About Town

I have been into London every day for the past 9 days. The good part is that I have been socially active and have been able to spend time with several friends, but the downside has been all the time commuting, and in particular, the two evenings I have had to take a bus instead of a train back to my house. They call this "rail replacement" when they are doing construction (called "engineering works") on the rail line. I always do appreciate the fact that they still get you home, but it is inevitably much more time consuming, and less fun when you weren't expecting it.

Every day I have had lunch and/or dinner plans, and I have been to the theatre twice, to see Oliver! and Waiting for Godot. Tim and I saw Oliver! on Tuesday night and we agreed that it was a really fun musical to watch. Enjoyable, feel-good, humorous, and for cheap tickets at 20GBP each, worth the price! (We booked via lastminute.com) and even though we were in the upper balcony, the visibility was fine. We enjoyed dinner at Christopher's American Bar and Grill for a pre-theatre dinner, and drinks at Chez Gerard in Covent Garden after the show. It was a nice summer evening where we could sit outside and even see some stars!

I saw Waiting for Godot with my friend Dave on Thursday night, and the weather had changed quite a bit! When I left the house, the sky was ominous, but as the rain had held out all day, I thought maybe a slight shower. Well, let me tell you what not to wear in a downpour: open toe satin heels, floor length silk dress and suede jacket! I made it to the station before the skies opened, but the rest of the evening, it was, as they say here, pissing it down. Usually, London rain showers are intermittent, but this was unusual. It turns out that we got one month of rain in just a few hours! So in going between venues, Dave let me use his umbrella, I forgot about the state of my shoes, I bunched up my dress into a mini skirt, and wore my suede jacket inside out. When I didn't have an umbrella at the end of the night, I used free newspapers. Classy!

The show itself was amazing. With Patrick Stewart (yes, Jean-Luc Picard) and Ian McKellen (Lord of the Ring's Gandalf) as Vladimir and Estragon, and a great venue at the Theatre Royal on Haymarket, how could it not be good? (Even for a play about nothing.... :) We had 4th row centre seats too!

This week I have also been to yoga twice and running three times. I have also updated my CV twice for two specific leads on contract work in the US, so we will see what opportunities they bring!

This weekend I am picnicking on both Saturday (with James) and Sunday (with Kylie and her new beau visiting from Australia). Next week, off to Manchester to visit my friend Rowena for a few days and then up to Wales for the Race the Train weekend! There is no shortage of things to do.....!