“Delight” – 24/11/23

Posted on November 24, 2023 by katese11

As is becoming traditional in November, I’ve taken a week off to celebrate being so bad at managing my annual leave that I have to take it in November. Coincidentally, Eva had an inset day today so it seemed like a good time to go adventuring. And the obvious adventure was an immersive Korean light show. Why not?

First though, brunch and the usually-reliable Crosse Keys let us down as it was out of hash browns. Maybe it’s time for me to do that Wetherspoons boycott I’m always thinking about. The app would only let us order from the breakfast menu so there was no chance of getting a substitute but my selectively-observant child pointed out that everyone around us was eating chips. So I went to the bar and asked if I could order there, was told they didn’t do chips at breakfast even though the guy before me had ordered a bowl and so I made the same observation as Eva had. Eventually they capitulated….carbs were had. Which is just as well because the halloumi I’d ordered through the app for Eva came *with* my breakfast i.e. dumped in the middle of the baked beans. So she still had a couple of the less beany bits but it would have been a far grouchier morning if we hadn’t managed to score at least a few bits of potatoey goodness.

Once we’d been fed, we wandered across London Bridge, which is always a pleasure and down the steps and through the tunnel to Clink Street. We were a little early but the very genial guy on the door welcomed us in out of the cold and gave us detailed instructions on how to use the app and the augmented reality-type signs you could scan. The app didn’t work on my phone so we missed out on that bit but I saw others using it. It didn’t detract from the experience but it’s worth downloading the “Delight Experience” app in advance if you’re planning a visit.

I won’t give you too many spoilers but you’ve probably seen pictures of some of the rooms on social media already. It’s one of those exhibitions that is perfect for the influencer age as pretty much everything is highly ‘grammable. There were a few people trying to get the perfect shot so we had to wait a couple of times but as it was a school day, it wasn’t too crowded at all so we had plenty of space to enjoy the different zones. There are 12 in all and you’re guided along a path which seems illogical at times  – up and down stairs, in and out of what look like fire escapes – but have faith…it’ll get you where you need to go, don’t worry.

As well as being aesthetically pleasing, it’s also informative as there are insights on Korean culture written up in every room. It’s well worth stopping to have a read as you go.

So, here are some of the highlights. You know I love a sunrise and a sunset, so this skyscape room was one of my favourites. Ypou may recognise it from the publicity pictures:

This Matrix room hurt my brain slightly but Eva enjoyed the reunion of the “Eva choir”…..a group made up of infinite versions of herself. Luckily I was there in time for choir rehearsal but hey, aren’t I at just about every choir rehearsal going this time of year?:

I really liked the seascape in this room, which had seats so that you could just stop and be part of the art for a while:

We spent a long time looking at the Zodiac animals and deciding which ones we were most like. We concluded that Nathan was correctly allocated as a goat but that Eva was also a goat. I identified most as a monkey and we reckoned Reuben was a rat. So years of birth aside, we are now a primate-rodent-dual caprine family. Which probably means we’ll eat anything you leave lying around. Approach with caution.

Eva, master of the veiled insult, looked at this wheel and said “It’s depressing that your year is so close to the bottom”. Thanks kid – depressing for who, exactly?

We were both a little weirded out by the “Household Goblins” room:

And later on, Eva enjoyed the signs room and spent a while jumping from sign to sign:

And right next to that was the moon, which involved walking down a gangplank surrounded by water to get the full effect. I didn’t have confidence in either of our co-ordination so we stepped back off as quickly as possibly to avoid either falling in the water or dropping our phones.

Overall, we probably spent about 45 minutes in the experience but probably could have spent longer. The lovely guy in the gift shop offered us a free postcard each, even though we hadn’t completed the challenge on the app. It’s relatively pricey but now that the kids are older, this is the kind of thing they enjoy. Eva took 96 photos as we walked through. I guess that means she had a good time.

A few practical things – the steps mean it isn’t wheelchair accessible throughout (parts of it are but not all) and it would be tricky with a pushchair as well…but then the age restriction is 4+ so it isn’t aimed at the very littlies. There are no toilets as far as I could see and no cafe but Pret is right next door and has a toilet. I mean, we would have ended up there anyway I’m sure as I do like to flex that Club Pret membership but it was handy that the exit came out almost directly by their door.

I think it’s only on temporarily so book while you can! Click here for tickets and more info.

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12 Days in Highams Park

Posted on November 22, 2023 by katese11

Today, I was on a train to Chingford and I was pondering a version of the 12 Days of Christmas that also acted as a handy, hyper-local events calendar for a very specific time period.

Anyway, most people would let that thought go.

Anyway, I didn’t.

 

But I did remember that at one point this blog used to be informative about things like local events, so why not share it on here too? And as a bonus, I’m going to add all the images below as well so you don’t have to pause the video. I’m too good to you.

Also, I hear that Chickenshed are putting on a panto this year – check out this link for more information:
Cinderella in Boots

And here you go – everything you could possibly need to know about early Advent, LBWF-based activities:

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I Just Want to Tell You How I’m Feeling…..

Posted on October 29, 2023 by katese11

Tired. But that’s not the main point of this post. In fact, there are a few things I want to tell you about but don’t worry, we’ll come back to the post title eventually.

First though, let me tell you about our Friday night trip to see “Noises Off” at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. It was a leisure trip rather than a reviewing trip so I won’t tell you everything about it but it was lots of fun. If you’re not familiar with the idea, it’s a play-within-a-play so there are a group of dysfunctional actors playing a group of dysfunctional characters in an intricate farce. The first act is quite gentle humour but the second act is where it really escalates and the mainly-mimed chaos behind the scenes in Ashton-Under-Lyme had all three kids howling with laughter. It’s recommended for ages 12+  – probably because there are a few F-bombs – but the 10- and 11-year-olds thought it was great and the 14-year-old also enjoyed it, as well as treating it like GCSE Drama homework (he is studying Brecht, apparently). It always helps to have a bona fide National Treasure in the cast – in this case Felicity Kendal – alongside other famous faces like James Fleet, Matthew Horne and Tamzin Outhwaite, who the girls didn’t quite remember from “The Masked Dancer” but they were impressed by her moves anyway. CousinZ described her as “iconic”. I was pleased to add another 70s sitcom star to my list, after catching Wolfie Smith live earlier in the year. And yes, I might have reminded Nathan not to channel Norman Lovett and get overly distracted.

It was SO well done and cleverly written – the foreshadowing in Act 1 more than paid off by the end and the actors gave marvellously physical performances, especially Matthew Horne. The slapstick made it accessible for the younger end of the party who might not get all of the jokes and double entendres. The theatre itself is also gorgeous and not too big, so easy enough to find the loos and the bar. Just watch out for the one-way system in the ladies’, which flummoxed me for a while, and the step coming out of it which caused a little tumble. Definitely worth a trip though, and the tickets were very affordable for a West End show on a Friday night. On the way back, we bought fries – you know where from – and wandered up Carnaby Street to see the latest glittery things. I think it’s a universe of some kind:

The next morning we were bleary and overslept but we needed to get CousinZ to Reading for a handover so we rushed to get out of the house. We had an important stop to make on the way, just by Latimer Road tube so we needed to be dressed in black t-shirts and on the train as soon as possible. We made a quick Pret stop at Liverpool Street and then jumped on the Hammersmith & City line.

One thing I hadn’t considered at Latimer Road was the enormity of the Grenfell shadow as soon as you get off the tube. I don’t think the girls clocked it but we turned the wrong way out of the tube first off and seeing the sign pointing towards the tower like nothing had happened made me catch my breath. I’ve seen the tower in real life a few times – the first time was from the Westway not long after the fire and it was a horrific sight. Now, it’s a bit less visually jarring but it’s still a sobering reminder of what happened there.

There’s no easy way to segue from that thought to the frivolousness of the next section without saying something trite so I’ll just leave the picture here and a small gap before I get on to the main aim of our trip.

 

 

So, I just happened to see a Londonist article a week or so back, which contained the answer to a question I hadn’t asked but maybe I should have. When Reuben was a few months old, we’d taken him to various music-related sites in London to get some photos – we stopped on the Abbey Road zebra crossing and squeezed his buggy into the Ziggy Stardust telephone box just off Regent Street. But we didn’t think to seek out the tunnels where Rick Astley had filmed the “Never Gonna Give You Up” video. Until now. So all credit to Londonist as their intel was spot on. You just need to cross the road outside Latimer Road tube, and take the cobbled street next to the Co-op:

And there it is! I think Rick himself was probably standing in the road as he grooved but I wasn’t prepared to take too many risks with a child that wasn’t mine, so we did the photoshoot from the opposite pavement instead.

Londonist were also correct in that the interior scenes in the video were shot at the Harrow Club, which is on the same road as the bridge. We didn’t go inside but we did get some photos of this unmistakeable window:

From there, it was full-speed ahead to Reading for the handover. Although bits of Reading are very similar to how it was when I lived there, the station is almost completely different. And they now have a Wendy’s, which Eva was very excited about as she didn’t think they existed outside the US:

There weren’t huge amounts of vegetarian options so Eva just had chips and a drink. I had a burger which was nice enough but pretty much like most other fast food chain burgers. It was worth it for the novelty factor though. Eva insisted on taking her paper cup home as a souvenir.

There was also a new candyfloss making machine in the Oracle, which she very much enjoyed:

It’s quite mesmerising to watch this stuff being spun out of basically nothing….and you end up with something the size of a child’s head.

I liked the idea of getting the Elizabeth Line all the way back from Reading to Liverpool Street but it seems like it takes an hour to get as far as Paddington, whereas the fast train takes 23 minutes. And with a Disco 2000 to get to, time was of the essence. We still got the Elizabeth Line from Paddington to Liverpool Street though, and it was much swifter than the H&C version we’d done that morning. So Crossrail was worth it after all.

A bit of a whistlestop tour of our weekend but at least you can see now why I’m so tired. I considered not blogging any of this but hey, I’m never gonna let you down….

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Epping to Ongar Ghost Train – 26/10/23

Posted on October 26, 2023 by katese11

It’s been another busy day. I only had one day off work over half term so needed to max it out with something that was fun, autumnal and Halloweeny. I’ve never been particularly into Halloween but my pagan children are, so nowadays we just kinda roll with it.

First though, brunch! This is something I very much *am* into and I decided to visit a cafe in Woodford as our fuelling stop. The 275 is on a massive diversion at the moment so the trip to Woodford took longer than usual and involved the North Circular, which is terrifying on a bus cause it just feels so unnatural. I definitely needed a cup of tea before tackling the Central Line and Cafe Royale provided that, along with a bacon roll. We had CousinZ with us, so she and Roo both went with pancakey options that looked mighty impressive. Eva had her usual hash browns, chips and milkshake. She really rated the cafe….so much so that I jotted down what she said and I’ll let her write the review.

“This place is really good….the food is delicious, the hash browns are crispy, it’s really clean, the toilets are fancy and there’s a giant fish constantly giving you side eye and it’s hard to argue with that”

I mean, would you argue with this guy?

It’s nice to be in Woodford for leisure reasons, rather than running through the station cursing about the Chingford branch being down. Still, it was only a stop on the way to our eventual destination and so we got on the Central Line all the way across the M25 and to Epping.

I’ve heard so much about the Epping-Ongar railway over the years as friends have been on the Santa train or other seasonal adventures. I’ve never been clear on the logistics, so let me unpack them for you today.

The experience starts at Epping tube. You get off the Central Line and there’s a vintage routemaster outside which takes you to North Weald. The bus is included in the price and the time you book for  – 12:20 in our case – is the time the bus departs from Epping, not the time the train departs from North Weald. I think there is an option to board at North Weald but there’s no parking, so you’d have to park nearby and walk or get a cab…at which point you might as well park in the massive car park at Epping and take the free bus. Plus, you’ve gotta love a Routemaster, even if they’re smaller than I remember. Roo’s head was touching the ceiling of the upper deck when he was standing.

Once we got to North Weald, there was a bit of time for us to faff around and go to the loo before the train departed. I think it was about 25 mins and we managed to check in at the ticket office, meet the mad surgeon and collect our goody bags as well as loo trips.

There was a long queue for the snack van in the car park but there was a smaller cafe on the platform, where we managed to get bakewell tarts and chocolate fudge cakes for the journey. Yes, we had only just had brunch but the kids growing. Right out of the roof of a Routemaster, in Reuben’s case.

The idea of the ghost train is that you’re constantly jump-scared by the spooky creatures on board. Maybe because the kids are quite old and cynical or maybe because it was bright sunlight when we were travelling, but the creatures were a bit more comical than scary. I mean, a few years back Eva would have been screaming at the sight of a grim reaper gliding through the train but she’s been watching back-to-back FNAF Game Theory videos this week so her horror tolerance is at an all-time high.

We had great fun though. The actors were really good sports and the werewolf didn’t object to being petted and called adorable. The surgeon was more than willing to take a look at Reuben’s toe problem and even Death himself briefly took part in recreating the Spiderman pointing meme on the platform at Ongar.

The carriages were decorated with cobwebs and severed limbs and there was a mostly spooky soundtrack, which would probably be terrifying at night. Apart from the bit where they were playing the Scooby Doo theme tune or a rap version of “The Timewarp”. But the “X-Files” theme and “Toccata and Fugue” certainly set the scene.

I think we might have been a bit hyper and just finding everything hysterical….other carriages were certainly screaming with actual terror a lot more than we were. I loved the vintage train and there was something so nostalgic about seeing these kind of windows which my school train in the 90s still had. The kids were impressed by my skills in pushing the bar in, pulling the window and opening from the outside. Still got it!

When we got to Ongar, a lot of people seemed to stay on the train so we weren’t entirely sure that we were meant to disembark. But eventually everyone else joined us and the manic magician performed his show in a white marquee on the platform. When I heard there would be a dark magician, I was genuinely scared in case it was someone I used to work for…but luckily it was just the jovial surgeon again. There is one thing that really would make me scream at Halloween and that came dangerously close.

Just as CousinZ came dangerously close to having her hand cut off by aforementioned magician. But it was fine. She lived to tell the tale.

There were also craft materials out, which we didn’t use to their full extent but Reuben did do this:

While we were at Ongar, we also visited the spooky graveyard, where spooky ‘slebs like Dracula and Captain Hook were buried. Dracula’s tombstone had multiple dates of death on it, which was a nice touch.

The return journey was possibly even more lighthearted – I think they dial down the spookiness a bit in case any kids are properly freaked out by that point. That’s when the Scooby Doo theme got played, along with “Wizard of Oz” and “Monster”. We stopped for a while at North Weald to hook up to a steam engine before going through the forest and back for the final leg of the journey. This is where the autumnal theme came in, as Epping Forest is gorgeous this time of year and there’s no better way to travel through it than on steam train, right?

When we got back to North Weald for the final time, we had just enough time for another loo trip before the bus departed back to Epping.

All the timings are quite carefully thought out so you don’t feel rushed but you aren’t hanging around too long either. Do leave plenty of time for the first bit getting to Epping though – especially if your bus is on diversion – because the Routemaster left bang on time.

On the way back, we alighted at Epping Church because Eva was hungry. I deployed yet another of my lost skills – hanging onto the open platform of a Routemaster without falling into the traffic – and we wandered down the High Street to find a chip shop called so Eva could keep her potato levels topped up. It was around 3PM by then so I was glad we’d brunched. Also, the time given on the tickets – 2.5 hours – is pretty much spot on.

From there, it was back on the Central Line pausing only to take in the views:

And then home along the North Circular on the bus again. Still not used to that….

All three kids had a great day and are still giggling themselves to sleep (?) thinking about making one-way conversation with serial killers. It might be genuinely scary for smaller kids but the tween/teen audience loved it. And this 90s relic loved the transport. And I’m not even ashamed to admit it.

The Ghost Train is on until 28th Oct. For tickets and more info, click here.

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Festival of the Girl – 21/10/23

Posted on October 21, 2023 by katese11

It’s been a big old day so forgive me if I start falling asleep midway through this post. We started with brunch at My Favourite Cafe in Essex Road, which has indeed become something of a favourite of ours. We were with some church people for a meeting but a meeting with bacon is better than most of the meetings I have to go, so it’s all good. Then we jumped on a 38 to Islington Green, bumped into another church-related friend and swung by Pret for free coffee and crisps and cheap mango. Everything you need for an afternoon out.

We were early in to Festival of the Girl and headed straight to the Blue Zone to book onto the RADA workshop Eva wanted. There was already a queue and I was told just before I got to the front that the RADA workshop was booked up. So I added Eva as first on the waiting list and -spoiler – she managed to get it. Phew! We were off to a good start.

There was an author talk going on as I queued – I think it was M.G. Leonard – and that was interesting to listen to. Eva wanted to make something out of clay at the Girls Rising stall so I stood behind her and learnt about beetles. They’re cuddly, apparently.

There is so much to do at the festival and it’s impossible to fit everything in, especially as Eva likes to take her time over tasks. After the clay, the next stop was game designing and she came up with a concept around an evil puppet called Margo. Margo is genuinely quite terrifying:

It was time for the RADA workshop, which we did get into – phew! – and the girls were learning a song from Moana called “How Far I’ll Go”, Now, anyone who knows me in one of my other guises will know that I’m more than familiar with this song and even taught it to Eva’s Year 6 class over the summer. So even though parents were encouraged to sing along, I didn’t exactly have to work hard in this workshop. I could pretty much sing that song in my sleep, tricky alto notes and all. The RADA guy leading it was very encouraging to the kids and straight after the workshop, they went out onto the main stage and sang it for the rest of the festival. It was lovely to see Eva really engaging and emoting as she sang. It’s a good song, even if I’ve spent a touch too much time with it this year.

After that, she did start to flag. Festival of the Girl is great but it’s a lot of sensory processing and a lot of the activities require some thinking, which Eva finds exhausting. Having the workshops in separate spaces this year worked so much better than having them on the mezzanine last year and it did create a calmer zone, which was great.  But by 4PM, we were ready for fries and refillable drinks. You can guess where.

There is so much more we could have done but we had a nice afternoon and part of having a nice afternoon is knowing when to call it quits. She has the activity book and goody bag to look through so that festival feeling doesn’t have to end here. I just hope neither of us end up dreaming about Margo…!

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LWAT is 777! 7 Special Things

Posted on October 18, 2023 by katese11

Back in May 2021, I marked the 700th post on the blog by listing 7 incredible things. It being in ThoseaDays, the incredible things were all about actually leaving the house for once and eating Disappointing Wasabi at Liverpool Street. I had Disappointing Wasabi at Liverpool Street again yesterday but it was nothing to blog home about.

Still, the idea of 7 things is a good one to self-plagiarise for the 777th post. And we may even have done things that are more exciting than getting a vaccine…..

1. Van Gogh Immersive

This one is probably the most exciting but also the only one I wasn’t there for because Nathan took Eva while I was working. But apparently it was awesome – giant canvasses and rooms that were like stepping straight into a Van Gogh painting. It’s closing soon so book while you can.

 

 2. Granary Square Fountains

On this stormy October night, it’s hard to believe that London was sweltering just a few weeks ago. It was so hot that we headed down to Kings Cross one afternoon to cool off in the fountains and have a beer. It was also the day I discovered the “magic eraser” tool on my Google Photos, which accounts for the lack of other people’s kids in the photo above…but also the lack of some of Nathan’s limbs. Anyway, I’m constantly surprised by how pleasant Kings Cross is nowadays and it’s pretty much perfect for a sunny day Central London hangout.

3. Coffee and Bubble Tea in Chingford

For reasons best known to us, we’ve been hanging out a lot in Chingford lately and that requires a lot of hydration. I’ve had coffees from Greggs and Costa, neither of which were spectacular, but I very much enjoyed our trip to Helen’s Coffee on the Green and Eva rates the dragonfruit bubble tea from Double Bubble

4. Rainbows over Slough

Slough is definitely special but not normally in a good way. But as we were driving home from Wokingham last week, we had a rainbow in front of us all the way from Junction 10 to Junction 7 of the M4. It turns out the pot of gold is somewhere in Slough….who knew?

5. Dinner at the end of the Met Line

I think I had a summer mission to explore the Met Line one year and while we went to Pinner, the joys of Amersham remained a mystery to us. Well, no longer! One sunny evening in the summer holidays, we went for dinner at the Metro Lounge while handing children over and it was a lovely meal. Plenty of veggie options for Eva, wheelchair-accessible and even dog friendly. We drove there but when we go for the return visit next week, we might just Met Line it. Why not?

6. Befriending dogs in Islington

I mean, this is standard stuff for Eva but it’s a lovely shot of her now-lost Van Gogh hat and a goodo doggo, in the midst of the chaos of a church Fun Day. Plus, we spotted Routemasters on the way home!

7. Hanging out in Leicester Square

Again, Leicester Square can be the wrong kind of special and we did have my old colleague’s walking tour serenading us with “I Will Survive” as we ate our overpriced scoops of Ben and Jerrys. But the Lego Store never fails to impress the kids, especially when it’s largely Harry Potter themed. Roo was in search of the new collectible minifigs and had moderate amounts of success. So it was worth the two mile walk from the Brunswick Centre..

There you go, 7 Special Things from the last few months. It’s Festival of the Girl this weekend so I’m sure I’ll have lots more to tell you soon. For now though, just enjoy this view of E4’s most scenic field:

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Ash vs The Subways at Kentish Town Forum – 11/10/23

Posted on October 13, 2023 by katese11

Yes, we’ve been out doing childfree things again. On a school night as well! I know, it’s crazy talk and I am definitely Feeling It two days later but it was fun at the time and don’t worry, I have plenty of things to tell you about that are unchildfree as well….I just haven’t got round to blogging them yet. Look out for a special roundup post soon.

But on Wednesday, we went Out to see Ash again. We saw them a year ago, also at Kentish Town Forum, and it was ace so when we saw that they were gigging with The Subways it seemed like we’d be crazy not to go. I haven’t forgiven myself for not going to see Pulp at Finsbury Park yet and I am definitely eyeing up MSP/Suede tickets for next year. It’s good that we’re getting ourselves back onto the gigging scene in time for the 30th anniversary tours of all our favourite albums but that thought does make my head implode so let’s not dwell on it.

Even Ash and the Subways requires some mind-bending maths. The Subways are like the 2000s Ash and the two bands represent very different eras in my life – Ash were the soundtrack to secondary school and sixth form, all teenage love stories and driving around with “Jesus Says” turned up to the max. The Subways were the soundtrack to our pre-kids London life, squeezing into the Buffalo Bar for sweaty gigs and seeing them getting bigger and start to fill venues like Shepherd’s Bush Empire. But that was almost 20 years ago. If The Subways were Ash’s kids, where are Ash’s grandkids who should have debuted around 2015? And give it two years and a punky new trio should emerge to claim the title of Ash’s great-grandkids.

See, told you it was mind-bending.

Anyway, Bob was always there for those sweaty Subways gigs so naturally she and Not-Bob joined us this time. I’m probably not going to review both sets, song by song as I did with Ash last year because my memory’s not that good but it was advertised as a battle and hopefully by the end of this post you’ll know who I consider to be the winner….this time.

So, starting with the youngish upstarts – the Subways. It took a little while for the crowd to get going. Billy had instruct us with a shout of “London – go crazy!” and this was just after a woman had looked at Nathan funny for dancing into her beer as she was walking through the crowd. It didn’t feel like we were quite ready for craziness yet. Gradually, though, the crowd warmed up and by the time Billy was stage diving in from a great height, everyone was well into it. Before the gig, we were reminiscing about how he used to throw himself off balconies and somehow I didn’t think he’d still be doing it in his 30s. So no one was quite ready to catch him as he jumped but he didn’t quite get dropped. It was a close call tho…I imagine I’m not the only person Feeling It two days later.

In so many ways it’s hard to believe that the Subways have grown up. Not just the crowd surfing but the energy they put into every song. Considering this was the final night of a hardworking tour, I’m amazed that they still threw themselves into it. Quite literally, in Billy’s case. And Charlotte hasn’t aged a day since we last saw them. They truly did figure out the secret of staying Young for Eternity. And no, we have never seen them in the daylight.

All of this probably explains why they have a fanbase that were far too young to have been there in 2005. Which was fun at first, cause they got the moshpit going. But then the moshpit turned into a circle pit, which would prove to be a bit much. If you’re not sure about the difference between the two, then I would say a moshpit is where everyone is moving together, to the music as a way of enjoying it. A circle pit is about boys (and it generally is boys) slamming into each other with no real regard to what the rest of the crown might wanna do…like, yknow enjoy the music. But I get that some people have pent up tension so a circle pit is better than some of the alternatives.

I can’t remember exactly what songs the Subs played – I think they finished with “Rock n Roll Queen”, which everyone sang along to and I think they played “With You” just before that. There were some newer songs I didn’t know, like “Influencer Killed the Rock Star” which was about an unnamed ex-friend of the band and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, which was hugely popular with the crowd. But there was plenty of stuff from the first album too – as I’m writing this and googling at the same time, I’ve found someone who *did* pay attention and I think they played about 6 songs, including the title track.  No “Mary”, which was a shame cause I could have sung the version I wrote about Bob and shared on MySpace. I don’t think that recording still exists anywhere, sadly.

It was a shortish set but packed with energy and they left us beaming and ready for another quick pint before Ash. Would the older guard be able to measure up?

Ash certainly made a strong entrance, with the monologue from the A-Team seguing into a version of Flash Gordon that replaced “Flash” with….you guessed it, “Ash”. And Mark’s orange t-shirt looked amazing under the UV light.

Oh, but then they went straight into playing two songs from the new album without so much as a hello. I know you boys have an album to sell but this is meant to be a battle and the eternal manchild has just thrown down a beer-soaked and sweaty gauntlet. They followed up with “Goldfinger” which got the crowd moving a bit again but although I love anything from 1977, it’s not the most energetic of their songs. “Angel Interceptor” picked things up a bit and then they played “Life Less Ordinary”, which I love for very sloppy reasons. And it was released on this day, 26 years ago! Which I guess means Nathan and I have been together for 26 years? This maths really doesn’t work.

I was feeling weary by this point, after a full on work day and an even fuller-on Subways set but those three songs perked me up. Then there were more new album songs, which were good songs but I wasn’t particularly excited by them. Then “Orpheus”, which Billy had explained had a very special resonance for them…so it would have been rude not to dance to that. Tho since that night, the chorus has been bouncing around my head with “sunshine in the morning/heading for the open road” replaced by “gigging in your 40s/feeling it in every bone” every time I felt a twinge of pain.

Around that time, they played “Shining Light”, which I would have really enjoyed except that the young people from earlier decided to form another circle pit which is pretty incongruous for such a sweet song. Save it for “Kung Fu”, boys. I think they were bored and restless but Nathan and I both had the same thought, which involved people attempting to mosh to “Demons” by the Super Furries at Southampton Guildhall in 1998. Some songs just don’t lend themselves well to the more violent kinds of dances.

It was time for a change of pace, and bringing special guest Démira Jansen out to duet on “Oslo” did just that. I realised how much Ash missed those Charlotte-vocals as Tim and Démira harmonised. It’s that softer side that provides a nice contrast to all the noiserock. The Subways certainly know the value of Charlotte-vocals too.

I hadn’t heard of Démira before but she just made me think of Daisy Jones, both in look and voice. That’s not a bad thing as long as she’s not causing the backstage chaos of Daisy Jones. It was a nice break before a couple more new songs then a cracking double of “Kung Fu” and “Girl From Mars”. It was almost like Ash were finding their mojo, just before taking a pre-encore break. Démira popped back a bit of “Crashed Out Wasted” before we all got to play what I’ve seen described as “an adult game of Peekaboo”.

Unsurprisingly, Ash came back. Slightly more surprisingly, The Subways came back with them. We’d seen some extra mics being set up so we had got our hopes up but didn’t want to get too excited….after all, last year’s encore guest was a bit underwhelming. But no, Billy and Tim were together on stage to declare their bromance to the world. And more importantly, to play “Oh Yeah” with two drummers, two bassists and a whole lotta vocals. It’s not the “Oh Yeah” you’re thinking of though. Or is it? Anyway, Ash and The Subways played “Oh Yeah” and then Ash and The Subways played “Oh Yeah”. Both song were epic. Billy looked like he was living his best life, Tim looked more energised than he had all night and us fans lapped it all up.

Ash finished with “Burn Baby Burn”, sadly without the Subways and we danced out to the sound of “Jump in the Line” from Beetlejuice. Oh yes, they know their demographic.

So, who is the victor in this fight? Sorry Ash, I’ve gotta give this to the Subs. They just brought all the energy and the set was end-to-end joyousness. I feel like Ash were better last year, when they were playing more of the old material and had Charlotte there. But, as I said earlier, I do get it – they’re doing this to promote the new album and it clearly worked because Nathan bought both the album and the t-shirt. If the bands had gone the other way round and I’d had a bit more energy for Ash’s set I might have felt differently but 8 out of the 16 songs in the main set I didn’t know, compared to only 6 out of the 14 songs in the Subways set that I didn’t know. Plus, the bored young people making circle pit trouble made it a less enjoyable experience watching Ash causing every now and then you’d get shoved backwards and just have to kinda wait while the testosteroney ones prowled round the big empty space and decided whether to slam into each other or not.

I mean, I’m moaning but Nathan loved it. I almost lost him to those circle pits a couple of times. In case you’re wondering, he is also feeling the after effects. In case I haven’t mentioned it a million times already in this post, we are a million years old. And sometimes it shows.

But still, it was a grand evening out and I feel very privileged to watch the two bands come together for “Oh Yeah squared”. Epic moments, and yeah, bring on the next gig….

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“The Tempest” at Unicorn Theatre – 23/09/23

Posted on September 23, 2023 by katese11

copyright Unicorn Theatre

 

This is the second child-friendly production of The Tempest that Eva and I have seen this year so do forgive me if I in any way repeat myself . There are similarities but today’s show certainly had a few surprises in store. I’ll explain that shortly.

First though, a fuelling up lunch at My Favourite Cafe in Essex Road after teaching English class:

And then a wander past London Bridge station where I spotted these giant mirrored umbrellas:

We got to the theatre with almost an hour to spare so we doubled back to More London for a free coffee from you-know-where and a look around these random statues. They’ve replaced the primates that were along this stretch of the Southbank last year but I’m not sure what theme they’re following. A lot of them seemed to featured a anthropomorphised rabbit woman and this one also had a polar bear:

I can’t believe it’s the first time we’ve been to the Unicorn Theatre. It was clearly well overdue a visit and the building is bigger than I expected, although the auditorium itself is fairly intimate. There is a lift to all floors, hanging-out space on the ground floor and family toilets on several levels.

So, onto the show itself. This was an abridged and modernised version of The Tempest, aimed at 6-11 year-olds and performed by a very hard-working cast of 6. With such multi-tasking going on, there had to be some severe cuts to the cast list and, as with some previous productions that we’ve seen, the assorted extra nobles and court folk were stripped out to focus on Alonsa (a female version of Alonso), Ferdinand, Stephano and Trinculo. That didn’t seem to affect many of the main plot points though, and the audience-favourite scenes of foot-kissing and Trinculo hiding under Caliban remained intact. There were also some bits retained in this production that I’ve seen cut out of others – like the bit about Ariel being trapped in a tree and the three spirits that come to bless the union of Miranda and Ferndinand, channelling Destiny’s Child as they did so.

Copyright Unicorn Theatre

Destiny’s Child, you say? Why yes, I did mention this was a modernised version, didn’t I? Along with the three feisty goddesses, there were references to Amazon, Apple, Prime, Deliveroo and that Shakespeare staple – Rick Astley. It was one of the ways in which the production was appealing to the Gen Alpha audience but without throwing out the original text entirely. There were also moments of audience participation – particularly at the beginning when Caliban and Ariel addressed us directly and got us to sing the “call of the island” along with them. There were songs scattered throughout the show, which were additions to the text in modern language rather than being taken from the text itself. I think this was to break up the dialogue a bit and help the younger ones in the audience to follow what’s going on. It actually flowed well and the modern references and words didn’t seem at odds with the purer Shakespearean bits. Eva is bit of a Shakespeare buff but not a purist because she laughed harder than anyone at the Rickrolling.

Copyright Unicorn Theatre

There were some really nice touches in the production design and characterisation. Miranda (Daisy Prosper) wears mismatched shoes because of course she is clothed with whatever washes up on the island. She and Ferdinand (Finlay MacGuigan) both played their characters very young and naive, which works really well as Miranda is meant to be a teenager I think – and a very sheltered one at that. Daisy Prosper’s wide-eyed amazement at the new faces around her and her sweet, pure singing voice suited this version of the character perfectly. Finlay MacGuigan also plays Trinculo and there is some superb physical comedy between him and Caliban (Ashley D Gayle). Both are impressively athletic and Caliban also pulls off some great dance moves in his signature song.

Copyright Unicorn Theatre

Caliban and Ariel (Juliet Agnes) act almost as narrators for the whole thing and Ariel especially ties the show together by appearing at opportune moments and reminding the audience that she is pulling all the strings. One of the things I like most was the light tubes around both servants, showing how Prospero (Mark Theodore) kept them enchained. It was a very strong visual metaphor for their imprisonment and turned red when Prospero chose to inflict pain on them. It showed the cruelty of Prospero’s character but it was balanced with an emphasis on his backstory and how much he suffered at the hands of Antonio (Ashley D Gayle again) and Alonsa (Alice Keedwell). It is a difficult balance to pull off and make Prospero even mildly sympathetic but it was well done here. Alonsa was also well played, leaning into the madness of losing a child but not losing him while being taunted by those Deliveroo spirits and their phoney burgers.

Copyright Unicorn Theatre

Another element I liked was the way the tempest itself was created at the start of the show, with a giant billowing white curtain being made to dance by Ariel and Prospero. It’s hard to recreate a storm on stage but this was very atmospheric and when the curtain came down, it revealed a whole new part of the stage.

Copyright Unicorn Theatre

So, there was a lot packed into the 75 minutes – bite-size chunks of Shakespearean farce, audience interaction, songs, dances and moments of sheer madness. It obviously isn’t Eva’s first Shakespeare experience but I think it would have been a great introduction for the younger ones in the audience. The songs were beautifully sung – especially when Ariel was involved – and moved the narrative along from one bit to the other. It felt like the set up of the story took longer than the mid section or the resolution but that’s to be expected in an abridged version.

We left the theatre and tried to get the 47 bus back to Liverpool Street but it was perpetually 3 minutes away so we eventually gave up and started walking, cutting through Potter’s Field park on the way.

Eva wanted a snack but that idea mutated to fries when she saw a hipster burger van by the Scoop. And mutated yet further when I pointed out that there was a Five Guys just up the steps from there. There were a lot of people looking at Tower Bridge but I didn’t see it open, just a lot of people held either side of the gap and then released again. The backlog of traffic might explain why the 47 never arrived though. If I did miss some major event at Tower Bridge despite being there, then do let me know.

And if you know why a rabbit is holding up a rhino, feeding spaghetti to a giraffe or sitting on a tortoise then do let me know about that too….

“The Tempest” is on until 15th Oct at the Unicorn Theatre. For tickets and more info, click here.

Disclaimer: I received free tickets in exchange for a review. All opinions remain honest and my own. All production photos were nicked from the Unicorn Theatre website so they retain copyright and hopefully won’t make me give them back….

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Great Yarmouth – 28/08/23

Posted on September 2, 2023 by katese11

If you read my last post about Great Yarmouth., you’ll realise that I still had another day’s worth of seaside fun to tell you about. So strap in…there are model villages still to come.

First though, breakfast. We’d managed to book into the Beefeater for breakfast at 9:45 but we were ready and hungry at 8:30ish so Eva and I went for a wander to find some pre-breakfast breakfast. The convenience store on the seafront was closed so we walked up past the Hippodrome, which I would have liked to visit if we’d been in Great Yarmouth for a bit longer.

We found a Londis which supplied us with Biscoff cream cookies and also some German crisps for the drive home that were Subway Teriyaki flavour (FYI – they schmeckt gut). Eva and Nathan wanted to drive down to the Beefeater rather than do that walk again so even with all the wandering about, we still arrived 20 minutes early. Time for another paddle:

And then a good fuel up at the Beefeater breakfast buffet which is essentially a Premier Inn breakfast under a slightly different brand. At £20 for all three of us and unlimited everything, it was pretty good value.

Then we drove back up to the seafront, spent ages trying to find a parking spot again and had to squeeze into one between two quite badly parked cars. Lucky that ours is so teeny really.

Talking of teeny, time for the model village. And yes, we did quote Hot Fuzz on the way.

At the entrance, other people seemed to be asking for fish food so we also asked for this. I wasn’t quite sure why we needed it but at a pound a bag, it seemed worth doing. The model village is quite densely packed, with the path taking you round all the different models in quite a prescriptive way. This worked well for getting lots of people flowing around the site at the same time but there were a few bottlenecks where different groups were going at different paces. Eva wanted to look at everything as we went, so we would have taken a slow lane option if there had been one.

Talking of different, what era was this village set in? That was our pretty constant question as we wandered around. And what kind of village includes not just an airport but a rocket launchpad?

So initially, I was thinking kinda trad 50s:

But some of the hairstyles had a definite 70s feel:

And then there were modern minis, which are post 2000…and a take on the London Eye which is also millennial (although could be based on the Great Yarmouth Eye behind it, which is even newer)

All very confusing!

Oh, and there was a very suspect block of flats which seemed to be exclusively let to the swingers’ market. I did take a photo but decided there were too many tiny naked bottoms to include on my PG-rated blog.

Anachronisms aside, this was a fascinating place to visit. There was so much detail in all the models and lots of them had soundtracks  – available via a button – as well as things to look at. These nuns might look like they’re from the Exorcist but they were singing the “Morning Hymn/Alleluia” bit from the start of the Sound of Music. You gotta love a random SoM reference.

Eva had a go on the remote control cars and boats (£1 each) and there was also mini golf.

And the fish food? Well, there were plenty of hungry mouths to feed:

Yeah, this is where I remembered how fishphobic I am. I think they would try and eat me if I fell in.

And talking about scary, check out this giant pigeon:

The winding path took us through the gift shop and popped us right out onto the beach, so Eva went for a bit of a sand-paddle:

And then we both went for an actual paddle:

We were getting through the list of things that Eva wanted to do before we headed off so next on the agenda was the Upside-Down house in the Pleasure Beach Gardens. The house was at capacity when we arrived so I went back to the loos next to the giant wheel while Nathan and Eva waited. The walk took longer than I expected so by the time I was back, they’d been through the house and taken photos to prove it:

Also on the list was “cookie as big as her head”:

And more battered halloumi and chips. Nathan and I were still full from breakfast but Eva wanted her third portion of seaside chips in a 24-hour period. We wanted to try yet another eatery so I think we ended up getting takeaway from Fish & Grill, next to Golden Nugget (which is not an eatery, despite the name). There was a bit of a wait but that would have been the same anywhere at lunchtime on a bank holiday I think. It gave us time to plan our next step, which was to take yesterday’s pun to a new level, in the classic “one of my children” way of flogging a joke. Yes, Eva needed to fill her empty Fanta can with seawater so she could take the “fantasy” home with her.

I don’t really need to set out the logistical issues involved in this pun but you’ll understand why the eventual solution of taking her chips back to the car, having to squeeze myself in through the passenger door due to the very close parking and retrieving an old Coke bottle from under my seat seemed thoroughly logical. It wasn’t empty but I think it was “compilation Coke” from previous journeys so I wasn’t sad to see it poured down a drain. There was a totally empty bottle by Reuben’s seat but that was completely unpassable thanks to the blue jeep that was well over the line. So we filled a Coke bottle with seawater, promised her that we would find a Fanta bottle to put it into when we got home and jumped in the car before the torrential rain started. She hasn’t asked for the seawater since we got home but you’ll be pleased to know that the battered halloumi and chips all got eaten on the nearly 3-hour journey home,

Because turns out, Great Yarmouth is a trek from London even when you live at the exact right corner of London for all things East Anglia. I amazed myself by playing with Google Maps and finding that Great Yarmouth is the same distance from home as Bristol, Poole and Loughborough. That blew my mind cause Bristol is practically Wales and all the way over there. Poole is all the way down there and Loughborough is north of Birmingham, which sounds very far indeed. Norfolk is crazy big, turns out. But still worth a visit if you have to be there anyway and this whole crazy trip was a very pleasant 24 hours by the sea indeed. I’ll just pack a few more cardigans next time…

 

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Great Yarmouth – 27/08/23

Posted on August 31, 2023 by katese11

This was all a bit spontaneous and – for once – Nathan’s idea. I know, a night in a random seaside town is totally the kind of thing I would come up with but this time it was him. Maybe he’s missing the glory days of 2007, when we used to go to the seaside every month. These things were easier before we had children.

Anyway, we have children now and one of those children had to be dropped somewhere in the Norfolk Broads at unearthly o’clock on a Bank Holiday Sunday. This gave the rest of us a good stretch of time before we had to be online on Tuesday and why not go to the seaside?

And why not go to Great Yarmouth?

Well, the reaction of some of my colleagues when I mentioned where we were going might have been reason enough but I’m not sure what they were getting at. So, it’s seen better days. Haven’t most British seaside towns? As long as there’s sand and sea and the occasional glimpse of sun, it’ll do us just fine.

We got to Great Yarmouth just before lunchtime, after successfully abandoning Roo in the middle of nowhere with a brand new minor head injury. We managed to park near our hotel and opposite the pier, which seemed to be free parking and close by to everything. Having driven past some nice-looking pubs on the Broads, Nathan and I were both angling for a pub lunch but the seafront didn’t seem to yield many nice country pubs, weirdly enough. There was one pub called the Barking Smack but that looked packed out and so we wandered into town.

Yeah, there wasn’t much in town. Though we found an abandoned chapel that looked like a plucky young theatre company might come and claim it at any moment. It even had a blue door!

I’m not sure we even found the town centre because Eva was dropping hints that turned into strong suggestions about going back to the seafront and getting some chips. I wanted to eat in somewhere because it was still a couple of hours before we could check into the hotel and the weather was Bank Holiday-unpredictable. Eva insisted she’d seen a chip shop with tables inside so we walked back that way and found The Corner, which did indeed have tables inside.

As it happened, it was good choice of hers. The chips were cooked by a very jovial man in a nautical hat and we were served by an equally lady on the till. They were good chips too and definitely a decent price. They take card as well, which is a bonus as we only had a tenner and some Euros on us.

Fully chip-fed, we went for another little wander. We’d already had one paddle but it wasn’t long before Eva were back in the sea again. It wasn’t quite as warm as Turkey but it wasn’t what I’d call freezing either. Nathan may beg to differ.

But Nathan was sitting up on the stubby pier with a pint so he was alright. When I say pier, I think we were expecting it to be a little longer….like maybe something that went out further than the beach did. But no, the end of pier amusements were still very much on land. You can see where the pier used to be though:

The bit of beach on the north side of the pier had been dogfree but I think the rules were different on the south side of the pier. You can guess which beach Eva preferred. In fact, she declared it a “doggyfnarea” because of the sheer number of good bois and girls running about.

It was almost time to check into the hotel, but first I had some urgent punning to do which involved the drink Eva had bought at the chip shop. Is this the real life or is this just…?

We were staying at the St George hotel, which seemed like it was going to be delightfully eccentric, much like the BnB I’d stayed at in Devon. It did have some eclectic decor  – a broken piano alongside a fish tank alongside some Toby jugs – but the staff we met were disappointing pleasant and didn’t even scold us about our breakfast choices. Probably because there was no breakfast “due to the pandemic”. Do you see why I thought it was going to be quirky?

Having checked in, we headed down to Whippy World where Eva and I shared a Biscoff Whippy Tray. It was three piles of whip, so most definitely a sharer although the lady serving us said she’d people tackle it solo before. Nathan had a strawberry Whippy shake I think.

While we ate our ice cream, I prebooked tickets for the Sea Life Centre behind us which I think was a requirement. Apparently, they’re still in pandemic times as well. But there were still 3PM tickets available and it didn’t close till 5PM, despite what Google Maps said so it all worked fine. I actually booked for 3:10 because, weirdly, it was £8 cheaper than booking on the hour or half hour. Paid for the Whippy Tray anyway.

The Sea Life Centre was lots of fun. I’m a bit scared of fish, as I’d remember the following day, but this place had penguins! Who doesn’t love penguins? Well, apart from possibly Benedict Cumberbatch. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure about Eva given that she was rooting for a seal to eat a penguin at the Earth Experience.

But she did love these funny fellas

She also liked the jellyfish room, with its cool UV lighting:

But her favourite thing was in the room with the shark tank. For some reason, she’d been singing the “That’s a Moray” song all day, so she was thrilled to see a real live moray. I didn’t get a good picture of it but it’s in there somewhere:

I also thought the giant turtle was cool. And as you walk through the tunnel you can get realll close to those sharks.

In the next room, there was the chance to stroke a millipede, which felt oddly like computer cabling, and a slightly camera-shy axolotl:

Oh and a photo opportunity with the clown fish:

Isn’t that like a perfect 90s screensaver?

There was also this giant eel thing, which invited you to reach into its mouth to retrieve a magic pearl. This picture of Eva doing that looks like she’s been papped stumbling out of a nightclub with a mystery beau:

Oh, and did I mention that they got the perfect celebrity to open this aquarium? Yup, renowned pop culture icon and weatherman Michael Fish:

By the time we’d managed to leave the giftshop, the weather had definitely turned for the stormier which would seem to be un-ideal for sea-swimming:

But you should know me by now  – I’d swim in the rain. More surprising was that Eva also agreed to paddle in the rain and so did Nathan, although he was pretty much forced to because Eva was. I wanted to go a bit further out so he was on paddle-watch:

As it was, I was still scraping my knees on the bottom but at least I got a full immersion swim. Nathan again mentioned that the water may have been a bit chillier than the Med, despite my salespitch to the contrary.

After that, we headed back to the hotel for a bath and a cup of tea before heading out to dinner at HMS Hinchinbrook, which was pretty much next door to where we’d had lunch. Despite building up an appetite from my swim, I was still kinda full from lunch chips but I did my best on another pile of chips and a very tasty lasagne.

Eva had read that there was battered halloumi on the menu so of course that’s what she had…along with a vegan burger, garlic bread and yet more chips. Nathan had a burger and yup, chips again.

It was only natural that, after all this feeding, our thoughts would turn to breakfast. As our hotel didn’t provide it, I was planning to go to the Beefeater restaurant at the Premier Inn, which was just a bit further down the seafront. I tried to book online but couldn’t quite understand the timeslots so suggested that we head down there to book in person. In Turkey, we always had a sea-side walk after dinner to help our food go down so this seemed like a fine tradition to uphold.

Like the sea, this walk was Chillier Than Turkey. Eva, who claims not to feel the cold, was shivering in her dress and we ended up sharing a cardigan as we walked past the Pleasure Beach fairground.

The restaurant was also a bit further away than I’d thought but we managed to book for the next morning and then just had a chilly stroll back to our hotel, awkwardly bumping into each other under the cardigan canopy. But the main thing was that we let our food go down before bed…and that we still had another day to look forward to the next day.

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