Spring Break, London: Day TWO

 After a MUCH NEEDED full night's sleep in a really comfortable bed, and a great breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Picadilly Circus to buy theater tickets at the TKTS kiosk.  We got there early enough that we didn't have to wait long in line, and scored good seats for "Other Desert Cities", starring Martha Plimpton (of "Goonies" and "Raising Hope" fame), and "The 39 Steps", a comedy with four actors playing 126 characters, loosely based on the Alfred Hitchcock thriller of the same name.

It was a beautiful sunny day, so we walked around Picadilly Circus for awhile...

...then headed back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard.  We weren't sure where to stand to get the best view (over the heads of the other tourists that had already crowded in).  We ended up by the Queen Victoria statue in the middle of the roundabout, and it turned out to be a perfect spot.  The horses, band, Beef Eaters, and others paraded right in front of us.

We moved several times (to avoid crowds, and to get out before everyone else left the area), and, each time we moved, ended up being in the right spot to see various troupes and guards leave the palace grounds, and head back to their respective barracks.  Very cool!!!

After that, we walked through a park near the palace grounds.  Again...so nice to see green grass and flowers!!!

After the park, we took the tube to Westminster Abbey to tour the church and grounds.  Westminster Abbey is such a beautiful, historic place.  Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married there (as well as Kate and William).  Diana and the Queen Mother also lay "in state" at Westminster when they died.  Mary, Queen of Scots, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling...the list of royalty, nobility, heads of state, poets, playwrights, and authors goes on and on!

No photos are allowed inside Westminster Abbey, but the bust of my ancestor, William Makepeace Thackeray is there (next to Handel's tomb!).  It's only a "commemorative" bust, as he's buried elsewhere in England, but it's extremely cool to see!  Duane asked one of the docents if it would be possible to take a picture.  The docent was very nice, and let us snap a quick photo.   People nearby were very curious as to what we were doing!!

An added bonus...the gardens were open, so we were able to walk around them for the first time on any of our trips there...delightful!

After the Abbey, we headed across the Thames, took a spin on the London Eye...

...had a REALLY late lunch at an Italian Place called Locale...

...then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show.

We got off the tube a stop early to walk across London Bridge (which has an AMAZING view of Tower Bridge)...

...and still got to the theater too early.  We decided to explore the area, so walked around for awhile.  We found the "Stage Door" of the theater, so OF COURSE I had to have a couple of photos taken.  As we were walking away from the door, we noticed a woman, off to the side, talking on her cell phone. 

 Martha Plimpton

Duane said "I think that's Martha Plimpton", so we crossed the street, circled back, and, sure enough, it was!  We chatted briefly (she was very nice!), and then went in to find our seats.

"Other Desert Cities" is about a family in Arizona.  The parents are conservative Republicans, and the daughter (and son) are liberal Democrats.  The plot revolves around another son, who died years before, after committing suicide.  He had joined a cult, and was involved in an "incident" in which a place was bombed, and someone was killed.  The daughter is writing a book about it, and is home to prepare her parents for it's release.  It's very intense.  It's very emotional.  It's definitely not produced by Disney!

Martha Plimpton was AMAZING as the daughter!  She did really well with a big, emotional serious role.  All of the actors, in fact, were very good.  The mother was played by Sinead Cusack, who is married to Jeremy Irons (interesting coincidence...the "audio tour" that you take through Westminister Abbey is narrated by Jeremy Irons).  I'm always fascinated with accents.  Martha was the only native speaker of American English, but the entire cast did an EXCELLENT job not sounding Irish, British, etc.  On the flip side, I remember doing a show in which I had to have a British accent...it was dreadful, and SO DIFFICULT!!

After the show, we took the tube back to Victoria Station...

...I drank my strawberry lime Kopparberg cider, we figured out what we were doing to do the following day, and went to bed.

A busy (normal for us) first full day of "vacation"!!!!

Spring Break, London: Day ONE (and a Half!!)

A few weeks ago, Duane and I were able to catch a flight to London.  Seat availability looked good (which it tends not to for the UK), so we headed to the airport several hours earlier than necessary, executed our usual "hurry up and wait" routine, and...it paid off!  There was even room up front, so we flew business class!!!!

We left at 10:05 p.m. Sunday night, and arrived at Heathrow around noon on Monday, London-time.  We took the tube to Victoria Station, and checked in at our hotel (the Park Plaza).  I always forget how "befuddled" I am after flying all night, with occasional sleep, and I also always forget how WONDERFUL a shower is at washing off the "airplane cooties", and reviving me...if only for a little while.

We showered, changed clothes, and headed out to explore the neighborhood.  We were DELIGHTED to discover that the UK is about six weeks ahead of Minnesota, spring-wise, and there were daffodils, tulips, and buds on all of the trees.  It was LOVELY!!

While exploring, we discovered a beautiful old church, St. Gabriel's.  It looked abandoned...a few small broken windows, and lots of vegetation growing between the cracks of the pavement inside the fence, but there were signs up for services, and lights on inside.

We also found a Sainsbury's grocery store, so stocked up on some of our "staples"...Fox biscuits, cookies, and, FINALLY, a couple of bottles of Kopparberg Cider.  I discovered Kopparberg on our last trip to London, two years ago, and have been trying UNSUCCESSFULLY to find it in the U.S. ever since.

I bought a bottle of strawberry lime cider, and a bottle of pear cider.  Although nothing ever lives up to expectations when thinking about it over a period of time, and even though it tasted like a "more adult wine cooler", it was still nice to finally enjoy one again.

We passed lots of fun little cafes, parks, theaters, and pubs...

...and even found my namesake on a stationer's shop!

The Victoria Station area is a VERY convenient "home base".  We had dinner at the Bag O'Nails Pub near the hotel...

 

...and were close enough to walk to Buckingham Palace after that.  It was cloudy and a little dreary, but there were flowers and green grass, which MORE than made up for it.

 

 

After exploring a park across the street from Buckingham Palace...

 

...we headed back to the hotel, and went to bed.

A SUPER LONG day, but GREAT to be back "across the pond" again!!!

Stop THIEF!!!!!

Identity theft…two words that strike fear, and make us all clutch our wallets and purses a little closer (as if that does any good…).  I found out yesterday that it’s happened to me. 

I received an envelope from a bank at which I have a savings account, but with which I haven’t done anything for several years.  I actually thought it was “junk mail”, and tossed it in a stack of stuff to look at “later”.  I was paying bills, and decided to see what it was.  Glad I did, because it was a letter notifying me that activity had recently been transacted.  They were writing to see if I had made any recent withdrawals from my account.

 

I called the bank, and learned that SEVERAL transactions had transpired, and the account now had a negative balance, due to monthly fees.  I assured the bank that it wasn’t me, and that I HADN’T been at a branch on one day in St. Paul, during which half the money was withdrawn, and that I HADN’T been at a branch the next day in downtown Minneapolis to withdraw the remainder of the money from the account.

The person who WAS at both locations had an ID with MY NAME on it, and signed MY NAME to withdraw the money (insert expletive here).  Not sure how this account reached anyone’s radar…it’s not an active account, and I haven’t done anything with the money in the account for several years.

 

So now I’ve contacted the Federal Trade Commission to report a possible case of identity theft.  I’m in the process of getting credit scores from the three big credit score companies.  I’ve opened a "Fraud Report" with the bank.  They are checking into it, and will let me know what they find…eventually.  A police report will be generated and, if someone is caught, prosecuted (I suggest the electric chair or something similar), and now I worry…and check my other accounts several times a day…and worry some more.

Identity theft not only steals your “information”…it steals your “peace of mind”, and for that, I wish the perpetrator a LONG, LONG incarceration, and a lifetime of misery. 

Think of how much better this world would be if people used their powers for good, and not evil.

Sorry…not a very happy post, but…I’m not very happy.

Here’s hoping YOU are not experiencing similar angst, and that you are monitoring your credit reports, and keeping your documents secure, and that you are doing whatever it takes to keep the “bad guys” from doing what they do!

6th Grade Musical

I DO NOT KNOW what possessed me...weak moment...stupidity...solar flare.  Whatever the case, I now find myself DIRECTING the 6th grade musical this year at my new school.  Ugh!

I LOVE theater...specifically BEING in the spotlight...RUNNING the spotlight...not so much.  I SHOULD have known I was in trouble when the original director they hired quit before even starting.  I should also have taken the hint that I was in trouble when "older" staff members approached me with comments like "sucker" and "are you INSANE?".  I'm doomed.

Having said that, and even though it's been one catastrophe and frustration after another since I agreed to direct, I'm SECRETLY kind of looking forward to it.  We had a HUGE turnout for auditions, and it was actually hard to choose the cast...there were THAT MANY talented students from which to choose.

Even though I had about FORTY SEVEN SECONDS to choose a play (because I was told by SEVERAL people that we were already SIX WEEKS BEHIND SCHEDULE), and I've suffered through a "parent meeting to get volunteers" in which a snarky parent was really abrasive, and I've had to switch out several cast members for various stupid reasons, and no one has stepped up to head ANY of the crews (costumes, props, set, sound, light, etc.), it's TRAGICALLY sad that this is STILL better than my previous job...right??!!

So...gloom and doom aside (and IGNORING the fact that my music director, who has been "part of the 'in charge' team" for NINE THOUSAND YEARS has it out for me because I'm relegating her to "just" music director, and not thinking about the fact that we have about eight weeks of 40 minute rehearsals three times a week to put everything together, and NOT even worrying about the fact that I have NO IDEA how to run the light board or the sound equipment in the theater, AND ignoring the fact that, in trying to reschedule the show from the dates that were chosen by someone else LAST YEAR (before I even started), I've COMPLETELY pissed off the "director of the arts" for the school district), it should be a really good show!

I've chosen "Unhappily Ever After", a musical about a counselor that has set up group therapy sessions with storybook characters because they are not, in fact, living happily ever after.  The counselor decides that she should rewrite the story and match characters up with others who share similar qualities...Prince Charming with the wicked stepmother because she's very sharp, Sleeping Beauty with the Frog Prince, because his croaking won't be annoying to someone who sleeps all the time, etc.  It turns out the counselor was right in the first place, and she re-rewrites everything again.  The characters decide they have to make the best of what they have, and all live...happily ever after.

It will be an AMAZING show.  The 6th graders are going to be AWESOME.  I will "tweak" the script enough to satisfy the prickly parent and ensure that ALL of the 6th graders will, indeed, get to do enough to make it "memorable for them too".  Volunteers WILL step up to lead the various crews.  I WILL have enough in the "6th grade musical budget" to pay for everything...and, hey...the last time I directed a show, I went down three pant sizes because of the stress...BONUS...this will help me accomplish my "weight loss goals" from previous posts...

Here's hoping YOU have not, possibly, bitten off more than you can chew, but, if you have, that your current circumstances are still better than your previous circumstances.

Oh...and that you have enough budget to pay for your stuff too!!!!!!