London Part 1 - Wicked

It’s right bloody cold in London. It’s been a long day and Peter’s already asleep. He had a nice snooze at the start of Wicked, but it wasn’t enough. We started out this morning with the Ryanair flight from Göteborg. If you’re not familiar with Ryanair, it’s a flying schoolbus. You line up to pick your seat – first come first chosen. Then, we took the train from Standsted to Tottenham Hale. Then we took the tube to Pimlico and discovered our B&B is closer to Victoria. Oh well – know for tomorrow.

Choosing small hotels and B&Bs off the internet is a bit of an art form. Most of the time I do ok. This time, notsomuch. It’s kinda dodgey. Ok, it’s really dodgey. Central location – short walk to the theatre tonight, but that’s about the only thing going for it. Of all the places we’ve ever stayed, I’d say this one is the worst. Peter doesn’t seem to be too bothered – he’s asleep already. I guess his nap during the first act of Wicked wasn’t long enough…(ka-zing!)

Tonight at Wicked was the first time any of us had been to a show in London. I thought the London theatre crowd / experience would be about the same as Toronto’s. Not so. Do you know you can have a beer or a glass of wine while you’re watching the show? They sell snacks like at the movies. Pringles in little cans. Candy floss in a tub. Ice cream at intermission. Unbelievable. Peter thinks it’s very civilized (when he’s awake).

The show was wonderful. Elizabeth and I knew the music. She had most of the songs memorized and fought herself not to sing along. Me? I sang anyway. The voices were really good, and I really liked the treatments of the songs. They put their own spin on everything – it wasn’t just a karaoke version of the Broadway album. And everyone had English accents. Makes sense given the locale, but I’m wondering if all Munchkins like Bok sound Irish? I didn’t really sob until As Long As You’re Mine, then For Good and the happy ending polished me off. They run away together – I loved that!

Tomorrow’s agenda is walking all the way to the Tower of London, (if we go along the Thames, we can see Big Ben along the way), gazing at the Tower Bridge, a good ploughmans in a pub maybe near Covent Garden, Harry Potter at 4pm (do you know here you have to reserve your seat ahead of time?) then dinner somewhere. Oh, and I forgot the scones with clotted cream and the never-ending search for a good chip butty (for them. Not me. Repeat – not me).

~ because I knew you, I have been changed for good.