The Highs and Lows of London Town

Last Saturday was a nice day and the other half was off doing her own thing, so I went into London to see 'Ocean's Thirteen' (which I and the audience all actually enjoyed) and then walked across the river (though not literally, I did use Charing Cross Bridge) to The South Bank Centre, camera in hand, to partake of the weekend of 'musical delights' celebrating the reopening of the Centre and the refurb. of The Royal Festival Hall.

And, I've not seen so many middle class white people in one place at the same time since the Queen's jubilee celebration a few years ago.

Nevertheless, the sun was shining and the atmosphere was jovial. I strolled around at leisure dipping in and out of various 'live events' of which, to be frank, there simply weren't enough off. There was a lot of waiting around for something to happen in a lot of places, though since most people weren't really going anywhere, I guess that this was fine for most.

I got to see some strange dancing acrobats, a collection of sheds as an art exhibit, a wonderful old routemaster bus, a very cool 'walk in' fountain, various (unfortunately) forgettable music acts and Billy Bragg leading a lot of guitarists in a mass play-a-long type thing, which in his own words sounded like a load of "angry buzzing bees."

I only hung around for a few hours in the late afternoon, early evening and headed back to the 'safe' side of the river to buy a copy of Forza Motorsport 2' to keep me occupied for the rest of the evening.

Yesterday, I left work a bit earlier than usual to get my hair cut back in the old barber's in Northfields that I've been going to since I was small. Trying to figure out the fastest way to get to Northfields wasn't easy and in the end I opted to walk down to Paddington and get a train through to West Ealing from where I could walk (or if lucky catch a bus) down to the barbers.

Someone at work had told me that it was only a fifteen minute walk to Paddington, so I was quite surprised when, even at my brisk walk, it took me over 20 minutes walking diagonally from Marble Arch to Praed Street.

I love walking down new roads linking up unknown bits of London in my brain that I'd never been down before. Unfortunately the roads in this area curved and befuddled my brain. I knew that I needed to go North West but ended up a fit further East than I should have and ended up missing the train that I wanted to take.

However on the way I had an interesting encounter with a woman.

'Hello' she said in posh voice as I turned a corner onto a busy road. Still trying to find my bearings I was a bit caught out by someone actually randomly talking to me in London, which is sadly a rare thing in general nowadays, so "Hello" was all my brain, as I rushed past her, could muster in reply. She didn't say anything else and I suddenly realised that she was in fact propositioning me. It dawned on me as my bearings returned that here I was walking along the infamous Sussex Gardens part of Paddington where 'working girls' doth reside! She was quite pretty in a clean, posh voiced, mixed race, tidy bleached dread-locked hair type way and I'm sure that business goes well with her.

Then on the way back from the barbers, barnet chopped by a maniacal barber who pummeled my head such that I felt like I'd been in a fight with a heavyweight boxer, stuck in traffic on a bus going nowhere, I hop off only to find myself approaching a bunch of armed police standing around chatting outside Acton Town station. Whatever next?!

Fortunately the rest of the walk home was completely uneventful. *Phew!*

Tonight, despite the bad reviews, I'm off to see 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer' for a bit of escapism and tomorrow I'm off to Asda to buy a small TV for an elderly (81 years old, I think) friend of mine whose old 14 inch TV has given up the ghost. I'm hoping that, box and all, I'll be able to carry the TV back to her place in Westbourne Park without doing my back in too much!

Then perhaps, weather allowing, at some point over the coming days, I'll try out this.