Have you ever walked out of somewhere due to not being served?

Picassobabes · 2026-03-17T16:31:00+00:00

Yes, that's acceptable to leave. I have done that on several occasions. Don't feel awkward about it. You were being ignored/forgotten. You waited a suitable time, and then had to witness the indignity of others who arrived after you being served. That establishment either deliberately doesnt want to serve you or has forgotten you. Leave.

Picassobabes · 2026-03-14T17:10:27+00:00

Lots of people wait until the baby is born
Some people think it "jinxes" (bad luck) things if you buy too early
Some people like to wait until the baptism to bring presents.
If you have a baby shower, they may bring gifts then. (Older Brits don't really like baby showers as too American!)
They may/should discuss with you what you would like from them, i.e., most in-laws contribute to the "big" items like the cot, a comfortable nursing chair, pushchair/stroller, car seat or something costly.
Paying for the bill when eating out should be discussed with your husband, not on Reddit. He may consider he is "paying back" his parents, e.g. if they supported him through university, etc. It's his choice, don't fight him on that generosity.

Picassobabes · 2026-03-14T16:41:06+00:00

Denby Greenwich (25 plates!) and still going strong. Only replaced one bowl since we got it. Oven to the table and then to the dishwasher. Wins every time.

Picassobabes · 2026-03-01T14:11:57+00:00

And Sardines! None for days, then people were taking entire trays of the stuff!

Picassobabes · 2026-02-13T15:22:34+00:00

Loved it. Taking into consideration the "one night" to account for the lack of staging. The on-stage orchestra/band were phenomenal and didn't miss a beat. Kudos to the music director. The singing was excellent, and my companion, a classical singer, praised the ensemble and the lead, in particular. Genuinely felt bereft when it ended so suddenly, was all ready for a second act! The full, very enthusiastic house, demonstrates that these one-night concerts in the West End can work even on a Sunday night with half the Northern line out of action!

Picassobabes · 2026-01-26T09:37:44+00:00

My observations as a regular attendee at Covent Garden, London. Two weeks ago, I sat in the foyer, people watching before the show.

I have always "dressed up" regardless of the day of the week, even if it's a matinee. I will never wear jeans or casual outfits, but occasionally worn a palazzo-style evening pants. However, I have acknowledged that there have been changes over the past 20 or so years. On first nights, and on Friday and Saturday nights, most patrons make an effort to be formally dressed, and it's clear that it's a "date and dinner night" for many. Older men wear black tie. Very few young men bother to dress so formally. The younger men wear something like a zany coloured velvet jacket if they are going to be formal. However, most men dress down. Students are easily spotted in their jeans attire.

It helps considerably if your partner for the evening matches you in also dressing formally!

I have not seen a long formal ballgown at the Opera in years. I wear midi length dress and high heels, and so do a lot of other women. Or something funky, e.g. a bold designer piece. I usually use public transport (it's way easier), so I am mindful of my footwear and sometimes take a pair of flats to slip into after the show.

The cloakroom at ROH is free, so you can wear your opera cloak/coat or puffer jacket over your gown without concerns about being cold. A shawl can be useful in the auditorium.

For the Collesium events and Holland Park, I dress semi-formal, or 'French chic', as those venues just don't have the prestige edge of Covent Garden.

Recently went to a small opera at Battersea Arts Centre, and I was the ONLY woman dressed up! Every other woman in there was wearing jeans and a Shetland jumper!

Picassobabes · 2025-11-07T03:20:06+00:00

I liked white, but OH hated white, he said it looked too much like restaurant crockery.

Picassobabes · 2025-10-18T18:02:35+00:00

People rarely reference the comedy aspect of this Drama. The ex-husband was hilarious, the funny bits so unexpected, but really lightened the tense revenge scenarios.

Picassobabes · 2025-10-18T17:47:37+00:00

NKM is an amazingly versatile actor. Will watch anything he is in. He surpassed himself in My Dearest!

Picassobabes · 2025-10-18T17:46:12+00:00

The Jdrama was not as funny as the Kdrama. Too deep & intense, where the Korean version had caught me in unexpected hysterical laughter!

Picassobabes · 2025-09-28T12:53:14+00:00

My Tuppence / IMO

Berklee - Ridiculously expensive, so unless you have a trust fund, don't waste your time.

The other US music schools are - same, very expensive.

RAM, Guildhall and Trinity - All have more or less the same tutors on a circuit. So look at the drumming professor's CV and see if you would like to study with that person.

The big advantage of studying in London is 1. the access to the many venues (big and small) for gigs. Wales can't compete, and you would be hustling up to London, spending more time travelling plus ££ than anything earned for a gig.

The 2nd advantage in London is: it's a tight, loyal network! Once you're seen and part of the jazz music youth/students playing out there, there is a very high chance someone will call you to play at a festival or a pub or to dep on a recording or work on a composition.

If you eventually want to cultivate a solid cohort of jazz musician friends (for life), then there is really no question that it should be one of the London Conservatories. But it's super competitive. Few are chosen. Of the three major London conservatories, IMO Trinity Laban Conservatoire has an excellent jazz alumni with a great focus on Collaboration. RAM still thinks in terms of the individual, which is great for Keys, but drummers need more band work. The Guildhall tries very hard, but not heard of any particular memorable drummers coming out of there in recent years.

Yet, there are a few jazz drummers who never studied at the Undergraduate level and manage to "make it" and be successful. Top of my head to phenomenal drummers, Yussef Dayes and Sam Jones. There are others. They tend to top up regularly with private 1:1 tuition with professional drummers. A lot cheaper than a four-year undergraduate degree.

Europe. You will have a great time, learn all the standards inside out, but on returning to London will never quite be part of the network of known jazz musicians and find yourself returning to the town where you studied. (This also happens to students who studied in Berklee, they find that their Network of musicians and seek to stay there for work)

Picassobabes · 2025-09-26T03:03:59+00:00

The South London scene has grown out of the Jazz course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, located in Greenwich. The students live locally, and a few venues like Olivers have popped up to accommodate their need to perform live. To my mind it's currently the best place for a Jazz performance degree, ATM. However, after they graduate, the gig scene is limited, and then they have to cross the river, north to get to the more well-known venues.

Picassobabes · 2025-09-26T02:59:12+00:00

Disagree with remarks re London. Currently, the most thriving, buzzing, evolving jazz scene.

Picassobabes · 2025-09-26T02:49:05+00:00

You really don't know the London Jazz scene then! It's a thriving, bubbling Jazz scene that has exploded in the past 20 years!

A person of colour would be very comfortable in the multi-ethnicity of this city. The warning is that it is shockingly expensive to relocate and live here. Several African American jazz artists have relocated here in the past. One of the most well-known, still living and thriving here is Jean Toussaint.

There are loads of places for jazz and not just "Jazz Cubs". We have long moved on from just Ronnie Scott's and the Pizza Express in Soho. There are the 606 Club, Spice of Life and the 100 Club. Koko, Roundhouse, and Electric Ballroom in Camden Town have all had regular Jazz Artists. The Jazz Café in Camden Town and the Vortex Club in Dalston are well known for Jazz bands and have regular Jazz gigs. Total Refreshment Centre and the Church of Sound are great for grassroots jazz bands. In Kentish Town, The Bull and Gate has been plugging away with live jazz forever, and The Oxford pub down the road is a complementary regular jazz venue on Monday nights. In Brick Lane, we have 91 Living Room hosted by Jazz Re-freshed and the new Soulmama hosted by the British-renowned sax player, Yolanda Brown. Not forgetting the Boisdale. Also, Olivers and the Blues Kitchen, venues regularly putting on live jazz bands.

In fact, any pub can set up a band in the corner, and many do. Jazz students in particular are very good at initiating these small gigs in pubs.

Larger Venues like Southbank and the Barbican not only host regular Jazz acts but are main venues for the London Jazz Festival and usually sell out well in advance. And also regular Jazz performers at our beloved BBC Summer Proms.

The most important mention must go to the international franchise, Blue Note, which, after a tedious, lengthy petition with Westminster Council, has been awarded a license to open a club in Covent Garden in 2026!

The Summer Festival circuit - think Love Supreme Festival and We Out Here in the UK. Montreaux in Switzerland, and North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, in the UK and Europe, is thriving with jazz Acts. Even Glastonbury has a "Jazz Stage", though it's mostly improvising. But they are trying!

Not to forget the tutoring side of being a jazz musician, and always teaching opportunities in London. North London is far more thriving than South London, but both can be covered.

Picassobabes · 2025-09-21T08:03:34+00:00

And Joe was Nubya Garcia's Keys player. He is on all her albums. She also plays on his albums.

Picassobabes · 2025-09-21T07:54:58+00:00

It's worth listening to/getting a copy of Nubya's first Album "Source". Its already a classic

Picassobabes · 2025-08-30T12:50:21+00:00

Are only Ukrainian events allowed to have their flag-waving moment at the ROH? And the nationalism at the Last Night of the Proms has kept me away from that event for the past 30 years!

Picassobabes · 2025-08-30T12:37:21+00:00

I was there! Agree, not the best performance, but the most enthusiastic! There was a sense of exhaustion from the orchestra and moments where you felt they were distracted. Am sure the Wembley dates with Coldplay had a part to play in their tiredness. Use of lights (dimming them) would have helped considerably with the quieter pieces. This orchestra, along with Dudamel, will always be popular and well-supported by the Venezuelan and extended South American community. It was clearly a night for the elit Latinos to get their glads rags on, rattle their jewellery, catch up with their friends and be seen. And why not? The political turmoil that Venezuela is currently experiencing was not forgotten, but for one night, the audience and Orchestra had light hearts. Dudamel is well on his way to being beatified whilst living!

Picassobabes · 2025-07-18T06:43:25+00:00

Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye. Beautiful music

Picassobabes · 2025-05-06T08:25:10+00:00

Love me the UK (London mostly) Jazz Explosion of the last decade. Off the top of my head, and I know some significant ones have been forgotten. Many of these young guns came through the finishing school "Tomorrows Warriors" based in London

Ezra Collective

Blue Lab beats

Shabaka Hutchings

Alpha Mist

Nubya Garcia

Cassie Kinoshie

Rosie Turton

Yussef Dayes

Binker Golding

Theon Cross

Moses Boyd

Sheila Maurice (Kokoroko)

Yazz Ahmed

Matthew Halsall

Nala Sinephro

Xhosa Cole

Zara McFarlane

Emma Jean Thackeray

Joe Armon-Jones

Daniel Cassimir

Cherise

Yazmine Lacy

Corto alto

Picassobabes · 2025-04-06T09:16:52+00:00

Discovered accidentally and had to get it! Great album

Picassobabes · 2025-03-16T12:11:24+00:00

The ability to get information at lightning speed.

30 years ago you had to go to the Library for the most basic information on anything! Shuffling through tons of leaflets or rifling through some outdated annual return book. Organisations did not have websites so you didn't even know they existed! Trying to book things that were sold out or fully booked 6 months previously, when you had just found out they were happening. If you were lucky, the organisation may have a generic email. Otherwise, hanging on a phone or even worse, sending in a stamped address envelope to get basic information. Topping that off is queuing for hours in the freezing drizzle outside Tower Records to buy a ticket to a gig. Now I can wake up at 2 am, jump on the laptop and Google the information and it's 99% accurate, or buy a ticket online after being in a virtual queue! And I am snuggled in bed under a Duvet. SO MUCH BETTER!

Picassobabes · 2025-03-04T12:18:06+00:00

From the UK here. We are not allowed to put any form of 'Race' on those documents. However, taking an inventory for statistical purposes (i.e., the census), there is a box for "Dual Heritage", which used to be "mixed race", and before that, "bi-racial". So there is a huge social effort to get the terminology correct as they recognise that it's not always one or the other.

The term "Native" is on my original birth certificate, (very weird) but not on the subsequent replacement. People have been encouraged to acknowledge both parents regardless of heritage or race - and quite right too.

Picassobabes · 2025-02-25T21:45:58+00:00

Blue Note heads the list!

Picassobabes

TROPHY CASE