07/05/24 - 12/05/24
May. 25th, 2024 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
satyricaIt was back to work in Tuesday and N was out in the vending, so I had a rare evening-in alone, which I used to cook something with onions in it and carry on scrapbooking. Then on Wednesday it was our Supporter Thank You event at St. Cuthbert's in the evening: this year there were four of us doing 5 minute speeches each, which was a lot less pressure: when it comes to work, it's incredible how blase I've become about speaking to a room full of people, but it seemed to go well and a whole load of us went for a couple of drinks afterwards. I had a gig on Thursday, heading out again to Colours after going home for food first: Support were a band called Big Image, playing their instruments over an up-tempo backing track: I wasn't sure at first but it start to sound quite clubby and I got pretty into it. The headliner was Tom A. Smith who had drafted the drummer from Big Image as his own had had an emergency halfway through the tour: he seemed to be having a moment last year but the crowd seemed about the same size as when I saw him at Camden Assembly in the Autumn, but it was a bugger venue so felt less buzzy, which was a shame as he had lots of funky energy.
I was in with N on Friday night and cooked at home, then on Saturday caught the train out to Shenfield to join a walking group (the Sole Mates) that Cousin A had acquired through his partner E. Ten of us gathered in total, many of them Antipodeans, and we were doing a loop which took in Thorndon Country Park, as well lots of ridiculously sized houses in the suburbs. A was the leader for this walk and we went wrong quite early on, ending up the wring side if one if several golf courses and unable to easily correct ourselves, but we found a way back eventually and it all worked out pretty well: the Country Park itself was lovely in the dappled sunlight and the rain stayed away. Once back in Shenfield, we had a bit of a schlep to the pub for sustenance and I headed off after a while to travel back into London to meet N near St Paul's Cathedral, which was having free-opening for the evening. The enormous queue to get in somehow didn't translate into it being too unpleasantly busy inside and it was nice to amble around without too much pressure to See Everything, as I'd been relatively recently. We went for food at Enso on Brick Lane, where we've been a few times now, afterwards.
Hampton Court Palace Gardens were also open for free this weekend so we headed down there on Sunday, which happened to be really sunny, so perfect for wandering round exploring most of the grounds of the Palace, which would probably be too much if you were going inside as well, and gave a fair impression of the history by itself, then had some lunch at a local, South American-influenced cafe afterwards. I did my shop on the way home, then worked for a bit before heading out again to Camden for a gig at The Good Mixer. Opening were enthusiastic youngsters The Station, then there was Laurie Wright as the next support, who brought his usual passion to his indie rock-and-roll. Headlining were Dead Freights, who it was great to see back at close quarters. When I got home afterwards, however, N and J were worried about Tap, the eldest of the three cats, who seemed to be deteriorating. Having always shunned my room, he'd recently taken to settling on my pillow for much of the time (perhaps because my room doesn't involve climbing the stairs) and I left him there and settled myself around him as I went to bed.
I was in with N on Friday night and cooked at home, then on Saturday caught the train out to Shenfield to join a walking group (the Sole Mates) that Cousin A had acquired through his partner E. Ten of us gathered in total, many of them Antipodeans, and we were doing a loop which took in Thorndon Country Park, as well lots of ridiculously sized houses in the suburbs. A was the leader for this walk and we went wrong quite early on, ending up the wring side if one if several golf courses and unable to easily correct ourselves, but we found a way back eventually and it all worked out pretty well: the Country Park itself was lovely in the dappled sunlight and the rain stayed away. Once back in Shenfield, we had a bit of a schlep to the pub for sustenance and I headed off after a while to travel back into London to meet N near St Paul's Cathedral, which was having free-opening for the evening. The enormous queue to get in somehow didn't translate into it being too unpleasantly busy inside and it was nice to amble around without too much pressure to See Everything, as I'd been relatively recently. We went for food at Enso on Brick Lane, where we've been a few times now, afterwards.
Hampton Court Palace Gardens were also open for free this weekend so we headed down there on Sunday, which happened to be really sunny, so perfect for wandering round exploring most of the grounds of the Palace, which would probably be too much if you were going inside as well, and gave a fair impression of the history by itself, then had some lunch at a local, South American-influenced cafe afterwards. I did my shop on the way home, then worked for a bit before heading out again to Camden for a gig at The Good Mixer. Opening were enthusiastic youngsters The Station, then there was Laurie Wright as the next support, who brought his usual passion to his indie rock-and-roll. Headlining were Dead Freights, who it was great to see back at close quarters. When I got home afterwards, however, N and J were worried about Tap, the eldest of the three cats, who seemed to be deteriorating. Having always shunned my room, he'd recently taken to settling on my pillow for much of the time (perhaps because my room doesn't involve climbing the stairs) and I left him there and settled myself around him as I went to bed.
