At the risk of sounding just a bit too dramatic, it is nearly impossible to describe the beauty of the moment on Monday morning as our plane came in over the north of Great Britain and the sun was rising in the east, a beautiful sunrise, a magnificent welcome the England. As I sat in my window seat all I could think was that it was finally true, confirmed a few moments later when we actually landed without dying.
This was the culmination of not only 9 months of planning, but a very long day that started at about 8:30 A.M. local time Sunday (4:30 P.M. London time) at my local airport, and ended at 7 A.M. London time Monday. Arthur and Aphrael, my seat mates, said that I did sleep some, especially after Aphrael gave me here window seat so that the would not bother me when they needed to get out, a generous gesture that instantly endeared me to the English. She also shared their chewing gum with me both for takeoff and landing. God bless them both. More about the gum later.
I was truly on top of the world, and this lasted a good 30 minutes until my first attempt at getting cash at an ATM at Heathrow was summarily denied. Sweating bullets, wondering what the hell I was gonna do with cash, I went to the nearest currency exchange booth and turned $100 into £48 . Now flumoxed, I proceeded to spend £16.50 of my now limited cash supply on a Heathrow Express ticket to Paddington, not thinking this was about $33.
So now I am on the train, but I have not paid close attention and discovered only after I sat down that I am in a seat designated for people who are blind, deaf or wave sticks. At first I thought the guy across form me was givinge dirty looks because of it until I realized I was sitting under a tv playing a newscast about the United States presidential elections. Luckily, they were no handicapped people clamouring for a seat and the ticket attendant did not bat an eye as she took my ticket. It is possible she thought I belonged there.
Upon arrival at Paddington Station, I began to think evil thoughts about my bank, but daringly approached an HSBC ATM machine which decided to give me some cash after all. Now armed with this cash, I bought an Oyster card and proceeded to take the tube to Victoria. This was interesting also, as I had a backpack that weighs more than mose newborn calfs and a rolling suitcas that is wider than the ones made now, so that every time I walked I would kick it and it would go into a perpetual wobble as I dragged it along behind me. And, of course, I was in everyone’s way. After nearly falling on my face several times, I finally made it to Victoria Underground Station, only to discover what ErinVA had warned me about: the stairs.
So I climbed up and down and up and down (seemed like that anyway), but eventually I came out in Victoria Train Station, and I went out onto the street, made one quick turn, and there, in all its majesty, was the Victoria Palace Theatre, it’s lights flashing in greeting to me. To be honest, it was an emotional moment – I had no idea where the heck my hotel was!!!
And it was only 9 A.M.
I will not bother with details. I found my hotel and dropped my bags off, and decided to walk around. Now, remember how the weather in London was supposed to be cold and rainy. By 9:30 A.M. in my London Fog jacket and jaunty cap I was sweating like a pig. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day.
Except for one thing.
Remember the gum that Aphrael had given me for landing? I had not, in two hours, passed one trash recepticle to spit it out in. Not in Heathrow, not in Paddington, not in Victoria Tube or Train Stations, and not on the streets. And in fact, if you look on the sidewalks, thay are dotted everywhere with expended gum. To make a long story short, that evening, as I stood outside the theatre waiting for Les Mis, I realized that the lack of trash recepticles was a security issue, something harkening back to the days of IRA bombings and now a permanent state in today’s Al Qaeda threatened world. Which explains why apparently half of the population of London is employed in the occupation of cleaning the treets, which except for the chewing gum and the occassional piles of dog s**t outside the animal hospital on the street where my hotel is, is spotless.
BTW, the security issue was further emphasized as I walked past the Parliament building in the afternoon and saw two innocuous looking guards at the gates, backed up by a rather serious looking fellow eying me suspiciously as he move his sub-machine gun back and forth in a rather menacing manner.
Other impressions of London. What am amazing contrast of old an new. I have never lived in a city or even visited one for any length of time, no mor than a few hours and usually at night. Perhaps all cities are like this, but where else does one sit at a McDonals logged on to the internet a few yards from Westminster Cathedral??? Or anything like that. I have a picture which I will post when I have more time, which shows a most modern glass and steel structure behind which is the cathedral’s towering spire! Amazing!
I have also never seen so many people, all going somewhere in such a hurry, corssing against the lights (which I have learned are le US stop signs – advisory only 
) This morning, my 56th birthday, I broke into a smile just for the joy of being around this mass of humanity. This would have made me the only person smiling; these people are way to serious. But then I am on vacation and they are not.
A few quick words – I have eaten wice now at McDonalds, breakfats both. Dunno when I will have my chance at a full English breakfast, one of my goals while here. Both meals were better than my dinner last night at Ranorest Cafe, which was a great disappointment compared to my visits at other Rainforest Cafes. How they could make a chicken breast tough as leather on the outside and tender but flavorless in the middle is beyond me!
Les Mis, by contrast, was a great joy. I own four Les Mis OCRs, so this was a great treat and I only drifted off twice dure to jet lag. The lead looked a bit like Skeletor from my seats in the dress circle. He might have looked better up front, but who knows? He sang so wonderfully that it was more than made up for. It was a great joy and in spite of knowing the story well, I did my usual unmanly crying at “Bring Him Home” and at the end.
Today is Tuesday, October 7th!!! The weather is sunny…no, wait, it’s raining…no wait, the sun is out again! If ever there was a place where you can wait five inutes for the weather to change, it is London. I packed nothing right and am heading to Sainsbury’s for some dish soap.
Soon I will be meeting Nikkie and Ruth and maybe others for a tour of the city and then Bily tonight. My first one!!! No, I am not at all excited. 
One other thing before I sign off. The London transportation system is nothing short of remarkable. It is truly “very f***ing special” My knees hurt from the stairs, but it is still awesome!
I do not know what I wrote at the begninng of this post as ithas been written over two sessions, so if I repeat myself, so be it.
A final word – so far I have been treated by all I have met with great kindness. The people I have met, starting with Arthur and Aphrael, my seatmates on the flight, have been nothing short of magnificent.
Only glitch other than the ATM debacle – another attempt awaits today – is thatmy room smelled like crap, literally. I thoguht this was awful and wonderd if Iwould perhaps have to live with it, or that it woudl air out,. So I opened the windows, took a shower and a nap. When I got out of bed a few hours later my brae feet hit the carpet and I realized it was wet. Turns out that there had been a leak i the readiator system that Mr. Patel had failed to tell Mrs. Patel about. The smell was mildew. I was quickly moved from my 3rd floor (4th level) tiny room to a nicer room on the ground floor. Much better, and I can not tell yo waht a job Mr. and Mrs. Patel are, and they remember all of you who have visited there.
Back tomorrow with a review of my first Billy.
Bye for now.
Dave
Uncle Dave’s Billython – Day Two
Just a thought about money. Not too much different from US money except that they use coins for 1 pound and 50p, the equivalent to $2 and $1 for US money. This is difficult for me to get used to, as when I travel, and even when I am at home, I tend not to use coins. I remove them from my pocket at the end of the day, toss them in my suitcase and
they eventually go in my coin bowl to get cashed in when I can’t lift it. But here in the UK, some coins are REAL money, and so except for the two pence and one penny coins, I find myself carrying a lot of change. And then of course I forget that it is realy money and so I hand over bills for everything, thereby acquirng more coins. And although I do understand the math of multiplying everything I see by two to get an approximate US equivalent, the pyschological effect of seeing a bottle of water be 38p – “Gosh, that is cheap!” – is hard to overcome. So my dinner at the Rainforest Cafe seemed cheap at 30 pounds (including gratuity, which BTW, they did NOT add to the price) until I realized I had just spent $60 for a crappy dinner. I do not mind spending that when I am on vacation,
but still….
One final thought on money. Again, it is hard for me to get over the values. In my normal everyday life I do not carry a lot of cash. If I have more than $20 on me that is a lot. When I am on vacation I usually carry maybe $100 with me. So today I realized I had 180 pounds on me, which is a lot, so I dropped that down to 60 pounds.
BTW, I can not seem to find the pound key without my numeric keypad, which I did not bring with me.
On with day two….
As we already know, I spent the morning at McD’s next to WESTMINSTER Cathedral. I shall not have to go there again as it turns out my HOTEL does have wi-fi, which I am now using!!
At 11:30 I was to meet Nikkie-Nikkie and Jadka (Ruth) in front of Little Ben, the tower in the crosswalk triangle opposite the VPT. My plan was to be sly and stealthy, so I was spying from the other side of the street to see them. Having given up because they were a bit late (contrary to their claims) I stepped into the VPT box office to have a look around. When I stepped out of the door after my short visit I and stumbled into the sidewalk, unbeknown to me, right in front of Ruth. Sadly, she guessed quickly who the klutzy guy in the hat was and finally we all gathered at the clock and then went off for the day.
Details abound, but we went to Greenwich and toured the maritime museum. It was a wonderful place and a perfect choice, and the weather was lovely while we were inside.
This was followed by a boat ride on the Thames back to WESTMINSTER. Ruth and I were brave souls who sat outside in the rain, which had arrived, while Nikkie hid like a coward in the enclosed area.
Okay, the truth is, Ruth and I waited just long enough to make sure we outlasted Nikkie on the deck before we too retired to the dry area, TO KEEP HER COMPANY, of course.
The entire time, they proceeded to remind me, over and over again, that it was WESTMINSTER Cathedral that has a McD’s next to it and not Winchester. Also, at every opportunity, they made sure we walked someplace where I could trip and fall. Sadly , their evil schemes did not come to pass, and we ended up having dinner not at the Stage Door Pub, which sadly had a broken elevator and could not serve food, but at the other pub right next to the VPT. It was quite good, and this was where Friar (Paul) joined us for he evening. I will post a review in the reviews section.
The day was wonderful, I have wifi in my room, and I am having a ball!
Thanks so much for Nikkie and Ruth generosity in celebrating my birthday with me, and Paul for joining us later.
Tomorrow is another day!
Day Two – Addendum
Greetings from Cell 2 of the Fluorescent Monastery
Thanks johnnyc for the £ sign. I knew about the character map but when I wrote the first part of my note I was too lazy to find it.
The fluorescent light in my room did not come on yesterday afternoon, so we had to have repairs, which is when I found out that the Cherry Court (aka, the Fluorescent Monastery) does in fact have wifi.
Just some things I forgot to add yesterday:
1) I bought my first $7 bottle of water in a restaurant. And my last. Dunno why I did that really.
2) Had 1/4 pint of Guinness, accomplished by ordering a 1/2 pint and not drinkng half of it. (Those of you who know me are aware that I, as a general rule, do not drink – perhaps one beer and a couple of glasses of wine a year. So I have now had a taste of beer, and perhaps I will have another, perhaps not.
3) I am learning that things do not dry out very well here. Or perhaps I should say, very fast.
Day three to follow later.
Character map enabled – CHECK!
Notes from day three handy in note book – CHECK!
Morning toilet completed – uhmm, be right back! Okay, CHECK!
Greetings from The Land of The Gummy Streets – Day 3
(Subtitled – Sleep Is For Wussies)
Tuesday night, day 2 of our adventure, I was up until 1 AM, which was technically Wednesday morning.
I had made plans originally to take a Wednesday day trip to the Cotswolds and Oxford, although I was not committed to it in any way. Tuesday night, however,I discovered that my friend JJF was going to be in town Wednesday evening and I really wanted this chance to meet him, but I was afraid that Imight be cutting it a bit close, and also I did not have any tickets for Wednesday night.
So I was, to say the least, indecisive. My usual state when such dilemas arise.
Then I woke up after 6 hours of sleep and realize that:
A) I was not going back to bed
B) I was awake!
C) It was a beautiful sunny day.
So off to Paddington station to see the bears.
BTW, this morning was the first morning where I got on the wrong underground train. I realized this as soon as I was on the train, and the London underground is so freaking easy, I simply got off at the next stop, walked about 100 feet, and got back on the next train which was the right one!
Now, Paddington station was where the tour was to start, but luckily and more important, it is the last known spot in the civilized (civilised) world where you can find Krispy Kreme donuts, which the food nazis have forced into submission in the US! And oddly enough it tasted just exactly like a Krispy Kreme donut!
So after spending time waiting to see a guy in a red cap as the brochure indicated, I finally spied a small group of people standing around a lady waving the London Walks brochures. So I gamely decided to approach the group, joined the tour and for about £39 we were off. A bargain as it turns out, for this covered the train tickets, chartered bus and entry into one place which required a small fee.
I will not bore you with details – well maybe I will.
My notes, as I read them back, say either “blungs clipping and berrignal washer” or “birds chirping and beautiful weather”. I am guessing it is the latter. The Cotswolds was wonderful; I could have missed Oxford.
Our tour guide, Hillary (without Bill, for once) was extraordinarily pleasant, understandable, and knew so much stuff I lost track. But she was good.
BTW, did you know that “minster” means “abbey”, so why is there a “Westminster Abbey”? (Just down the road from WESTMINSTER Cathedral, I might add!)
Anyway, had another crappy meal, a rather ghastly sandwhich I purchased in Burford.
Now during this time I was playing phone tag with JJF to make plans. When I finally spoke to him, it was around 5:30 and I was on the train back to London, my cell phone signal dropping up and down. This is ironice because often times when I am chatting with Jon online, he is returning from London,on the train, using his mobile phone, which frequently drops in and out!
Jon gleefully advised me that he had gotten one of his favorite seats, B14, and we agreed to meet.
Of course, I had no clue what he looked like and he had further disguised himself by not shaving for several days and becoming much younger looking than I expected. Also, he seemed to have forgotten where the Stage Door was, so I had to spend another .99 to call him only to discover that he was about 5 yards away from me on the other side of the street.
So we proceeded to the theatre, and an hour after he got B14, I managed to snag B13.
(For those of you not in the know, these are among the 8 seats that are held back during the day in case the family of the ballet girls and small and tall boys want to sit in them; they are cheaper seats as you can not see the actors’ feet, but they are really up close and personal. When they are not needed, they get put on sale to the general public.)
Anyway, we got to see Tom, which was great because neither of us had seen him. I quickly add that Jon had seen him as Michael; I add this because Jon will certainly correct me if I do not.
I really enjoyed meeting Jon, and after the show we stopped for a quick bite at Burger King (yeah, fooking shoot me; Jon had coupons; seriously, it sounded good at the time as I was starving), before Jon headed back to home and I to my hotel room in the Fluorescent Monastery.
BTW, as I mentioned before. was a gorgeous day, and today awaits.
I go in search of laundry soap that I can use in the hotel sink as I have a shirt that I want to wear that smells as though a camel had peed on it.
I go in search of a traditional English breakfast.
And fish and chips.
And a pastie.
Two shows today.
I will post a review of Tom later.
See you!
Uncle Dave’s London Adventure – Day Four
Greetings from the Land of the Smokey Smokeys
These people smoke like chimneys! Sheesh, haven’t they gotten the word? Wink
Okay, anyway, the weather once again was gorgeous, which meant I didn’t have anything to wear that didn’t smell like a donkey had been wearing it in the desert for a week!
But what the heck, no one knows me here anyway.
So my first order of business was to go find a traditional english breakfast, which consisted of a sausage, some hammy looking bacon, toast, one egg (free range, which meant it was made by a happy chicken willing to sacrifice her offspring for my enjoyment) and baked beans. Now for my American friends this may sound a tad odd, but in fact it was quite tasty.
Next, I fumbled my way to Harrods, and I will not tell you how much I spent there (£9Cool or what I bought (pressies for family and cologne for me). I walked by the Dobby and Die memorial in Harrods, and also the Egyptian Room, which was oddly not very Egyptiany – go figure!
Then I walked back via the park with the memorial to the angled pointy sticks with weird carvings, as near as I can figure. I do not know what it was and only knew it was a memorial because of the wreaths under some of them. I do not make light of the sacrifice these sticky things commemorate, only that there was nothing there telling me what the were.
I proceeded on to Buckingham Palace where I didn’t see the changing of the guard but a bunch of really flashy dressed horsey guys trooped by in front of us – the crowd and I.
Then on to Sainsburys where I bought some men’s shower gel to wash my stinky shirts with, as liquid laundry soap was too expensive!
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.
I met BillyWhiz and Patc for the matinee and dinner afterwards.
Then another show and home to bed.
That is all.
See you tomorrow!
More Observations from the Land of Up-Down-Left-Right (Mind-The-Gap)
Morning of Day 5
As I mentioned before, it seems these people smoke a lot. Which seems odd as they tend to need to climb up and down stairs a lot, not to mention walkig on the street, which they all do —–while they smoke!
Most of the tube stations have a combination of escalators, some of them amazingly high, and stairs, most of them amazingly HIGH also! My poor arthritic knees! One would expect that these stairs would be littered with dead and dying smokers, but they are not.
Now, in this world of ignoring pedestrian traffic signals when it comes to crossing the street, they have strict rules about how to climb stairs and ride escalators.
First of all, like their traffic, their escaltors are reverses as well, with up on the left and down on the right, the reverse of most US escalators if they are side by side.
(The exception to this is Harrods, home to the Princess Di snd Prince Dobie memorial, where the escalators are in a racetrack pattern which makes it a lot easier to go up than to go down. BTW, at first I thought all the floors except the one I was on was closed, because at the entrance to each escalator is a pole in the middle. I kept waiting for someone to come and remove it so the elevator was open, until I realized that it was to keep strollers and very wide people off of the escalator!)
Anyway, when you get on an escalator, if you are not walking you stand to the right. However, when walking down a hallway or up stairs, you are to stay to the left.
Right Left Up Down – Oh! In all of the tube stations, as you are getting off the train, a voice is shouting, “Mind the gap!”, which is a polite way of saying if you step in the hole between the train and the platform your ass is grass!
Also, in England, a avenue of departure from a building is the “Way Out”, not the “Exit”. I have never seen a sign saying “Way In”, so I am often confused.
Found another Krispy Kreme, btw. That makes three, which is three more than we have within 50 miles of where I live!
I may not have mentioned earlier but at most of the pedestrian crossings, painted into the street, if it is one way, is “Look Left ->” or “<- Look Right”. So that one may be sure that they do not get killed before they corss the street while the little red man is flashing. I have not looked the wrong way at any intersection, and except when Ruth and Nikkie made their failed attempt, I have not come close to getting killed.
Okay, enough for now. I slept later than usual; it is already 9:30 and I have no set plans for the day, my first full day where I have nothing planned. Just going to mosey about.
Tonight is show #6. Have given up trying to guess who is playing. Meeting jamie r there.
See you all later
P.S. I do have pictures posted on my picture site, but I am not allowed to post the link here. I willdo that on the other forum that may know I use, or you can PM me.
Day Five – Morning – London Disney – (aka The Tower of London) – sponsored by your friends at The History Channel.
There are a lot of old buildings here, and it is always fun to look in the old garderobes and see if there are in petrified poopies! (There are not!)
And there are a bunch of Ravens and if we could just get them to waddle their little black butts out of there (they have clipped wings so can not fly) then we could take over the whole country – according to legend anyway.
They had the crown jewels there – they were sparkly.
Then I bought a bunch of stuff at the Pirates of the Caribbean Gift Shop, or something having to do with piracy, and had crap fish and chips at a restaurant there that for some bizarre reason does not take credit cards.
Then back to my hotel room, the Fluorescent Monastery, where they have refilled my supply of bananas and digestives.
More later!
Day Five Continued
Greetings from London.
Day Five continued to be beautiful and sunny as I made my afternoon trek to the museums in South Kensington, where I went to the Natural History Museum and made a marvelous discovery – I do not like museums! Unfortunately, once you enter one, you are screwed!
There is this diabolical design where they point you into a room, and then in order to get out you have to follow the signs that say “Way Out” which in fact lead you deeper and deeper into the depths of the museum, finally exiting in a gift shop themed to the section of the museum you were just in!
And then when you think yo are getting out, you get sucked into another.
Which is how I came upon the last living dinosaur in captivity – well, it WAS moving and growling at us – and I watched some dinosaur eggs hatching, and then I got to see a stuffed koala on a stick!
Realizing that I had to get the hell out of there, I followed the Way Out signs backwards and made my escape!
BTW, they have a building here nicknamed the Gherkin, and indeed it rises above all else around it looking like a pickle!
I finished the day by meeting jamie.r for supper. This was indeed very lucky tming, as I had sent him a PM telling him that if he got it I would meet him at the stage door at 6:00 P.M. and if he wasn’t there by then, I would be on my way. Indeed, he showed up in the right spot at the right time, but he HAD NOT gotten my PM. So off to dinner and then Billy, but sadly because I was in the dress circle I lost jamie.r.
Anyway, it is now Saturday morning. Another nice day it looks like and I am off to get cleaned up and ready for my last two shows this afternoon and evening.
See you later.
Ahh, one more thing before I forget.
While I was waiting for jamie.r before the show, a most remarkable thing happened. A large panel truck, lorry, pulled up in front of the stage door, to load a very few things into it; otherwise the truck was empty.
The remarkable thing about it was that it WAS a Billy Elliot truck, with the jumping blue Billy and all the other stuff on the side of it! I have never heard anyone mention this before, although I have heard mention of the Billy cab and Billy boat, both of which I also have pictures of.
So does this truck actually belong to BETM? Why would they need their own truck? Or was it just coincidence? BTW, the amount of stuff they picked up could have gone into the trunk (boot) of your average car.
Anyway, I do have pictures of it, which I will post later.
Days 6 and 7 – Life doesn’t get much sweeter.
Greetings from Cell #2 of the Fluorescent Monastery – in case you have not stayed at the Cherry Court, the single rooms are monastic in size and fluorescent in lighting. But this is a great place to stay, especially if you want to spend more money on Billy tickets and less on a room!
The weather for day 6 was beautiful and day 7 was even better, nearly 70f at least on Sunday!
Day 6, Saturday, was a very quiet morning. So quiet I do not remember actually doing anything. I should have written down what I did. Oh well.
But in the afternoon I met the lovely sleepylins and the equally handsome SFO – who surprised me for the afternoon show; he was not scheduled until the evening show but got in early. I sat next to sleepylins who had jaw-dropping moments seeing Tanner for the first time. My third time seeing him this week. What a wonderful show and wonderful company. We had a nice dinner the bunch of us between shows at my new favorite place, Nandos.
None of the kids came out between shows. Looks like they were having pizza brought in. If I were them, I would have liked that, too. Sitting there in my relaxed clothes, having pizza, giggling about stuff with my buddies, playing video games, and being kids for a couple of hours!
Anyway, I served up Husky Treats at dinner and they were enjoyed by all. I dinna what I am going to do with what I have left. My goal was to have them gone by the time I needed to pack.
So the evening show as Fox, and he was just awesome. Even with no wall flip and reduced acro in Electricty, he more than made up for it with his performance.
I have posted elsewhere about the autographs and all , so let me tell you the funniest part of the evening. As I was getting ready to have Fox sign my program, I handed my bag with my hat and the rest of the Husky Treats to sleepylins to hold. A few moments later she and Nikkie, who had joined us once again, departed for their trains and busses.
Then as the rest of us guys were looking for a place to have a drink, I realized that sleepylins still had my bag.
Thus began the big bag chase!! I played very expensive phone tag with Nikkie, hoping she had lin’s number. She didn’t but she told us to find the coach station and the bus for Leeds. So the three of us guys make a mad dash for the coach station, including several wrong turns, finally splitting up there to track her down. Luckily, her bus wasn’t scheduled to leave for another 20 minutes, so at last we found her. Turns out she was very flustrated becuase she realized she had the bag and didn’t knwo what to do. What a lovely young woman she is.
Now the three of us left are mucking about trying to find a place to have a drink, and we kept going the wrong way and ended up at Vic station and Witherspoons, and I enjoyed a pint of Guiness. Did I mention I had wine for lunch, also? Quite a drinking day for me.
Anyway, only one drink for us alland then off to Burger King forme and Scott, and then to our respective hotels.
Day 7 – my last full day in London and my first without a show to go to. What an empty feeling. And yet, what a joy in thinking back to all the great shows and great people I met.
Nikkie-Nikkie and Jabka, who gave me a great birthday. And Friar who joined us later.
JJF, who made last minute plans to meet me on Wednesday.
Billy Whiz and patc and Den and jamie.r.
SFO and lindsey – what fine young peole these two are!
And so many others I am going to forget and be sorry for later.
I started day 7 by kind of sleeping in and then going and having a shite Full English breakfast. Then I went for a short walk and got lost in a part of Pimlico because my map cut off at some point, but I got back to my cell at the FM and then set out again on a trek along the south bank of the Thames. Then I crossed the river on the Millenium Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge that scares the crap out of me, so I wlkaed right in the middle and looked at the ground a lot. But it is also a great spot to see St. Pauls Cathedral dome. I went into St. Pauls but they were just getting ready to have 11:30 Eucharist and I had already had mine, so I proceeded along the roads and thought I have missed Covent Garden until I turned a corner and it was there. I am not much of a shopper and not much else was going on there, so I managed my way back to Vic Station to have an authentic Cornish Pastry!!!
Yum?? Well I think grandma says it best, “That’s disgusting!” I took three bites and chucked it and had a Big Mac and fries to wash the taste out of my mouth!
The afternoon was rather boring; used my computer a lot, went down to the corner and had another beer!!! I am turning into an alchy for sure, prolly because I will find out I have been made redundant when I get back home.
A very nice and not cheap dinner at Ebury Wine Shop and another glass of wine, so I am set for the year!
And now here I am, back in my cell, a bit buzzed and a lot sad. I did not have the courage to walk down by the VPT tonight.
I leave for home tomorrow, and I know I will have to go by the VPT one last time. Saying goodbye to it will be tough.
I think I know now what he means, when Billy says:
“It’s a bit like being empty; it’s a bit like being full.”
Goodbye from London!
Well I am back home, to a life that seems so much more dreary than when I left.
Walking past the VPT for the last time was emotional, as was that moment when I looked at my watch, now reset to Uncle Dave Time, and I realized that the small boy was walking down the aisle for the Monday show, and I was not there.
Unlike those of you who seemingly go to BETM on a whim, it is likely I will never again see the London version.
Perhaps if it is still there in a year’s time, I might make another go of it. I have £3.87 in coins and £6.80 on my Oyster card (plus the £3 deposit). Isn’t there a saying that if you leave something on your Oyster card, you will return to London? Very Happy
A couple of more thank yous. I think earlier I failed to mention shadowchaser, who I met briefly and who also shared with me from his vast collection.
Also, I failed to thank all the people who gave me such great advaice in planning my trip: ERinVA, rtm2008, michael, johnnyc and many others. Your advice was valuable and made the whole trip go smoothly, bordering on flawless.
Well, back to reality for me.
See ya, Billy.