From the edified atmosphere of The House of Commons to a theatre ticket agency in Charing Cross Road. It’s about 6pm on a Saturday and, surprise surprise, everything is pretty much sold out. But there were just a few tickets left for the second part of a two part play called The Inheritance. It was on at the nearby Noel Coward Theatre in St Martins Lane. But who would want to go to see the second part of a play without seeing the first part first?  Well. ..we would,  ..and we did!

The Inheritance is about the life and times of a group of diverse gay men living in New York with a bit of E.M.Forster chucked in for good measure. The above link is to a short review that appeared in The Guardian. The play is currently enjoying a run of success in London and has just transferred from The Young Vic theatre to the West End.

We managed to read up a bit about the first part of the play from a leaflet in the theatre lobby and the play had us all fully engrossed for the full three hours. The actors were all very good, especially the lead Kyle Soller, but they were all unknown to us (except for the brief appearance of Vanessa Redgrave). A complicated story. Not for everyone. But it turned out to be a good choice for us.

After Theatre: Try to listen to the music clip below. It’s Michael Jackson‘s  ‘Want to be Startin’ Something’. If you’re reading this in a public place or have just woken up it’s a bit brutal, so skip it, but it only lasts 30 seconds and it sets the tone for the last bit this blog.

https://embed.music.apple.com/gb/album/wanna-be-startin-somethin/269572838?i=269572927“>

The above link may not work, I’m still a novice at all this. I’ve found an alternative YouTube link but it has an annoying advert before the track begins. You Tube link .

After the theatre the pavements were packed, with people spilling into the road. All the pubs were full to bursting, you couldn’t even get through the door. Everyone seemed, like us, to be having a really good time. There was a great atmosphere, if a bit crazy. Eventually we found a pub we could squeeze into.

Approaching midnight we were heading for the tube station, the crowds and the atmosphere, if anything, even more frenetic. Charing Cross Road thronged with all sorts of people, theatre goers, pub goers, old, young, groups, couples. Some of the younger ones cheering and staggering. The traffic was at a complete standstill. I was just thinking ‘this whole street is having a really good time and at any moment a party could break out’, when that much loved disco classic ‘Want to be Startin’ Something’ (in the above link) could be heard over the melee, and it was getting louder.

The source of the music turned out to be a brightly lit cycle rickshaw, weaving it’s way through the standing traffic towards us. As luck would have it, it came to a stop right where we were walking. The music was loud. Dancing could have broken out at any minute. There was lots of pink fur and pink lights: chaser lights and sparkly lights. The rickshaw looked like this:

The two women occupying it looked as if this was the most normal thing. No doubt there will be a whole rank of disco rickshaws for hire somewhere, but this one just arrived in the right place at the right time with the right music. But regrettably, the party didn’t break out.

Quavers: And then on the way home there was the Quavers. There was a young guy and his mate in a very happy mood standing next to us on the tube train. He was trying to hang onto the hand rail and also hold onto several packets of Quavers at the same time. It was a bit of a struggle, so he said to me: “Want some Quavers?”. He then started asking everyone else: “Want some Quavers?”. We helpfully relieved him of one of his packets, but all the other passengers just smiled and declined. So then there was quite a funny conversation about Quavers until we had to change at Stockwell. Goodness knows why he had all those packets, but in the moment, no one cared. Oh the fun just went on and on!

And finally there’s this:

Slotted Spoon Final Instalment:  After the debacle of the first breakfast and the missing spoon, the next breakfast time was a similar catastrophe. This was the only thing we could find wrong about the perfect house, and we did, to our shame, make quite a big thing of it. It was therefore considered a touch of genius, when thinking of a thank you present, to decide to buy a slotted spoon for the returning residents. What jolly fun!

Only thing was, as we were doing the final clear up before leaving, what should Hardie find in the worktop drawer but the elusive blummin spoon!!

Imagine our dismay.

 

THE END

 

Saturday morning dawned. Bright and cold. One of our party had had the foresight to book a tour for the three of us at The Houses of Parliament. This would be from two o’clock that afternoon.

It was good weather for walking and we felt like a walk, so the question was asked: how long would it take to walk from Tulse Hill to Parliament Square? We had no idea, but a quick check on the Transport for London web site www.tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey revealed it would take 1hr 30mins. A bit longer than we wanted but we set off thinking there would be plenty of buses en route when we had walked enough. In the event we enjoyed the walk, seeing above ground gives a better perspective on distance and on how places relate to each other, as opposed to taking the tube. We ended up walking the whole way, via Vauxhall Bridge. It took a lot longer than an 1hr 30mins but we didn’t mind, and we did stop off at the Tate Gallery (Tate Britain) to use the toilet.

That wasn’t the only stop off en route. It was a bright, sunny day, but cold,. So much so that the two follically challenged members of the group had to stop off in Brixton to buy emergency woolly hats. And then there was the coffee shop…

At the appointed time you queue up outside the Houses of Parliament to go through security checks which are very similar to those at an airport. The queue you are in looks like this:

You get a pass to wear around your neck and are given an audio headset. You can then set off  on the tour of the various halls, corridors, and chambers of the Houses of Parliament with the audio instructing you where to go next and telling you of some very interesting historical events relating to the development of Parliament as an institution and its buildings along the way. It was absolutely fascinating. It was possible to walk right into the chambers of both the Lords and the Commons and walk around the benches and the table where the despatch box is situated quite freely. Think of all those occasions when you have seen the PM on TV speaking in the Commons: you can stand on that very spot!

It was well worth doing and if you do ever do it, I would recommend the Afternoon Tea on the Terrace afterwards as an extra. It’s held in a marquee, for obvious reasons. It’s a set menu, this is just the explanatory booklet:

This was us at our table:

And this was the view we had from our table:

And then you get to walk on the terrace afterwards:

Very many thanks to Hardie in the centre of the picture for organising all this for us. It was one of those very memorable things I may never have thought to do myself, but so glad at the time to have done it, and even more so now, with hindsight.

After this, we hadn’t had enough walking (!!!) so we walked up into the West End to see if there was a theatre production we fancied with available tickets at 6pm on a Saturday evening. What could possibly go wrong?!

Slotted Spoon. Update 3.

I think we’ve all got a bit fed up with this blummin spoon story now, haven’t we??

??

Next Up; Disco Rickshaw.