Are you being served?

Here’s next week’s menu for the Fourth Floor Restaurant at the LSE where the food is good and cheap as chips (a main course and a bottle of water for just over a fiver) and the staff are very friendly. There’s a roof terrace which is ideal when the weather’s nice to enjoy your meal on. The restaurant is open to all too not just LSE students, so if you’re passing…

By the way Wright’s Bar next door to the LSE old building does a nice cheap sarnie by the way (Cheese and Pickle in a crusty white roll – £1)! P

The London School Of Economics,
Houghton St, London WC2A 2AE

Read it in books

This week I was walking back from a trip to the great Loon Fung chinese supermarket in Gerard Street and decided to take a shortcut back to work through Cecil Court.

I’ve walked back through there a good few times, I’ve laughed at the price of yellowing punk fanzines/Sex Pistols posters on sale there and thumbed through obscure 1970’s T’ai Chi manuals in the oldest esoteric bookshop Watkins Books and waved at the tarot card reader sitting in their window.

This week I was stopped in my tracks by the great window display for the lovely coloured vinyl LP/Book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne with music by Jonny Trunk in Tenderbooks. It’s a lovely artefact, a few bob at just under £20 but something worth having if you like that sort of thing and have the brass.

So if you ever fancy buying some cheap noodles, pop down to Gerard Street and on your way back check the books, prints and the general bonkersness down Cecil Court. P

Flexing those lunchtime muscles

Earlier this year we featured the excellent X-Ray Audio exhibition at The Horse Hospital (post here.) Well it’s back again and well worth going to if you haven’t already been!

X-Ray Audio – Bone Music 1946-1964 
Saturday 28th November – Saturday 19th December 2015
The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1JD

It’s all about illegal recordings cut into X-ray plates from the cold war period and here’s more about them from  x-rayaudio.squarespace.com

“In the Soviet states during the cold-war era, most modern Western bands and music was banned for all sorts of reasons including ‘neo-fascism’, ‘mysticism’ and even ‘obscurantism’. Much Russian music was also forbidden for a variety of other reasons. Even certain rhythms were regarded unfavourably. But a vibrant, secret and risky trade grew up in what became known as ‘Bones’ or ‘Ribs’”.

“These Bones were medical X-Ray fluorography sheets unofficially obtained from hospitals, cut into discs and embossed with the grooves of bootlegged gramophone records – a kind of medical version of a DJ dub plate.”

Alongside the great exhibition are two related live events that are a must to go to, if you like the sound of that sort of madness.

The first is on Saturday 5th December with Strictly Kev (DJ Food) (£6.50/£8) talking about his flexidisc collection with Stephen Coates (The Real Tuesday Weld/X-ray audio) and there’s a free mystery flexi for the first 20 people through the door. (Above: Some of this writer’s flexi discs.) More details here.

And on Friday 11th December (£10/£12) the night features Lydia Kavina (grand-niece of Lev Theremin) and one of the best Theremin players in the world performing, alongside x-ray audio, who provide a live demonstration of recording onto X-Ray plates. More details here. Earlier this year we attended a similar event and all we can say it was brilliant!

So go and have a look at the exhibition during a lunchtime or attend on the night(s), you won’t be disappointed! P

Saturday daytime stylee

Thanks to our friend Ache DellandTrace for letting us know about a great family day out from Bring The Noise this Saturday August 22nd at the South Bank.

There’s DJ’s from 12 noon-11pm including Flowerz, Monkey, Huw72, Dell (Vinyl Bunnies), Simon Kurrage and Alex Turnbull from Ronin records/23 Skidoo. And for the kids (big and small) there’s design your own T-shirt and badges, photography, art and all sorts. There’s even a break dancer (Tim Hamilton) teaching dance moves. How good is that? And do you know what, it’s FREE!

It’s at The Southbank Centre Festival Village,
Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
Just below The Queen Elizabeth Hall

Hands off me fruit!

Now here’s something mad, an apple tree in Dean Street, Soho? Noooooo, it can’t be. Oh yes it is!

Walking down Dean Street on a pre-xmas gift shop I passed this wonderful apple tree (complete with red fruit on it in mid-December!)

Attached to the fence outside the house, information about the tree starts with the words “First keep your hands off my apple tree which has taken taken 15 years to grow.” Brilliant!

It’s well worth a look. And for god’s sake don’t even think of “scrumping!” P

Ton up

The score is currently 8-1 in our favour for paying for food from Chick

Following on from P‘s weekend update, we thought we’d celebrate our 100th post by giving a little bit back to the poor Leather Lane businesses who feed us up every week. Chick was the place we chose to spend our hard-earned pounds and very nice it was too.

We went quite late so were exceedingly hungry. You can see how quickly P was unwrapping his well packed £4.65 falafel in pitta below.

The hand is faster than the stomach

Anyway. Normal service will resume next week when it won’t be all about food, free or otherwise. W

There’s no such thing as a free lunch (hour)!

Free food samples, they’re all the rage now! One afternoon on my way to meet W, walking down Holborn I had a third of a cornish pasty thrust into my hand (of course I didn’t refuse!) and then when I reached Leather Lane I had a combination of; a falafel, a mini cup of soup, a single nacho dipped into some hot sauce, a sliver of meat pie then to top it all, a piece of chocolate fudge brownie from a posh cake stall, all for nowt! So do take a walk down Leather Lane one lunch hour and see what you can pick up on your travels but don’t blame me if you feel sick when you get back to work (which I did)!

Also yesterday it was great to hear our old mate Marc Gooderham on the Robert Elms show talking about his work and the show it’s presently featured in. It’s an exhibition of East End paintings called ‘Now & Then’ – The East End seen through artists’ eyes from 1930 to present featuring work by the original East London Group. Go and have a look one lunchtime before it closes!

Now & Then
November 28th – December 8th 2013.
TownHouse
5 Fournier Street, Spitalfields,
London, E1 6QE

Not strictly (lunchhour)

On a lunchtime stroll today around by the LSE, I noticed the above poster for the new “Supper Menu” they are featuring at their 4th Floor Restaurant from 3.30-7pm. W and I have sampled the grub there and we can say it’s not bad for the price especially for this fair city of ours!

After seeing that, I bumped into a mate from years ago Rowan Chernin of the great Chairman of the board blog, who told me about his latest film-making adventures. Click here for his latest featuring the great Andrew Weatherall. Very interesting stuff!

Big up those lunchtime walks for getting out, clearing the mind, buying cheap loo roll from Superdrug and for bumping into people you ain’t seen for years! P

You can’t always get what you want

It’s got everything you want

On the stroll today, I saw this shop tucked away in the Barbican right next to the hairdressers charmingly called “Cissors Palace”. This ‘Shop’, although closed today, seemed to have everything you want. If you want compost, lavender plants, udon noodles, and muesli. You can’t argue with tea for £1.20 and coffee for £1.80 though. Just don’t try and get it on a Monday. W

There’s a rat in me kitchen

Battery farming

If you don’t mind what you eat then get down to One New Change. Rentokil is celebrating its anniversary by giving away pigeon burgers and chocolate-dipped worms amongst other delicacies. Get them while they’re ‘ot! W