Ricky Gervais without Luka and Highgate with

Tickets came up for a Ricky Gervais gig at Alexandra Palace at short notice. I did ask young Luka as I thought he might be able to come at short notice when most friends wouldn't be able to do so, but he came back to me too late. And tickets sold out instantaneously. Ricky is, justifiably, extremely popular as a live stand up act.

So me on my own. And this was a perfect for me as it was up at Alexandra Palace on a lovely sunny evening so I could just stroll up there. It is a nice walk.

The theatre is interesting too, as it was gutted by fire and rather than restoring it to its former state they just patched it up, made it safe and slotted in completely new seating. The old damaged plaster-work is just left. Sort of shabby chic. No point really debating whether one would prefer the full restoration job - it would just be too expensive.

Anyway, Ricky's latest show -Armageddon - was every bit as good as one would expect. 

I did, however, shortly afterwards get Luka out on a walk to Highgate Cemetery which we had long planned. But now with A level results in he was more relaxed. Was actually a terrific day - lovely weather and we had a great laugh all day. (Ok odd thing to say about a trip to a cemetery, but we did have a laugh).

And it was a nice walk there too - going through Highgate Woods.

We did both East and West Cemeteries, starting with the older and more spectacular West side. 

The beauty of them is their overgrown state (like the Alexandra Palace Theatre - shabby chic!). They are thoroughly "Gothic". You could imagine filming a vampire story here, with old graves smothered in vegetation. 

Rather than do both cemeteries at once, we took a break for lunch at the Flask gastropub.

Then back for the East side - most famous for the huge memorial to Karl Marx. This has most of the more modern graves, such as here, Malcolm McLaren of Sex Pistols fame.

We also walked round Highgate, had afternoon tea in Waterlow Park and a pint at the Woodman pub. Anyway, all in all a very interesting day with great company, although not sure Luka had been expecting a 10 mile round walking trip!