In which we go to an uninspiring event

Living in London, we are spoilt for choice of fabulous and exciting things to do...which is why it is really annoying to have hauled ourselves into central London (in half term!) to check out the Imagine festival at the Southbank Centre and found it a bit....meh!

On paper, it sounds great. So many performances of music, plays and poetry that I was interested in. In part the meh-ness (I know that's not a word, bear with me!) was down to a delay in communication with the friend I was going with. We left it far too late to decide which events we wanted to see and by the time we did they were fully booked.  Of course nothing on the website said "this event is in a tiny room and there are only actually 30 tickets available," or we might have been a bit more urgent about our meandering plans to get together and plan what to do.

So that was one gripe, but I might not have minded so much the long wait for the one event we could attend if there had been anything to  do in the interim. I don't count eating our packed lunch and running around pretending to be a dog as things to do. There was an art and craft session advertised as "drop in" but when we attempted to drop in, we were told it was full and the rest of the day's sessions were fully booked. My friend said she could see tables with sheets of drawing paper and pens on. Really??? This is the best you can do? Funnily enough, I can provide her with paper and pens at home. If I go to a craft session at an event I expect it to tie into the event in some way.

There was also apparently a Reading Den, but we didn't go there.

There was so much empty space, largely taken up with bored children running about, that could so easily have been utilised by storytellers, musicians and small quick craft activities.

I did, however, really enjoy the idiosycratic performance of The Comedy of Errors by a group of girls from Mulberry school. Very cleverly put together. I don't think it quite came across to everyone. Hannah was completely baffled by it and I wished I had taken the time to explain the plot beforehand so she could have enjoyed it too.

If we go next year (and I'm not ruling out the possibility), I will be suire to book well in advance for any interesting events and take more cash for the funfair in case of boredom!