July 2024 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re doing well. This has been a busy and enjoyable month for me, in particular because I got to see two theatre shows and eat at a restaurant for free, plus I enjoyed some more nice walks in the summer weather and have been immersed in the Olympics along with other things I’ve been watching.

The only downside was the fact that I had to have a telephone assessment for my Personal Independence Payments review, which they finally got around to a year after I sent the forms back. They would save so much time and money by not repeatedly reviewing people with incurable and lifelong conditions like mine, only asking us to request extra support if and when things change. But anyway, the assessment was very long, at nearly 2½ hours, of which I thankfully have a recording that they allowed me to capture. The lady I spoke to seemed very nice and was happy to listen to everything I had to say, but what she actually wrote down and how the DWP will judge it is a completely different kettle of fish of course. So we’ll see what happens, I’ll keep you posted.

Mind you, that issue is nothing compared to what some people are having to endure here in the UK right now. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the awful murders in Southport, along with the senseless violence by far-right thugs that has erupted in various cities since then. You cannot claim to have any genuine care about the country if you’re causing destruction, looting, assaulting the police, and attacking people purely because of their skin colour, religion, nationality, etc. That clearly isn’t protest, it’s just pure stupidity, criminality and racism. They don’t represent the UK, and they don’t realise they’ve been manipulated and radicalised into such behaviour by the misinformation being spread online that they blindly believe. It’s just crazy. I’m not going to discuss it in depth, as it’s a horrible topic and far more qualified people are already analysing it. It just might have seemed a bit odd or disrespectful if I hadn’t mentioned it at all, and I hope things settle down soon. Stay safe out there.

So with all that out of the way, let’s get on to the nicer and more fun things in this post and video, in which all opinions are my own and I’ve not been gifted or paid to feature anything here as usual. I hope you enjoy!

Contents

• Culture & Cuisine
  • The Constituent
  • Hadestown
  • Cinnamon Bazaar
• Walks
  • Richmond to Teddington
  • Hammersmith to Battersea
  • Richmond Park
• Entertainment
  • The Outlaws
  • Douglas Is Cancelled
  • Other Entertainment

Culture & Cuisine

The Constituent

The first theatre show I saw this month was The Constituent at the Old Vic. My friend and colleague Emily from Fashioneyesta had a press invite to review this play, so kindly invited me to join her.

We didn’t have audio description, but we didn’t need it, as the simple layout of the small set and the powerful performances by the actors made it easy to follow. We were also in the rows of seating that had been added at the back of the stage, looking out into the auditorium, which is a pretty cool view. It’s an unusual way to watch the show, but it worked perfectly well.

This brand-new play, written by Joe Penhall and directed by Matthew Warchus, is quite short, at just an hour and a half without an interval. But it’s a gripping drama that we see unfold during that time, centred around a man called Alec (played by James Corden) who is meeting with his local MP Monica (played by Anna Maxwell Martin).

At first Alec is cheery and helpful, in a manner that you would normally associate with the real James Corden, but he soon darkens as we learn about the justice he seeks as a father who is estranged from his wife and has limited access to his children. Monica, a friendly and compassionate woman, shows empathy, gives sensible advice and explains the limitations of her political position, but that isn’t enough for Alec, whose anger-fuelled desperation puts an increasing strain on her. Yet she continues to meet with him out of a sense of kindness and duty, despite the fact that she can’t really do anything for him, and against the strong advice to avoid him altogether from her assigned police officer Mellor (played by Zachary Hart), who becomes increasingly involved out of concern for her welfare.

The tension therefore rises gradually throughout, ultimately pushing all three characters to their limits and affecting them in distinct ways, and there are some twists as well as moving moments. Yet there are also brief interjections of humour occasionally, even in some of the darker scenes, in a way that feels natural without detracting from the story and its emotional impact.

James Corden is mainly known for comedy of course, including Gavin & Stacey, which I’ve never got into but I know it’s returning for its final episode later this year, and his Late Late Show in America, which I ended up watching a lot of clips from during the Covid lockdowns. So playing Alec is a very different type of role for him, but he’s fantastic. He pitches it perfectly, giving what feels like a realistic portrayal of a father in his position, in a way that makes you fear his potential actions yet sympathise with his plight. It really illustrates what a versatile performer he is.

Anna Maxwell Martin as Monica, meanwhile, gives a compelling and sadly all too relevant insight into life as a female MP, wanting to do as much as she can for her constituents while also having to strike a careful balance to ensure her safety. And Zachary Hart as Mellor appears to be a side character to begin with, peppering his firm warnings to Monica with little bits of amusing dialogue, yet his role becomes ever more important and impactful as the story progresses.

So it’s a very well-performed and thought-provoking show, as you can understand and sympathise with the perspectives of all three characters in their own different ways, and there’s no simple answer as to who’s in the right or how best to resolve the situation in a way that benefits everyone. But the ending is certainly very poignant. The story could have concluded in a variety of ways, but the direction they took it in feels right.

All in all, therefore, it’s a great play that I can highly recommend, we had a very nice evening. It’s only running until the 10th of August, so it will probably be too late to see it by the time you read this, but if it comes out again it’s definitely worth a look.

And as a final aside, there had been an unexpected moment for the audience who attended a few nights before us, when James Corden delayed the start of the show by bringing an iPad out on stage, so that the cast and the audience could watch England’s penalty shootout at the end of the Euros quarter final. It may seem unprofessional, but they had been watching the match backstage and were about to set it aside to start the show, only to see that a lot of audience members were looking at it on their phones as well. So they figured it was best to see the game to its conclusion to avoid detracting from the serious production they were about to perform, especially as there wasn’t long left anyway. So it was a sensible move I think, as it was just a bit of fun and a novel experience for the crowd before they got into the heavy stuff.

Hadestown

The next show I saw was Hadestown, which has been playing at the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue since February, and can be booked as far ahead as December.

I went along because I was very kindly offered a complimentary ticket to test out the audio description and give my feedback. This is a direct result of a training workshop I helped to deliver back in May (paid of course), sharing my experiences as a visually impaired theatregoer alongside expert audio describer Roz Chalmers (similar to the first one we did together back in April). She was teaching a couple of ladies about how to write and deliver audio description for theatre shows in general, so they could then put it into practice for Hadestown. And they were so grateful for my extensive input that they invited me along for their assessment at the show, which was very generous and it went really well.

Hadestown, written by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, is an award-winning sung-through musical that takes a dive into Greek mythology in a way that is engaging and entertaining for a wide audience. After all, it is a huge and complex area of history, and I’ve never fancied attending a serious or complex play like a Greek tragedy. But you don’t need any knowledge of Ancient Greece to get into this, as it’s fun and easy to follow. There’s a lot going on, but ultimately there’s a simple story at its heart, which indeed is about the deepest feelings of the heart.

The plot centres around the deep love that Orpheus holds for Eurydice, whose affections he wins through his charm and talent for song. However, Eurydice is uncomfortable due to the poverty in which they live, and the Fates take full advantage of her vulnerability, tempting her to enter the industrial underworld with the promise of greater protection, despite the hard labour that it also entails. That dark realm is ruled by King Hades, alongside his less enthusiastic wife Persephone who would rather not be there, but Hades never allows anyone to leave. Devastated by losing the love of his life, therefore, Orpheus sets out to rescue Eurydice, no matter what it takes or how much danger he must place himself in. The story is narrated throughout by Hermes, who brings the audience into their world and also interacts with the other characters as well.

It’s all really well performed and visualised, including wonderful songs, great choreography, beautiful costumes, evocative lighting, etc, which all bring the story and characters to life. The basic set itself doesn’t change much, but the variations in the props, lighting and clothing, along with the performances, transform it very cleverly, particularly distinguishing between the upper and lower worlds, which are very starkly contrasted.

I can’t reliably credit the actors for this show, because there happened to be a few understudies involved on this particular evening. But everyone was very good, most notably the guy playing Hades, given that he had taken over the role for the very first time, which is no mean feat!

It also presented a useful additional challenge for our trainee audio describers, as having to cater for late alterations is a necessary part of the job, and they coped really well. It was interesting to talk to them about the differences between the performance I saw and the previous dry run they did to test things out with Roz. The guy playing Hades, for example, wasn’t as tall as the usual actor, so couldn’t rely on his height to be an imposing figure of authority, and thus had to adapt accordingly. It was also interesting to have a general chat with them about what it’s been like to learn audio description, because I don’t usually get to hear first-hand accounts like that.

And the audio description overall was excellent. I wouldn’t have pegged them as first time describers, which is testament to the hard work they put into it and the effectiveness of Roz’s training. The introductory notes they supplied before the show were really useful, describing the set in such a way that I was able to build up a clear approximation of it in my head in a logical manner. And the descriptions of the main characters were suitably distinctive, which meant I was able to identify them easily in the press photos I had access to (because my colleague Emily had seen the show on a different night without audio description and wrote her own review).

I also liked their style of delivery and intonation, during the introductory notes and the show itself, as they weren’t monotone and it really felt like they wanted to share their genuine interest and enjoyment of the production, without being over the top about it. I liked the way that certain words were expressed too, such as “enormous”, “pistons”, “wispiness”, etc, as they sounded a bit like the things they were describing.

I also felt there were appropriate variations in tone and emotion, from tense scenes to tender moments, and there were useful descriptions of body language and expressions that helped to clarify how characters were feeling. One important scene early on, for example, is the first time that Orpheus and Eurydice embrace one another, as the descriptive narration had a lovely warm tenderness to it, with suitably poetic turns of phrase to paint a vivid picture of what was happening. I also noted a few scenes from the Underworld that stuck in my mind as part of my feedback, but I won’t repeat them here as I don’t want to give much away.

There were inevitable moments where the describers had to talk over song lyrics of course, but I think those moments were chosen well, as I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything important. And in general they used the gaps in the singing and dialogue to good effect, getting important information across in a concise way. So I never felt lost. It would have been impossible for them to mention everything, but I heard what I needed to hear. And, indeed, I could hear it very well, as the reception for the headset was very clear.

So thank you to our describers, who ensured I was able to understand and enjoy the show in a way that simply wouldn’t have been possible without audio description. And many thanks for the complimentary ticket as well. It was a very enjoyable night out, and I can definitely recommend seeing the show, it’s award-winning with good reason!

Cinnamon Bazaar

I also attended a PR event at a restaurant this month, because Emily kindly invited me to join her. And this was quite an unusual experience, in a fun way.

We were at the new Cinnamon Bazaar restaurant in Richmond, which is a very short walk from the station in the high street, and is a sister venue to their branch in Covent Garden. It’s owned by Vivek Singh, who also runs Cinnamon Kitchen in the City of London, where Emily and I experienced their House of Holi celebration in March, an enjoyably messy evening during which we got to throw coloured paint over each other!

This latest event was also a little bit messy, but in a very different way, because they were launching the UK’s first Chaat Challenge. This is an eating contest where you have to eat as many pani puris as you can in two minutes. People can give it a go on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays over the summer, at a cost of just £10 each, and whoever’s top of the leaderboard when the challenge ends on 1st of September 2024 will win a year’s supply of chaat for four people in their restaurants as well as a certificate.

A pani puri is a small deep-fried and breaded hollow shell, which you can break a hole in and fill with all manner of flavourings. So each competitor had a bowl full of these things in front of them – pre-broken with holes to speed things up – along with a dish of chaat-spiced flavouring to fill it with, and a bowl of sweet or savoury flavoured water. I’ve no idea what the filling was, but it was tasty, and the chaat added a nice kick to it without being too strong.

In order for each pani puri to be counted, therefore, you had to pick it up, insert a little bit of the filling (it only had to be a tiny bit) and then dunk it in the water to soften it, before eating it. You didn’t have to swallow before putting in the next one – they were simply counted as long as they went into your mouth – and it was easy to pop in more than one given their size, so you could easily get through quite a few.

I’d never heard of or eaten pani puris before, so obviously I wasn’t in a position to compete for the title against the experienced members of the Indian community who were there. But everyone was very friendly and delighted that Emily and I wanted to give it a go. It also helped that we were split into two groups, so I was able to watch the first set to get a sense of how it worked, before it was the turn of Emily and I and a few others.

And I enjoyed it, because it’s easy enough to do and I quickly got into a steady rhythm, plus there were plenty of people cheering us all on. I wasn’t worried about my dignity, so I didn’t mind getting little crumbs or splashes of water on me as I went along. Emily was much more dignified, and to be fair it’s much trickier to do when you can’t see properly!

So I was quite surprised and pleased with myself to get a score of 28 after the 2 minutes was up, which put me at 8th in the top 10! I’ll have disappeared off that leaderboard already by now, as the top scorer had 40 and the next five were all in the thirties. But it’s nice to know my name was on the wall for a brief while at least!

Once the contest was over, we then had a very tasty meal with lots of dishes to share. This was the menu:

• Canapés
  • Indo-Chinese Chilli Chicken – Stir-fried chicken with soy and honey, curried yogurt
  • Aloo Tikki Chaat – Spiced potato cake with chutneys and chickpea sev
  • Kadhai spiced ‘bullet’ chillies, poppy seed gun powder
  • Papdi Chaat – Crisp wheat, chutney potatoes, sweet yoghurt
  • Dhokla Chaat – Steamed chickpea cake with shredded coconut and chutneys
• Sharing Feast
  • Toddy Shop Pepper Fry – Stir-fried shrimp, cracked pepper, curry leaf lime crumble
  • Dahi Bhalla Papdi Chaat – Lentil dumplings, sorbet, wheat biscuits & chutneys
  • Smoked pineapple & kasundi chaat, caramel puffed rice
  • Naughty Dreamy Paneer BM – Paneer escalope, rich tomato cashew nut sauce
  • Malabar boatman’s kingfish curry with kokum berry and coconut
  • Lamb roganjosh shepherd’s pie
  • Lemon rice and Garlic naan
• Dessert
  • Rasmalai tres leches with soft saffron whipped cream & almond

It was a lovely mix of flavours, so I enjoyed all of it. But I particularly enjoyed the shepherd’s pie, and the shrimp stood out as being quite tasty too.

I also had drinks of course, including a couple of glasses of wine and a couple of cocktails. This is what’s on their signature cocktails menu:

• Gud Old Fashioned – Woodford Bourbon, Ginger and Jagerry
• Pretty Please – Tequila, Raspberry, Elderflower and Grand Marnier
• Ian Baba – JJ Whitley Vanilla Vodka, Pistachio Lime and Bitters
• Maiden Garden – Camomile Whitley Neil Gin, St. Germain, Lemongrass and Nutmeg
• Roots ∞ Fruits – Aperol, Pink Grapefruit and Prosecco
• Cinnamon Bellini – Prosecco, Cinnamon Syrup and Gold Dust
• Ananas – Tequila, Pineapple, Saffron and Fennel Salt

My favourite of the two cocktails I tried during the evening was called Ananas, which had a nice flavour with the tequila and pineapple. The other cocktail I had was one I was offered during the pre-meal get-together, so I can’t remember what it was but it was also nice.

So all in all it was a very pleasant evening, and thank you to Emily and everyone at Cinnamon Bazaar for a lovely time!

Walks

Last month I walked along the south bank of the River Thames from Richmond to Teddington with my aunt, while by myself I explored the north bank from Hammersmith to Battersea and had a wander around Richmond Park. And now this month I’ve completed those segments of the river by walking along the Thames Path on the opposite banks between the same points, and I’ve explored a bit more of the park as well. So Richmond has been a big draw for me again, what with all that and the restaurant I mentioned above as well.

Richmond to Teddington

My first walk this month was along the north bank of the Thames from Richmond Bridge to Teddington Lock, although given the way the river curves on the map in this area it looks like it’s the south bank sometimes. Again it’s very nice, with plenty of boats and greenery to see along the way, and I had a closer view of the house at Marble Hill this time too.

I then crossed the footbridges at Teddington Lock so I could make my way back to Richmond Station, along the Thames Path I explored with my aunt in June.

Hammersmith to Battersea

My next walk took me along the south bank from Hammersmith Bridge, which is still undergoing repairs but is open to pedestrians, to Albert Bridge, both of which are impressive in design. Along the way I passed the old Harrods Furniture Depository, while on the opposite side of the river I could see Craven Cottage Stadium used by Fulham FC, both of which I saw last month from very different perspectives whilst walking along the north bank.

Rowing is also huge in this area of course, especially around Putney, and I found the memorial to influential rowing coach Steve Fairbairn, which is called The Mile Post because it’s positioned a mile from the start of the University Boat Race course. There are several rowing schools along here as well.

Later on I discovered a mini nature reserve called The Spit, on a causeway in the Wandle Valley. It’s not particularly exciting, but it’s one of those little curiosities that’s worth a quick look for the view while you’re passing, because it contains nice flowers and a large triangular piece of artwork called Sail by Sophie Horton, and you get to look out towards the Thames.

And then, once you’re back by the Thames itself again, Wandsworth Bridge has an unusual design, as it was painted in shades of blue as camouflage against air raids when it opened in 1940 during World War II, and they’ve just kept it like that ever since. The bridge closed for a while last year for safety repairs and has undergone some restoration work. There’s then Battersea Railway Bridge a bit further along which is painted in shades of green.

Then finally we get to the striking white structure of Albert Bridge, near to which on the south bank is a nice sculpture called In Town by John Ravera that shows 2 parents holding their baby aloft.

Richmond Park

Last month I walked around the perimeter of Richmond Park, often shielded from the sun by trees, so this time I spent a few hours exploring a bit of its interior, which is more like walking through open countryside. There isn’t a lot to say about it, but it was a gloriously warm and sunny day, there were lots of yellow flowers around (which I understand is ragwort), it was nice to see the Pen Ponds, I had a lovely ice cream from a kiosk nearby (even though 99s aren’t cheap these days but I fancied one and needed the refreshment), and the scenery in general was beautiful and peaceful.

Entertainment

The Outlaws

Stephen Merchant’s comedy drama The Outlaws has recently returned for a third and possibly final series, which you can watch for free on BBC iPlayer in the UK or pay to stream on Amazon Prime Video elsewhere.

It’s all about a group of very disparate individuals who have been thrown together as part of their community service. And as much as they try to stay out of trouble, they find themselves forced into situations where they have to commit further crimes to try and fix things. In this case, the sudden reappearance of Rani with a dead body causes a lot of problems, especially given the corpse’s connections to a gangster called The Dean (Claes Bang), who is looking for revenge against the group after they got him arrested at the end of the previous series. The fact that corrupt police officer Burgess is on The Dean’s side doesn’t help matters either.

There are various sub-plots too, where Ben (Gamba Cole) has a new girlfriend but tries to help his ex Rani (Rhianne Barreto) as well, Myrna (Clare Perkins) reunites with an old flame, John (Darren Boyd) considers how to take his business back from his father, Gabby (Eleanor Tomlinson) is desperate to have a baby while Greg (Stephen Merchant) tries to fight her legal case against her dad, and supervisor Diane (Jessica Gunning) is showing a new colleague the ropes but then goes off the rails when she’s hit by a shocking revelation. There’s also a nice little cameo by Christopher Walken as Frank, who doesn’t have a major role this time sadly.

The various story strands are woven together nicely, as is the mixture of humour and drama, with plenty of funny lines and visual gags mixed with tension and emotional moments for the group members. And the final episode brings the story to a close very effectively, with twists along the way, neat callbacks to setups in previous episodes, and emotional conclusions for some of the characters.

So it’s been fun to have it back. It’s not something I like strongly enough to buy on DVD to keep, but it is well written and a good way to kill a few hours – well, 5 to be precise, which is slightly reduced from the 6 episodes they had in each of the first 2 series. It could still return in the future, as the door is very much open for that and Stephen hasn’t ruled it out completely, so we’ll see what happens.

Douglas Is Cancelled

This is a new, one-off, 4-part comedy-drama series from ITV, which reunites writer Steven Moffat with Doctor Who stars Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston, and is a very topical and relatable story in this age of social media.

It’s about a popular TV newsreader called Douglas (played by Hugh Bonneville) who is accused on X (Twitter) of making a sexist joke at a wedding. The tweet doesn’t specify what he apparently said or offer any proof, but it goes viral regardless given his fame, especially when his co-star Madeline (Karen Gillan) retweets it with a message that is ambiguous as to whether she supports him or not. Douglas claims that he can’t remember any such incident, but with people demanding answers and a major public appearance at the Hay Festival on the horizon, attempts are made to prepare him for the grilling he’s likely to get about it, with Madeline being one of the people trying to help him.

I’m glad that I waited to see what the reviews were like before watching it though, as I often do with new shows, because I probably would have given up on it otherwise. The first couple of episodes are a bit slow and not very exciting, with characters that seem a bit irritating or unnatural, though there are nice moments of humour here and there, and enough plot points to keep you curious about how things will progress. But then the third episode strikes a much darker tone, before the final episode ties everything together with the aid of a few twists and turns, including a big reveal at the end, whereby everything makes more sense.

So it’s actually very neatly written even if it doesn’t seem that way at first. And it has a great cast, though it’s Karen Gillan who really steals the show with her acting range. It’s probably not something I’d watch again particularly, but it was worth checking out once at least.

Other Entertainment

Just to summarise a few other bits and pieces to finish with:

• Live 8 – Following on from my reviews of Live Aid and the musical that it inspired earlier in the year, I’ve now revisited Live 8 from 2005 as well, by rewatching my DVD box set and looking at lots of videos online of other performances from the event. Although it’s not as good as the original Live Aid, as there are more performers that I’m not a big fan of, there’s still a lot that I do enjoy, including Paul McCartney, U2, Elton John, Dido, Travis, Bob Geldof, Annie Lennox, UB40, Madonna, Sting, Robbie Williams, The Who, Pink Floyd, Will Smith, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Stevie Wonder and more. So you can check out my extensive blog post to find out all about it, and see my UK & World playlists for lots of performances and other related clips.
• Olympics – I’m absolutely loving the sporting action from Paris at the moment, including the athletics, swimming, diving, canoeing, rowing, cycling, gymnastics and equestrian events, among other things. It’s a shame the BBC have lost a lot of the rights to Discovery+ and Eurosport for a while, but I’ve still been able to watch a lot of great events live, or via catch up, or in clips they’ve shared of key moments, plus they’re keeping me nicely up to date with everything I want to see and need to know about, so I’m happy. Team GB are doing extremely well, they’ve already got a lot to be proud of, and there are still several days left to go as I write this. I’m compiling a long review of my many highlights which I’ll publish after it’s all over, and then it’ll be time for the Paralympics in a few weeks as well, starting on August 28th!
• Secrets Of The London Underground – I’m delighted that this series about London’s Tube network is back for a 4th outing. It’s always wonderful to see what historical delights Siddy Holloway and Tim Dunn are able to uncover in areas of stations and other places that the public don’t have access to (apart from on Hidden London Tours in some cases). Their enthusiasm and expertise really draws you in and you learn a lot. I’ll write more about it when the series finishes, but my favourite part so far was when they explored Paddington, which I’ve used so many times when travelling to and from the Westcountry over the years, so it has a special place in my heart and is a beautiful station.
• 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown – This is back for a new series at the moment, though it might be the last one for a little while as they’re having a break from filming this year. But they do plan to shoot more at a later date, and it’s often repeated so in the meantime we can still enjoy the older episodes. It isn’t quite as good as it used to be of course, particularly without the late Sean Lock plus the occasional absences of Jon Richardson, and there are often one or two guests I’m not a huge fan of. But overall it’s still pretty funny and is always fun to watch on a Friday night.

Conclusion

So that’s it for now, I hope you enjoyed that selection. August is my birthday month of course, though it won’t be anywhere near as mad as last year, when I did lots of wonderful things to celebrate my 40th. Happy memories! This year I am going to see a theatre show and hope to meet up with a couple of friends, but otherwise I don’t have anything else major planned at the moment. So it’ll be relatively relaxing I think. I’ll let you know in my next roundup anyway, and in the meantime I hope you stay safe and continue to enjoy the summer as well, whatever you get up to!