Chelsea, we’re coming for you!

(Only Rex is staying on the naughty step today. His last two trips to Stamford Bridge he’s gone AWOL! 🦖)

@Arsenal

@Regenersaurus

#COYG

#CHEARS

@gaygooners

Fallen Angels @ Menier Chocolate Factory...

Last night Stuart and I went to see Fallen Angels at Menier Chocolate Factory in London's glitzy London Bridge Quarter.

It is hard to believe that this delightful romp by Noël Coward caused such a pearl clutching scandal when it premiered back in 1925. Apparently the Lord Chamberlain himself had a meltdown and tried to ban it because the very idea of two married women having had premarital sex with the same Frenchman was simply too shocking for sensitive British sensibilities. Thank goodness we have all moved on or at least we pretend we have while sipping overpriced wine in the dark. The plot is thin but delicious as we watch best friends Julia and Jane get progressively drunker while waiting for their former lover Maurice to arrive. Janie Dee and Alexandra Gilbreath are absolutely divine as the two leads and they have such chemistry you almost forget the husbands exist which is rather the point. They bicker and bond and slide down furniture with an elegance that only true stage legends can muster. It is essentially two hours of watching rich people behave badly in fabulous outfits which is frankly my favourite genre of theatre. The venue is as charming as ever even if finding the entrance always feels like an escape room challenge.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

@janiedee @alexandragilbreath @menierchocolatefactory #FallenAngels #NoelCoward #LondonTheatre #MenierChocolateFactory #JanieDee #AlexandraGilbreath #LondonBridge

Arsenal 3 - 1 Bayern Munich…

The ‘week of doom’ as predicted by some has turned into a leisurely procession of joy. First the lot down the road and now Bayern Munich put to the sword with almost offensive ease by the rampant Arsenal. 

Arteta made a couple of changes as the squad depth is now frankly ridiculous. Mosquera slotted in and Lewis Skelly handled the occasion without blinking. When you can bring on Martinelli and Madueke to kill a game it feels like cheating.

Bayern looked lost. Kane was completely anonymous and starved of service while Olise failed to spark. Only young Karl showed up for them but one teenager cannot stop this juggernaut.

Top of the league phase. Top of the Premier League. Injuries clearing up. I am struggling to find things to moan about.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. 

@arsenal @fcbayern @harrykane @n_madueke @gabriel.martinelli

#arsenal #afc #coyg #ucl #gunners #goonerfamily #bayern

Sloe Gin - Decant - Filter - Sweeten - Taste - Bottle - Taste again - Oopsy…

I’ve been decanting, tasting, filtering, tasting, sweetening, tasting, & bottling our latest batch of homemade sloe gin today. Did I mention the tasting? 😋 Ruby nectar! Oops. Hic! 🥴

#Foraging #Homemade #AutumnHarvest #SloeGin #DontSampleTheGoodsAndExpectToStillStandUpAfterwards 

Signature Dish…

So it turns out I have a signature dish? Who knew!?

Arsenal 4 - 1 Spurs…

The neighbours popped round for tea yesterday afternoon and were sent home with their tails firmly between their legs. There is nothing quite like the silence of the away end to really brighten up a Sunday. 

Spurs’s manager Thomas Frank arrived with a back five which suggests he intended to park a double decker bus on the penalty spot. It did not work.

Leandro Trossard decided to open the scoring because he enjoys that sort of thing but the afternoon truly belonged to Eberechi Eze. 

There is a delicious irony in a man who very nearly joined Tottenham in the summer scoring a hat trick against them. He danced past two defenders for the first and the silence from the away end was deafening.

Frank tried to fix his mistake by bringing on Xavi Simons but Eze scored again thirty five seconds after the restart just to make a point. 

Richarlison scored a lob over Raya which was arguably quite good but nobody in red really minded by then. 

Eze finished his hat trick later on to ensure the humiliation was complete.

We are six points clear of Chelsea. We have not won the league since 2004. I am trying very hard not to get carried away but days like this make it difficult. I am trying not to look at the table but it is becoming very difficult to look anywhere else.

The neighbours remain in our shadow. North London is red.

Onwards and upwards, my friends

@arsenal @spursofficial @leandrotrossard @eberechi_eze @mikelmerino @richarlison

#arsenal #coyg #nld #northlondonisred #premierleague #gunners #eze #hattrick

Wicked For Good @ Odeon cinema…

Yesterday Darce and I went to see Wicked For Good at Odeon cinema in London’s glitzy Islington.

Well, pop pickers we finally made it to the other side of the rainbow. You remember Part 1 from last year, right? The one that left us hanging off a broomstick? Director Jon M Chu has returned to finish the job and honestly it was ok. Just ok. The visuals were great. But it suffers the same issues that the stage musical does.  Indeed, many stage musicals do.  Act Two is rarely as good as Act One. 

Crucially the songs are not the heavy hitters this time around. Although ‘For Good’ is the standout one.

That said, writers Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz clearly woke up and chose violence this time round because the physical damage as well as emotional damage in Oz is real. We have death. 

Our heroine WWW Cynthia Erivo is acting her green socks off and when she belts No Good Deed you can feel it in your molars. 

Ariana Grande is still doing that breathy princess voice but somehow it works even when she is crying in a flying bubble. 

We also have Jeff Goldblum doing his best stuttering fascist routine which is unsettlingly charming. 

Jonathan Bailey is dashing as ever as Fiyero even if he does spend half the movie looking confused. 

The plot is basically Elphaba on the run while the Wizard gaslights the entire population of Oz. It all syncs up with the 1939 film so we finally understand why a bucket of water is such a big deal. 

It is a long sit though but at least the seats in Islington are comfy. 

I left feeling emotionally drained but happy. Happy it was over. But happy I’d seen it too. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

@wickedmovie @cynthiaerivo @arianagrande @jbayleaf @jeffgoldblum @odeoncinemas #wicked #wickedmovie #wickedforgood #cinema #london

End @ Dorfman Theatre…

Last night Stuart and I went to see End at Dorfman Theatre in London’s glitzy South Bank.

You might remember how much I loved Beginning and Middle so it was only right that Stuart and I returned to see the final part of the trilogy by David Eldridge. 

I must declare a conflict of interest right away as I know David but frankly I would say this even if I had never met him. This play is excellent. 

The plot is simple yet devastating as we watch Alfie who has terminal cancer and his wife Julie navigating the impossible reality of their final days together. The whole thing plays out in real time in their kitchen. 

Clive Owen is absolutely magnetic as Alfie clinging to his past glory as a DJ and Saskia Reeves is heartbreakingly good as the steadfast Julie. 

It is a raw and honest look at mortality that somehow manages to be funny too. I left in bits. 

Go and see it at @nationaltheatre before it closes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

@cliveowen @saskiareeves #End #DavidEldridge #Theatre #London #SouthBank

Highbury Park Run…

Highbury Park Run with Darce & Jonathan. They both finished way before me! 🏃😰

@darce_styles
@darcestyles96
@jonny_hough
@highburyfieldsparkrun
@highburyparkrun
#highburyfieldsparkrun
#loveparkrun

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold @sohoplace …

Last night Stuart and I went to see The Spy Who Came In From The Cold at @sohoplace in London’s glitzy Soho.

It is 1961 and the Berlin Wall is going up but my main concern was whether Stuart would complain about the legroom or the air conditioning. He did neither because the seats are excellent. 

This is the first time the famous book by John le Carré has been adapted for the stage and the writer is David Eldridge. I must declare a huge conflict of interest here as I know David personally but I would say this is brilliant even if I did not know him from Adam. 

The plot is a proper old school espionage thriller about a burnt out spy called Alec Leamas who is sent on one last mission to fake his defection to East Germany. Rory Keenan is absolutely superb as the sweaty and angry Leamas who drinks enough whisky to kill a horse and smokes enough cigarettes to fog up the whole of London. 

He meets a sweet communist librarian played by the wonderful @aggiocasey and things go terribly wrong because in spy world nobody is ever allowed to be happy. 

George Smiley pops up too played by the excellent John Ramm to pull the strings. It is tense and atmospheric and makes you glad you do not live in the Cold War anymore.  Er…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#TheSpyWhoCameInFromTheCold #LondonTheatre #SohoPlace #DavidEldridge #RoryKeenan #AgnesOCasey