I got Helen tickets to see Warhorse, at The New London Theatre Drury Lane, March 24 was the first Saturday available with decent seats. Theatre is not my thing, but the show seems quite different to the norm so I am quite intrigued. We did not get off [...]]]>

The new roof at Kings Cross Station

I got Helen tickets to see Warhorse, at The New London Theatre Drury Lane, March 24 was the first Saturday available with decent seats. Theatre is not my thing, but the show seems quite different to the norm so I am quite intrigued. We did not get off to our usual early start as we were out late in Tring at Olive Lime for a curry, with friends.

We got to Berkhamsted station at 10:28 just in time to get our tickets and miss the 10:30 train to Euston, so we grabbed a paper and cappuccino (triple shot!) and took a seat in the sun. The 10:45 left on time with us on board searching for a seat on the crowded train. Not sure if it was our tardiness or the sun that had got everyone out for a trip to London. We eventually found some seats and settled in to the brief journey to London Euston.

Apart from the new Wembley stadium there is not much to see except for embankments, brick walls, and peoples back gardens. The gardens can be quite interesting, some are nicely manicure but most are just back yards left to their own devices except for the odd mow now and again. Some we completely concreted over.

I lost Helen this is the last picture I have

Kings Cross station has reopened and has a new roof, so we thought we would take a look. We walked via the back streets to get there they are far more interesting and a lot less busy. The roof is very impressive, check out the pictures. From King Cross we headed to the Brunei Gallery, at the School of Oriental and Asian studies, to take a look at a photographic exhibition of Japan after the Tsunami, many of them were very moving. Some just out of this world such as a large ship sunk into the side of a building and cars on top of 3 storey buildings. After donating to the relief fund we jumped on a bus to Aldwych and headed towards Neal’s Yard to find some lunch. Near by we passed a nice looking restaurant, but we passed on it and ended up in a not so good one in Neal’s Yard. I ordered tuna salad and Helen a Pizza. The food was reasonable for London £25 for the two of us. I had water melon juice which was freshly made and delicious, Helen had apple which was also tasty.

We had 30 minutes to spare before the show so we took a leisurely stroll in the direction of the New London Theatre. We got to our seats not too early after Helen had to queue for a pee. I read the paper while Helen warned me of the dangers of rustling sweet containers at the theatre apparently it is not allowed! The set was pretty minimal but there were enough props to set the scene. The animated horses were very clever requiring three people to operate them. The show was bought to an exciting effects scene for the interval leaving the audience wondering what was going to happen next.

At the Tsunami exhibition

The second half had even more effects, there was a happy ending that bought made the audience shed a few tears. All in all I enjoyed the show but not enough to go rushing back to the theatre. I’m still a theatre Luddite.

We both wanted to drop into a book shop so the obvious choice was Foyles so we walked in the general direction of Charing Cross Road. On the way we passed a trendy publication shop (coffee table magazines) that also sold some good T-shirts, two that caught my eye, were one that listed the percentage constituents of a human body and another that had bird silhouettes. I took their website details www.mymagma.com

The Masons Grand Lodge

In Foyles I bought a book called Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes, it won The Financial Times book of the year. It is about the idiosyncrasies of the Swiss, it sounds interesting, watch this space for future book reviews. We got a bus from outside Foyles to Holborn then you can walk round the corner and catch a bus to Euston. Finally we have figured out the easy way to get a bus from Foyles to Euston, on many occasions Helen has cracked and hailed a cab or we have ended up walking to a bus stop on Tottenham court road which is not too far but withe the crowds and tiredness at the end of a day in London is not fun.

We arrived at Euston station with enough time to spare to get some thing to eat when we got home, then we sat on the floor of the train to Berkhamsted. All in all we had a great day out in great weather. We have a BluRay to watch later called Drive, you may see a film review later.

Went in with optimism & came out with a big smile on my face. Whatever age you are, go and see it.  Older folks – it will resonate.  The gang of maturer folks behind us were guffawing with the best of them.  Younger folks, it will remind you [...]]]>

The best exotic marigold hotel film poster

Went in with optimism & came out with a big smile on my face. Whatever age you are, go and see it.  Older folks – it will resonate.  The gang of maturer folks behind us were guffawing with the best of them.  Younger folks, it will remind you that older folks are just you where the bodies have carried on but your minds are still 27.  The whole country should see this, particularly in dull February.  Excellent cinematography full of light, colour & warmth.  The scenes with Judi Dench advising the call centre will strike a chord, and if anything, the film would have benefitted from more of these scenes.  Enjoy!

Thanks Helen for that effort here is a slightly more verbose film review.

Point Blank (A bout portant) film poster

The film starts with a loving couple, the wife is pregnant, and in a separate thread and injured guy is being chased by two armed [...]]]> Very good French film. Worth a watch. Nuff said

Thanks Helen for that effort here is a slightly more verbose film review.

Point Blank (A bout portant) film poster

The film starts with a loving couple, the wife is pregnant, and in a separate thread and injured guy is being chased by two armed men.

The injured man end up in hospital after being hit by a motorcyclist. The husband of the couple turns out to be a nurse and saves the life of the fugitive much to the annoyance of the people trying to kill him.

The film takes many twists with good cops and bad cops, chasing the guilty and the innocent around the Paris streets. Filmed in reportage style with none of the hollywood polish. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good thriller.

Angelina Jolie and star in a block buster with plenty of othjer engish actors. The essence of the story is that Angelina is trying to meet up with her lover who owes a lot of money to the british government and the secret service are after them. They devise a pan [...]]]>

The Tourist poster

Angelina Jolie and star in a block buster with plenty of othjer engish actors. The essence of the story is that Angelina is trying to meet up with her lover who owes a lot of money to the british government and the secret service are after them.
They devise a pan where she picks up an innocent tourist on the train to Venice where most of the film takes palce.
The plot twists a bit and there are some good action scences and it is strange to see ??? Play a more serious part of the pirates films. Helen want to give the film 4 stars but it is my blog and I say 3 stars.

Went to Rex with Abida, to see this French film. It is a story about a group of long time friends from Paris. One of them Ludo is the soul of every party and one night is hit by a lorry on his way home from a night club. Even though you [...]]]>

Petits Mouchoirs

Went to Rex with Abida, to see this French film. It is a story about a group of long time friends from Paris. One of them Ludo is the soul of every party and one night is hit by a lorry on his way home from a night club. Even though you know it is coming it still comes as a surprise.
Anyway all the friends who usually spend the grande vacances at Max’s summer cabin near Bordeaux, now in a dilemma whether to go or not. Eventually they do.
The film concentrates one by one on the different charaters and relationships between the various people. The film makes you laugh and cry. Just deserving of the 5 stars.

Film about the life and times of Serge Gainsbourg. The film is quite well done with flashabck to his youth to try to explain the reasons behind his actions in later years.

The guy that plays him is a very good likeness so it the person who plays Jane Birkin. I [...]]]>

Gainsbourg film poster

Film about the life and times of Serge Gainsbourg. The film is quite well done with flashabck to his youth to try to explain the reasons behind his actions in later years.

The guy that plays him is a very good likeness so it the person who plays Jane Birkin. I learnt some things about his life that I did not know.

Interesting film about a your girl who lives with her father in the deepest tundra. Hanna is a trained by her father in preparation for when she goes back into the real world and is likely to be tracked down by a CIA agent who started a program to genetically modify [...]]]>

Hanna film poster

Interesting film about a your girl who lives with her father in the deepest tundra. Hanna is a trained by her father in preparation for when she goes back into the real world and is likely to be tracked down by a CIA agent who started a program to genetically modify human embryos to breed stronger humans for military purpose. The CIA person wants all traces of the program eliminated to cover up her mistakes of the past.

Hanna returns to civilisation and the action starts, as she travels from Africa across Europe with baddies after her. The film is very artistically filmed and there are some great scenery shots.

Thanks to C&A we got an invite to see a film at The Rex, the film is called Submarine. It centres around a young lad who is awkward and unpopular at school, he fantasizes about his own death and other things. He thinks that is dad is depressed and his mother is having [...]]]>

Submarine film poster

Thanks to C&A we got an invite to see a film at The Rex, the film is called Submarine. It centres around a young lad who is awkward and unpopular at school, he fantasizes about his own death and other things. He thinks that is dad is depressed and his mother is having an affair with a hippy and old flame who lives next door. He embarks on a misguided campaign to bring the family back together while attempting to impress a classmate , a straight-talking, eczema-suffering pyromaniac who “hates any place that could be termed romantic.

Filmed entirely almost entirely on Barry island it is a funny film but not that funny hence only 3 out of 5.

This film is takes place on a single day some time around the Cuban missile crisis. George Falconer (Colin Firth) is trying to overcome the grief of losing his long term partner, over the course of the day he has various encounters, and we are treated to lots of flash [...]]]>

Film poster a single man

This film is takes place on a single day some time around the Cuban missile crisis. George Falconer (Colin Firth) is trying to overcome the grief of losing his long term partner, over the course of the day he has various encounters, and we are treated to lots of flash backs and day dreams. The film is visually stunning but with too much symbolism for my tastes hence only two stars.

A Jean Reno film who one of our favourite actors. The plot is that Jean Reno plays a retired Mafia boss who is targeted by a past partner in crime who has turned a bit obsessive compulsive. He tries hard to not get revenge because he had previously promised to to get [...]]]>

Film poster 22 Bullets

A Jean Reno film who one of our favourite actors. The plot is that Jean Reno plays a retired Mafia boss who is targeted by a past partner in crime who has turned a bit obsessive compulsive. He tries hard to not get revenge because he had previously promised to to get out of his past life, but slowly his rival draws him into the war.