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On Saturday N and I headed out to make the most of Open House via brunch in Dalston: a number of the Livery Companies were on there so we decided to visit them, ticking off the Coopers, Fletchers [who shared their building with the absent Farmers], Founders, Painters and Bakers. The buildings were slightly underwhelming: they were all very nice but in a rather bland way and they whilst the sites dated back a long way, the buildings generally didn't (for the Bakers, it was their fourth hall on the site: two having been lost in fires and one to the Blitz), there were some interesting bits of history and information to be found along the way, though, plus a lot of art at the Painters Hall (albeit including a lot of very 1980s portraits of members of the Royal Family). Much more interesting, however, were the churches we popped into along the way: St James Garlickhythe was a Wren and fitted our theme by being associated with the Vintners, whose hall was across the road, and the Crown Court Church was part of Open House, a Scottish Presbyterian church hidden away in Covent Garden that dated from James I taking the throne; the real show-stoppers though were the St Bartholomew's that gives its name to St Bart's Hospital (and the Fair), which we'd been through the Gatehouse of but never inside, and had wonderful Romanesque features, dating from its time as a Priory, plus a Damian Hirst sculpture casually standing around, and All Hallows by the Tower, which had existed on that site in some form since the Seventh Century and incorporated a Saxon Arch, Roman flooring and a subterranean Templar Altar among its unexpected delights. As we'd finished near the Strand, I popped over to Waterloo to take a look at the Anarchist Bookfair in the Leake St tunnel, which give a pleasing sense of continuity, as I remember visiting it during my first years in London, although the narrow setting meant stalls were too crowded to really look at properly.

I came home for a bit then went out again after dinner to Rooz Studios in Old Street, which I'd never been to before: a few of my usual suspect gig crowd were there, being friendly, and the homeliness of the venue meant the night had a buzzy, almost house party feel to it, even with only 30 or so people. First up were Art, the band fronted by Alfie, who I'd known as drummer for Skinner Brothers and Laurie Wright at various times. His charisma had always shone through, so he made for a natural frontman, although it was a slightly atypical set for them, as they had been hired to play a wedding and so alternated their own songs with covers they needed to practice. I had come for Taylor Liam Jackson, a youngster I'd seen at Y Not, who was down in London from Matlock for the first time [literally his first time in the city]; it was good to see him playing with his band this time, they peppered their set with a few covers as well but his own songs were worth hearing. Headliners Monumental were fairly standard guitar-band fare, including a few covers of their own, but got me dancing.

We were both ready for day very much at home on Sunday: I did my shop in the morning and just watched a film in the afternoon. Then I had a pre-dinner Family Zoomtime for once, as I was going out after dinner down to Brixton and the Hootananny, where I met up with Ketch for a gig. A band called The Big Smoke Family were playing a long set of New Orleans funk whilst incorporating other bands and artists along the way, most notably members of Cha Wa, who played Mardi Gras Indian music and were over from New Orleans itself, but two or three other bands and artists got added in for various numbers. It had been on my radar as G, who had played trombone for Tankus for quite a while, was involved, and it was great for getting me dancing, although it sprawled for quite some time and C (who wasn't feeling 100% anyway) didn't last the course.

I was in the office on Monday, where the whole team got together for some Mental Capacity Act training in the afternoon, then I did a crossword with N and had a good chat on the phone with R in the evening. Tuesday I worked from home but broke off at 4pm to get out for a walk around the cemetery as I had to jump on a meeting with Trustees at 5pm. When I was finished, N and I met for dinner up the road at San Marco, which was very exciting as it had been closed for well over a year following the owner having some kind of heart attack. The future is still very much uncertain as he's struggling to reassemble the old team and can't overdo things himself, but it was lovely to eat there again. I was back in the office Wednesday then cooked in the evening and Thursday the team were all together again for all-day Safeguarding Training, which went well and it was good to get all this done soon after a couple of new starters had joined us.

I went home afterwards then headed out again to the Old Blue Last for a gig: it was my first time seeing Lemonsuckr (the latest incarnation of guys who had been The Estevans, Licorice and Rugrat; they were a band I enjoyed but had developed a lot of anxiety around, so I'd actually taken the decision to stop going to their gigs, but B&S really like them and I knew they were going, so that made it feel safer. They had augmented their post-punk with a more dancey vibe this time round and I very much enjoyed it. Next up were Kickboy, a perky 5-piece with male and female singers, a sax, high energy and spoken-style vocals and I think I must have seen them before, unless there are two bands out there with songs called "Young, Dumb and Full of Microplastics". Headlining were Flat Party, who I'd also wanted to check out for a second time, they played a more soulful/tuneful indie, which was good and seemed to pack the place out.

I went into the office on Friday (once I had negotiated the travel chaos) as I knew I was going to have it all to myself, so after a morning full of meetings was able to take over the whole room for the annual file archiving palaver, although I only got about halfway through it. I came home to eat then travelled to Camden for a gig at The Elephant's Head, which soon became pretty steamy from all the body heat. The bands are playing in the window that face onto the high street which I really like in terms of the vibe it gives and you always see passers by stopping to peer in for a bit. There were two bands playing, first of all Snub, a punchy, punky trio, then Kitchen Lover, who I'd been keen to see again and were I guess a bit more towards the catchy end of the punk spectrum.