How was your day? (Random off topic chat)

Sorry to hear your husband has covid, hope he’s ok. Yeah the scooters are mad fun. I ride them on the pavements or cycle lanes cos I don’t have a helmet and I don’t fancy being hamburger on the road cos it’s all opposite here! I am careful around pedestrians though, thought they really need a bell cos they are silent and no one can tell you’re behind them! It is a bit harder to sleep here cos it’s so light, mainly cos my brain thinks it’s about 9pm cos it’s so light out and it’s actually nearly 2am! 

For the past 7 years, I've 'joked' about claiming asylum in the UK. I'm no longer joking.

On some visits to London, I've actually spoken to immigration solicitors and sadly, even though my grandparents were from Cornwall, I'm not eligible for residency. If only my grandparents had emigrated to a Commonwealth country, I'd be good. Or if they'd waited 6 months to emigrate until my mother was born. But noooooooo......

>>I'm hoping I can maybe prove that I have opportunities to get my work up there and contribute to the arts. Otherwise, I've gotta hope I can get some teaching work if they can help me get a work visa.<<
Those should be excellent, and unique qualifications. PM me if you want the name of a company specializing in immigration and employment laws between the UK/US.

I was expecting a delivery from China delivered by Yodel. I checked on Friday morning and they said they had yet to receive it. Around 11:45 on Saturday they sent me an email to say that they'd be delivering it in about half an hour. I was out. They left it in my "safe place", which turned out to mean "dropped it over the garden gate".

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's great that they're providing tracking information better than the "Your package will arrive. Probably" that they used to offer. On the other hand, it would be nice to have had a useful amount of notice.

ELS (Ecosystems Logistics) are absolutely useless. I order readi-meals from a company who uses them for their London deliveries. I think I've had 5 deliveries... one was 3 hours late, one was skipped entirely, and the last one was left in my planter box on the pavement in Camden (I'd provided a safe place just around the corner of the building, behind some very large potted trees where it would at least be out of sight). Needless to say, when I arrived home, the box was no longer in my planter. I like to think whoever took it needed it more than I did.

I have to say, the readi-meal company is very good about making amends (free redeliveries or refunds), but honestly!

TallPaul - It's great to see other board members prepared to do a bit of dancing. Is there any video footage of your efforts this morning? Thanks for the heads up about the event. It looks like fun and right up my street!

I was in London yesterday afternoon and it was fantastic to see people out dressed up and enjoying Pride.

I did try and see some of the parade, but unless you'd been camped out for hours, not a chance! Everywhere was completely rammed. I could make out some of the organisations represented, but it came across to me as much more about the organisations than the people. Different to I expected.

Had to leave to try and get to a theatre, which was total chaos when I ended up with the procession between where I was and the theatre. I did manage to get to a road crossing point, witnessed a very tight squeeze across, one poor girl had a panic attack and had to be taken onto the road, then another slow and tight squeeze to the theatre (a 5 minute walk took about 20 - and that was being a more aggressive walker). Saw such odd choices at someone carrying their bike over their head. I'm sure cycling around a very long diversion would have been quicker!

Note to self is not to book a matinee on Pride day! And, I allowed plenty of extra time already, but to multiply any estimates by about 10! The buzz away from the main parade was fantastic though and I hope everyone enjoyed.

This happened to me too. I'd booked to see Titanic at the Charing Cross Theatre. I knew about the road closures, so made a point of arriving before the Strand was closed. When I came out of the show, the Strand was still closed and people were picnicking in the middle of the road. I managed to find somewhere to go for a coffee, and was able to watch while sadly for all the picknickers (that word does not look right!) the heavens opened half an hour or so later, and everyone got soaked, had to grab their stuff and run for cover. However, there was no indication of when the Strand would reopen to traffic, so I had to trudge in the rain for what seemed like miles to find another bus (in hindsight, I could have dived down the Tube, but for some reason that never occurred to me at the time!) - you can only drink so much coffee.

Regular TB readers may remember that I was due to go to Bradford a few weeks ago, but was relieved when the decision was taken out of my hands. Well I've been today instead. They don't half like their stone in those parts. I didn't see a single brick for six whole hours!

Unfortunately there was no time to pop into the Alhambra, where I once saw Gary Wilmot in the actual flesh, or the Media Museum, which has free admission.

It's all coming out now, our david. Don't people on the run usually escape to sunnier climes? There's a whole thread on musicals in Spain, so you needn't miss out! 🙂

When Bradford had the only IMAX screen in the country, I watched a film about the Grand Canyon. I don't know if it was that that made me feel queasy, or the bus ride from Sheffield...via Batley, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike and Wakefield. I'll still have both tickets somewhere.