Recently in London Category

Travelling by the Victoria line for the past year has been lovely, my travel is 16-20 minutes on the tube and only one tube-train. Last year it was at least a train and a tube and a longer walk to the station. I do miss being above ground, but with the Victoria line being entirely underground it is not affected by the cold weather.

One downside, I rarely get my PowerBook out on the tube, whereas I used to get it out and write stuff on the train. Still, I'd be loathed to swap back, I can usually get a seat on the way in so I read instead, the Economist sometimes, but more on magazines in another post.

I went out to see Jeffrey Bernard is unwell at the Garrick, thanks to my friend Chris. It was excellent, Tom Conti is fantastic as Jeffrey, poignant, but witty with a well crafty stage drunk manner. Lots of half trips and glances out to the audience for laughs, all well timed.

A lot of the reviews have been a bit down on the revival of this play, as it is a bit soft on alcoholics, playing up the romantic drunk image, this is true and Soho has changed a lot since it was first put in the early 90s. However, I feel that reviving this play much later would fail, it is very much of its time. When Chris and I directed and lit it in the mid nineties it was great fun, but felt a bit alien, neither of us had been to Soho, later when I visited in the later 90s the scene of the play had changed. Soho in the last ten years has changed even more. So sentimental as the play is, I enjoyed it, but I had two viewpoints on it.

A quick aside, whilst watching the play I couldn't get out of my head how much Dave Cross and Tom Conti look like one another.

Jeffrey Bernard is on at the Garrick until the 3rd September, if you are looking for a fun night out at the theatre I'd highly recommend it.

So, Walthamstow is a terrorism centre in London, I must tell you it doesn't feel like one. People are friendly in the shops and on the market. It feels pretty open and relaxed to me, there are different pockets and groups definitely, but then every place has those.

The oft mentioned village feels very quiet in the day, the market / high street is really busy and then they reverse in the evening. Everything on the high street shuts and then restaurants on Orford Road open up.

After six months here, I'm really happy, it is closer to London than we were in Forest Hill and feels more friendly, plus there is Epping 15 minutes away.

Hot down here, humid.
The air is close, people too,
door opens, relief

I've travelled to work for the past eight and a bit years on the trains from SE London to most of the southern terminals of London. I've used Victoria, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, London Bridge and even Waterloo East for a while. Soon, no more, I get to be a tube dweller, travelling from Walthamstow to Kings Cross. Mostly trains are not bad, you get to see something and they are cooler in the summer. However I'll not miss the cold wet evenings waiting 15 minutes for yet another delayed train.
Also for the first time in London I'll be using one form of transport for my entire journey, which will be delightful. Even when I worked at Bush House and had 18 months of no underground travel, I still had to change trains at London Bridge.
I'm also looking forward to exploring North London, it'll be like moving to a different city, but more on that in another post.

It is that time of year again, London Film Festival, hooray. My annual orgy of cinematic delight, Lucy and I have 11 films planned in the next fortnight, one already seen last night and two tonight. I really enjoy the festival, it is a great opportunity to see foreign films and independent cinema. Though, I still am planning to see Serenity too.
LFF reviews will pepper this blog for the next few weeks...

Lucy has put together a good document about childhood trauma and set of notes about how to deal with today if you have children. They understand it differently, but don't really need special treatment, it is best to talk to them about it.

I'm in a cafe on the Strand in London, on a wifi network, sitting with the ambulances, police and fire engines rushing past behind me to Aldgate. It is now a sad feeling, rather than disconcerting as it started. The news is now more definite, two dead, from the Guardian, the bbc and tfl. Being more connected than those around me is strange too, seeing people oblivious to the true nature of today's events. This is a grim day and too intimate, too close for comfort.
I'm ok, Lucy is too, as is my brother and Abbie. I know that this is not true for others and my thoughts are with those strangers. Police advice is to stay put.

What a surprise, I think it'll be good, I mean London needs a better transport system for definite. Feel a bit odd about it all, as I doubt I'll be in London in seven years time. Good news though for London, certainly there are plenty of excited people in work. According to The Guardian work starts in November.

I'm reading Old London Bridge at the minute, it is a history of the bridge and its inhabitants over the 900 odd years of its life. It was the longest inhabited bridge in Europe until about 1760, then it was turned into a lump of concrete about 30-40 years ago, to widen it.
It is quite an enjoyable book, but I noticed one quote today which caught my eye "There were only two plagues . . . the immoderate drinking of fools and the fires", William FitzStephen, 1170AD, eight hundred and thirty years ago and only the fires have died down. Twenty four hour licensing will hopefully change the drinking culture in the UK, but I think it will be a slow change, given the history.