Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Tonight I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".  Again, like "Sex and the City", I'd heard mixed reactions from various friends who had been to see the movie, but I really enjoyed it.  Most of the criticism I'd heard surrounded the rather far-fetched storyline - but let's be honest, just how much more far-fetched is an Incan storyline about the possibility of Martians on earth compared to, ooh, let's see - a tribe of Thuggees who just happen to like ripping peoples hearts fair out of their chest (with no knives or tools or anything, no - just their bare hands!) or - how about this one? - drinking from a cup (the 'holy grail') in order to receive immortality... come on, these Indiana Jones plots are just about as far fetched as you can get!  That's the joy of the movies - a bit of escapism...

So anyway, I really enjoyed the film, if you're an Indy fan too, and you haven't seen it yet - then what are you waiting for?  Click here for a preview of the trailer...

West End Live

So after the visit to the London Transport Museum, it was on to Leicester Square, for West End Live.  Every year the various theatres around the West End and their shows get together to present snippets from the shows for free to the general public at a special stage set up in Leicester Square.  Its very popular with the general public - and this year was no exception, it was absolutely packed.

I was there for a few hours in the afternoon and saw King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, Jay Johnson and The Two And Only (he was an amazing ventriloquist - drew a picture on a board, somehow it animated and he held a full on conversation with the "drawing" he'd done!), and a few snippets from Avenue Q.  They also had various other small stalls set up - a photography stand so you could look like you just arrived at a premiere, some stands promoting films coming out soon (King Panda or something)... generally all good fun and a lot going on!

Here's a video snippet of what I saw:

A Day Out At The London Transport Museum

On Saturday I decided to do something I had never done before, and went to the London Transport Museum.  It was pretty good, too - it provided an excellent history of transport in London over the past 200 years...

Sex and the City

Tonight I went to see "Sex and the City" with Michelle from church.  Now I have to say I've heard lots of reports about this movie from various friends, and the general consensus has been that it's alright, but nothing to really rave about.

I have to say I beg to differ.  It was exactly what I thought it would be, Manolo Blahniks, Jimmy Choos and a whole heap of pretentious escapism - and I totally enjoyed it.  To be, for a split second (or an hour and a half) in a world which I could only dream about, of fancy clothes, expensive labels and so on - well that's what the movies are all about.

So if you get the chance, I recommend you go and see it and make your own mind up - but don't be expecting a great plot - enjoy the chance to live as the other half do for a little while...

Massive Attack's Meltdown

On Monday night, as part of the South Bank Centre's Meltdown Festival, I took a bunch of kids from school along to participate in the performance by a band called Elbow.

The girls were brass players who had been asked to play on Elbow's track "Starlings" - where they play strategic brass "blasts" throughout the piece (6 times to be precise).   They were to be hidden in the boxes around the stage and then suddenly the lights would come up on them and they would just randomly play their concert G chord in the middle of the piece.

The concert was spectacular, the performance amazing, and what an opportunity for our kids.  Here are some comments from the Elbow message boards afterwards (all typos their own!)

"If I never go to another gig again I could die happy after last night!
From start to finish an amazing night, Fleet Foxes supported and were brilliant, very funny and very talented guys.
Then Elbow, Guy walked on wearing all black and a trilby (this is relevant for later), started with Station Approach and that set the tone for the rest of the show, the fact that the venue was seated mad no
difference to the incredilble atmosphere. Guy waved to his family who were in the Roayl Box, then we had Bones of You, Leaders of The Free World (dedicated to George W), Grounds for Divorce, Mirrorball (with 3
mirrorballs sitting on the stage, creating a great effect), The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver and Great Expectations.
As Great Expectations finished, what sounded like a tape of Any Day Now started in the background, it was a choir of 35 blokes, dressed all in black wearing trilby's. They had all been recruited specifically for
this show and had 2 days practice. Guy called them Geoff not sure which.  Geoff stayed for the rest of the show.
Next was Starlings, with trumpeteers in 4 of the boxes at the side of the stage as well as the guys on the stage, and the mixing desk man. Followed by a song they had only played once live before, because "we are s*** at it, and if Geoff wasn't here we wouldn't try it" Presuming Ed (Rest Easy). Some Riot was next and a storming version of Newborn which got a standing ovation. Geoff was still joining in with every song.
Then Grace Under Pressure, which Guy cocked up after Geof had started it off, the song finished with Geoff and Guy giving each other the finger Stops was the penultimate song, before the whole crowd stood up for One Day Like This, which blew the roof off the Festival Hall.
I didn't think I had the words to describe this gig, but I have waffled on now. Amazing."

And a comment too from Guy, the lead singer:

To everyone at charles edward brooke school and the centre for young musicians last night was one of the greatest nights of our lives. Thanks for your skill, absolutely perfect. All our love elbow x

Plus a few pics taken by the professional guy in the rehearsal.  If you look close you can see yours truly with a tenor horn...

The One Where Kevan Comes To Visit

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of a visit from my brother in law Kevan for a couple of days.

Originally he was going to arrive in London on the Thursday, but the pull of my obviously wondrous charm was just too much (hehehe) and he arrived a day early.  Unfortunately for him I was working at school til late with Concert Band rehearsal, but we made arrangements to meet up at Charing Cross to go for a stroll on the river and a nice meal before returning to Chateau La Jean's.

It was a pleasant evening, although poor Kev has been suffering the effects of jet-lag the past few days so he wasn't really up to much.  We ended up in Chinatown for a bit of food, then headed back home.

The next day Kev hit the town and I hit the school.  But crashed.  Very tired.  Kev is staying in my room and is a bit of a snorer!  Although he told me to wake him up if he snored, I couldn't do it.  I just put my earplugs on instead - and they worked a treat!  Actually, I'm not being fair to Kev, it wasn't that bad...

Anyway, he did the London Big Bus experience, and then we made arrangements to meet up in town again for food and a show.  We went to my favourite place, Wagamama's (Beck, Kev has now been indoctrinated to the Wagamama's experience, and guess what, he actually liked it!) and then we went to see my favourite show, Avenue Q.  Now before you think that I dragged poor Kev to all the things I wanted to do, and didn't give him a say in it - let me tell you that is completely not true!  Kev wanted to do all these things too - and he really enjoyed Avenue Q - although it wasn't until Friday afternoon driving down to Portsmouth and listening to it in the car that he got some of the jokes, because the guy doing the sound mixing in the theatre really was quite rubbish.  But he really enjoyed the show no less - so much so that on Saturday night in Portsmouth he wanted to try and find more theatre to see!

Kev tries Wagamama's

So Friday.  Kev headed out to Greenwich to see the Royal Observatory, and I headed off to the munchkins at school.  We met up at the Oval after school and set off for Portsmouth, in search of a B&B.  Do you think we could find one?  I mean, we arrived quite late because the traffic, to be fair, was absolutely diabolical, so that immediately made it a bit more tricky to just rock up somewhere, but the other reason we had trouble was, do you think we could actually find any?  There just didn't seem to be a definitive area where the B&B's were!  Eventually we found a place - but it was a hotel B&B - and the only room they had was a double!  It was good though - the B&B had wi-fi - so the two of us sat there on our laptops being terribly antisocial!

Saturday morning saw us, after a gorgeous breakfast, heading off to the Historic Dockyard to check out Nelson's Victory.  We had a wonderful time too - it took most of the day to be fair - we saw the Victory, the Warrior, the Mary Rose, checked out the Maritime Museum, the Mary Rose Museum... and then did a tour boat trip of the harbour!  It was really good, we had a really good time.  By mid-afternoon though we were starting to flag a little, and seeing as the place we'd stayed the night before only had that room for one night, we had to find somewhere else to go - so we headed off again in search of more B&B's.  This time though, we went to Tourist Information first and found out where they would mostly be.  We found a nice little one (twin this time) and had a bit of a rest before the evening's adventures.

Basically, Kev had suggested on Saturday morning that he'd enjoyed Avenue Q so much, that he wouldn't mind seeing something else.  The only problem was we couldn't see anything that was actually on in Portsmouth - but then I saw a sign in the window of the Salvation Army thrift shop - "125th Reunion Weekend of Southsea Citadel Band" - yep, you guessed it - we went to a band programme!

I would love to say that it was wonderful, the music astonishing - but let's be honest, for starters the average age of the bandsmen would've been 150 not out!  In fact, Kev and I brought down the average age of the audience too.  Actually the programme was pretty good, the bandmaster played the xylophone and he was pretty amazing, and the soloist David Daws was very good on the cornet.  The other soloist, David Duffey, was actually a bit past his prime, but he gave a fair stab at it.

The sad thing about the whole experience was the way we were treated when we arrived.  It was right on the start time, and the hall was packed, and as we walked in, a bloke said we could have the last 2 seats (which were in the front row).  We went to take them but the lady on the door jumped up and practically hyperventilated that we hadn't paid our admission yet.  Of £2.50!  Seriously!  Like they wouldn't have been able to recognise us later on and get the money then... we were the youngest there...

Anyway, the next day it was unfortunately time for Kev to head back home, so we chuffed off to Heathrow, enjoyed a coffee and another d&m conversation on the way, and then it was time to say goodbye...

I have to say I really enjoyed Kev's visit - if you're ever this way again Kev...

At the Warrior

At the Victory

Salvation Army Southsea Citadel

Big Brother 9

Lock up your TVs!  The worst bunch of derro wannabes are back on the box!

Yes, it's Big Brother 9, or should I say Big Boring Whine!  I can't stand this show, it's full of the most socially inept whackos and wierdos on the planet!

Now that being said, normally I wouldn't have even wasted the blog space on this complete and utter mundane drivel - but shock, horror - one of the "contestants" (read: misfit miscreants) is a girl I taught at CEBS a few years back!  My worst nightmare - 24/7 CEBS on the box...

What a success story she totally was, ending up on Big Drivel.  What a fabulous role model and inspiration for all the others back at CEBS.  Listen, do us all a favour love, get off the box!

Canal Boat Wrap Up

The last few days on the canal boat trip were pretty uneventful except for a few things.  We got through the 29 locks at Caen Hill relatively quickly on Tuesday (just over 2 hours I think it was), and then it was time to say farewell to Stella at the town at the top, Devizes, where we did a little bit of necessary grocery shopping.

The afternoon was spent moseying along the canal until we didn't want to drive anymore.  The weather was relatively nice, so we pulled up for a bit of afternoon tea and then it was decided we would video our dramatic re-enactment of Makeda's run in with a psycho ginga on the canal a few days before.  Turns out Makeda had accidentally hit the ginga's boat on one of the narrow bits of the canal, and the woman had turned it into such a palaver, screaming out about how this is her house, we wouldn't like it if she hit our car... yada yada... and then getting her mate "Dave", who happened to be just wandering along the path, involved too.  It was apparently quite amusing, this altercation - so much so that we just had to immortalise it in film.  Unfortunately we haven't finished the edit yet, but when we do - stay tuned, it'll be posted here.

On Wednesday morning we negotiated the turnaround and started on our way back to Bath.  This meant that on Wednesday afternoon we had to contend with the 29 locks at Caen Hill again - but this time we were on our own and often had to fill the lock first before we could go in, so it meant that it took much longer, more like 3 1/2 hours or so.  We moored up and that evening played several renditions of "Things", a board game Erik brought from Canada, which is very funny and very good.  Oh and "Articulate".

Thursday was a relatively easy day, nice enough weather, good company on the boat and all.  We ended up mooring up at Bradford-Upon-Avon for the night.  As the weather had been nice during the day we decided to have a BBQ - but just as we got the BBQ lit, the heavens opened up - and we had to cook our food underneath the shelter of an umbrella and finish it off in the oven!

On Friday the weather was nice again, so much that no-one really wanted to drive - everyone wanted to stay on the roof and enjoy the sun - so we spent most of the day still moored at Bradford.  I started to go a little stir crazy mid-afternoon so I went for a walk into town - such a cute little town too, lovely architecture and cute shops.  Late afternoon we set off as we realised the boat had to be returned Saturday morning, 9am, so we needed to be in striking distance of Bath.  Turns out we had underestimated how far out we still were, so we decided we would need to be up early on Saturday to make the last hour or so for 9am. 

The only problem with this was that when we got up Saturday morning, the engine wouldn't start.  At all.  So we had to phone up Anglo-Welsh and they sent out an engineer to fix the battery.  We'd actually had quite a lot of problem with electricity on this boat, unlike last year, and many times we would have no power if we hadn't revved the engine enough during the day.

Suffice to say that it took a while for the guy to fix the problem, and we didn't end up getting back to the marina until around midday.  It had been an enjoyable trip, but now we had to face the long drive back to London...

Anyway, here's a slideshow summary of the trip: