Saved!

We headed out to the Lyric Hammersmith last Tuesday evening to catch a viewing of Saved, which is a play by Edward Bond.  Hammersmith is a funny place, lots of life and action in the streets, and everyone seems to be either Australian or New Zealander, but then stereotypically that's where they have tended to congregate.  Unlike where we live, where we seem to be surrounded by French people. 

Saved was an interesting play, it was first performed in 1965, though only to private audiences, mainly due to one particular scene.  Even though only a private audience saw this first production, the Lord Chamberlain decided to prosecute all those involved in the production, as the production had been done without a license.  The Lord Chamberlain would have only granted a license if severe cuts were made.  For a play which only recently was severely censored there were an awful lot of kids watching, it seemed like a school activity to go along to the theatre.  Imagine having that in your syllabus!

The Lord Chamberlain is an interesting role, mainly in charge of organising ceremonial activities for the Royal Household, as well as being the official channel of communication between the royals and the House of Lords.  In 1737 the Lord Chamberlain was given the power to veto any performance of any plays, and theatre owners could be prosecuted for staging a play which had not received approval.  This enormous power was altered in 1843 to be more of a censorship role, where the Lord could only prevent performances which they deemed to not be in fitting with good manners or decorum.  This final power was eventually completely abolished in 1968, partly due to the furore over the censorship of this particular play.  Out of interest the first Lord Chamberlain was Thomas Erpingham in 1399.  I love these completely freaky British traditions.

So anyway this was the first production of Saved in 27 years.  One thing I have to say first though is that we got to sit in a Box, you know the little separate areas right above the stage, we got one of those.  The tickets were the same as if you sat with the masses, and perhaps the view wasn't as good, especially when the stage directions called for everyone to cluster right underneath you, but I couldn't resist.  

The play is all about alienation and the effects this has on individuals.  In particular it's about a group of very working-class people and their different responses to their situation.  Which leads to that one particular shocking scene, for those who haven't looked at the wiki page on this, a baby is killed on stage (well obviously not a real baby).

I kind of liked it just because it was so different from anything I'd seen before, plus the actors were all pretty good.  The dialogue and scenes were very sparse which is quite different to the last play we saw, being the Tempest.  I think though if you want to see something on the alienation of people from society and the effect on the individuals then I would recommend Samson and Delilah. It's an Australian film, which I think is more optimistic than Saved, even though Edward Bond himself apparently described the ending as "almost irresponsibly optimistic".  Whether that is true or not is another question.  Personally I didn't find it that optimistic. 

The Giant's Causeway

Toilet stop #1

I seem to have misplaced some of my Ireland photos on the computer, we have our iMac back, yippee!  This means though that I'll be finishing off the Ireland posts slightly out of order, at least chronologically, perhaps I'm keeping with the current theme of day trips to spectacular locations. 

Anyway after Dublin we caught a train up to Belfast.  The real reason we visited Belfast was to go out to the Giant's Causeway, this is part of Ireland's only World Heritage site, so was definitely something I was looking forward to seeing.  The tour we took out there was no Day Tours Unplugged.  It was a bit of a comedy or errors getting out there, first the bus picking us up from the hotel ran out of petrol, in the middle of the city, in the middle of rush hour.  The bus sent to pick us up then went to the wrong location, I felt sorry for the people waiting for us, as we got away about an hour late.

Unfortunately this was one of those classic bus tours, a massive coach full of people.  I'm not sure if there are companies which do smaller trips, but if you can, I would recommend avoiding Allens Tours, though perhaps they are the best of what's out there.

Toilet stop #2

I have to say the tour guide was impressive once we got started.  Though more in the sense that I've never seen anyone manage to pull off an unscripted monologue for 4 hours.  He'd obviously done the tour so many times that he had memorised exactly what he had to say.  Whilst it was a feat in itself, he wasn't great in actually conveying information, but then a monotone will do that to you.

The trip along the coast was stunning, regardless of the size of the

Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

coach or the drone of the guide.  We stopped at a couple of little harbour villages along the way, the driver was very aware of the need for frequent toilet stops with a group of people that size.  And they were uniformly beautiful.

An unexpected highlight was the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.  This bridge hangs 25m above the ocean and links the mainland with a tiny island 20m away.  The bridge was originally built by salmon fishers, but has long since become a major tourist attraction.  I think Dave and I were about the only two people on the bus who didn't partake, but I think I preferred not being swamped by the hordes.

The sea was an incredible colour

The white cliffs of Ireland

Looking back along the Causeway Coast

Another of my something-in-the-fore-ground series of photos

Random moth/butterfly/beetle feeding on a thistle

Dave atop the columns

I have to say that after the Carrick-a-rede bridge the Giant's Causeway was slightly disappointing.  I think that's my fault though as I had built it up quite a bit.  I think it would have been nicer if we could have gone for a walk along the coast there, but due to the construction of a new visitor's centre there was no way to make a loop.  Don't get me wrong, the Causeway is still a fairly spectacular sight, and on a clear day you can see across to Scotland (it wasn't that clear when we visited), just be warned there are a lot of other people there.

With a natural structure this freaky there are going to be a lot of legends around it.  It is said that the giant Fiann MacCool (awesome name) built it in order to fight with another giant in Scotland.  The version of the legend we were told is that when Fiann saw that the Scottish giant was very much larger than him he was very scared as he knew he would lose.  His wife was quick-thinking though and dressed Fiann up as a baby and invited the

The freaky causeway stones

giant in, telling him Fiann would be back soon.  The Scottish giant, upon seeing the baby fled in terror as he was convinced that if their baby was that size, Fiann must be huge.

The Causeway, like most freaky natural formations, is volcanic.  The rapid cooling of the lava caused it to shrink and form these polygonal columns.  The area around there is stunning in itself, it would have been great to spend a bit longer there and go for a nice long walk along the coastline.  Maybe next time.

The columns are impressive, probably better as a full-size shot, though perhaps the resolution is too low

Looking along the coast from the causeway

More funny structures, in this one we have the organ and chimney stacks, view it full-screen to get the best idea

Dave pondering

Aird's Snout, overlooking the causeway

Part of the Giant's gate

My final stuff-in-the-fore-ground photo, at least for this post

Chewing Gum is no Substitute

I've noticed a distinct lack of mints here, I find it strange, I thought the British were known for their love of mint, I mean Fisherman's Friend were invented here and I don't think you get any mintier than that.  It's only now that I can't find mints anywhere, well at least not any of the obvious spots, ie right next to a cash register, that I'm starting to miss them.  What with my occasional raw onion lunch I am starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms.  Now when I think of all the eclipse mints that I just casually left in Sydney, thinking oh no need to take these, everyone sells mints, I suffer pangs of regret.  Anyone visiting from Australia, forget TimTams, just a couple of boxes of mints and the couch is yours.

Rough Week

I've had a rough week this week.  It started on Monday with an insect bite, which by that night had become infected.  I woke up on Tuesday morning, and found that the infection was starting to spread up my arm, it gave me a good idea as to where the lymph system actually lies, which was kind of cool.  Though I started to worry what would happen if it reached my heart, as it was already getting pretty close to my shoulder.  So began a week long delve into the British medical system, something I was hoping not to have to experience quite so soon.

It's a strange system, I haven't yet decided if I like it, very bureaucratic and inflexible, but on the plus side, free. I can see the advantages if you have a persistent, on-going medical condition, or if you need weekly visits to the doctors surgery, if you have kids, are pregnant, are old, something like that.  Where it seems to break down is if you are actually sick and need to see someone that day. 

Firstly, I naively rang the closest doctors surgery to me and tried to book an appointment.  The first question the receptionist asked me was my date of birth, which at the time I thought was a little strange, but this question would become a recurring theme this week.  It seems that if the British ever need to reduce their citizenry to a number it's going to be your date of birth, they love it.  After the receptionist realised I wasn't a patient I'm then told they can't see me because I don't live in their particular catchment area, turns out I'm off by one street.

Once I find the one and only surgery in the whole of England which would possibly accept me, I then had to try and make an appointment there.  This consisted of pressing redial constantly for half an hour until I managed to finally get through to a machine which told me I was in a queue, why that machine couldn't have answered the first time I called is a mystery to me, perhaps they need another machine to have a queue for the queue?  When I finally got through to a person the first question was, of course, "what's your date of birth?", upon realising I wasn't a patient there they told me I couldn't make an appointment until I registered.  So into the surgery I go with my photo ID and proof of address.  Once I'm registered I'm then told by the receptionist that she is physically incapable of making an appointment for me that day.  They can only do appointments for 2 days from now and would I like her to make an appointment for later in the week.

What this system means is that if you aren't sick your visit to the doctor is completely pleasurable, you make an appointment for whenever is convenient, turn up, no queue, straight in and out.  Whereas if you are sick there are only 1.5 hours available to you each day, where you have to physically go to the surgery to be put in a queue for the doctor.  I am starting to sense where the British ability to queue comes from. 

And they are militant on those 1.5 available hours.  Whilst waiting the first time an old lady turned up with a chest infection wanting to see someone, problem was it was 10:05am and the queue stops growing at 10am.  So the receptionist sent her away.  Holy cow! 

The other really weird thing is that to see the doctor you have to get past the gate keepers first, the receptioinsts, which means explaining to them in graphic detail what is wrong with you in full hearing of everyone else waiting.  So forget any notion of privacy you may have.   

I think they almost have a great system though, I mean it is free and prescriptions are only 7 pounds each for any medication they may give you.  I just think it needs a bit of tweaking, perhaps more appointments available for sick people that day?  But maybe the fact that it is free is also part of the problem, because why wouldn't you see the doctor anytime you feel mildly sick, apart from the time-cost of course.  Add to that the 20 sick days the British get a year, and the fact you can take 7 days off in a row before needing to provide a medical certificate and it all points to a rather inefficient health care system.  All in all I probably spent close to 7 hours waiting for various doctors that week.  Perhaps there is some room in the system for a mixture of paid and free doctors.  I mean, I would be happy to pay not to have to wait 7 hours in a queue, especially when it's flu season.

What made the whole thing really bad though, and led to the 7 hours of waiting around, is that the second time I went back to the surgery, as the infection was still growing, the doctor gave me possibly the worst antibiotic he could, Erythromycin.  Seriously if anyone tries to prescribe that to you, straight-up refuse, don't go through what I went through.  The way it made me feel, I really thought I was dying.  Though by that stage I was on 4 grams of antibiotics a day, which probably wasn't helping my body function properly either.  Once the third doctor I saw realised she had no idea what was going on, and things were looking bad, it was off to the local accident and emergency ward, on a Friday night. 

The doctors there were great, the only problem I had was a bad reaction to the erythromycin, though they couldn't really understand why I was on so many antibiotics in the first place.  I think that's another thing I learned in this process, there seems to be a much greater reliance on the accident and emergency wards here than in Australia.  As in people seem to end up there much earlier in their treatment cycle than I would have thought they would in Australia.  So next time I go to the GP and whatever they give me doesn't work I think I'll just go straight to the A&E, the wait is about the same, but they'll actually fix you up.

You'll be thankful there's no photos this time, though I did take some, just in case anyone is interested.

Westminster

Big Ben, with amazingly no other people really in shot

Houses of Parliament

We went for a bit of a wander around Westminster the other day.  I'll have to work out if we are ever able to actually get inside the Parliament. Westminster Abbey was completely packed, so we decided to leave that for another day.  Checking my guide book, which finally arrived from Australia, it seems that we can at least visit the galleries of Parliament so I might have to pop in there one of these evenings.  It looks like it's open until 10:30pm which is pretty good for those people who are working.

This is going to be a bit more of a photo post than anything else, as I think I'll wait until I actually visit before I write anything more.  I have a feeling that by the time I get around to going the weather is going to have deteriorated dramatically, so perhaps it's best to show the buildings in the best light.

St Margaret's Church, slightly overshadowed by Westminster Abbey next door

Entrance to the Department of Defense

One thing I have noticed living here is the excessive numbers of CCTV cameras which are everywhere.  It is very much a big brother kind of state here, but then I'm dubious as to whether they are in fact effective.  A lady was pushed onto the rails at one of the tube stations one night recently, and the psycho who did that I don't think has been caught, don't worry she wasn't harmed at all, but still pretty crazy behaviour.  And yet the tube stations have a particularly high density of cameras. 

To the left is the entrance to the Ministry of Defense, this was certainly the holy grail of CCTV cameras, and what is shown in the photo is only a tiny percentage of the number of cameras which were actually there.  I didn't want to take too many photos, mainly because I knew every shutter click was being captured in multiple angles and quite possibly high definition.

The Thames and the London Eye

Anyone for some Offal?

We were lucky enough to go to dinner the other night with a London local, or at least an ex-London local who was visiting for a few days.  We were recommended to try St John Restaurant and we were not disappointed.  The thing is the place is literally around the corner from where we were staying when we first moved to London.  When I think of the tourist-traps and burnt food we ate, now knowing that this place was within walking distance, is a bit hilarious. 

This restaurant is known for using all parts of an animal in cooking, and when we went they were true to form.  Tongue, sweetbreads, bone marrow and lamb's heart were the more offally dishes.  The heart was actually surprisingly tender, for such a hard-working muscle, it had an almost kidney-like texture.  It did come out as a full-on heart, which was kind of cool, though it was wrapped in bacon, which I think makes anything look delicious.

It was great going with an English person as well, because the menu certainly needed some translation, what with the middlewhite and arbroath for savouries and Queen of Puddings for dessert it was hard to know what we were going to end up with.

All in all a very enjoyable evening.  If you are ever visiting and feel like something a bit more adventurous than the classic bangers and mash let me know, there seems to be about a 3 week booking turn-around, if you want a reasonable weekend dinner slot.  I would love to go back so in return for me booking you a slot you may be forced to have me along as company :)

Is Guinness Really Better in Ireland?

Dave's Guinness

I have to say that the answer is a whole-hearted yes.  I always thought people were being a bit precious when they said this.  But having found Guinness almost undrinkable in Australia, and then trying one in Dublin, mainly because you feel like you have to, I am now hooked.  Also knowing that it is guaranteed to be chilled has helped matters when drinking it in London.

The Man-O-War pub

Whilst in Dublin we visited a pub which was first established in 1595, it used to be a horse exchange post, which is really going back.  It makes me smile now to think of the pub which proudly proclaimed itself the oldest pub in Sydney. It was established in 1828, and is probably younger than our dodgy local around the corner, though to be honest, being in Hampstead it isn't all that dodgy.

Coming back to this pub, since they built the motorway bypassing it, there has been a dramatic fall-off in customers.  Which is a shame as the bartender was super friendly and let us pull our own drinks, though he did keep a close eye on us as we did it.

Dave pouring himself a drink

The bartender was telling us that Guinness has a very short shelf-life, I think he said something like 10 days, which kind of explains why it really isn't that great in Australia.  It's not bad in London, there seems to be a high enough turn-over in the stuff that it never really exceeds the 10 days by too much.

A couple of things to say about Guinness, since it does seem to be the national drink, Arthur Guinness was a very clever man, and if you look at the harp on the glass you'll see it's facing a particular way.  Well Arthur Guinness actually copyrighted that, which is impressive when you think about it, given that the harp is the national emblem of the country, but I suppose it became a country post the copyrighting.  This means that all images of the harp now have to be done the other way, if you look at a euro coin from Ireland, you'll see the harp on that, and it's facing the other way.  Even the harps in the Dublin castle were all facing the other way. 

Also the other is not to visit the Guinness Store-House in Dublin.  We didn't go as we were fairly vehemently sworn off it by one of the tour guides.  Apparently Guinness has been bought out by Diageo, a massive drinks company, and whilst the family is still a shareholder, they don't actually work at all in the company.  We were told that there's no longer any guided tour and that at 13 euros, it's an expensive free pint of Guinness.  Instead we went to the Jameson Distillery, which was enough of a tourist-fest for us.