Gentle reader, there is a rational limit to being an enthusiastic supporter. In London, that limit is the M25. Travel further than that to see something, such as a particular theatre company you quite like, and you risk opening yourself to accusations of not being rational. Fortunately, I have friends who are willing to indulge … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Wapping
Bastille Day at Brasserie Zedel (or, the Wapping Beret Sweat Shop)
Brasserie Zedel ran a promotion this year on Bastille Day offering a free dinner to anyone who showed up in a striped blue-and-white Breton shirt and a beret. My neighbours Paul (of Pootling Around fame) and Hannah and I decided that we couldn’t possibly miss this opportunity to express our Francophile tendencies (not to mention … Continue reading
Tree Thieves of Wapping
Gentle readers, I have some grave news. Our beloved former Christmas tree, Twiglet Piny Tim McNeedles, has been tree-napped. When I last wrote about Piny Tim, our friends Paul (of Pootling Around fame) and Hannah had agreed to take him in and give him space in their garden. We packed him up and deposited him … Continue reading
Tree Thieves of Wapping
Gentle readers, I have some grave news. Our beloved former Christmas tree, Twiglet Piny Tim McNeedles, has been tree-napped. When I last wrote about Piny Tim, our friends Paul (of Pootling Around fame) and Hannah had agreed to take him in and give him space in their garden. We packed him up and deposited him … Continue reading
Piny Tim: Bare (Third in the London Christmas Series)
With the holidays at an end, the time finally came for our beloved wee Christmas tree, Twiglet Piny Tim McNeedles, to find a permanent abode. So, with heavy hearts, we stripped him of his glittering finery and bagged him up for removal to the house of my good friend and fellow Wapping blogger Paul (found … Continue reading
Oh, Christmas Tree! (First in the London Christmas Series)
In a new episode of the Transporting Awkward Items by Bus series, I found myself yesternight trundling along wrestling a Christmas tree. Some Grinches and Scrooges among you may glance at my tree and with an aloof sneer dismiss it as being far too short to be considered in any sense a tree. I ask … Continue reading
Enchanted Evening
The London of my imagination is a nighttime city, a city of twinkling lights reflected in the Thames, of old-fashioned lampposts, of warm windows full of laughing people glowing into dim streets. Sometimes it’s even like that in real life. One night I walk home from seeing a show at the Globe and I feel … Continue reading
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Code
“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread–and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness– Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!” Quatrain XII, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 5th ed. (trans. Edward FitzGerald) On the first Tuesday of every month, Victualler in Wapping hosts a wine tasting of organic, biodynamic … Continue reading
Walking the Bounds
When I was young, we were forced to read Ethan Frome for school. I found this novel utterly infuriating because one of the major themes is that the titular character leads a depressed, reduced life because he’d “seen too many New England winters.” Now, New England winters are tough, but they don’t KILL people. Okay, … Continue reading
Night Terrors
As you would expect of a young person at the weekend in a thriving metropolitan city like London, last night I was out with some friends. And then, we got to 11 PM and the little dance started. The dance of “When do I need to leave here so I don’t end up stranded in … Continue reading