it was a very good year…
And it’s an extremely belated first blog of the year – one year to the day since the last one, and 2022 is almost gone along with my birthday, which encompassed a trip each to the Tate Modern to see the Mirror Rooms and the V&A for some Fabergé (followed by a peaceful swim and a sauna at my lovely gym and a big dinner), an awful lot of cinema trips including my first trip on a plane since 2018 to go to Glasgow Frightfest in March, and some seriously great nights out – yay!
I hadn’t planned quite such a blog hiatus, but I’ve had a lot of catching up to do given that within six weeks of my City move back in February 2020 everything was shut, and catch up I will. The working hours are now fairly stable, everybody is slowly (some slower than others) learning that booking involves no more – and also no less – than a polite text containing the day, time and booking length desired, and things are ticking over as well as can be expected; all has settled down nicely.
I’m unlikely to be the only person who remains eternally grateful that the Prince Charles Cinema is still open, and including for a couple of long overdue allnighters when they hosted a Godfather triple bill (it’s magnificence taking up most of a ten hour stretch between 9pm Saturday and 7am on the Sunday) plus a classic horror marathon for Halloween, where I watched all five films without nodding off and staggered home boss-eyed at 10am. I’ve had plenty of other exciting events to fill the time too; not least Fatboy Slim on Brighton beach in July followed by a blistering Prodigy return at Brixton Academy a scant twenty four hours later (on possibly the hottest night of the year) and in almost diametric contrast, a very long queue to see the Queen.
As we’re no doubt all aware, and to get swiftly back to the present, the days of my reaching gratefully for the aircon controls in my flat just to get the room down to a bearable 24-25 degrees are just a distant memory. The current temperatures are far more befitting of Christmas past; I won’t be the only person who looked out of the window in disbelief last Monday morning at the snow (I wasn’t even sure the Corporation allowed it, if I’m honest) and whilst reports suggests it’ll soon be just a memory it was very pretty and extremely festive, at least when not having to put on five layers and go outside to flounder about in it like a pissed penguin.
The intrepid determination of the punter on a mission never ceases to amaze me even in the face of the Arctic weather plus train strikes, tube strikes, erroneous Bank Holidays and Acts of God; those who remember the hurricane back in February (I think?) may or may not be surprised to learn that it and the following day remain my record-breaking busiest of the year, and thanks to the gale force winds I couldn’t even get a bloody Deliveroo after.
There have also been a few recent moments when I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be here at all, given a stratospheric rent increase followed by a handful of flat viewings so depressing they would drive many to give up altogether (the ‘amazing luxury development’ in particular was an eyeopener at a bargain £3200 a month) but the long and short of it is I’ll be digging my heels in and staying put, for now at least. Apart from anything else, I’ve just got nicely settled in with Tree (pictured above and back from last year, courtesy of Christmas On The Hill) and some pre-Christmas chocolate for a Secret Life Of Pets double bill, and the thought of having to pack up and move out of my amazing neighbourhood (where even a trip to Sainsbury’s for tea and bananas means waiting at the bus stop outside the Cheesegrater and strolling back through Leadenhall Market) in January at a month’s notice makes me want to cry.
This does mean possible price increases, if only because it has to come from somewhere. I haven’t decided, so rather than tell half a story I’ll give it a bit more thought, but either way, anybody who has visited in the last twelve months won’t be affected. If nothing else, it’ll pay for the underfloor heating to stay on – everybody likes underfloor heating (except in summer, when everybody likes the aircon) and since I’ll be here over most of the next couple of weeks bar Friday 23rd to Tuesday 27th, I will be glad of it too. Since I’m making myself useful, I will also be about through the New Year week including New Year’s Eve, at least until 5pm-ish and it’s time to get ready for my annual trip to the Prince Charles to watch When Harry Met Sally and follow it with some Szechuan round the corner before the fireworks.
Therefore, the blog is definitely back! Getting back to tradition right away, I was very happy to visit St Martins In The Fields for the Christmas tree lighting, nativity and carol service over in Trafalgar Square the other week, so obviously our Song Of The Week (which is also our Song Of The Year) is this Christmas classic.
More soon, honest. Christmas is a week away!
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