London – Page 10 – Well Eye Never

Illuminated River

Illuminated River is a project by artist Leo Villareal, involving a variety of permanent and colourful lighting installations on bridges across the River Thames in London.

9 bridges are currently involved in the project, from Lambeth Bridge to London Bridge. Each has its own unique architecture and history, and so the lighting is tailored to suit and complement them. The lights are positioned beneath the arches and/or along the sides of the bridge in some way, and they don’t intrude into the surrounding environment.

In most cases it involves constant, but slow and subtle, changes in colour, often moving from one side of the bridge to the other. But in a couple of cases it involves white strips of light moving in patterned waves along the side of the structure. And they all look beautiful. London is always stunning when lit up at night anyway, and I think this project is a lovely enhancement to the cityscape without being overwhelming.

London Zoo Audio Described Tour

Since August this year London Zoo have been doing audio described tours on the first Wednesday of each month. So once I was fit and ready to get out and about again, and heard about the tour via a friend who had done it, I signed up for the November tour – as did a few ladies from the visually impaired charity Look, so it was lovely to meet them too! And we had a great time together.

The tours last a couple of hours and are free of charge, and you sign up by email. But you still have to purchase a ticket to get into the zoo in the first place, which is fair enough and I was able to pay the concessionary rate. You can then continue to explore the zoo at your leisure after the tour is over if you wish, and they have a lot of accessibility information on their website. At the time of writing, they don’t yet have any tours listed for 2022, but they do hope to continue them. So if you get in touch with them to ask about it and express an interest, that should inspire them to keep them running.

So I thought I’d tell you a little bit about the tour I went on and share a few photos in this post. And be sure to check out my compilation of video footage from the tour as well. I hope you enjoy!

October 2021 Favourites

Finally. After all the pandemic restrictions and my recent health problems, it’s such a joyous relief to be out and about properly again, doing the things I enjoy.

So there’s quite a lot to mention in this month’s post and video, as I’ve been attending theatre shows for the first time in ages, taking nice walks, and enjoying a mixture of films, dramas, comedies and music at home. Plus I bought the new iPhone 13, which I’m very happy with as explained in my review, so the photos and videos you see going forward will be taken using that.

Apart from the theatre show States Of Mind, for which I was given complimentary tickets to go along and review, nothing else in this post involves any gifting or sponsorship. And all opinions are my own throughout. So I hope you enjoy!

Science Fiction, Triple Feature – Part 3 – My First Rocky Horror Live Show

After a long pandemic-enforced absence – during which madness threatened to take its toll, because time was anything but fleeting – it seems appropriate that my return to the glorious world of musical theatre was to the most infectious show of them all.

As a big fan of the film and the music, seeing Rocky Horror live has been on my bucket list for ages, as I’ve never had a good opportunity to go before. So when an audio described performance was announced by Sadler’s Wells as part of the current Rocky Horror tour, I was only too eager to jump to the left… I mean, at the chance… to lose my Rocky Horror virginity. So I bought myself a ticket, knowing that it was an afternoon out I was going to remember. For how long? For a very long time!

The Peacock Theatre, with Rocky Horror tour posters on the display boards outside. The theatre name is in gold lettering on a black canopy jutting out above the entrance, and above that is a black wall with 14 gold stars across it.

AD | Extant – States of Mind Review

Note: I received complimentary tickets to attend this production, but all opinions are my own.

It’s good to be back. After such a long absence from auditoriums, it was lovely to take a seat in a theatre again yesterday, to enjoy the premiere of a new and original play.

States of Mind was produced by Extant, the UK’s leading performing arts company of visually impaired artists, and was showcased at RADA Studios as part of the Bloomsbury Festival.

Christopher Hunter’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s earliest published work starred Gillian Dean & Robin Paley Yorke, and was an intriguing premise, as I had learned in my exclusive interviews with Christopher and Gillian very recently (and many thanks to them again for their time). So I was looking forward to checking it out.

AD | Extant – States of Mind Interviews

Note: This post is marked as an advertisement because I have been generously sent complimentary tickets to attend and review the show. I accepted them because I am very happy to support a production that features visually impaired performers and looks very interesting.

I’ve missed the theatre, it’s been 20 months since I last set foot in an auditorium. So what better time to make my return, than to see a brand new play that is produced and performed by visually impaired people, and is fully accessible for a visually impaired audience. That level of inclusion is courtesy of Extant, the UK’s leading performing arts company of visually impaired artists and creatives, whose work I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in the past when I saw Flight Paths.

The production, called States of Mind, is a contemporary dramatization of the poem Venus and Adonis, the first published work by Shakespeare. When the Bard wrote it, London’s theatres were closed because of the plague, so it’s rather fitting that this modern retelling was put together during the Covid pandemic.

In advance of its premiere on Saturday night as part of the Bloomsbury Festival, I was granted the opportunity to pose some questions to writer & director Christopher Hunter and actress Gillian Dean, who are both visually impaired (as is Gillian’s co-star Robin Paley Yorke).

So here Christopher gives us an informative introduction to the play, before Gillian gives an extensive and fascinating interview about her career and the play, and the accessibility of the performing arts for disabled actors like herself, and she gives a lot of advice for aspiring performers who want to get into the industry.

So, many thanks to Christopher & Gillian for giving up so much of their valuable time, amidst their busy preparations for the play, in order to share their insightful responses with me. Let’s get to it.

iPhone 13 First Impressions & My Accessibility Settings

My trusty iPhone 6 was an excellent friend and assistant for 6 years, and only needed one battery replacement in that time. But with that second battery now dying and an increasing number of apps not being supported or updated any more, it’s time to move on.

Therefore, I’ve now bought Apple’s new iPhone 13, so I’m fully up to date at last. I’ve got the Blue 256Gb model, which looks and feels really nice, and is working really well.

With 7 generations between my old and new devices, there’s a world of difference between them, which isn’t remotely surprising. It’s a big leap forward in every respect – the screen is bigger and brighter, the audio’s better quality, the camera takes clearer photos and videos, and it’s much speedier at opening apps and doing tasks.

There are already lots of reviews and videos out there about the iPhone 13 and related models, by people who are much more professional and technical than myself. So I won’t go into detail about the technical specifications and all the features. I just wanted to share my first impressions as a regular user, after having it in my possession for a few days. I’m sure I’ll discover more about it as I continue to play with it.

So I hope you enjoy my overview and find it of interest. This isn’t sponsored by or affiliated with Apple in any way, and all opinions are my own. And feel free to let me know if there’s anything in particular about the phone or any apps that I should check out, as I’m looking forward to getting very well acquainted with my new companion!

September 2021 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re all continuing to enjoy yourselves safely. I’m happy to say that I’ve managed to get out to meet some friends and explore the city again at long last, as my aches and pains are continuing to ease off, now that I’ve figured out how I was over-correcting my posture problems. I’m still not cancelling my November NHS physio appointment yet, as I don’t want to tempt fate, but I’m feeling much better at the moment. So I seem to be moving in the right direction, touch wood!

That means I actually have some recent and upcoming London adventures to tell you about in this month’s post and video, as well as the usual mixture of entertainment I’ve been into. So it’s a bumper update this time. With the exception of a theatre show I’ll be mentioning, for which I’ve been kindly given a review ticket, nothing else in this post is sponsored or gifted. So I hope you enjoy!

June & July 2021 Favourites

Hello again! Apologies for not doing a Favourites post last month, but I’ve continued to have issues with sciatica and other little aches and pains. I am a bit better than I was, but I still need a bit of help to get over it and reduce my risks going forward. It’s been frustratingly hard to try and see someone about it, but I’ve managed to book an appointment with an osteopath, and I hope things will start to improve more soon. And for the time being I just need to be careful!

Consequently I haven’t been out much, even after all legal restrictions were lifted here in England on 19 July. And when I do go out, even though I’m fully vaccinated, I’m still sanitising my hands, wearing face masks and socially distancing when appropriate – not out of fear, but out of simple respect for others. We can’t shut ourselves away forever and we do have to learn to live with the virus, but we can’t be complacent or selfish either. There is a balance to be reached. So I hope you’re all staying safe and being sensible, and you’re not being pinged too often with notifications by the NHS Test & Trace app (which I’ve never had as my phone’s too old for it – but I am getting a new phone soon, so that could change!).

In this latest post and video, therefore, I’ll mainly be sharing the entertainment that has kept me happily distracted as usual. But there is also one trip out that I’ll mention, and other bits and pieces too. And I’m not affiliated with or sponsored by anybody I mention here as usual. So I hope you enjoy!

January 2021 Favourites

Well, that month was a long year, wasn’t it? I thought January might be relatively quiet compared to December, but it was clearly very difficult for 2021 to get steady on its feet amongst the fallout from 2020, for reasons that we’re all too familiar with from the news.

January also marked a significant milestone for me, as it’s now 10 years since my father passed away. It’s amazing how quickly that time’s gone, when it inevitably dragged so much at first. And after all these years, not a day goes by when he doesn’t come to mind for one reason or another, he’s always present. I get my sense of humour from him, and he was always supportive and encouraging and fun to be around. That’s him you can see behind little me in the header image for this post. As I haven’t had any reason to take interesting photos myself lately, it seemed appropriate to use one of him on this occasion, and I dedicate this post to his memory.

And in the present, Captain Sir Tom Moore has very sadly passed away at the age of 100. He was one of the brightest lights of the pandemic, raising nearly £40 million for NHS charities, and his positive attitude to life filled us all with hope and motivation at a time when we really needed it the most. So he will be very dearly missed, and his charity foundation will undoubtedly continue to do lots of great work in his honour in the years to come. Condolences to all of his family and friends and everyone who came into contact with him. And thank you Captain Tom for everything you’ve done. We will walk on through the storm, with our heads up high and hope in our hearts, thanks to you. RIP.

Still, despite all of that, there is also much to be happy about. Green shoots of hope and positivity are breaking through, and I have some good news of my own to share in this post, along with the usual rundown of entertaining things that I’ve been enjoying. And none of it is sponsored or gifted as usual. So let’s crack on with it, and I hope you enjoy this month’s post and video!

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