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Nov12
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Well I say full, full of pubs really. Friday night we stayed in, so as to have more energy for going out on Saturday. We had a trip to Canterbury in the day (and you'll never guess where we had lunch), no actual christmas shopping, but we went in a couple of different pubs for a change, the Cherry Tree and the Buttermarket. Both are nice enough, the Cherry Tree feels a bit dated and rough really for Canterbury, there are plenty of better places to go but it was worth checking out for a change. The Buttermarket is much nicer, no decent beers on unfortunately but we sat and had coffee and read their newspapers until it was time to head off for the bus.
Saturday night we went to Hythe for the first time in a long time, and it turned into a bit of a crawl. We decided to make the most of our Canterbury bus tickets (an "Explorer" ticket is the same price as a return and takes you all over Kent and Sussex, as if you would have time to go very far in one day) and get the bus out to Hythe, the timing of which meant time for one in Folkestone. We tried Keppels, but it was shut for a private do so we tried out The Bay Tree (the bar underThe Burlington) for the first time ever. Deathly quiet, but very nice, and really no quieter than any of the hotel bars nearby (like The Clifton or Keppels in The Grand), I'd go back again.
The bus to Hythe was full of kids, being kids, actually being quite awful kids. They were skaters and of some indeterminate alternative youth cult, and Clare and I would both love to believe that this makes you OK and a better person than if they were more mainstream in appearance, but it's just not true. I suspect that alternative is the new mainstream now, or something. They weren't just annoying and loud and spread over several seats making other people stand (though they were annoying and loud and spread over several seats), I forgave their youthful high spirits until they made racist remarks about another passenger, very poor.
Hythe was quite good, we looked in The Globe which was dated and working-mans-club-like like The Cherry Tree was earlier, but it gave it a feel of traditional pub. Then on to Earl Brownes to meet people, nice to sit around and chat, but that bar closed early, not because of us I'm sure, t seems to have declined in popularity since it first opened. A couple of other pubs along the street also stopped serving when they saw us coming, only The Kings Head was brave enough to stay open, and I think that's where all the pictures are from.
Sunday didn't do much, but did spend a stack of money. Booked a hotel for Brussels where we're off to in December for a christmas market weekender. Thought at first that we could easily get a five star hotel there at a knock down price, but on a second look it seems all these cheap places are in the EU district, half an hour's walk from the town centre, so we've gone for a Novotel right in the centre of town instead. Also booked tickets to see the Magic Numbers at Festival Hall in a couple of weeks. It's a midweeker, but I think I can do it easily leaving right after work, as it's so handy for Waterloo. Will be bleary eyed the next day, but what's new.
Got lots lined up before christmas now, we are busy bees...
2007 :: Comment / reply
Jun9
Went back to QI, and it was ace, glad we made the effort.
I had the afternoon off, and got away on time, so I had hours to kill before the show. I went to the National Gallery, and saw some paintings, it was nice. Then I wondered around Soho grazing from sandwich shops, and I saw Jon Culshaw. London hasn't changed since we lived there.
We got there about the same time as last time, but with our new "priority" tickets we were shown into a different queue. There were more people there than last time, but this time less of them were in front of us, so we got in. Must have been a whole crowdful turned away though. Very hot day, queueing was quite tiring and I was a bit bored of lugging my coat around all afternoon (the weather was shocking in Folkestone in the morning), but we're in, there are no cloakroom or security difficulties, we're toileted, sat in our seats five from the front, and we're ready to roll.
Not sure if they release in advance who the guests will be on a particular show, we had no idea but were working out our best / worst lineups. Stephen Fry and Alan Davies are a given, and they're two of our favourite people off TV, one of the things that makes it a favourite show. John Sessions would have been rubbish, that's about all we agreed on, but then we saw some kind of camera direction note with Joan Rivers and George Michael written on it. Odd, but would be interesting.
That must have been left over from Parkinson or something, as they actually rolled out Clive Anderson (good), Vic Reeves (very good), and Jeremy Clarkson (oh no). Oddly Clarkson got the biggest cheer of all, even among the young people and the indie / studenty members of the crowd. Why on earth is he so popular?
I won't spoil any of the show for you, but here are a few things I thought were interesting:
The first question was about drugs, someone asked if anyone here had ever taken ecstasy, Alan said "god yes", Clarkson said no and so did Clive.
Lots of lighthearted banter about how rubbish all foreigners are, far too much really I don't suppose much of it will make it into the show. Clive pointed this out, and Alan and Vic lightened things up with more amusing anecdotes about old Italian ladies and staring Icelandic people. Clarkson made a comment about what people in Portugal are like, and Fry shushed him and told him not to repeat it.
There were lots of anecdotes that seemed to just flow from the questions, I wonder how much of it was prepared in advance, not much I hope. Fry stumbled into a story about how when he was staying at The Savoy, Frank Sinatra was also a guest, and when he was leaving he gave the doorman a fat roll of twenties and said "I bet that's the biggest tip you've ever been given isn't it?", and the doorman replied "Actually no it's not" (leave a pause here for good comic timing, that's the secret to comedy.......................... timing. Frank's face has fallen slightly, etc) "that was the one you left me on your last visit".
Fry says he's one of five people in the world who know how the next Harry Potter book is going to end. He wouldn't share it with the audience, he'd had to sign something to say he'd not tell anyone, and he didn't give any hints in response to constant guessing from other people.
Filming lasted about two and a half hours, but by the time they've removed all the libel and the jingoism and the bits with people talking over each other they'll probably still have enough left for a show. You won't see us, we weren't in the bit of the crowd with the zooming camera, but watch it anyway, it's great. One more tip if you are going along, you could probably weasel your way into the priority queue by saying you have priority tickets, they don't seem to check them that closely, but even being in that queue doesn't get you the best seats. They let us in first, but they directed us to certain rows, reserving the best seats for the people who were at the front of the other queue. It's all quite deviously managed. Applause store are the people to get the tickets from in the first place, I think we'll go again next season.
Some small luck in fixing my other PC. I've reinstalled "ubuntu edgy", this time something went wrong with the graphics card though. I suspect I chose an unsorted resolution, shift+ctrl+plus cycles through alternatives though, and I got it back. Now to repeat all the earlier steps involving disabling wifi drivers and installing new ones and we'll see where we're at... it did work for a bit, obviously only until I'd packed the network cable away and had put the router back in the other room, THEN it decides it's not going to do wireless again...
2007 :: Comment / reply
Aug5
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Had a good week, lots going on at work, including the aforementioned rowing trip and picnic meeting in Hythe, very nice, then also a Harry Potter themed barbecue at work (I'm still plodding through the audiobook, don't tell me how it ends), and a pub lunch at Bar Vasa. Not sure this week was as productive as some.
Been to London this weekend for Clare's cousin's 30th birthday at Rumi Bar in Fulham. Stayed in a nice hotel near Victoria, got a Wagamama dinner in and fed squirrels in St James Park. Fitted just about everything in then, though damn it was hot. Meant to do a bit of shopping today, but it was too hot on the streets, so we just came home.
Have been watching this book illustrated by Harry Clarke, but the price has gone a bit high for me, 167 quid and rising.
Chilli for tea, and a DVD of Midsomer Murders, so just about everything is right with the world.
2007 :: Comment / reply
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