Pie in the Skye

5 Things About Brick Lane

1. I've visited Brick Lane a few times recently, as it's Rob's favourite part of London. He does the tour guide thing very well, pointing out to me where Jack the Ripper killed his victims and so on!

2. On Thursday we went to see Skye (old Morcheeba singer) do her first solo gig at 93 Feet East. I left work late after talking to the security guard for 45 minutes (lovely chap, but boy, can he talk!) and having a quick drink with finance director Jeff and head of sales Andy. (On a side note, how do you respond when your finance director asks you how your date went? It was a challenge I faced on Friday morning.)

3. The gig was great, although, being Morcheeba's front woman for so long, it was hardly earth-shattering. The best bit was the encore which Skye performed by herself with nothing but an accoustic guitar. It was the only time when the entire audience was paying complete attention.

4. Afterwards we went to a weird little hippy cafe just off Brick Lane (which sold to-die-for chocolate caramel shortbread) where there were loud old-skool rave DJs and lots of people getting stoned.

5. Oh, I haven't got a fifth thing. Pointless post, but I've drunk too much red wine this evening. Hic.

Haiku

5 Things About The Poetry Cafe

1. Last night I went to an open-mic poetry night in Covent Garden to hear my cousin George perform some of his works. Poetry is not my favourite artistic medium, but I am always happy to see people I love doing what they love. I'm also quite keen on listening to George say stuff. He has a beautiful voice and I never tire of hearing him. It could be a shopping list and I'd still listen raptly.

2. It actually was really cool! Possibly the four beers helped, but I found most of it entertaining, much of it interesting and very little of it dull or pretentious. There were 19 poets performing everything from odes to a greasy spoon cafe, love poems, political tirades and the obligatory awkward girl doing a piece about periods.

3. The Poetry Cafe is not at all as I expected. It's tiny and George, his friend Paul and I had to cram into a sofa about two foot away from the mic at the front. It was a very intimate setting though, which made you root for all the poets and feel like you probably knew them all from somewhere and ought to be nice.

4. George was definitely the most animated! He is an actor first and a writer second I think, and he leapt about, gesticulating and shouting. He was brilliant. I particularly liked his Fire in Soho poem which was completely different from everything else performed during the evening. I think George is hugely talented at expressing himself, even though I sometimes disagree with what he says, I find myself envious of his ability to put across a point. And I'm hardly inarticulate. Am I?

5. I particularly enjoyed a poem which was really an ode to words. It was clever and funny and made me think about my relationship with those strange little noises and shapes. I love words and realised what an unsual experience it was for me to be in a room full of people all of whom cared about words as much as I do. Quite exciting in a way (is that weird?) and it made me want to read and write more, hence two blog entries within one week! Whatever next?

Let's Go On With The Show!

5 Things About Die Fledermaus

1. Last night was the final performance of the Southgate College Opera production of Die Fledermaus. We've been rehearsing since September - a very short rehearsal time - and had an almost sold-out three-night run in Potters Bar. The company actually made a profit - woohoo!

2. I had someone I knew in the audience every night, which was great, and really helps me enjoy it and do my best. Four-dates Robbie came along on Thursday with his 16 year-old brother (bless), Izzy, JP & Alice on Friday and Ma, Pa, Lizzie and Aron loyally drove up from Somerset yesterday and arrived on time, despite being messed around by the trains from Southgate.

3. The show is extremely silly, with one of the worst and most pointless plots, full of cross-dressing, mistaken identity and flirtatious behaviour. There was an extremely misguided bit added in in the third act with a female-impersonator dressed as a German jailer who, for reasons none of us could work out, crawled along the stage like a dog. Oh, so very wrong. The rest of the show managed to be quite funny and move along at a good pace.

4. I quite enjoy being props lady. I get to rush around organising everyone and very visibly working hard. It means I get to hang around by the wings during the show watching the principles do their solos, and it's a great way of avoiding the 'get out', the day after the final show where everyone goes along to tidy up the theatre. I just couldn't face going back up there today!

5. I really love getting dressed up and prancing about like a fool singing my head off. Despite this, I'm overjoyed it's over and I am not going to do the next production. It's hugely time-consuming (particularly with doing props as well) and is such a long way from home in Brixton! I don't know what I was thinking, joining a company in Southgate! The problem is, I don't want to join another group now because I like everyone and anyway, they might make me do an audition.

BANG! Ooooh!

5 Things About Fireworks

1. I LOVE fireworks. They are one of the few things that can still make me feel like a kid (the other two are flying and Christmas). I can hear the bangs going off outside and I always find it exciting.

2. I was driving back from Somerset last night and there were fireworks going off all along the horizon of Salisbury Plain. It was tempting to stop at Stonehenge and try and have a 'moment' and, had it not been for the torrential rain I might have done!

3. I usually go and watch the fireworks on Clapham Common. I always make the mistake of thinking that I can meet up with people and try and call them when I get there. It never happens, so I usually end up watching them on my own! Who cares though? They are still great.

4. HOWEVER, I don't think I will manage it tonight. The Common fireworks were last night, and tonight the closest ones are Battersea. Then I have a party to go to in Brixton, and I'm really not sure I will get my act together in time.

5. Also, I would be too tempted to go out in my new knee-high brown boots, and then they'd just get muddy and I'd be upset. I think I'll stay in the warm and then go straight to the party!