Wednesday 7 September: London Town - again
Time this morning for some house-keeping. We found a launderette, did our washing, and caught up on a few chores.
We went to Drury Lane to confirm our tickets for the show tonight (The Producers), then a stroll up The Strand. We bought a spare memory card for the Coolpix, and stopped at a tiny little roadside cafe (2 tables) for a coffee. The next table was occupied by an elderly but very distinguished looking lady who was holding a very loud conversation with some people we couldn't see. After looking around, we still couldn't see them, but she kept right on talking.
We strolled around Covent Garden, which has changed considerably since Eliza Doolittle's day. There was an extremely good flute quartet playing (busking) and doing their best to compete with a jackhammer a few metres away.
After Anglican Church's outrageous behaviour at Westminster Abbey, we decided to give them a chance to redeem themselves at St Paul's Cathedral. We got a small discount off the £8.00 admission by holding the right brand of London map, and decided to cough up the £2.50 for a guided tour.
I have to say it was excellent. The church itself is enormous, but built in a pretty consistent style throughout. Unlike some of the old cathedrals, it's possible to see from one end to the other without intervening walls and screens. The architecture is much more open and light than Westminster Abbey, and the number of graves and memorials is much less. The cathedral has just finishd a four year £4 million internal cleaning & refurbishment, and the cathedral looks as good now as at any time in its long history. It looks great from the ground floor level, and we also had a look down from the whispering gallery, up in the dome. (We didn't go up to the higher galleries - too many steps).
How not to attract customers: Paul needed a couple of extra shirts, so we went into that upmarket shop Harvey Nicholls. From the moment we walked through the door, we were assailed by young women eager to spray us with perfume. Even worse, we were assailed by very loud music of the "dance" genre (bass drum and shout a lot). We didn't buy anything, but got out as quickly as possible.
Major security alert: Next stop was Harrod's department store. We were stopped at the door by security when Sue set off all the alarms. She then had to suffer the indiginty of having her shoulder bag examined item by item until the potential explosives were found - it turned out to be the packaging from the spare memory card bought earlier that day. The security officer apologised for the inconvenience. "Quite all right", said Paul. "No it's not!", said Sue.
The Theatre Royal has been operating at Drury Lane since 1639. The seats felt at least that old. We saw The Producers by Mel Brooks - not a bad comedy, and pretty good music. Interestingly, the list of chairmen and managers in the front of the theatre lists Andrew Lloyd Webber as chairman since 2000, preceded Robert Holmes a'Court (1982 - 1990) and Janet Holmes a'Court from 1990 to 2000. If you're reading this Janet - new seats please!
