The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak September - how is it already September? September was the month when everyone really tried to "go back to normal" Started off the month with a cast screening of Love & Information which we decided to really go for big style - everyone dusted off their black ties and ballgowns and we had a fabulous evening! It was my birthday - celebrated with a family walk and  Papa John's vegan pizza  which was great!  Lockdown birthdays kinda suck but also I feel like people make more of an effort to reach out as the circumstances are so strange. I went back to weekly ballet classes, first since March.  It has been lovely to stretch my muscles and my dance brain. Went to the cinema for the first time - my cinema of choice is the BFI, partly because I'm a member and partly because I like the way they do things.  Saw two excellent films (in a socially distanced cinema where masks were required through...

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak So I kind of lost steam with the blog. I'm not sure how but suddenly a day, a month had passed since I'd written anything. The end of August came and went.   Some highlights for me:  Attending a socially distanced vegan supper club (great food, great wine, great company).   I took part in an unrehearsed reading of The Effect by Lucy Prebble which was really fun, very interesting play and one I missed seeing a few years ago, so I was pleased to have the chance to perform it. Decided to "Eat Out to Help Out" and went on a 33,400 step vegan food journey across London which was great fun! Mildred's for breakfast, Eat Chay for lunch, sweet treat cookies from Humbledough and Neat Burger for dinner - good thing we walked as far as we did! Visited Eltham Palace in South East London - one of the English Heritage properties which has re-opened the house and not just the gardens.  Fascinating house...

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown The temperature is still way above average and in London we are praying for some weather - be that wind, rain, something, some relief from the still, hot air. Last year on a day as similarly hot as today I did an improv gig with my group, The Trophy Room. It was in a room which they had tried to air-condition as much as was possible, but still involved everyone getting there by tube so the whole experience was...sticky. Amazingly, there was still a small, but dedicated audience! They weren't going to let a little heat get in the way of some comedy genius...

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown It is really, really hot at the moment. In London it hit 36 ° c on Thursday and is set to continue with daily highs of 32 °c -36 °c  for the next week. When I think of recent summers, there have been a few with very hot weeks, usually in July.  I remember two specifically, 2013 and 2018 as both times I was rehearsing for a show which involved a lot of physical movement and rolling around on the floor, which during a heat wave, was hot work.  But these are isolated weeks, the rest of those summers were typically British - mildly warm with showers. We seem to have had pretty hot weather for months.  In many ways this has been a blessing.  With the country in lockdown and then only allowed to meet socially outside, with less clement weather, this whole situation we find ourselves in could have been a lot more unbearable.

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown London Underground Prior to the lockdown and depending on my week, I would be on the tube pretty regularly. Today I got the tube for the first time since March 13th - that's a long time ago.  I didn't even know if I had any money on my Oyster card (I did). I was quite anxious about it.  I'm a confident traveller - growing up in London and without a family car, I have used public transport extensively throughout my life.  I know the tube map pretty well, I am happy hopping on and off buses, I've been on the DLR, boats, trams, even the cable car in my travels across the capital. Masks are mandatory on all public transport so I was pretty annoyed when the first carriage I got in had three people in it (spaced out) two who had their masks around their necks and one who didn't have one at all.  As more got on, the two with them around their necks put them on and the guy without one produced it as he got o...

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Another one bites the dust - Cameron Mackintosh has announced that Phantom of the Opera, which has run uninterrupted in the West End for 34 years will not return in 2021. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/phantom-of-the-opera-west-end-tour-closed-cancelled-ticket-refund-cameron-mackintosh-a9643116.html One in two people in the UK go to the theatre every year.  And more people see live theatre every year than go to a football match and yet football seems to have been fast tracked to starting again.  I'm not having a go at football (especially as Arsenal are in the FA cup final) but when are the government going to make a decision about theatres?  Without dates, plans can't be made.  The deadline for decisions about pantomimes, which often provide regional theatres' with the majority of their funding for the year, is fast approaching. Oh yes it it.

Location: London, UK and Hertfordshire COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Well today was a momentous day.  Today I left London for the first time since March 13th. The furthest I've been since then is 4.5miles away and I've only travelled that far a handfull of times. This is very different to my status quo.  I am in and out of central London anywhere between 1-7 times a week depending on work shifts and auditions and I've not left Zone 4 for 125 days. I think this may be the longest I've stayed within such a small area in decades. I miss London.  I miss the buildings, the buzz.  Everytime I see a central London location on TV or film, my urge to return to explore my city a little more comes back. Image from:  https://www.mypostcard.com/en/designs/holiday-greetings/I-love-London-holidaygreetings-london-summer-travel-send-postcards-online-10567

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I am a Londoner born and raised.  As an actor, I have travelled to pretty much every corner of the city for auditions, rehearsals, performances etc so I feel I know this sprawling metropolis pretty well.   One of my favourite things to do, is to walk through London with no particular place to be.  It's the best way to explore any city.  I love all the sights and sounds and smells you get to experience when wandering along. And London is so immense that there is never going to be a shortage of places to explore, of new discoveries to be made, new views to be seen. One of my favourite quotes is this well known one:  'Sir,  when  a man is  tired  of  London , he is  tired  of  life ; for there is in  London  all that  life can  afford.' ... Samuel Johnson, to which I totally agree. And right now, I miss my city.  It's b...