Journal Entries
WL Sat 30 Jul
Posted Aug 6, 2005
Breakfast: coffee and 4 of the Weetabix-like biscuits from Lidl. (Unlike AR, I don't fancy porridge.) Rain is still forecast, so I wore the hiking boots.
I packed and left about 10 (early, in case of any hold-ups en route). A 159 (a Routemaster!) came only a few minutes after I arrived at the bus stop. Big Ben struck 11 just as we left Parliament Square. The full 159 route goes up Gloucester Place. This bus was for Marble Arch, but a diverted 139 took me up Gloucester Place. I reached Regent's Park bandstand about 11:40 and saw nobody looking mustardy. On the bandstand there were 2 women doing keep-fit exercises, and they soon went. I have got the muster point wrong in the past, and so, from the vantage point of the bandstand, started gazing into the middle distance for possible musters.
It seems that I exude mustardiness myself, as a woman walked straight up to me from the direction of Clarence Gate and asked if I was a Mustardlander. It was Urban Yokel. We immediately established that we had something in common: we'd each mistaken the other's gender from ML. I set out our pitch on my groundsheet.
Cookiepuss arrived, with a marvellous mustard scarf which later served as a flag to get late arrivals to notice us. To identify herself, Cookiepuss wore a badge saying =^..^=.
Annie brought her tartan rug. Apparently, tartan rugs are de rigueur for picnics, so, for a while, it was me and my stuff on the groundsheet and everybody else on the rug.
Amy and Jane hove into view from the east. (Where had they come from? The zoo?) It was 12:15. Amy pointed out that they were not late because she had specified "noon-/ish/".
When we decided to unpack, it was apparent that the others are a better class of picnicker. They'd brought wine, posh cheese, /home-made/ cakes (thank you, Jane), grapes, delicious cherries, etc. but nobody else was interested in the stuff I'd brought, so I ended up eating it myself. Sorry, others, if I appeared anti-social; that wasn't intended.
We had two unexpected visitors: Pippa G and her OH. They had an appointment in London, and kindly made time to come all the way to Regent's Park to meet us, even though they could only spare a few minutes.
Two more late arrivals were Sheena and Snatch Foster.
This was the first major outing for my new digital camera (nothing too fancy: a Pentax Optio 30), so, in between munches, I was snapping away. Cookiepuss and Sheena also took some photos, so you can see the snaps from all 3 of us in the Lockin.
Despite Snatch's confident assertion that it'd rain by 4, it didn't, but it was overcast. At about 4:30, when it was getting even windier and chillier, we packed up and made for Baker Street, whereupon the clouds parted somewhat and it got a bit warmer. Amy, Jane, Sheena, Snatch and I repaired to a coffee bar where we continued to chat over coffee (except Amy, Jane, Sheena and Snatch, who had tea. This sounds like ammo for another ML dichotomy: tea-drinkers vs coffee-drinkers). It was there that I found that it's Sheena who's to blame... er... thank for so many MLers' enthusiasm for the Ukes. BTW thank you, Snatch, who paid the bill but didn't stay for the rest to pay him back our share. The others started homewards from Baker Street tube station.
The rain held off just long enough for me to find a suitable bus stop in Oxford Street (there were none suitable on the southbound side of Baker Street), by which time both the street and it were teeming (if you see what I mean). Just as well I wore the boots. A 159; it was another Routemaster.
I must have eaten well at the picnic; I needed only a light supper before bed.
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Latest reply: Aug 6, 2005
WL Fri 29 Jul
Posted Aug 3, 2005
A bad night. I'm generally a light sleeper: usually, of a night, I'll wake up in the small hours and thus lose some sleep but generally drop off again before morning. It's almost always very quiet at home at night. Last night, I awoke at about 3am, cold (mem: ask AR for a duvet), to the sound of a neighbour practising his guitar!
Shopping. The nearest supermarket is a Sainsbury's. AR tells me that it doesn't do catering (I'm sure I've bought food or drink there on previous visits to AR), so I set off for the big Sainsbury's superstore. Fortunately there is a Lidl much nearer, which turns out to have nearly everything I wanted. No plastic cutlery or paper plates, but surely someone will bring some. (Q: There are no baskets. Why are the trolleys at the far end of the store? Anyone going in at the front must walk the length of the store for one.)
Before leaving for an afternoon appointment (and some shopping), AR wrote me a letter of introduction to a neighbour, for me to use when requesting that the neighbour lend me her copy of AR's keys. (A wise precaution, I suppose, in an area such as this where the crime rate is high. AR had already been confronted by intruders demanding money with menaces.) From AR's sheet music, I found Mozart's piano sonata in A minor, K310. I hope my practising didn't annoy the nocturnal guitarist neighbour.
AR wanted to take me out for one meal today. We decided to make that the evening meal. After passing a few restaurants, AR chose an Indian one: Chilli Chutney, 20-21 The High Parade, Streatham High Road. It disappointed me. The waiters were obtrusive, but at least they tried to be helpful. AR ordered chicken korma; I ordered saag gosht (lamb with spinach). Among other things, we ordered a lentil dish. The waiter asked whether we wanted the korma and lentils hot, medium or mild. We ordered both "mild", but AR nonetheless found both too hot. The waiter offered to "make it [the lentils] mild", and brought a replacement dish, but this was no milder. At least we weren't charged for it. On the bill, "service charge" was included. I consider that presumptuous. About £13 a head; at any rate, it was, once the waiter had brought the right change!
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WL Thu 28 Jul
Posted Aug 2, 2005
Bath; hair wash.
A letter from AR revealed the truth: not a performance, but a film showing of one. Films and broadcasts just aren't the same as the real thing ("live"); still, it's something.
Weather forecasts for Saturday predict rain, so I packed hiking boots. I hope they won't be needed. I got everything, including the cool-bag, into the overnight bag, by dint of packing various clothes and toiletries into the cool-bag. A liking for dissection puzzles has some uses, occasionally!
Some Mustardlanding this morning (it's too addictive).
The journey to the Barbican went very smoothly, leaving me with some time to explore, aided only slightly by a map, which was not as detailed or informative as maps should be. The Barbican has a library with a good music section. Then back to the Waterfront Café where AR met me and we had a good, reasonably-priced dinner.
The film was in Barbican Hall, projected onto a screen in an aspect ratio more like that of a TV than Cinemascope. The production was the New York Met's, with Bryn Terfel as Figaro and Cecilia Bartoli as Susanna. Interval ice-creams: £2 a tub.
Finally, out to a bus stop in Moorgate, to get a 133 which the digital display in the bus stop didn't know about. (Moral: don't concentrate on the display; look at the road.)
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WL Tue 26 Jul
Posted Aug 2, 2005
An aged relative (henceforth AR) phoned me with an irresistible offer: The Marriage of Figaro at the Barbican on Thursday. Would I like to come? Of course!
A quick check with a friend to see if she wouldn't mind postponing our coffee and dessert evening from that evening: no, she wouldn't mind.
This is 2 days beforme Amy's picnic, also in London. AR is willing to put up with me... er... put me up for Friday night too, so one stay in London covers the two events. This also means that I can get food in London on Friday.
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WL Thu 21 Jul
Posted Aug 2, 2005
I have decided to take the plunge and create a Journal in h2g2. It certainly won't be daily, and is likely to be sporadic. I note that h2g2's conversations lists don't identify who started the conversation (a fatal omission)! Therefore I'll tag my journal entries with WL.
My old film camera's shutter relase button has been playing up and getting worse for some time. I seldom use it; witness my not finishing the roll with my Brick Lane snaps on it until several months later. So replacing it had been a low-priority task. However, Amy's picnic on Sat 30 Jul has raised its priority. Today I decided to get a digital camera. Some optical zoom ("digital zoom" is no zoom at all), and one that takes memory cards (which are cheaper per megabyte than sticks); apart from that, any old cheap one will do. After trying Jessop's (none on show that I fancied), Dixon's, Currys (identical range to Dixon's), I bought from Camera World a Pentax Optio 30 for £100 and a 128MB SD RAM card for £10.
Out to take a few snaps of this boring bit of suburbia (nobody was about, at this time of the evening), and in to install the software and to read in the user guide all the bells and whistles that I'll probably never need to use.
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Latest reply: Aug 2, 2005
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