From 'La Mole' to Penge

As you may have noticed, I've been struggling to keep up with LJ this year but not to the point of being completely absent.

A few weeks ago I got the chop from a friend's  LJ in one of his periodic culls. I am not sure what 'crime' I committed as I am certain it was I who had commented last, but I'll never know as his is a friends-only journal. The irony is that he used to complain about people disappearing without a good-bye!
I was a bit disappointed as we had met him in the past, although very briefly; on the other hand there was often a bit of a sting in the tail in some of his comments (but of course, it could all just be in my mind), so oh well, I won't be slitting my wrists quite yet.

So before I bore you all with a summary of my last 2 weeks, please feel free to hit the de-friend button should you feel compelled to do so. I am big boy (as I have often been told! LOL) and I can take it.

Two weeks ago we were very daring and had a night out mid-week.

It started with dinner at The Ivy



We went for the affordable set menu (available until 6 pm - my office is a 2 min walk from the restaurant - and after 10 pm).



We both had the same starter: "Slow cooked salt beef hash with fried hen egg, HP jus"



and main course "Corn-fed chicken breast with creamed polenta & vine roasted tomatoes"



Adrian chose the "Chocolate orange steamed pudding with custard" for dessert


while I enjoyed a "Piña colada parfait with peach melba"


It was all rather yummy and beautifully presented.

After the meal, we went to the Duchess theatre for a preview of





The play is about an am-dram group putting on a murder mystery. And of course everything goes wrong with hilarious consequences.
It was very funny (Adrian was crying!), and it must have been really physically demanding and exhausting for the cast, who were probably full of bruises (I would have been!) by the end of the play.

That week, on the Saturday, I baked some natas (Portuguese custard tarts) flavoured with orange



which we later took with us to the Crystal Palace's Antenna Studios for a "free evening of 3½ short films starring the palace, the park and the subway. A night that frames Crystal Palace as a magical zone of pleasure and transformation."
We went with Michael and Christopher, who live in Crystal Palace.





The movies shown were (descriptions taken from the Deptford Film Club website):

• The Pleasure Garden (Dir. James Broughton 1954, 37mins)

"Amidst the ruins of the Crystal Palace Gardens, a frock-coated Minister of Public Behaviour (John le Mesurier) is determined to stamp out the least sign of indecency or lewdness. However a fairy godmother (Hattie Jacques) comes along in his wake and sets the characters in the park skipping, loving and dancing once more with the aid of her magic scarf. A Cannes-winning valentine to the land of Edward Lear, Shakespeare and pantomime."

• Amelia & the Angel (Dir. Ken Russell 1958, 26mins)

"A delightful mix of religious allegory and magical fantasy directed by Ken Russell, who lived in Crystal Palace for many years. A young girl, Amelia, distressed about losing the wings she was to wear in her school nativity play, is saved when she follows an angel into a mysterious building."

• Journey Into a Lost World (Dir. Ken Russell 1960, 22mins)

"The poet John Betjeman reminisces on Britain’s great historical exhibitions: Barnum and Bailey’s circuses, Brighton fairgrounds, Crystal Palace, Alexandra Palace, the original White City pleasure ground, the Empire Exhibition at Wembley and the Festival of Britain."

• Setting Sun (Dir. Dom & Nic 1996, 4mins)

"The video for Chemical Brothers’ 1996 hit, with vocals from Noel Gallagher."

Last Friday we went to the cinema in town to see


We loved it! It's about the unlikely (and rocky) friendship between a Welsh mining village and a London-based lesbian and gay group which was collecting money for the striking miners in the mid-1980s.
It's inspired by a real story and it's a very moving and funny film.

And now the garden.
The e-mail about the scaffolding at the end of the garden that I sent early on Thursday morning to the council produced unexpectedly swift results.
When I got home that same day it had gone!
We thought it a coincidence and informed the council, but they replied that an 'enforcement officer' had spoken to the scaffolding company that very morning. Since the permit had expired, they came round to remove it at once.

On Saturday we emptied the shed, and moved it so that now we have access to our narrow (2 ft) strip of land between our fence and the 2 flats, through a little gate in the fence.
By moving the shed we also managed to chop down a mock orange bush, which was too tall and too close to the building. A shame, I know.








While we were in the garden, we noticed some people on the roof of the top flat's bathroom. They came back to finish it off!

Also the landlord came to talk to me because I had sent him an e-mail to point out that the elevation of the its flat has been increased by a row of bricks. While this doesn't particularly bother me (and I won't report him to the council), I just wanted him to be aware that he can't just flout the regulations of a conservation area.

Here is a time-lapse view of the back garden from the back bedroom window: with tree, scaffolding and all the bushes; without the tree; without the tree, scaffolding and the mock orange bush.



In a way, we are already used to not having the tree any longer.
It often seems to be the case: you worry about things, and afterward it's all a bit 'meh'.

This week I am slightly concerned about the referendum on Scottish independence.
They are of course very welcome to do as they wish (coming from a country which was 'united' just over 150 years ago, I can understand them wanted to be 'independent') but I know that if they vote Yes, we'll paying for it, starting from the pound which will take a severe beating.
Oh well, we'll see.

We had another little outing into town today.

From Penge to Trafalgar Square



still adorned with its Christmas tree (donated as every year since WWII by the city of Oslo)





We went to the National Portrait Gallery to see


an exhibition on the prince who would have become Henry IX, hadn't he died aged 18 (his brother - the future Charles I - became the heir to the throne).
It was rather interesting and not too crowded.

Then we had a 'sarnie' in the basement cafe'



before going to the Curzon in Mayfair to see



which we loved.
(There must have been something wrong with the heating - or maybe it was dust - because when the film ended we both had watering eyes! lol)

Before heading home,  we  visited the new £6m  Bomber Command Memorial on Constitution Hill (the north-west corner of Green Park) inaugurated by the Queen last June.

Last night I had my weekly Skype call with my brother and my parents, and I was surprised not to see my mother there.
It turned out that she's been in hospital since Friday because of a bad bronchitis aggravated by some existing heart condition (she was struggling to breathe) but they had decided not to let me know because they didn't want me to worry.
Apparently she is better now and off the oxygen.
Father didn't sound very healthy either, I must say.

I felt irrationaly guilty for enjoying myself in Paris when she was poorly. And, I suppose, sometimes I do feel a bit guilty about being away but really it was the only option I had if I wanted to live my life.

Talking about going away, we don't have any other breaks booked (apart from Christmas with our respective families).
The eurozone has almost become a no-go area for us, poor Brits. 
Oh, how the mighty have fallen!


We need to have some repairs done at home (porch, one windowsill, painting of the eaves and windows/French doors). The first estimate we got was for a shocking £2,700!
Adrian wasn't surprised that the guy that came to have a look was driving a Porsche coupe!
The second estimate was considerably less, just over £700.
Incredible, isn't it?

Tonight I'm meeting Adrian in town and we are finally going to see "Julie and Julia". Amazingly, it is still out in a handful of cinemas.

We were trasnported to France this evening! We went to see


It was a very good choice.  "Coco avant Chanel" is about Coco's life as a young woman and it is quite delightful. I also loved the melancholic score.

We watched the film at the Curzon Mayfair. It wasn't on at our local cinema (Adrian said that the only Coco they know there is "Coco the clown" - but he exaggerates!) plus Adrian was in town because of a dentist's appointment.

The Curzon Mayfair is almost opposite the Saudi Arabian embassy to which a line from the film about being liked only because of one's money could very easily apply.

A walk around Mayfair always makes one feel rather poor, but it's also a chance of seeing some lovely architecture.

Yesterday we were supposed to go to the seaside: I would have taken pictures of a bear for his eurowoof profile and we'd have had a day out. Unfortunately he had to cancel. But as it was such a glorious day and I fancied snapping away,  we decided to visit Highgate cemetery in north London.
It is one of the so called Magnificent Seven, seven Victorian cemeteries built in the 1830s/1840s around London.

The cemetery is split into 2 halves: the eastern cemetery, still very much in use, where Karl Marx is buried, and the western part overgrown and visitable only by guided tour.

The western cemetery is simply wonderful: so atmospheric with many tombs covered by the vegetation, and outstanding architecture, in some cases inspired by Egypt as in the Egyptian Avenue below

 

( More pictures of the Western Cemetery )
The most famous monument in the Eastern cemetery is Karl Marx's tomb:

( but there's plenty more to see > )
Adjacent to the eastern cemetery, lies Waterlow Park also Victorian: more photo opportunities!



( More pictures of the park behind the link )
(including a picture of a Mandarin duck - probably related to the one snapped by timbearuk at Syon House!)
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After all that fresh air, we were rather tired and so probably not at our best when we met William for a quick drink in Old Compton Street. He had been out shopping with a couple of friends all day, so wasn't feeling exactly rested himself!

We then went to see "Running with scissors". Normally I would have enjoyed it as I like strange and quirky films... but I don't know, somehow I found it rather uncomfortable and hard work to watch; and it wasn't because everybody just seemed plain crazy. Despite some great performances, for me it definitely wasn't one of those movies where time flies and you feel you really care about what happens to the characters. 

The sweetest thing was an elderly lady well in her 70s with a slight transatlantic twang, who sat in front of Adrian and turned round to ask Adrian if he could still see the screen (as Adrian pointed out later, she wasn't any taller than the back of her seat!!).
During the film she kept making comments to herself like "Who's going to clean that mess" when they made the hole in the kitchen's ceiling; she got up just before the end and when she got back she asked Adrian "Did anybody die? I just had to go to the ladies". Ah bless!!!

Sunday was rainy and mainly lazy.
We all got up rather late, had a light breakfast and went to Balans in Old Compton Street for lunch/brunch.

David insisted in buying us lunch to celebrate the new of our forthcoming civil partnership (and my becoming British). He is such a sweetie!!

After lunch we waved him goodbye at Piccadilly Circus and we went to the Odeon Covent Garden to see "Marie Antoinette".

It was great fun, very camp... sadly I failed to spot the pair of trainers in the shoe shopping scene (while Adrian - who didn't know about it - did!!). That says enough for my observation skills.



I must say that we felt that there wasn't much of a story, probably because we had both read a biography a couple of years ago... anyway who needs a story when the costumes and the settings are so marvellous?

When we got home, I found out that my internet connection wasn't working!!
And I felt almost at a loss... it's quite funny when that happens, as it makes me realise how much dependent on/addicted to the net I have become!