Praise For Hackney, Wooden Spoon for Wandsworth
I know I missed the torch at the end of my road, but that was mainly because I took too long for a pit stop, but I did know where it was going to go, as the maps were good. But that is not what can be said for Wandsworth yesterday, where I tried to see the torch about 17:00. When I asked around, people seemed to be very anti-Olympics and it seemed mainly because of the Olympic Route Network, that made driving difficult. But then I always remember that driving is difficult south of the river.
Wandsworth or at least the centre is perhaps best summed up by the old Ram Brewery site. There’s even an old steam engine in there somewhere, that worked until the 1980s.
It used to produce one of the best real ales, but look at it now.
Chemical lager manufacturers have a lot to answer for. ADanish friend of mine once said that in Denmark, Carlsberg bought up every brewer and meant the only beer you could get is their product. He advised all in the UK, to not let it happen here.
It doesn’t matter to me now, as I can’t drink beer, but I know many feel that the destruction of the traditional British drinking culture has been one of the disasters of the last few decades. As a policeman once told me in all seriousness, you never get trouble in a real ale pub.
Where In The World?
I took this picture on Sunday night, so that gives a clue.
Where In The World?
But it’s not somewhere like Stratford-on-Avon, Kersey or one of those other Tudor towns or villages!
Although it’s probably the nearest Tudor timber-framed building to the Olympic Park at Stratford.
Torch Chasing in East London – Clissold Park
On Sunday, I missed the torch at the end of my road, as after the Royal London Hospital, it took me longer to get home, have a pit-stop abnd then get down there. So Ijumped on a 141 bus and went to Clissold Park.
The torch was visiting the Hackney Festival.
Welsh Policemen On The Streets of London
I took this picture this morning at the Angel
Welsh Policemen On The Streets of London
It shows two Carmarthen policemen on duty.
In some ways, it’s an appropriate area, as the statue of Hugh Myddelton, the Welshman, who four hundred years ago, built the New River to give London its first fresh water is at Islington Green, a hundred metres or so away.
Return To The Hippodrome
Yesterday, I went to the newly-reopened Hippodrome Casino to see Kate Dimbleby perform in a musical entertainment written in collaboration with Amy Rosenthal, called Beware of Young Girls: The Dory Previn Story.
I must be one of the few people of my age, who have memories of the old Hippodrome Theatre, that previously stood on the site. I didn’t actually go, but in the early 1950s, I regularly had to go to the Royal Dental Hospital in Leicester Square. My mother, who had been to the theatre before the war, and I used to come up from North London on the Tube and get off at Leicester Square, where we exited the station at Hippodrome Corner. It was then a short walk to the actual square and the dental hospital. One day the builders were in and you could see right through the windows, which told how what was happening was the talk of the town. I can’t remember it actually opening as the nightclub called, The Talk of the Town, as we finished going to the dental hospital. It’s since had a bit of a chequered history, with good and bad times and now it has been turned into a casino.
I think they’ve made a good job of it on the construction and furnishing side. As to the gambling side, I don’t gamble in a casino. I would though, if someone was fool enough to set up Canfield. But after my stroke, I doubt I still have the prowess I used to have. I do bet on horses, but only when the odds are longer than they should be. I once had Terimon at 500/1 each way for the Derby. He came second.
But I do, see shows in a casino and once saw Siegfried and Roy in Las Vegas. I’ve been to Vegas several times and I’ve never gambled on anything there, which must be some sort of record.
So how was last night’s show?
I enjoyed the show and it brought back memories of Dory Previn’s show at the Donmar Warehouse in the last 1980s, where I saw her with C. The set was similar too and I wonder if Amy’s mother, Maureen Lipman, who is thanked on the program, saw that show at the Donmar too!
I don’t think there are any original videos of Dory Previn singing, although there is this video on YouTube. It was taken on a toy camera, when she opened an Arts Centre in Springfield a couple of years ago. The songs are Jesus Had A Baby Sister and Twenty Mile Zone. Her last recording incidentally was Planet Blue, which can be downloaded free from here.
I should also say that I liked the venue too Acoustics were good and from where I sat, I had a good view.
I didn’t actually eat, but the food seemed to be reasonably priced and as a coeliac, some of the snacks were gluten-free.
I’ll probably go again, when an artist I like is appearing. Top class style it definitely has, but the prices aren’t out of the range of a sensible fan.
One of the Only Gluten-Free Snacks At Eastfield
As I’ve said before Eastfield, or Westfield Stratford City as the developers prefer, is a place where gluten-free food for lunch or dinner is difficult to find.
This is all I could find, other than loaves in Waitrose and Marks and Spencer.
One of the Only Gluten-Free Snacks At Eastfield
Even Starbucks only had the usual excellent brownie and a cheese and coleslaw sandwich. And I just think coleslaw is food for German rabbits.
Returning to the Marks sandwich, what do you do if you’re Jewish or Muslim and fancy something substantial?
I suppose we could always live on Starbucks brownies for a few hours, but the lack of choice does really put me off going to Eastfield.
Waitrose Extend Summer
Waitrose are changing their summer opening hours.
Waitrose Extend Summer
Could this e due to the bad weather. all the staff this morning at the Angel were feeling the cold.
Comparing Two Chariots of Fire
I finally got to see the film this lunchtime at Cineworld in West India Quay.
So how do the two interpretations of the same story compare?
Obviously, in the film there is more action and of course period scenes done with all the care of a master film-maker.
But the play is a very good interpretation in its own right, with a track running through the audience. The only other show, where I saw a similar device was Siegfried and Roy in las Vegas. But their track was for tigers not runners. I incidentally had seat J8 in the stalls, which was right by the action. there are also seats on the back of the stage and inside the track at the front of the stalls.
What surprised me was that the words were virtually identical between the film and the play, although the play had extra scenes inserted to compensate for the lack of filmed sequences.
I enjoyed both and would recommend seeing both in a short space of time, as I have done.
The Anonymous Widower 