Shhh... It's A Secret

The movie, the venue is all a secret. Obscure clues are released before hand about what movie is going to be shown. A theme is released and people attending the event dress up in the chosen theme which is related to the movie, this one was the 40's. A station is named where everyone gathers and then met by someone from the event and taken to the venue, which this time, was an old tobacco factory in Wapping. The closer we got to the station, the more people we saw in costume, giving each other knowing nods and thinking 'I know where you're going.' 

Inside the tabacco factory, the space has been made up to look like a 1940's London, a fish 'n' chip/pie place, vintage stalls, art installations, popcorn sold in the old fashioned stripy paper bags fastened with a wooden peg. And as everyone is in costume, it looks really good against the set. Actors mingle with the crowds, getting people involved, dancing, limbo, playing music, dancing, all related to the movie, which I still hadn't a clue what it was.

After all the performances and mingling around, the actors start directing people up to the screening rooms. This round of Secret Cinema is showing The Red Shoes, a story about a young ballerina who is forced to choose between her passion for dance and the man she falls in love with. Made in the late 40's, the movie is over two hours long and parts of it feel almost comical. I wasn't expecting the ending, seemed a little extreme, but I get the symbolism.

Interactive art

After I'd seen the movie, the performances, costumes and installations before the movie, all made sense and pulled everything together. It is a really well organised evening, the sets looks really good and there is so much to see as well as the movie, plus all the added fun of not knowing where you're going.

Tobacco Factory in Wapping

Wendover

Now that I commute to Amersham everyday, I pass though a few little villages in the Home Counties. Wendover is the last one before I hit Amersham. I met Marc for a little stroll in Wendover Woods, parking in the car park is not free, £1.50 for up to two hours, bring change, there isn't much service there to do the pay by phone thing as Marc and I discovered.

Wondering around in the woods

After walking up an appetite, we moseyed on down to the town to find a pub for a Sunday lunch. We settled on The Village Gate. Originally, I chose the pork, but it came out too fatty and thanks to Marc being the assertive Londoner asked to change it to the beef, a much better choice. I liked this one as they use local meat and veg, ever since watching Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall's Chicken Out! and Fish Fight campaigns, I've been a lot more conscious about what I choose on a menu when eating out. If you are what you eat, I'd rather be a free range, sustainably caught piece of meat rather than a battery farmed one.

We had dessert in Rumsey's Chocolaterie where they make their own chocolates, I splashed out on calories on got a six piece selection from the chocolate counter. Needless to say it was very indulgent and simply scrumptious!

Tea and home made chcolates in Rumsey's

New Store Opening

I have been moved from my Northampton Costa to help open a brand new Costa store inside a Tesco in Amersham, a fairly affluent area of the UK and a popular place to live for regular commuters to London. I've been told that this particular Tesco sells the most amount of the Tesco's Finest range and regularly stocks Don Perignon and Verve Clicquot on their shelves. 

It has been two weeks of intense days at work getting used to the new store, the new team, new customers. Ever one to rise to a challenge, I will endeavor to help the store and team be  as successful as possible.

It takes an hour of driving through the rolling hills of the Home Counties, to get to work. If I wasn't so busy/tired with work, I would like to think of ways to utilise the two hour commute to work a day. I pass a massive field of free range hens - I have yet to see a sign advertising free range eggs for sale, may investigate further... 

A two till, two coffee machine kind of place.

Some of the team

VW Test Drive

Got invited to a test drive day with Volkswagen at Towcester Racecourse, took advantage and went with the folks to try out a new style Scirocco and the biggest, most expensive car in the Volkswagen range, a Touareg, a forty grand beast of a thing. They provided lunch as well as unlimited tea/coffee and biscuits.

Mushroom stroganoff for lunch

The Scirocco was a nippy little car, looks too much like all the other round shaped cars on the road, nothing that special about the way it looks. The little Polo I drive is just as good and nice to drive. We asked one of the VW sales people what's their best seller, she said it was a tie between the Golf and Polo.

In the Scirocco

Both cars were automatic and drove really smooth. After driving a Touareg, I can't understand why someone would want to own one. It was enormous, felt I was well above the others on the road. As I actually don't own a farm or live near a muddy field, I really don't see the point. It would be a nightmare to park or manoeuvre in the city. It did have a feature that showed what road you were driving on, this would only work with the GPS system, I liked this feature anyway, would be helpful navigating.

Standing next to the Touareg for scale

Part of the VW family

Rabbit

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year! 2011, year of the rabbit, apparently one of the luckiest signs of the Chinese zodiac. I went to London to see the celebrations in and around Trafalgar Square and Chinatown along with a lot of other people. At more than one point during the day I was gridlocked in a crowd of people either trying to see what was happening or moving though the event. There were stalls dotted around that I didn't get a chance to browse because there were too many people.

A view of the stage

Gridlocked in the crowds

We arrived to Trafalgar Square to watch the start of the main displays. First, dotting of the eyes, which the hosts explained is done to bring the lions to life so they can begin the dance. The lion dance brings good luck and wards of evil spirits for the coming year. This year, the dance was performed by the Chen brothers, who were flown in from Hong Kong for the event. Their performance had the lion dancing around and jumping between high poles, complete with cute lion/dog behaviours such as flicking ears and wagging tail that made him a pretty realistic character. I found a little snippet of the performance on someones YouTube, I wasn't in a very good position to take photos or video.

The Chen Brothers doing the Chinese Lion dance.

Sarah and I did intend to stay on the theme of the day and have Chinese for lunch, again, so did everyone else. Queues for eateries were out the door, I settled for a sesame ball and a chrysanthemum tea as a little pre-appetiser before we went searching for somewhere to have lunch.

2011, Year of the Rabbit

It's a really good event, organised by the London Chinatown Chinese Association, with loads of big sponsors to keep it free. Having taken on helping to organise a festival in Milton Keynes this year, I can appreciate how much time, effort, liaising, planning, it would have taken to make this event happen.