My last day off for a little while, (aside from recording frame 37 of Me1 Vs Me2 Snooker, but none of the Mes see that as work - apart from maybe Commentator 2) and it was time for more nice food, another walk and a film.
This time our walk (from the excellent "Walking London" by Andrew Duncan) took us around Covent Garden and the surrounding streets. This is an area I know pretty well, as Stew and me used to have an office in Leicester Square (it's now a Premier Inn! But right opposite the Leicester Square Theatre) and I didn't expect too many surprises. But once again, as we found out on my birthday, you don't have to stray far from the main streets of London to find quiet thoroughfares full of surprises and history. The thing that surprised me most was the Savoy Chapel, a 15th Century Chapel right behind the Strand.
Not only did I have no idea that this was there, I wasn't aware that there was once a Savoy Palace on this location (destroyed during the Peasant's Revolt) or that that was where the theatre and the hotel got their names. It's almost impossible to imagine that the Thames was once lined with mansions and palaces or that Westminster was more or less a village surrounded by countryside, but it's incredible that a few relics still survive. We went into the Chapel where a surprised looking security guard welcomed us (I suspect that not too many tourists make it into this tiny church, despite its proximity to all the other touristy stuff). It's worth a look if you're ever on the Strand.
On the last walk we'd seen the bloke off of Game of Thrones and today we saw Michael Gambon taking afternoon tea (or possibly booze) outside a cafe on Drury Lane. My wife didn't see him and so I had to walk her back on the other side of the road to look at him, like the rubes that we are. I am not a part of the celebrity world and am pleased that celebrities still make me act in this way (if perhaps a little knowingly). We'd also eaten lunch in a restaurant that had been recommended to my wife, where Graham Norton and the short woman off of Miranda and Russell Tovey were also dining. It was quite a posh place and somewhere that I had never heard of. Again my legendary inability to schmooze largely comes from being unaware of any places to go beyone Nandos and the pub.
We wanted to go and see "The World's End" in Leicester Square, but were unable to do so as the cinema was closed for the Alan Partridge premiere. Given that I invented the character it is also perhaps telling and strange that not only was I not invited to that, but it also disrupted my own plans! But I am not being bitter and I wasn't sad. It was just weird. I am glad I've ended up between two stools and comfortable on neither.
I am really looking forward to the film and it would have been nice to have gone for free, but I will have to buy a ticket. But I will be shouting out throughout the film, "I invented this."
I won't, of course. It doesn't even feel like I have anything to do with the younger me who wrote some of Partridge's early lines. I am just a fan of the character now and was as excited to see the Radio Norwich van driving up Shaftesbury Avenue as I had been to see Dumbledore in a panama hat. But not as excited as I had been to discover the river-gate of one of the old Strand mansions still in existence or the Savoy Chapel. The relative permanence of history is more impressive than the transcience of celebrity. But they're both worth a look.
We came back to Shepherd's Bush to watch "The World's End". I had seen the first 45 minutes on the day I interviewed Edgar Wright (though had to sign a bizarre release form saying I wasn't even allowed to mention the fact I'd seen it, which made it a bit pointless - I don't know if I am allowed to say now). I had liked the slow build and the fact that Pegg (in particular) and Frost were playing against type. I think I might actually have preferred a film about them just attempting to recreate the pub crawl that they'd failed to do as teenagers, but the robot stuff was fun as well. The second half the film is more about fighting and smashing up the rather too easy to defeat robots and it perhaps becomes a bit ludicrous that the gang still seem to be attempting the pub-crawl. But I think it's all a bit more metaphorical than that and there are some good laughs and surprises along the way. I didn't enjoy it quite as much when it wasn't my personal little secret, but it's definitely well worth a look, even if it is directed by someone from Wells. And the stuff about growing old and trying to reclaim the past is brilliant. Though I'd like to see a version without the robots!
There was still time to grab some dinner and then go home to watch the first two episodes of The Newsroom. I am a big fan of Sorkin, with some caveats because he's obviously capable of getting a bit preachy and sentimental, but I'd still rather have that than shit and cynical. It's too early to work out if this is a great series or not, though I love the fact that it revolves around actual real-life news stories. At times it feels a bit like a Sorkin parody, but overall I am enjoying it and looking forward to watching the rest.
Increasingly I feel that I want to have more time for myself and my wife and my friends. Because the days are drifting away and I want to enjoy the good things in life before it's too late.
But then again I did spend an hour of my day off playing snooker against myself for the entertainment of a handful of people, so maybe I haven't quite got there yet. But in some ways, the rest of the day with my wife was even better than the snooker part.
