A nice two in a row of
Saturdays that don’t involve work, which is good but I still only have a one
day weekend. Not that I’m complaining, just saying. As my birthday was on a
weekday, for a belated treat Mandi arranged a day trip to London for a visit to
London Zoo. I was a bit apprehensive about the fact that we were going by
train, as I am not a believer in train travel. I know it is more comfortable
and everything, but I never have a successful train journey, in fact I often
say that buying a train ticket is the closest I come to gambling. Despite my
regular fight with the breakfast gods, I managed to have a full English
breakfast in a café close to the station. It was all right, the beans were a
little cold and they did give me the wrong kind of sausage. Sausages with herbs
in are okay with sausage and mash, but are a little pretentious from a greasy spoon
café. My fears were unfounded, as the train arrived in London on time.
Our first port of call was
Camden to visit The Jewish Museum. They have an exhibition devoted to Amy
Winehouse running at the moment, using items from her personal collection;
notes, photographs, books, records, and personal items such as letters.
Although obviously not on the same level as David Bowie Is, it was a beautiful
exhibition about a performer who had so much left to give to the world. I would
have liked to have spent longer in Camden Town itself, as it is several years
since I was there. Not just the record shops and pubs, but I wanted to track
down the house that Charles Dickens used as the inspiration for the Cratchet
family house in A Christmas Carol.
Koko is a renowned live music
venue and club these days, but thankfully it hasn’t been changed too much on
the outside as that would be disrespectful to its history. On Boxing Day 1900
it opened as The Camden Theatre, operating from 1913 as a cinema, and in 1945
it was taken over by the BBC as a radio theatre, which is where my interest
began. Many of the great radio comedies were recorded there, and a Comic
Heritage plaque commemorates the fact that The Last Goon Show of All
was recorded there, probably the last BBC radio comedy in the venue before they
moved out in 1972. I’m surprised that the plaque only celebrates that one show,
but at least it is on display as a reminder of what came before it.
My other
love beside comedy, music, is also an important part of the building’s history.
In 1972 it became The Music Machine, and in 1982 The Camden Palace. In 2004 it
was restored and became Koko. As a fan of radio comedy, I am surprised that I
hadn’t noticed this before, but opposite such an important building as far as
BBC comedy is concerned is Mornington Crescent tube station. I am not going to
explain the connection, as I don’t feel that I need to.
Although there was a massive
queue, we didn’t have to wait too long to get into the zoo. I was disappointed
that there were no chimpanzees, but aside from that it was a nice visit. There
didn’t seem to be a great deal of activity among the animals, but I do realise
that it isn’t a circus we were visiting. I do feel as if there should be a
rule/law in place regarding taking photographs; if you line up the perfect shot
and someone steps in front of your camera and fucks up your shot, you should be
allowed to punch them on the back of the head.
No visit to London is complete
without a visit to Heddon Street. To begin with we had a lovely Italian meal at
La Locanda, before drinks in Tibits, our regular haunt when in that neck of the
woods.
I am going to write to Westminster
Council, and encourage David Bowie fans to do the same, and complain about the
fact that one of the restaurants on Heddon Street dumps bin bags underneath the
Ziggy Stardust plaque. People come from all over the world to see this and have
their picture taken, and to have a pile of bin bags there is not only
disrespectful to Bowie but also unsightly. Fair enough after hours, but people
were sitting outside eating.
The train was once again on
time and managed to get all the way to Nottingham without breaking down. It is
weird to think that we had breakfast in Nottingham, dinner in London, and were
on our way home before midnight. I slept all the way home as I was knackered, there’s
no way I could commute this journey every day as some people do.
Tired but happy, and glad that
I once again managed to not do any work today.
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