Terrific night at the Phoenix Theatre. Really high quality acts in a variety show fundraiser for the Phoenix Arts Club. Found out that the club was originally the old rehearsal room for the Theatre and was used by Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence for the opening run of “Private Lives”. Pleasantly surprised to find plenty of legroom in the seats and the VIP section of the bar meant we could sit and have table service instead of competing at the bar with the masses trying to cram in a drink order during the interval.
Earlier we had been to the Banksy exhibition which was stunning and swung by the Natural History Museum en route back to the hotel for a sit down and a cuppa and a dinosaur fix. Massive creatures. That return journey was a lesson in transport choice. We jumped in a cab and were back in less than 20 mins. The bus option would have taken more than forty.
In between all that I finalised the rooming list for the conference in Sorrento wot I’ve organised.
Tonite it’s Doncaster v Lincoln. Big game. Not for Doncaster. Looks like it will be just me and Tom out to watch, there being a tube strike. By April 2027, a standard tube driver’s basic salary is expected to be at least £77,692, and potentially £80,000 or higher depending on inflation rates.
Good money. I wouldn’t want to do their job. Well I might. Gemini tells me their standard working week is 35 hours, typically spread over 3.5 to 4 shifts. Perks include free annual travel passes covering Zones 1–9 for the driver and a nominee living at the same address, access to a final salary pension scheme and a generous holiday entitlement, often including up to 8.5 weeks of paid holiday per year.
I wonder why they are striking?
Been walking around the National Gallery. I’m interested in how people dressed in the 18th century, particularly in rural Wales. The problem is that most paintings are not of rural farming communities but of wealthy persons or of distant places that are unlikely to be representative of my lot. The difference in levels of cultural sophistication is striking.
It is more likely down to the contrast between city and countryside rather than the relative backwardness of Wales. The average dweller in rural Carmarthenshire was literate long before his or her equivalent in England, or most places for that matter. We have Griffith Jones to thank for that.
Just emerged from the gallery into a bright sunny day. A royal motorcade passed by motorcycle outriders blowing whistles to clear a path through the peasantry. Caught a glimpse of Charlie imself. He wasn’t wafting his had at the assembled onlookers like they do in the movies. Probably giving his arm a rest. Being a king likely brings with it a high risk of repetitive strain injured in the right wrist.
Now waved goodbye to THG who has been put in a taxi and the driver instructed to take her to London Kings Cross station. Took a while to find one as the joes are busy due to the aforementioned strike.