Yesterday. Bluebell Railway and Model Railway Show...

 

Beginning

 Roughly fifty years ago, give or take, I solved my first ever Guardian cryptic crossword clue.  It was an Araucaria, of course.  We were in the library at school.

The clue was "Begin description of dining room (8)".

This week's Prize crossword by Matilda included "Start talking about the restaurant I went to last night? (8)".

They do, of course, have the same answer.

Vetinari at the National Gallery...

 He is in disguise as Don Justino de Neve. 1665. By Bartolome Esteban Murillo.

Another Show

 Following on from an earlier post, another event we went to was a talk by Randall Munroe, called What If? A decade of Imagining the Impossible, at the Barbican.   
If you know XKCD, you'll understand the attraction.  Although he came across as a little meandering, and there was less of a focus to his ideas.
Still worth going to, though.

Another Anniversary This Year

 In addition to the anniversaries mentioned earlier, it is perhaps worth mentioning that it is 80 years since the first of the Reverend Awdry's Railway Series.

Dwarf

 So this has arrived...

Shows...

 We at the Trees have been to a lot of shows recently - or it seems more than normal.

So here is a list of some of them

Groundhog Day (Tim Minchin's version) at the Old Vic.  We did like the film, but felt the musical was better in a number of ways.

English Kings, Killing Foreigners. A reworking and reconsideration of Shakespeare's Henry V from a queer colonial perspective.  At the friendly Camden People's Theatre.

Tom Lehrer is Teaching Math and Doesn't Want to Talk to You.  Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in Highgate Village.  Essentially a Tom Lehrer jukebox musical, and all the better for it.  Of course, given how gifted Lehrer was, they needed a pianist and a singer.  And there were a few cuts to the songs. Hey ho.  It was still brilliant fun.  The audience were mouthing along with joy.

The Pirates of Penzance at the ENO.  Done straight, pretty much, but great fun.

Dr Strangelove, with Steve Coogan.  Not a bad go at the classic film. 

Guys and Dolls at the Bridge.  A great show. Really fun.

Die Fledermaus at the Greenwich theatre.  Good, if not perfect.

Nye At the National.  Absolutely wonderful and uplifting.  Everyone should see this to understand where the NHS came from.

Dear England at the National.  Another piece looking at the state of England.  Worth seeing, but we argue it isn't really about the football!