Oh, alright, I got to see the Queen today, just a few feet away. I was at St Paul's, most of the crowd had departed, she came back in the Rolls from Mansion House, driving to Buck Palace I presume.
Watched the gig on telly last night. Paul McCartney's voice has matured, these days it puts me in mind of John Lennon. Shot to pieces.
Oh, alright, I got to see the Queen today, just a few feet away. I was at St Paul's, most of the crowd had departed, she came back in the Rolls from Mansion House, driving to Buck Palace I presume.
Watched the gig on telly last night. Paul McCartney's voice has matured, these days it puts me in mind of John Lennon. Shot to pieces.
Ouch! That's a he'll of a punch line. Bet you can find a tough crowd with that one.
Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:
But of the millions who descended on the capital, over a third got to see nothing I'd wager, just milling around fractiously, trying to get near the river and failing.
That said my sister came out of a cafe near the King's Road and came face to face with the Queen, who was being driven up to the royal barge, so she did alright.
I got to see a ginger cat on a lead, that was the highlight of my day.
I too came up to see the pageant.... but luckily my Aunt lives right next to Hammersmith bridge... so we got to see all the boats getting into postion... we then walked along the tow path, between Hammersmith and Putney and we got to see all the boats, bar the queen, and the one with the bells. There were quite a few of us... and we realised that trying to get near the river would be impossible.. seeing as most of the roads were closed... and pavements closed too.... We then went back to my Aunts to watch the rest of it on TV.... just as it started to rain!
London was just fab, even if it was a bit quiet down where we were.... and the next day, when I took Oliver to the Tate Modern... it seemed empty.... weird ?:)
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
Took Oliver to see his iconic work... and I have to say, it didn't dissapoint. The Butterfly room was by far the bit that Oliver loved the most... as well as the pictures he did using them in the collage. The sharks were slightly underwhelming... I thought they would be bigger, but the 'The Love of God' was quite amazing.... -{
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
The opening of the Shard in East London, along with hundred of others on the river bank on a balmy evening.
Not so much a light show, however, as a sh!te show. Nothing to see here, move along. Thin static green pencil lights beamed onto various other landmarks, daubing a patch of green onto St Pauls, for instance. Started late too. What, were they going to CGI the effects in later?
Not really an event, but I checked out the new Leicester Square after its revamp. It is of course where Skyfall will be premiering although the BFI Imax will be a better venue for some.
It's not massively different, from what I can see. One gripe is that the shiny silver metal railing or fence around it doesn't actually look quite right, doesn't look like it's metal from a distance, but appears a bit ad hoc, like it's some wooden fence slung up. Otherwise it seems nice and airy enough, not as grimy and Victorian as before. Nice for a balmy summer evening.
Bit late to the party on this one ... went to Leicester Square myself recently and totally agree with you that it doesn't look any different at all. Nor sure what they've been doing all this time or what they spent the money on ....
Fountains spout out of the ground on occasion, though I've only seen that once. I do quite like it, but again, gripes with that metal railing that goes around it. The loos aren't open yet, though after this time they should have gold-plated taps and a manservant handing you a paper towel.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,707MI6 Agent
It's been a couple years since I've been to a concert. Last night I attended the Dave Matthews Band at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. It's was a decent show. They played a about 5 new tracks off their upcoming album. Played some of their "older" tunes to. Even a few tracks off of their last album release. It was a good spread of music and had a few awesome jams from their Violinist and Saxophonist. I'd give it a 3.5 stars out of 5. I expecting more, but enjoyed what I got.
Also a little side story. Dave Matthews must be a James Bond fan. JB got a shout out last night. Before Dave introduced the opening act, he told us a short story. He just bought a new bike. It wasn't a road bike or a mountain bike. It was a sleek bike, something like James Bond would have. But he was afraid to press a button on the bike in fear the bike might fold up and go up his........ :v
Some people would complain even if you hang them with a new rope
FelixLeiter ♀Staffordshire or a pubPosts: 1,286MI6 Agent
Last month I had my first ever camping festival - Y Not Festival in Derbyshire. I had planned to go with a friend but she couldn't afford it in the end and I'd had the ticket for my birthday, so I ended up going on my own. This turned out pretty well and I'd definitely do it again.
I've been to a couple of festivals before and the most annoying thing is trying to split off so everyone you are with can see the acts they want to. There is almost always going to be compromise. Therefore the best thing about going on my own was seeing and doing everything that I wanted, not relying on other people for anything and being able to get up and go to bed when I wanted (almost - you can't tell strangers to shut up and go to sleep).
It was a nice little festival. Before the main acts in late afternoon/evening I spent a lot of time wandering round small boutique tents, full of vintage clothes, handmade jewellery, hats, sunglasses and other trinkets. There was one store selling bongs and some pretty cool looking lighters, I'm sure they did well.
There was a good choice of food, though none of it remotely healthy and by day 3 I was glad I hadn't taken the option of coming a day early. Burgers, fish n chips, curry, chinese, chorizos, sweet stall. The chinese chow mein was great and I tried an ostrich burger with a garlic mayonnaise sauce, something I would full recommend! The rest was nice enough but I was longing for something less greasy to eat by the end.
As for the acts, well they all impressed. Headliners were The View, The Wombats and We Are Scientists, but I was also keen to see Pigeon Detectives and Jake Bugg, who I'd seen before in June. Like I said, all great. I had looked through the programme on the first day and picked out any others that sounded what I would like and all but a couple were what I was after.
The main stage was fantastic and I ended up on the front row every single night, partly to avoid feeling claustrophobic in the middle of the crowd. I spent ages watching security in between acts and after 3 nights I came to really admire what they do as there are always a few stupid people, and this lot dealt with everything really well.
I spent some time at a smaller stage too, called the 'BBC introducing' stage. There were some good acts there although the tent was never filled much in the day.
I found myself spending an enormous amount of time in a tent called 'The Hog and Barrel', which I ended up in on the first day as it was the only bar I could find. It was advertised as a small acoustic stage and the acts there were brilliant, some of them were just phenomenal. It was a small tent with hay bales to sit on but it ended up absolutely packed at times. The compère did a great job after opening with his own act on the first day. It was a really great atmosphere. They had some comedy acts on too which I caught one of. He was good enough for such a small festival. By day 2 most people (including the compère) were drunk by the time they got to the tent and several young children learnt many new words. Day 3 and the blackboard with the acts on had been nicked from outside. In between introducing EVERY act the compère took to reminding us all that "Some f***ing c*** has nicked my f***ing c***ing sign. So if any of you f***ers see that f***ing c*** with my f***ing c***ing sign, I want you to beat the sh!t out of the c*** and bring my f***ing c***ing sign back". I expected it wouldn't go on, but his genuine annoyance seemed only to increase through the day which made it hilarious. ) I could not believe parents stayed there with their kids, as the acts certainly didn't censor themselves either. They announced that there had been some complaints about the language and the compère announced "If you don't like it you can f*** off". )
Camping itself was horrendous. Uncomfortable and freezing. I bought a festival hoody mainly so I could wear it over my own jacket to sleep in. I loved the festival experience overall though and would really like to go back next year. Probably with a proper camping bed instead of just a sleeping bag, warmer clothes to sleep in, and oh - definitely won't pitch my tent on a slope )
FelixLeiter ♀Staffordshire or a pubPosts: 1,286MI6 Agent
A tad )
I intended to go straight to bed after the last act on the Saturday night. I ended up in a tent where they were showing Jurassic Park and selling beers. I left part way through, determined to go to bed having had nothing to eat for hours and drank 3/4 beers I'd bought, I was feeling a bit tipsy. On the way back I saw 2 people I had met the previous day, in the cocktail bar. I had my last beer and one of them was buying me some green stuff. I can't remember much of it ) but on the way back to my tent I tripped and fell face first in the mud. Smooth...
Sunday night was all out. I drank pints and pints of this green stuff. Gathered with others singing Bohemian Rhapsody, Wonderwall, various Arctic Monkeys numbers before running out of songs we all knew words to and ended up doing the Hokey Cokey. We conga-ed back to the cocktail tent and I vaguely remember watching a group (who all looked about 13) passing a spliff around and then I went and had chinese.
Monday morning was horrific. I was damning those green cocktails, hadn't showered since Thursday and every item of clothing I had was either wet, muddy or both.
I got in for free as a guest with a member. Glad I did, couldn't have been worth the dosh. You have to don a headset, as music comes on automatically when you walk around. Except sometimes it doesn't, it depends where you stand, it cuts out. And it clashes with the other music further on in the exhibition, blaring out.
Bowie seems a bit of a chancer; they group a lot of other tenuous arty stuff from the 60s in with his stuff. It's like he has no charisma, so he has to dress up and be someone else. Fair enough I guess, but I'm all Bowied out, the more I hear and see about him, the less I care, it all seems based around his lovely looks. The hits are great of course, but all we really get to hear are Space Odyssey, Jean Genie and Rock n Roll Suicide it seems, oh and Starman, it's all around that glam rock era.
Very crowded too, and with a rather sauna like temperature throughout.
Last event i attended was Her Majestys diamond jubilee Thames pagent
my son is a Met officer, and my wife and i went to see him on duty, we found him on Blackfrias bridge ,but it was freezin and wet so we went back home
and watched it on the box,but we did see him
Last Saturday, my wife and I saw Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall on Broadway in Harold Pinter's Betrayal.
The show has broken just about every box-office record during its preview run, which is a testament to both the allure of Craig/Weisz and the ridiculous ticket prices.
I enjoyed the show itself, but not as much as I would have hoped. Dan is fine (sporting long hair and mostly wearing casual clothes) but his coiled intensity doesn't totally work for the more minor of the two male characters. He's a cuckold, and while the character seems to tolerate other people as opposed to enjoying them (his wife included) we never fully grasp why she cheats on him. Rafe Spall, given a lot more to play with, is actually the star here.
I had never seen Betrayal before so have no frame of reference, but I have since learned that this production applies a different spin on certain scenes -- no new dialogue of course, but different emotional pitch. Knowing that now, I can understand why the early reviews from critics are not so great. The central "betrayal" of the play didn't resonate as much as I imagine it was supposed to.
But let's be honest here...like many people in attendance, I was there to see "Dan and Rachel" onstage as much as I was to see the play they were in. Mission accomplished.
Judging by the photos I've seen, Craig seems pretty generous at signing for the madding hordes at the stage door on his way out...albeit that almost illegible DC initials signature of his. Still...at least he still seems to be taking the time to sign for the fans which is more than can be said for most 'superstars' these days.
Being a bit of a foodie, I attended the good food show at London's Olympia. What a fantastic day...started off watching Micheal Roux jnr prepare a scallop dish in the supertheatre (second row from front) to meeting Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry and Micheal Roux himself at his book signing. Got to sample ALL of the wine and various liqueurs on offer...(lots B-) ) and some yummy food. Spent far too much money, but a GREAT day..can't wait till next year!
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
I attended the Post office today to get the Car taxed. )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,754Chief of Staff
Went to watch the Fun Lovin Criminals last night at Manchester Cathedral...a rather strange place to have a gig...and even stranger to have these play there )
Superb gig though...Huey, Fast and Frank certainly haven't lost it - if anything they have gotten better...
There are a few clips of the gig on YouTube...if you know where to look you will spot the back of my (balding) head - fame at last
YNWA 97
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,754Chief of Staff
Derren Brown: Infamous at the Lowry....no idea how he keeps doing this stuff - it's phenomenal....but I'm sure glad he does ! -{
I used to be in the magic circle and still have several
books on mind reading etc. Hence I have no belief in
Mediums, fortune tellers and a like. He really does some
Amazing stuff and never pretends to be a mystic with
Special powers unlike ..... Uri Geller, who has been caught
Out in the past using "magic " techniques, to achieve his
powers )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,754Chief of Staff
Hence I have no belief in Mediums, fortune tellers and a like.
Me neither...and Derren goes out of his way to stress this point too...but some of the information he could come up with was INCREDIBLE...he had some in tears whilst stressing it was all bullsh!t !
One of the reasons I like him so much, he's showing just what skill
and talent, with years and years of practice can do! I can't remember
Name of his show but he did loads of the old Victorian music hall
Séances, mind reading tricks and it was wonderful, ( only caught it on
DVD ) hope to see him live myself sometime. -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,754Chief of Staff
I saw that show too - it may have been Something Wicked This Way Comes...but I've seen all his tours to date -{
Comments
Watched the gig on telly last night. Paul McCartney's voice has matured, these days it puts me in mind of John Lennon. Shot to pieces.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Ouch! That's a he'll of a punch line. Bet you can find a tough crowd with that one.
http://apbateman.com
I too came up to see the pageant.... but luckily my Aunt lives right next to Hammersmith bridge... so we got to see all the boats getting into postion... we then walked along the tow path, between Hammersmith and Putney and we got to see all the boats, bar the queen, and the one with the bells. There were quite a few of us... and we realised that trying to get near the river would be impossible.. seeing as most of the roads were closed... and pavements closed too.... We then went back to my Aunts to watch the rest of it on TV.... just as it started to rain!
London was just fab, even if it was a bit quiet down where we were.... and the next day, when I took Oliver to the Tate Modern... it seemed empty.... weird ?:)
Took Oliver to see his iconic work... and I have to say, it didn't dissapoint. The Butterfly room was by far the bit that Oliver loved the most... as well as the pictures he did using them in the collage. The sharks were slightly underwhelming... I thought they would be bigger, but the 'The Love of God' was quite amazing.... -{
Not so much a light show, however, as a sh!te show. Nothing to see here, move along. Thin static green pencil lights beamed onto various other landmarks, daubing a patch of green onto St Pauls, for instance. Started late too. What, were they going to CGI the effects in later?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Bit late to the party on this one ... went to Leicester Square myself recently and totally agree with you that it doesn't look any different at all. Nor sure what they've been doing all this time or what they spent the money on ....
Does going to M&M World count as an event ?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Also a little side story. Dave Matthews must be a James Bond fan. JB got a shout out last night. Before Dave introduced the opening act, he told us a short story. He just bought a new bike. It wasn't a road bike or a mountain bike. It was a sleek bike, something like James Bond would have. But he was afraid to press a button on the bike in fear the bike might fold up and go up his........ :v
I've been to a couple of festivals before and the most annoying thing is trying to split off so everyone you are with can see the acts they want to. There is almost always going to be compromise. Therefore the best thing about going on my own was seeing and doing everything that I wanted, not relying on other people for anything and being able to get up and go to bed when I wanted (almost - you can't tell strangers to shut up and go to sleep).
It was a nice little festival. Before the main acts in late afternoon/evening I spent a lot of time wandering round small boutique tents, full of vintage clothes, handmade jewellery, hats, sunglasses and other trinkets. There was one store selling bongs and some pretty cool looking lighters, I'm sure they did well.
There was a good choice of food, though none of it remotely healthy and by day 3 I was glad I hadn't taken the option of coming a day early. Burgers, fish n chips, curry, chinese, chorizos, sweet stall. The chinese chow mein was great and I tried an ostrich burger with a garlic mayonnaise sauce, something I would full recommend! The rest was nice enough but I was longing for something less greasy to eat by the end.
As for the acts, well they all impressed. Headliners were The View, The Wombats and We Are Scientists, but I was also keen to see Pigeon Detectives and Jake Bugg, who I'd seen before in June. Like I said, all great. I had looked through the programme on the first day and picked out any others that sounded what I would like and all but a couple were what I was after.
The main stage was fantastic and I ended up on the front row every single night, partly to avoid feeling claustrophobic in the middle of the crowd. I spent ages watching security in between acts and after 3 nights I came to really admire what they do as there are always a few stupid people, and this lot dealt with everything really well.
I spent some time at a smaller stage too, called the 'BBC introducing' stage. There were some good acts there although the tent was never filled much in the day.
I found myself spending an enormous amount of time in a tent called 'The Hog and Barrel', which I ended up in on the first day as it was the only bar I could find. It was advertised as a small acoustic stage and the acts there were brilliant, some of them were just phenomenal. It was a small tent with hay bales to sit on but it ended up absolutely packed at times. The compère did a great job after opening with his own act on the first day. It was a really great atmosphere. They had some comedy acts on too which I caught one of. He was good enough for such a small festival. By day 2 most people (including the compère) were drunk by the time they got to the tent and several young children learnt many new words. Day 3 and the blackboard with the acts on had been nicked from outside. In between introducing EVERY act the compère took to reminding us all that "Some f***ing c*** has nicked my f***ing c***ing sign. So if any of you f***ers see that f***ing c*** with my f***ing c***ing sign, I want you to beat the sh!t out of the c*** and bring my f***ing c***ing sign back". I expected it wouldn't go on, but his genuine annoyance seemed only to increase through the day which made it hilarious.
Camping itself was horrendous. Uncomfortable and freezing.
You had me lmao thanks for sharing -{
I intended to go straight to bed after the last act on the Saturday night. I ended up in a tent where they were showing Jurassic Park and selling beers. I left part way through, determined to go to bed having had nothing to eat for hours and drank 3/4 beers I'd bought, I was feeling a bit tipsy. On the way back I saw 2 people I had met the previous day, in the cocktail bar. I had my last beer and one of them was buying me some green stuff. I can't remember much of it
Sunday night was all out. I drank pints and pints of this green stuff. Gathered with others singing Bohemian Rhapsody, Wonderwall, various Arctic Monkeys numbers before running out of songs we all knew words to and ended up doing the Hokey Cokey. We conga-ed back to the cocktail tent and I vaguely remember watching a group (who all looked about 13) passing a spliff around and then I went and had chinese.
Monday morning was horrific. I was damning those green cocktails, hadn't showered since Thursday and every item of clothing I had was either wet, muddy or both.
I've had classier weekends.
Anyway, the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A.
I got in for free as a guest with a member. Glad I did, couldn't have been worth the dosh. You have to don a headset, as music comes on automatically when you walk around. Except sometimes it doesn't, it depends where you stand, it cuts out. And it clashes with the other music further on in the exhibition, blaring out.
Bowie seems a bit of a chancer; they group a lot of other tenuous arty stuff from the 60s in with his stuff. It's like he has no charisma, so he has to dress up and be someone else. Fair enough I guess, but I'm all Bowied out, the more I hear and see about him, the less I care, it all seems based around his lovely looks. The hits are great of course, but all we really get to hear are Space Odyssey, Jean Genie and Rock n Roll Suicide it seems, oh and Starman, it's all around that glam rock era.
Very crowded too, and with a rather sauna like temperature throughout.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
my son is a Met officer, and my wife and i went to see him on duty, we found him on Blackfrias bridge ,but it was freezin and wet so we went back home
and watched it on the box,but we did see him
The show has broken just about every box-office record during its preview run, which is a testament to both the allure of Craig/Weisz and the ridiculous ticket prices.
I enjoyed the show itself, but not as much as I would have hoped. Dan is fine (sporting long hair and mostly wearing casual clothes) but his coiled intensity doesn't totally work for the more minor of the two male characters. He's a cuckold, and while the character seems to tolerate other people as opposed to enjoying them (his wife included) we never fully grasp why she cheats on him. Rafe Spall, given a lot more to play with, is actually the star here.
I had never seen Betrayal before so have no frame of reference, but I have since learned that this production applies a different spin on certain scenes -- no new dialogue of course, but different emotional pitch. Knowing that now, I can understand why the early reviews from critics are not so great. The central "betrayal" of the play didn't resonate as much as I imagine it was supposed to.
But let's be honest here...like many people in attendance, I was there to see "Dan and Rachel" onstage as much as I was to see the play they were in. Mission accomplished.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I do...but all on facebook, and don't want to link those on here...will see if I can upload them to my other hosting account
Superb gig though...Huey, Fast and Frank certainly haven't lost it - if anything they have gotten better...
There are a few clips of the gig on YouTube...if you know where to look you will spot the back of my (balding) head - fame at last
He is...the sub-heading of the show is his nickname at school - d!ckbrain....some of his stuff defies logic !
books on mind reading etc. Hence I have no belief in
Mediums, fortune tellers and a like. He really does some
Amazing stuff and never pretends to be a mystic with
Special powers unlike ..... Uri Geller, who has been caught
Out in the past using "magic " techniques, to achieve his
powers
Me neither...and Derren goes out of his way to stress this point too...but some of the information he could come up with was INCREDIBLE...he had some in tears whilst stressing it was all bullsh!t !
and talent, with years and years of practice can do! I can't remember
Name of his show but he did loads of the old Victorian music hall
Séances, mind reading tricks and it was wonderful, ( only caught it on
DVD ) hope to see him live myself sometime. -{