Dare to be different and learn to be lonely

Been busy with work and I spent the last two weekends doing absolutely nothing, which was bliss. It was great to return to the office after working from home since November; I really missed the cycling to and from work, but it took some getting used to again, rushing in the morning to get out of the house on time!

Now that I found my weekly rhythm again, I continued sorting my photo-album from October 2018. So here's Day 2 of my trip to London back then, where I continue my version of the Secret Walk of London and go to a musical:) In case you missed it, here is part 1. I noticed an issue with the photos there; apparently I downsized them with the wrong quality setting in Affinity Photo. I'm still learning the specifics of that program, I think I got it right for this new picspam. If you see anything wonky, let me know! Without further ado, let's start day 2:

( Tuesday October 23, 2018 )

To be continued with Day 3 soon!

J.

X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/572911.html

So I was supposed to go on this theatre trip to London in July 2020, but then the world got to go into lockdown and the play was cancelled. I was thrilled when I got a mail from the Young Vic theatre earlier this year announcing that they would put on Hamlet with Cush Jumbo after all and that my ticket would be valid for the new dates. I was very excited when I got the confirmation for Saturday October 17, a perfect day for me to organize traveling to London. Since the world still hadn't recovered fully, I planned for minimum travel: take the nightferry on Friday, spend Saturday in London and then one night in a hotel before catching the Eurostar train back to the Netherlands. Exactly the amount of traveling needed to see the play as comfortable as possible within the limitations.

I wouldn't have traveled at all if it wasn't for this rescheduled play, as the world was still not perfectly safe from Covid, but traveling was allowed with strict rules and I stuck to them all; wearing a face mask on the ferry and trains, getting tested within 2 days of arrival to the UK (even though I would leave again the next day, this test was still mandatory) and getting tested again to go back home. (Even though I am vaccinated, for traveling back into my country an additional negative test was needed). I was willing to do it all, just to see Cush Jumbo on stage.

I have taken the night ferry loads of times and love it lots, but for some reason this time it was too crowded and several things went wrong. The connecting train from Harwich was replaced with a temporary bus service, but that had also happened before, so I could deal. London Underground was hellish, with about half of the people not wearing a face mask (and in my opinion abusing the option for exemption) and for my afternoon tea I had to deal with a stuck up server, but I kept my eye on the price: a nice evening in the theatre... (I did have some fun in between all the hassle; I found a souvenir my mom had requested, I got to go shopping at Boots and Marks & Spencers plus I got fancy at Fortnum & Mason, so not everything was bad, but I did feel slightly off kilter all day)

And then, it was finally time to go to the theatre, yay! I was all giddy walking from Waterloo Station to the Young Vic, discovering Cush Jumbo's photo high up there. I took a picture with her in the background before going to enter the theatre, where I walked into a pamflet on the door stating that 'due to unforeseen circumstances, the evening performance was cancelled'! I was in shock but to be honest not that surprised, because of all the little things that went wrong, so of course this was the final thing that had to happen. I still went inside and found out the theatre had sent out an email in the afternoon, but I was glad I had missed that or I would have been moping all day and now I had at least had a somewhat pleasant day in London.
The staff was very nice and they were sad a rebooking was not an option for me. They did arrange an e-ticket for the online live performance at the end of the month and I got a program, which I loved.

I got on the Tube back to Leicester Square and walked through the theatre district to see if I could maybe get a ticket to another play, but I wasn't really in the mood for what was potentially available, so in the end I bought myself some comfort doughnuts and returned to my hotel where I relaxed in a bubbly bath with a book.

Of course I still did come home with a whole bunch of photos from that one day in London. See if you can discover all the signs that this just wasn't my lucky weekend;)

( A sunset, a sunrise and squirrels! )

So two weeks later I got to watch the play from home, on my computer. It was still great to see Cush Jumbo, but even though it was live and I got close ups, on screen is not really as intense as in the theatre, is it? I hope I get another chance to see her on stage in the future. (Now that she's living in the UK again, that could happen, right?) - good review of Hamlet by Nick here

J.

I was going to write all about my long weekend in London: how I almost missed my train in Brussels, how close I sat to the stage for play Inherit The Wind in The Old Vic and how I noticed Kevin Spacey was once again in awe of my cool shoes.
How I met fred_bear from Australia (who just happened to be in London after traveling on the TransSiberia Express, a trip I made in the opposite direction about ten years ago), how we talked an shopped in Camden and went to a film together (Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistent).
How John Barrowman's performance of I Am What I Am in La Cage Aux Folles made me sob (and how I tried to pull myself together again during intermission).
How I spent two nights in delicious baths and hours on the train reading Postcards From No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers.
But I already spilt my guts in Dutch and posting the pictures took longer than I thought, so I'm going to direct you to my photoblog for an impression of my wonderful weekend. For those of you who can read Dutch I added links to the full report:)

Photos Londen Day 1
Photos Londen Day 2
Photos Londen Day 3

Verslag vrijdag 23 oktober
Verslag zaterdag 24 oktober
Verslag zondag 25 oktober