(no subject)
This weekend has been FULL. Full of good things and bad things and actually quite a lot of me getting stuff done so WHY when faced with a blank LJ page do I freeze?
On Friday evening I had a blissful time with the house to myself so I could actually try and start to catch up on the (quite frankly ridiculous) quantity of TV I've got recorded. I mean I'm 1.5 episodes into Endeavour, I've got 3 NCIS LA episodes and 5 or 6 Criminal Minds episodes to watch.... and of course Hannibal starts this week so that'll be leaping to the top of the pile. I am at least (now) caught up on Agents of SHIELD (in a UK kind of a way anyway)
On Saturday seiyaharris and I met at Forbidden Planet and actually managed to be incredibly restrained! I bought just ONE book and a travelcard holder with the Hufflepuff crest but that was the thing I went there for! I also maybe added a bunch of books to my mental wishlist though.
I then proceeded to actually find and buy a dress for a wedding I'm going to in June in the first shop we tried which is unnatural but it's a beautiful dress even if I might be going to have to brave some form of heel.
Flushed with that success we managed to find the Seven Dials Hotel Chocolat (I find not getting lost in Seven Dials really hard so it always merits reward- I remain convinced there are in fact Eight Dials but the eighth one has a Muggle repelling charm on it). So Hotel Chocolat cafes? AMAZING. I had a Salted Caramel Drinking Chocolate & Becca had a Spiced Cocoa Latte and then we shared some chocolate covered biscuits and pretzels and they were all DELICIOUS. And then we got on offer Easter chocolate :D:D:D
The actual point of the London trip was to see Birdland at the Royal Court so after a wander through Knightsbridge (Sloane Square tube being closed) and a VERY yummy meal at Cote (including free Pear Liquor) we headed off to the theatre just in time.
Birdland @ Royal Court
An evening spent watching Andrew Scott is clearly never wasted but I have to say this play didn't quite work for me.
Basically it's about a popstar who has been on tour forever and appears to be losing it somewhat. He sleeps with his best friends girl who then kills herself and it goes downhill from there ending with statutory rape...
That was my biggest problem I think- the statutory rape seemed unnecessary and I never like it as a plot point but it was also insinuated that it was entrapment (the girl had been set up to be there) and just *shudders* icky and horrible and worst of all I can think of half a dozen ways they could have made the same point (Paul is entirely out of control and he's tied up (literally) in the red tape of the recording company and there is no way out.
So yes. Not sure about that.
Otherwise I guess maybe it just didn't go anywhere that connected with me? I mean Simon Stephens' plays don't tend to go anywhere and I Am The Wind was completely pointless and yet beautiful and heartbreaking and something that has stuck with me whereas I'm not sure this will.
The best moments were seeing Paul (Andrew Scott) with his best friend and how that relationship was tearing itself apart and seeing him with his father where it was both comforting and then another drain and seeing him incapable of talking to people- the incredibly uncomfortable scene where he took one girl with him to see the parents of the dead girl was awful and clever and the grief was done really well.
I think it was good scenes and good performances- not just fron Andrew Scott who is always mesmerising, but also particularly from Nikki Amuka-Bird as a waitress he takes on tour with him and Yolanda Kettle as the girl who killed herself (Marni) and definitely Alex Price as Paul's best friend (& in the band with him) Johnny.
Mind you. At least there were no space!bees so that's one up on The Low Road?
After which we might have had another drink which MIGHT have resulted in me getting home after the streelights had gone out for the second time in a fortnight (oops).
Sunday was a bit dramatic- we were meant to be helping with Tea & Coffee after the service but when I went down after choir I found only Mum there because the man who organises them had tripped on his way into church and thumped his shoulder on something and Dad had taken him off to hospital! It turns out he's broken his humerus :-( for us it meant rather a rush with just the 2 of us (and then three when someone finally thought to lend us a hand) and a lot of broken biscuits but it' hardly as bad as it was for poor P!
Then it was lunch and then BACK to church for the first of many celebratory things for the St Albans Diocese Celebrate 100 (100 years since we lost Essex and gained Bedfordshire... good deal or bad you decide *g*). Which was a very nice evensong with some great music, lovely banners made by the kids and then a marching band playing Oh When The Saints at the end so you can't go wrong!
Then we came home and drank wine and watched TV and read quite a lot *g*
And then today was a Bank Holiday which I kept forgetting was coming which was nice in all kinds of ways because it was a surprise and because I had all this empty, unplanned time!
Mostly I've been doing the kinds of chores/tasks I've been meaning to do for ages- sort out the display for the Rainbow board, reply to emails, get the car washed, find & purchase a grey cardigan (thrilling *G*) AND I finally finished cataloguing my books so I can say, barring accidental omissions, that I own 978 books. Which is a large number but I'm weirdly disappointed it isn't (yet) over 1000!
And tomorrow it's back to work and all that craziness (yay?)
On Friday evening I had a blissful time with the house to myself so I could actually try and start to catch up on the (quite frankly ridiculous) quantity of TV I've got recorded. I mean I'm 1.5 episodes into Endeavour, I've got 3 NCIS LA episodes and 5 or 6 Criminal Minds episodes to watch.... and of course Hannibal starts this week so that'll be leaping to the top of the pile. I am at least (now) caught up on Agents of SHIELD (in a UK kind of a way anyway)
On Saturday seiyaharris and I met at Forbidden Planet and actually managed to be incredibly restrained! I bought just ONE book and a travelcard holder with the Hufflepuff crest but that was the thing I went there for! I also maybe added a bunch of books to my mental wishlist though.
I then proceeded to actually find and buy a dress for a wedding I'm going to in June in the first shop we tried which is unnatural but it's a beautiful dress even if I might be going to have to brave some form of heel.
Flushed with that success we managed to find the Seven Dials Hotel Chocolat (I find not getting lost in Seven Dials really hard so it always merits reward- I remain convinced there are in fact Eight Dials but the eighth one has a Muggle repelling charm on it). So Hotel Chocolat cafes? AMAZING. I had a Salted Caramel Drinking Chocolate & Becca had a Spiced Cocoa Latte and then we shared some chocolate covered biscuits and pretzels and they were all DELICIOUS. And then we got on offer Easter chocolate :D:D:D
The actual point of the London trip was to see Birdland at the Royal Court so after a wander through Knightsbridge (Sloane Square tube being closed) and a VERY yummy meal at Cote (including free Pear Liquor) we headed off to the theatre just in time.
Birdland @ Royal Court
An evening spent watching Andrew Scott is clearly never wasted but I have to say this play didn't quite work for me.
Basically it's about a popstar who has been on tour forever and appears to be losing it somewhat. He sleeps with his best friends girl who then kills herself and it goes downhill from there ending with statutory rape...
That was my biggest problem I think- the statutory rape seemed unnecessary and I never like it as a plot point but it was also insinuated that it was entrapment (the girl had been set up to be there) and just *shudders* icky and horrible and worst of all I can think of half a dozen ways they could have made the same point (Paul is entirely out of control and he's tied up (literally) in the red tape of the recording company and there is no way out.
So yes. Not sure about that.
Otherwise I guess maybe it just didn't go anywhere that connected with me? I mean Simon Stephens' plays don't tend to go anywhere and I Am The Wind was completely pointless and yet beautiful and heartbreaking and something that has stuck with me whereas I'm not sure this will.
The best moments were seeing Paul (Andrew Scott) with his best friend and how that relationship was tearing itself apart and seeing him with his father where it was both comforting and then another drain and seeing him incapable of talking to people- the incredibly uncomfortable scene where he took one girl with him to see the parents of the dead girl was awful and clever and the grief was done really well.
I think it was good scenes and good performances- not just fron Andrew Scott who is always mesmerising, but also particularly from Nikki Amuka-Bird as a waitress he takes on tour with him and Yolanda Kettle as the girl who killed herself (Marni) and definitely Alex Price as Paul's best friend (& in the band with him) Johnny.
Mind you. At least there were no space!bees so that's one up on The Low Road?
After which we might have had another drink which MIGHT have resulted in me getting home after the streelights had gone out for the second time in a fortnight (oops).
Sunday was a bit dramatic- we were meant to be helping with Tea & Coffee after the service but when I went down after choir I found only Mum there because the man who organises them had tripped on his way into church and thumped his shoulder on something and Dad had taken him off to hospital! It turns out he's broken his humerus :-( for us it meant rather a rush with just the 2 of us (and then three when someone finally thought to lend us a hand) and a lot of broken biscuits but it' hardly as bad as it was for poor P!
Then it was lunch and then BACK to church for the first of many celebratory things for the St Albans Diocese Celebrate 100 (100 years since we lost Essex and gained Bedfordshire... good deal or bad you decide *g*). Which was a very nice evensong with some great music, lovely banners made by the kids and then a marching band playing Oh When The Saints at the end so you can't go wrong!
Then we came home and drank wine and watched TV and read quite a lot *g*
And then today was a Bank Holiday which I kept forgetting was coming which was nice in all kinds of ways because it was a surprise and because I had all this empty, unplanned time!
Mostly I've been doing the kinds of chores/tasks I've been meaning to do for ages- sort out the display for the Rainbow board, reply to emails, get the car washed, find & purchase a grey cardigan (thrilling *G*) AND I finally finished cataloguing my books so I can say, barring accidental omissions, that I own 978 books. Which is a large number but I'm weirdly disappointed it isn't (yet) over 1000!
And tomorrow it's back to work and all that craziness (yay?)