planning the revolution

Warning: so many pictures. SO MANY WORDS.

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( theatre 2011 )

( television 2011 )

( film 2011 )

( me 2011 )

Happy New Year, everyone. Here's to 2012.

Helloooo eljay! People who are still alive: you guys; me. It has been long enough that I have stacked up a list of things to talk about, but watch as this devolves into another episode of M Never Remembers What There Is To Talk About, this week with special guest star, me.

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I started the new job! Well, no, first I left the old one, and did embarrassing things like hug everyone and cry in public. But then I started my new job! It is...not what I thought it was going to be, frankly, and yet still great. I am at that point right now where I feel like my line manager and the lovely lady who is training me weren't expecting me to be up to speed yet. So they sort of gave me a bunch of stuff to do, and now it's done. And it's not that there isn't work to do, it's just that there isn't the time or the resource to train me that quickly. So I'm just trying to get stuck in, and learn the wider process, and then apply that knowledge to what I'm doing. It's an efficiency game at this point.

Everyone is so young. So young! I mean, like, in their 20s and 30s. That is young! I am used to working with the 45+ age bracket. It's very odd to be working with peers. I am not used to having to adjust myself socially. And sometimes I feel like that girl in the corner of the room that nobody talks to. Because I am, and because I am oddly situated in the room. But at the same time, everyone is pleasant, and helpful, and there are other new people, too, and it's okay. I need to become part of the woodwork, and then things will be less stilted. Half the issue - if there is any issue at all - is that after two weeks in Cambridge, I was left there to fend for myself, and then worked full time until I finished. So it's weird to go from that to a really empty induction schedule.

Things I will only be mentioning once: jesus, getting my IT access sorted has been an epic nuisance, and for something quite straightforward, it has been a colossal pit of nonsense.

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And then London set itself on fire earlier this week. Everyone else is talking about it in a more eloquent fashion than I am, so I don't have anything to add, but I will say that for all that happened, I'm glad the actual ruckus seems to be dying down. For a little while, it felt extremely televisual. How Don Delilo.

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Oh, hey, so: Spooks' tenth series will be its last, and my feeling is part nostalgic sadface, and part "yeah, okay, it's time". In the meantime, I am trying to write a Spooks-related big bang entry (not what you think; telling you right now), and I'm reading John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. That's right: a book. An actual novel. My commute is so much more conducive to reading now, even if I can't get a seat on the train most mornings. I'm really enjoying the book, too. It's exactly my thing, and I don't know why I didn't get to it sooner.

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Next Wednesday I have the day off, but will be traipsing into The City anyway to see Betrayal, and then Butley. I have the whole of the week after that off, too, and will be spending some of that in the city, and some of that in Edinburgh. That impromptu decision might cost me in several ways but is going to be so worth it, as I'll be meeting up with one of my oldest eljay friends, noorie. Also, you know, Edinburgh. Am currently awaiting a skype call in which we will bash out the details, but my train tickets arrived yesterday, so that's totally happening.

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Other stuff? Everyone should be watching The Hour, if only for the delicious Anna Chancellor:

Also, in typical BBC fashion, there are ~spies. Seriously, it's my absolute favourite thing right now.

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And that's that. I mean, there's other stuff, but fuck if I can remember.

So, on Wednesday I managed to get myself packed and to the train station on time, which felt like a triumph. Headed into King's Cross, trying to work out whether or not The Ex-Flatmate was on my train or another. Eventually located her at St Pancras, and we grabbed some lunch and went and sat outside St Pancras Hotel where it was lovely out.

Afterwards we headed to the hotel to get checked in, before heading out to eat. Finally we took the tube to Leicester Square...and were super surprised to find that the theatre was right there.

Guys. GUYS. It was hysterical. I mean, super, super funny. And Much Ado About Nothing is pretty funny anyway, but the set was camped up, and a lot of the cast were dressed in Navy whites, and there were visual gags as well as the ones in the text. Tennant and Tate have bundles of chemistry, as expected, but the whole cast gelled really, really well. There is a scene where Beatrice has to call Benedict to dinner and the latter thinks the former is in love with him. Except, in this production, Tennant is pretty much covered in paint, and about a minute after she gets on stage, Tate looks up, sees him, and breaks character. It was very funny, but also really nice to know that they clearly enjoyed working together.

Afterwards we decided to go walkabout and ended up heading towards Trafalgar Square. As we walked past The National Gallery, towards the square, we passed VICTOR GARBER. ON HIS PHONE. IN A SUIT. It was like seeing spy!daddy in action; super, super weird. We made eye-contact as I tried to determine whether or not this was real life, and we just ambled past him. My friend was all, "Was that guy from Titanic?" which is not where my brain first went, but we did have a good three minutes or so of freaking out. It was GREAT. Seriously. Victor Garber. How odd.

So, yes, we ended up at the Olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar, then wandered down The Strand in search of a bar. We...did not do great. Eventually ended up at Covent Gardens where we had one drink at The Essex Serpent (a place I last frequented with daygloparker) whilst the staff aggressively blew out all the lit candles around us, save for the one where we were sat. Clearly eager to get home. After that we pretty much did all of the West End. Headed up to Piccadilly, and then up Regent Street. Got to Oxford Street and doubled back down the road where The Wizard of Oz is currently showing, but instead of heading back towards Piccadilly, ended up going in a different direction...that eventually led us to Soho. Nice. Also: creepy.

We ended up on Shaftsbury, where we flagged a cab and headed back to Farringdon. Whilst getting ready to go to sleep we flicked through the tv channels (nothing was on) and ended up falling asleep to what I think was Ugly Betty, but was really just too bright for us to handle.

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Next day I left Ex-Flatmate at the hotel because she was heading to Wales later that day, and I made my way to Holburn to meet hestia8, which I think needs to be a staple of every visit I make to The City. Had a lovely, lovely time eating cake and chatting, and dissecting the minutiae of things we have to deal with on a daily basis. Always a brilliant time.

Headed home afterwards, and made pretty good time. When the train pulled into the station, the heavens opened, and it rained so heavily I thought it was hailing (it wasn't). Despite having a brolly, the only part of me that wasn't soaked was my head. Got into the shopping centre where the bus station is, and the rain abruptly stopped. Yeah.

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Friday I popped into work to grab paperwork, then headed back to the sub-office, so although I'd been travelling since arse o'clock in the morning, I didn't actually start work until 10am. I literally got off the bus, picked up the papers, and got the next bus out five minutes later. The bus I took in would have left twenty minutes after the one I ended up getting. Exhausting! But I got to see Co-Conspirator and TC, so that was nice, and then I spent the day with my boss, and another co-worker, and I managed to get a lot done, so win-win.

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And then it was yesterday, and Hipster Who pulled a fast one on us, and six episodes of nonsense suddenly made much more sense than they had done previously. (The Space Pirates were still the worst.) I don't remember anything else that happened yesterday.

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Psssst. That brilliant mug is from twincy whom I met for 'lunch' on Monday. We spent not nearly enough time in one another's company, and then spent a little time wandering around in the spring sun. Then she left the country, and it rained. England clearly rejoiced at her being here, as did I. Next time we will schedule a meet for when I am not worrying about packing an office into unwieldy blue crates.