Saturday 18th october Oxford and play!!!!!
I so did not feel like getting up the next morning but we had to, as we had a long way to drive today. Mel was meeting friends in Oxford at 11. And that was a 2,5 drive, on the way we would drop off Derk and Martin in Maidstone so they could go to London for the day and we would meet up there in the evening. The drive went smoothly even around London until we hit the citycentre in Oxford. They were working there and even on a saturday the traffic is bad. Mel dropped me off at the c
orner of St. Giles and Magdalene street and I could indulge in a favorite hobby, DVD and book shopping.
First I orientated and looked at things I might like to buy. Strangely enough the HMV in Canterbury though smaller had been better stocked. But lack of space in the car and not wanting to spend too much money kept me from buying too much. Although I savilated over the complete West Wing and Sherlock Holmes. If I didn't have such big medical expenditures coming up and a broken down printer I might have. I ended up buying a few dvd's from the bargain bin. The old bbc version of the other boleyn girl, golden compass and the queen.
At borders I did not have much luck with studybooks. I neede a book on the enneagram but couldn't find any! And no luck with the other books I wanted so that was a bit of a dissapointed. Even in the novel section I did not buy m
uch. Bought a copy of the canterbury tales. I have never read it although Chaucer is an interresting fellow. Bought a Jean Plaidy historic novel and a few others. But I was very good for me. :)I did use all my time in the shops and made it back just in time.
Mel was running a bit late again because of the traffic but still we left for London with plenty of time to spare. And then the trouble started. You would think that a major train station like Paddington has parking space. Think again. Nothing! And we were running out of time now. The only thing we could do was drive around until we found something close to a tube station. That ended up being marylebone. not bad, on the same tube line and closer in then Paddington. We made sure it was 24 hour parking, were surprised that it was not crowded on a saturday evening and hit the tube. Due to both trains standing at the platform and leaving as we jumped in we made it to Garfunkels charing cross road at exactly six o'clock. The boys were already there and reserving a table.
It was not the best Garfunkels ever but at least we had some food down and the Wyndham was just across the street. We checked out were the staged
oor was for later and went to find our places. We were in the royal circle and the view was good. This was what the trip had been all about. It had been twenty years since I last saw Branagh on the stage and I was exited. The play was Ivanov by Checkov. I have seen some Checkov but not this play and I expected something really morose and heavy. Instead there w
as a lot of comedy mixed in. The cast was good and some of the other actors really surprised me. Kevin McNally was the star of the evening I thought, a very good actor and very good in his part. The ending was a little bit abrupt, but I was sorry it was over already. So we hurried outside to the stagedoor to get autographs. A big hobby of mine and I have done this in London for some 20 years now. We scored about 5 in total including McNally who was very friendly. Unfortunately Branagh did not come out. That was a bit of a let down I really want his autograph. It seems more and more actors are weary of the stagedoor. in the old days almost none of them would skip it.
If you want to see more click these links. I do not know how to include youtube stuff here.
Ivanov
Ivanov review
But still it had been a good day and happy we went back to the car. There we had a bit of a shock when we went to pay. The total amount for 5 hours in London was ..... gulp.... 37,50 GBP!!!!!!!!! That is totally insane!!!!!!! We were out of the congestion zone. That is a total rip off. But of course we had no choice but to pay.
Then we decided to drive across London because we had to get out at the south end. Baaaaaadddddddd mistake. We got very lost because sign posts were far between and wrong. In the end we were back at the cottage in Folkestone at 1.30 in the morning after seeing parts of London I really don't ever want to see again.
Yet it had been a very good day!
orner of St. Giles and Magdalene street and I could indulge in a favorite hobby, DVD and book shopping.First I orientated and looked at things I might like to buy. Strangely enough the HMV in Canterbury though smaller had been better stocked. But lack of space in the car and not wanting to spend too much money kept me from buying too much. Although I savilated over the complete West Wing and Sherlock Holmes. If I didn't have such big medical expenditures coming up and a broken down printer I might have. I ended up buying a few dvd's from the bargain bin. The old bbc version of the other boleyn girl, golden compass and the queen.
At borders I did not have much luck with studybooks. I neede a book on the enneagram but couldn't find any! And no luck with the other books I wanted so that was a bit of a dissapointed. Even in the novel section I did not buy m
uch. Bought a copy of the canterbury tales. I have never read it although Chaucer is an interresting fellow. Bought a Jean Plaidy historic novel and a few others. But I was very good for me. :)I did use all my time in the shops and made it back just in time.Mel was running a bit late again because of the traffic but still we left for London with plenty of time to spare. And then the trouble started. You would think that a major train station like Paddington has parking space. Think again. Nothing! And we were running out of time now. The only thing we could do was drive around until we found something close to a tube station. That ended up being marylebone. not bad, on the same tube line and closer in then Paddington. We made sure it was 24 hour parking, were surprised that it was not crowded on a saturday evening and hit the tube. Due to both trains standing at the platform and leaving as we jumped in we made it to Garfunkels charing cross road at exactly six o'clock. The boys were already there and reserving a table.
It was not the best Garfunkels ever but at least we had some food down and the Wyndham was just across the street. We checked out were the staged
oor was for later and went to find our places. We were in the royal circle and the view was good. This was what the trip had been all about. It had been twenty years since I last saw Branagh on the stage and I was exited. The play was Ivanov by Checkov. I have seen some Checkov but not this play and I expected something really morose and heavy. Instead there w
as a lot of comedy mixed in. The cast was good and some of the other actors really surprised me. Kevin McNally was the star of the evening I thought, a very good actor and very good in his part. The ending was a little bit abrupt, but I was sorry it was over already. So we hurried outside to the stagedoor to get autographs. A big hobby of mine and I have done this in London for some 20 years now. We scored about 5 in total including McNally who was very friendly. Unfortunately Branagh did not come out. That was a bit of a let down I really want his autograph. It seems more and more actors are weary of the stagedoor. in the old days almost none of them would skip it.If you want to see more click these links. I do not know how to include youtube stuff here.
Ivanov
Ivanov review
But still it had been a good day and happy we went back to the car. There we had a bit of a shock when we went to pay. The total amount for 5 hours in London was ..... gulp.... 37,50 GBP!!!!!!!!! That is totally insane!!!!!!! We were out of the congestion zone. That is a total rip off. But of course we had no choice but to pay.
Then we decided to drive across London because we had to get out at the south end. Baaaaaadddddddd mistake. We got very lost because sign posts were far between and wrong. In the end we were back at the cottage in Folkestone at 1.30 in the morning after seeing parts of London I really don't ever want to see again.
Yet it had been a very good day!
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