Over these ten days I did some very British things, like fancy afternoon tea, visiting the Tower of London, and going to the BBC Proms.

Lynne invited me to go to the BBC Proms performance in Royal Albert Hall. It is a gorgeous building, but clearly not built well for the kind of performance we saw there. I’m not sure what kind of performance would actually work correctly in that space. The space itself was amazing, with a big ring of balconies around a central arena like space. The first two pieces were strange and new. I didn’t care for them, but could appreciate the skill it takes to play something so anti-melodic. The timings and pitches are so much harder when they don’t flow the way one would expect. We grabbed drinks at the half and the second half was much more typical of a symphony, and more to my liking.

Saturday Steph and I did another round of Bridge command. It was with a smaller group, only 5 people, and we had a few new people. I think it went really well. We were a little slow at points, but the crew came together well, and as far as I could tell we did really well overall on the mission. It is interesting play acting the diplomacy when I don’t know the lore all that well, but I still had a great time of it.

After that I met with Zaheer and Zaheera in Green Park for a picnic. I really enjoyed the picnic, and talking with the two of them.

I got home and prepared for the neighbours coming over for our third and final housewarming. It was really nice, and I think they all enjoyed the codenames game. I had a great time hearing all the gossip of the complex and learning all of their thoughts around the UK and King’s Cross area.

Sunday I did anther performance at Merkato Mayfair. It was a great time as always. I love singing there as the pressure is really low, but the challenge and friendliness of the group is amazing. I had such a great time, and really look forward to these performances.

Then we met Nancy and Punit for a late afternoon tea at Sketch. They had a gorgeous room and the bathroom was the most unique I’ve ever been in. The food was good, but nothing too special, and I really enjoyed getting to hang out with Nancy and Punit without Atlas there.

Monday was our 7th anniversary and we went to Fallow, which is one of the restaurants Steph likes to watch Youtube videos on. It is also one of the best in London, and we had a great time watching them cook from the Chef’s counter.

Tuesday I took most of the day off and met Jose at the Tower of London. We went all around the tower, and did almost every exhibit. The only one we missed was one I didn’t really care about. The crown jewels were amazingly sparkly with so many large stones. I was most impressed by the armour collection, especially the ones that actually belonged to kings. Jose and I had a lot of great conversation while there and I look forward to spending a few more weekdays with him when he is off.

Wednesday I finally made it to the new pub for dive club. It is a nice meeting room on the third floor of a pub. The karaoke room is just above, so some day I might stick around or show up early and do some karaoke.

Thursday I met Xiaomeng at Meta for lunch. It was great to see him, and I got to randomly see some of the other people I worked with as well. It was really nice. The fire alarm went off, so we headed back to my place and I showed him the new flat.

London Weekly 136, and 137.1