as I know, anyway) backward tilt towards the screen make a lengthy session far more bearable than the multiplexes. It’s probably better still for those tall enough that their head reaches the head rest (mine doesn’t), and I recommend everybody goes over to their website and checks out their December listings (notably nightly showings of It’s a Wonderful Life, as well as Elf, Home Alone and other less Christmassy stuff for those who might inexplicably want to watch it). There’s a link over there ———>
After a day of watching back-to-back Dr Who and allowing my joints to realign themselves following the long bus ride home, this week has passed in something of a blur and (as it turned out in the end) one with virtually no punter-time available after all – sorry! As can be seen from the Christmas Page, I will soon be heading off to Dublin and then on to Belfast (where things have hopefully settled down a bit) but I will be back before you know it, and whilst I will busy doing all of the usual baking, tree-decorating and fish-tidying in good time for Christmas as well as packing for my London week and thus can’t promise a lot, I will be home until Thursday 12th for anybody who fancies catching up. New pictures are also part of the plan, with a bit of luck…
Today in particular has marked the traditional pre-Christmas supermarket shop, where the carefully hoarded vouchers are gathered up and everything that can practically be frozen, hidden in a cupboard or stashed out of the way in a cardboard box is purchased, before a triumphant and self-congratulatory mood ensues (the feeling that I’d at least put a dent in it lasted until half an hour after arriving home when I realised that not only had I forgotten the extra wide Bacofoil and mega-pack of toilet rolls, but also spectacularly failed to buy anything sensible to eat for dinner and had to make do with a tin of tuna fish and some Weetabix). The Christmas shopping is now mostly done thanks largely to the internet, and a new (to me at least) bit of Dublin awaits! Hopefully the punters of Ballsbridge will already have seen enough ladies knickers to be able to resist stealing mine, but there will be body searches on exit if necessary. It’s all very exciting and I’ve even managed to avoid Ryanair this time, although that’s a story for another day.
Back to the To Do list before it gets any longer. More soon…
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