Then they send me back to Kentish Town

Tonight, the BBC manage to report on the launch of the London Profiler website without once using the phrase "that's so nifty!" - that'd be because they're all high paid reporter types...

It really is very nifty.

The 'help' buttons in each heading also lead to useful sites / explanations of methodology, which just make the maps niftier still, by explaining things like "how we ended up with 'Sikh' and 'Other Muslim' in a list that's otherwise based on national/regional divisions, and doesn't have any non-other Muslim categories", which is the kind of thing that otherwise bugs me.

***

Also, in unrelated, and far less nifty, news: apparently the Bull and Gate is on the market, and thus under threat as a venue. When I was writing about the Astoria the other day, the Bull and Gate is one of those smaller places I mentioned having a lot of affection for.

Here's hoping it stays in sympathetic hands.

say hello, say goodbye

Sad, if not surprising, to see confirmation that the Astoria will be demolished as a necessary cost of the CrossRail developments. Mine is one of those 35, 000 signatures.

The Astoria is my favourite large-ish venue, and I can't count the number of excellent gigs and good nights out I've had under it's less-than-glamorous roof. (Meanwhile the Astoria 2 (by whatever name) has hosted some much loved bands I've really enjoyed, but there's nothing about the space there that means anything to me - and I don't know why that is.) Both the Roundhouse and Union Chapel have recently reminded me how much I enjoy them as venues, and there are about half a dozen smaller spaces that I think of fondly, but of the venues in the Astoria's capacity range, none of them come close for me.

It is positive, though, to see the commitment to a new venue in the same central location.

Part of the reason I'm so sad to see the Astoria go is the building and the memories, true, but a good part of it is practical. For example, I quite like seeing bands at Brixton, once I'm inside, but it's a royal pain to get home from. All the other similarly sized venues in the capital - even the ones that are desperately practical for me personally - have that same problem for a large proportion of their punters. Meanwhile, TCR is good and central for everyone - walking distance to the main overground stations, a short stroll to the night bus hub that is Trafalgar Square, tube routes towards all four compass points... If they put something with facilities like the Hackney Ocean in that location, and I think they're onto a winner - and we'll soon build up the patina of sweat and memories on the new place, right?

Fortunately, all this is several years off, thanks to the oh-so-zippy speed of development, so there's time for a few more shows before the curtain comes down for good.

Don't know what you got till it's gone

Um, colour me unobservant, but when did the London FreeList close it's doors?* What a loss!

Now to hunt down some replacement sources... LondonIsFree looks pretty spiffy.



* 10th Feb, apparently.

Again with the leaving the links until I have time to write the post and then realising that such a time is unlikely to arrive before the events ....

- UCL Classics dept tackle Agamemnon at the Bloomsbury, tonight and tomorrow.

- Freeborn John @ The Union Chapel : A star studded cast of English folk royalty perform the world’s first historical folk opera. English history has provided us with no more dramatic or colourful a character than England's first radical, ‘Freeborn’ John Lilburne, unsung hero of the English Civil War. Brought to life in an astonishingly vivid and tangible way by the inimitable Rev Hammer, Freeborn John tells the story of this true English people’s hero

(I'll shoot for writing them up after the event instead, but I've not done so well with that on anything else this year, so no promises!)

And I am walking in london

Walkit.com's managed to improve its already excellent service by adding an option to search for routes that avoid busy, high-polution, roads, thus making your walk easier on the lungs, often at only a few minutes' cost. (I have also, while playing about testing that out, realised that one of my regular routes is about a mile longer than it needs to be - you live and learn.)

Unrelated thing: I have Samuel Pepys' Diary RSSd (it's a little overwhelming as a giant volume). Today's entry, with its reference to Pancake Day pleases me.

flip reverse it

Pancake day tomorrow. Sad to see in the Metro this morning a piece about how few people apparently celebrate it any more, partly because it's not a fixed date to remember (it's tied to Easter, so it's a movable feast, and this year it's crept up early, the earliest it's been in 60 years), partly because it's less commercial than other celebrations (surely that's a good thing?) and partly because people claim not to know how to make pancakes.

Pancakes? Are really really easy. You can get fancy, sure, but the basic model? flour, milk, eggs, frying pan, enjoy. (there's the recipe I use here if you want more specifics.)

When I was 14, our Young Enterprise Scheme company made and sold hot pancakes to fellow pupils in the breaks at school. If a bunch of teenagers with a hot plate can turn out saleable results in a fifteen minute break, how hard can they really be? (It is, however, practically impossible to get the first pancake of any batch to go right, so don't let that put you off.)

Ok - *flipping* the pancake is a bit tricksy, but it's also totally non-essential. It is, in fact, mostly for showing off with. All you really need to be doing is turning the pancake over, which I tend to do with a wide spatula, and at least one of my friends does with the aide of a plate.

So, in conclusion. Pancakes aren't scary, and they are tasty, so: what are you cooking tomorrow?

No police, no summons, no courts of law

Things to try and get to tomorrow : Temple Open Day

I really think so

As mentioned to several students this week : the link for the Yo Sushi half price voucher is here.

It is a great sadness that Gili Gullu has closed down, which cuts down the options for budget sushi. Yo (conveyor belt) and Wassabi (take away) are good chains with branches all over, Moshi Moshi is less ubiquitous, but also tasty

Kulu Kulu (Branches in Covent Garden and Soho) is pretty good, Itsu irritated me no end by having not one single vegetarian roll on offer so I can't rate them on anything else, and I've yet to try my luck at a Feng Sushi.

Yoshino has a good reputation, although I can't vouch for them personally (They also stock the Japan Centre's sushi bar, which I can recommend). Many of my friends rate the Tokyo Diner, but I've never been impressed there - it's good enough, but nothing special. I prefer to go to Zipangu, which is two doors down. I mostly go for ramen, but what I've sampled of their sushi has been good.

all of these things and more

I don't know if I should be admitting this in public, but tonight is Torchwood night (first episode of the second season) and I'm looking forward to it.

Why would I be worried about admitting to that? Well, it's not so much the lingering stigma of SciFi - if I was posting the day before new Doctor Who I would have no shame at all about being full of anticipation and encouraging everyone to watch it. But that may be because everyone *does* watch it. My best friend's ten year old, through to my parents. It's proper family telly.

Torchwood? Well, season one was, to be honest, a bit rough in places. Didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. Had some fantastic episodes and some total dross, and some amazing acting, and some annoying failures to act (Gwen, I'm looking at you, lass.) some great writing, and some really clunky bad bits.

I missed a few episodes in the middle of last season, and wasn't too stressed about it, and yet, I have a soft spot for the show and I find myself caring about the launch of the second season.

I think part of it may be down to location. I went to uni down in Swansea, so the accents, and the real-world parts are pleasing to me. It's nice seeing Cardiff playing Cardiff (instead of Cardiff playing London and Swansea playing Cardiff, like in Doctor Who). Gwen's mundane boyfriend, Rhys, and her ex-partner on the police remind me of people I know. The accents feel like one flavour of home. It's all about the little things.

It looks like there will be folks coming round to watch en-mass, so even if the show does completely bomb, I'll still have a good evening, but I'll be waiting for the credits with fingers crossed, thinking 'please don't suck'.

And you know what? I have hope.

please open your eyes

apropos of nothing: John Duffin's noir-ish London prints please me.

But I see the statues beginning to fall

Fourth Plinth shortlist announced.

I thought I was going to find myself in the unlikely situation of rooting for Tracy Emin, because Meerkats and then I scrolled down the final few lines and: Anthony Gormley wants to ask members of the public to stand on the plinth for an hour each to occupy it for constantly for 12 months

Vote Gormley I say!

(Health and Safety will probably nix the idea, but the idea of it!)

Ankh-Morpork! Ankh-Morpork! So Good They Named it Ankh-Morpork

This news makes me very sad. It seems particularly cruel for a writer, a man so known and loved for his mind, to be diagnosed with Alzheimers.

I'd always kind of visualised him marching on through time, rolled up in an ever-growing cloud of Headology experience with all sorts of odd facts and observations getting trapped and absorbed, and it's desperately sad that, high-end experts in brain chemistry notwithstanding, that suddenly seems a lot less likely.

When I was fifteen, I wrote my GCSE English Literature coursework(1) comparing the first three Discworld novels with the first three of Robert Asprin's Myth novels - back when Pratchett was more firmly relegated to the corner marked 'fantasy genre' (and, in fairness, back when his books were closer to straight genre-satire than they have been for a long while). Sorry, Mr Asprin, I stand by my conclusion at the time - Terry kind of wins on all counts. (at the time, I also wrote him a fan letter, to which he replied. This impressed me a very great deal.)

Everytime since, when we've crossed paths at signings and such, he's blown me away with how unfailingly lovely he is to his fans - he was my first ever book signing, and many authors have suffered by comparison to that early experience. The thing I most remember about the interview for my first job is enthusing about Pratchett with the head of the Central Library - I like to think that he got me the job. The annual exchange of his books is a family tradition with my mother in law. (I still remember being really thrown the first Christmas it wasn't a Josh Kirby cover, in fact.) I can't count the hours I've spent in the company of this characters.

But, as he says, he Aten't Dead, and if the man says there's time for a few more books, well - that's something to hope on.




(1) - if there are non-Brit's reading who need a translation of this, drop me a comment and I'll try and explain.

Deck the halls

Unless you're one of the super-organised few, you probably still have pressies to hunt down and decorations to organise - check out Covent Garden's Christmas Deluxe programme. The 12 Days food market's got to be good for gourmet gifts (I need to see if I can find reindeer pate for my dad again) and the decorations exchange sounds like all the fun of picking out new shinies, without any of the costs.

Firsts @ The Royal Opera House / Bassline Circus

In a fit of pragmatism, I realise that the entry I was planning to go with this link isn't going to happen any time soon, so while it's still timely enough to be useful:

http://esales.roh.org.uk/tickets/production.aspx?pid=3641

Three sets of pick-n-mix contemporary British dance at the ROH's Lindbury Studio, starting tomorrow, for the princely sum of £5 a head. There are still a few tickets available. You should take advantage of that before someone else does.

Also : Bassline Circus, at Kings Cross on Friday, which is FREE.

(http://www.basslinecircus.org/ for info about them, www.arrivals2007.org.uk about Friday)

time keeps slipping

Between being busy and being ill I have totally failed to blog in a timely manner about

: two author talks, incl Ackroyd.
: Wellcome series on medicine and the written word.
: Fireworks Night
: Remembrance Day and conversations with Poppy People
: upcoming Lord Mayor's Show
: continuing 2012 stuff
: New 'empty plinth' statue (in brief - hated it three years ago, not much keener now, although it's kind of cool after dark)

Still, onwards, ever onwards, and I'm not too late to wish everyone Happy Diwali!