Spare free ticket to see Mandelbrot

snow_leopard is sadly being an ill kitten, so I *need* someone to go with to see Beniot Mandelbrot this evening, as I have a spare ticket. The event is called in Conversation with Beniot Mandelbrot and is in the Dana Centre, somewhere near the Science Museum. Anyone want to come and meet me at 6:30 at South Kensington tube? Please? The ticket is free.

Hospital yesterday was even worse, they were way behind on appointments, and the waiting room was so full many people had to stand (some with broken legs....!!!) and there was and endless barrage of moans and wails, crying, people shouting at each other and other hospital noises. I didn't like it. The doctor himself when I finally say him was friendly, he prodded my finger, and decided it needed an even tighter bandage (my fingers now feel like they are in a corset) and needs a further X-ray on Tuesday morning. Which means going back there again. Meeep. :(

Was rescued by doseybat at Seven Sisters station, where we headed for drinkies at the Oakdale arms, where I could finally relax a bit. timeplease has some very good beers on right now, and the coriander beer is well worth trying. Soon after, compilerbitch and libellum arrived all the way from Cambridge. Because the pub is that good. erming arrived complaining the only real cider on right now is the one he doesn't like, and a very fluffy poult who I've not seen in far too long and it was good to catch up with. Yay. Finally got to meet romauld, who has mountains of presence, and did the small world conversation with him, finding out we share a million friends in common, and that I'd even been to parties at one of his previous abodes. As you do. hairyears arrived and I attempted to introduce him to everyone, although by then we were playing pool, which I managed to lose with style. Ooops. compilerbitch kindly drove doseybat and myself back to Leytonstone, after dropping off libellum and romauld in Finchley.

Twas a good evening, and helped me regain some sanity. Feeling a bit stronger and saner and more with it today.

Anyway. Mandelbrot ticket. Who wants it? *hopefulnoises*

Off to somewhere cold this winter!

Yay shiny! alektoeumenides is fab. She has invited me to spend the New Year in Moscow with her. Because Russia is such an incredibly silly place to go at that time of year, I have to say yes. And you know, snow is pretty much guaranteed. It all sounds terribly exciting, because I’ve never been anywhere as cold as that before. Yay. *bounce*

BUT of course, theres the usual visa hassle of getting access to Russia. This I can now cope with, I thought. So I pootle along to the Russian Consulate Website and suddenly spot this - “Entry to Russia may be refused and airlines may not carry passengers holding passports with less than six months validity”. Which has never been a problem before, but my passport expires in February. So it now is a Problem. I’m guessing this means I have to apply for a new passport NOW. And I’m then confused about whether to apply for the visa using the old passport (with the less than 6 months validity left) or the new one (which won’t be valid until February). I’m guessing it should go in the old one, and then I carry both passports with me - is that right? Does anyone here know?

The visa invite itself may also be complicated. Usually this is arranged at the hotel/hostel I’d stay at, like it was when I visited St Petersburg in May, but I’d be staying at Val’s flat. So the only way to get an invite is to find a hotel which is willing to invite me without me having to actually stay there, or force someone in Moscow to go through the real pain or arranging a private invite. doseybat I know you said yesterday that you think your family could arrange something - don’t if it’s going to be a major hassle, but I’m going to need some help from somewhere for this one.

And while I’m asking questions, one for all of you people who regularly travel to/from Russia, who do you get your plane tickets from? I’ve never booked a flight that wasn’t a budget airline before, so I don’t know how “proper” airlines work. Um. *makesuselessnoises*