while I want to tell you about my stay in London, I feel like her, above - trying to play this:
yes: all those titles in the shop "The Duke of Uke" are adapted for ukulele - I ask you: can you imagine AC/DC on ukulele???
My friends could, evidently...
(While they plunked they still had enough power to withhold me from entering the pub of the legendary Kray-Twins in East End - on the other side of the Duke - from where they schemed their criminal activities in London - the twins, I mean).
They didn't know that I have a special guardian angel - you can find him in Tate Britain (where my journey started, after meeting my wonderful friend Trish.
When I had enough from ukulele chirping, I went to get some real music: the Saatchi Gallery exhibited the Rolling Stones (and kindly gave me a special solo (!!) concert of Mick - wearing the offered 3-D-specs - gosh! was I happy that nobody else saw me with them - only Mick - looking quite wintery but vivid, and very tiny ("Hi, Mick - love your latest! - but I also love my High Heels!)
You say that my impressions of "London - Part I" seem a bit hazy?
That has nothing to do with the huge Craft Beer Festival in The Oval (Space) (which was a bit difficult to find - because there is another "Oval" near Vauxhall station - but I just followed those guys whose body-type seemed to indicate that they do love beer - real ale..).
Now, sweety, I'll give you a short rest.
After the weekend we'll meet again in wonderful, wonderful London. "Nice to meet you, hope you guess my name... uh, uh..."
In case you should have forgotten - due to my long absence from blog-land - it's:
Britta xxx
'The Blind Beggar'? I used to go to a pub in Whitstable run by the other brother of the Krays. He was a celebrity.
ReplyDeleteAll the Krays were celebrities were they not? Their best friends were judges and politicians. Hello Britta. I hope you are back with us now.
DeleteSo I could have met you in another pub than The Bell, Tom? I haven't seen the recent movie - but there was this third brother, "Charlie Kray, (...) also a member of their gang "The Firm." However Charlie was the "quiet Kray" and never received the notoriety of Ronnie and Reggie. In 1997 Charlie was convicted of a £39 million cocaine smuggling plot and, aged 70, jailed for 12 years." they say in GQ (for which - I have to brag a little - I sometimes write some snippets of text :-).
DeleteYes, Rachel - dark celebrities (nasty pieces of "sh.te", to use the camouflaging expression of the Irish).
DeleteOn Monday you'll see that I am really back.
Hi Britta ...... so much to see and do in London.
ReplyDeleteOur son and daughter-in-law had a flat in the Brewery next door to ' The Blind Beggar ' about 10 years ago ..... what was a very poor area is starting to be trendy like a lot of East London.
Welcome back to Bogland ... we missed you. XXXX
Hi Jackie, thank you! We visited that Brewery too (I think) - they have converted it into a sort of 'restaurant'-market - with open stalls. So many poor areas in Germany in big cities become trendy (and expensive, thus expelling the poorer people) too. Examples: Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, St.Georg in Hamburg. XXX
DeleteThere is another side to you Britta that I did not know about or realise - an interest in Beer, the notorious Kray Twins, and the ukulele!
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary, I am a person - as everybody - with many facets - so: I hope noone is getting bored by me :-)
DeleteBeer is only a follower-thing: the friends are afficionados - and I find myself developping into a sort of connoisseur almost against my will. And I leave the ukulele to Marilyn :-)
It seems you stored up adventures for us, and probably are off on another right now.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, as I just discovered a book where they spoke of "flaneuse" (!), I'll adapt that to "adventureuse" - much funnier then adventuress/ oe she-adventurer :-)
DeleteYou have pictures of sights I never see on most "tours" of that part of the world. I like them. But now what is this about the Kray Twins and evil deeds? Sounds like a story.
ReplyDeleteThank you Emma - I really wanted to show something that one couldn't find in a travel-brochure (I'm quite proud of St. Paul's photo that I took as a reflection in a sculpture). The Kray Twins "ruled" London for a while in the Sixties - now they are dead. The film "The Rise of the Krays" was released in 2015 about this British mafia.
DeleteBritta is back from Britain to Berlin and blogging again! :) Bentornata!
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
Hello Maria, I am ever so pleased to meet you here! Thank you for your kind welcome. Greetings Britta xx
DeleteHello Britta
ReplyDeleteNice to see you back here - I like your alternative look at London.
Thank you, Elaine! I've been there so often - and it is always new and surprising for me - and allures me every time again.
DeleteNice trip 'round London. The Kray pub would be fun to visit.
ReplyDeleteIn the second part I'll show a more 'usual' view - though there is always something extremely surprising when I visit - adventures just happen to me.
DeleteI must admire the optimism of ukulele enthusiasts. This is a delightful post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Geo. - I think as you: admirable, but unimaginable :-)
DeleteThe Stones? Woo HOO, what's not to like? Um, then again, I'm not sure how much I'd appreciate my favorite Stones songs played on a ukulele. (However, I used to have a CD of the London Philharmonic playing Stones songs, and it was awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chuckles. Especially with your line about following the guys with the right "body type" to the beerfest. HA!
Thank you, Susan - I had many fits of laughter (the amiable sort) in London - and British humour is just my thing. It was such a wonderful holiday - can't wait to go back.
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