D24: Brilliant day with another brilliant play

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Ok, so today was one of the day’s I was pretty much counting down to for my entire trip - I went to see Richard III (with Martin Freeman in it). It lived up to expectations, but more about that later.

I had to switch hostels today so I took care of that in the morning, lugging my damn bag to the next place. The problem with buying a bunch of new clothes in London is of course then being stuck carrying them around with you the rest of the trip. It’s an ok problem to have 😉 The DLR trip was funny - I overheard a great conversation that truly speaks to London. A bunch of late 20 something year olds were having a heated discussion re: Thor 2 and how they 100% messed up the scene when Thor is on the tube and has to go to Greenwich… because you really can’t go to Greenwich by tube, for starters, and you wouldn’t arrive at Charing Cross, and it wasn’t even a Charing Cross train he was on. I had to try really hard not to laugh/react because it’s honestly not the first time I’ve heard people talking about this in public and the sad thing is I remember when I saw it in theatre I picked up on their error as well. Oh Thor.

ANYWAY. After dropping my stuff of I headed off to Waterloo for some food - on weekend they have a street food market which always has great offerings. I got some spicy lamb with flat bread, red cabbage, mint yogurt sauce and some other sauce and it was superb. There also seems to be a “love festival” going on along the South Bank haha. No idea what that entails really, but there were a lot of posters and signs up all over. I do miss coming to South Bank - there’s always something going on, always something to keep you busy. It also felt weird to pass the National Theatre - I can’t believe I’m not seeing a play there this year. Very odd.

I wandered down, almost to Blackfriars, just taking pictures along the way. On the way back I managed to break my flip flop… sigh. (I apparently didn’t lift my foot high enough and kicked a cobblestone causing my shoe to crack.) I was determined though - I made my way along Waterloo bridge for a few more photos before I figured, right, I need a new shoe haha. Unfortunately I found myself back at Primark where I yes, got a pair of flip flops, and a shirt… and another cardigan. Ahem.

I went to Hyde Park for a bit - I do love all the green space in this city. Nothing exciting to speak to really, just saw a lot of ducks and other birds by the Italian Gardens and people watched for a bit. Then it was time to meet up with one of the girls I met while I was living in Luton - she’s also a big Sherlock fan, so we had got tickets together to see Martin. We grabbed supper (mmmm the sourdough pizza place I love) and then we set off for Trafalgar!

The play was really great - also didn’t hurt we had great seats! 4th row, but only one row in front of us and then a little extra bit of stage. It was great being so close though because we could see every little twitch and movement in their faces. I can now proudly say I got to see a Martin Freeman jaw clench up close and personal. He is such an actor, it was wonderful just to see him in his element.

It was a neat production on top of that. I like how ‘real’ they make the blood - and boy is it bloody. So much blood. I particularly enjoyed the squirting blood haha (the front row is a “splash zone” but they give you something to cover yourself if you like). I also liked the dream sequence towards the end. Very neat.

Back to the hostel… I can never have a regular day without people talking to me in a weird situation. In the span of 15 min I had two encounters. First, while waiting for my key after checking in, some guy started talking to me. Now, it’s important to note the hostel is connected to (and above) a pub, so check-in is at the bar. The guy talking to me was très drunk. First he wanted to know where the nearest train station was, then he wanted to know where I was from, then he wanted to buy me a drink but I politely declined his slurs as he really started to lean in. Ugh, no. *rolls eyes* Then I get up stairs and it’s a mixed dorm (retrospect maybe not a good idea in a pub hostel) and there were two guys in the room who were getting ready to go out (it was almost 11pm) and they started trying to convince me to go downstairs and “have a party” … yeah. Yeah. No. Remember how I said it would be great if my random convos were with younger men? Would be even better if they weren’t drunk/on their way to get drunk. Just sayin’ as well.

Icing on the cake was I had no pillow because the person below me presumably stole my pillow (they had two on their bed). Sigh. I was already in my pjs so I def went down to the pub in my pjs - I was 100% at the point of not giving a crap haha. But I have my pillow now so I’m a happy camper 😊 Considering music is blaring downstairs and it sounds like a fight might break out on the street under my window… I think I’ll watch a movie on my computer before I try and sleep. Although I'm totally grooving along to Animals right now.

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