The last 2 days in London

I am in Belgium. But first, here is the story of my last day in England whereupon I traveled far and met a certain person and saw my hero and then went home in time for tea…

Em was really sick so stayed in bed at the B&B on Sunday but was OK with me going out. I was going to return to Camden Town, but on a whim decided to get off the tube at Oxford Circus and have an explore. It was sunny when I got on the train but when I got off there was rain and hailstones. I bought an umbrella and the rain promptly stopped for the rest of the afternoon. Discovered some scriptwriting publications in Borders, went into the Apple Store on Regent Street OH MY GOD!! Two levels packed with everything and a lecture theatre for geeks right at the back. I avoided that. I also avoided buying another iPod just because they are so shiiiiiiiiiny. Went into Hanleys (?) the craziest toy store with everything EXCEPT Harry Potter Lego (hmph). Could have come out of there with a truckload of stuff… Skulked around in Liberty because they had the heater on and that was the only thing I could afford. The shops around that area are marvelous. I seriously need to win the lottery. Seriously. All the label stores. Sigh. Found Carnaby Street. It is not the Carnaby Street I remember-now very trendy very expensive shops… meh. However, there were some very, very funny tshirts to be had if you took out a second mortgage on the house or sold the kids into slavery. I can’t print what was on the tshirts because you will think that I am a very naughty person, which of course, I am not.

I had to collect some stuff from the aunties place in Watford, so went back to see if Em was still alive at the B&B. She was in fact sitting right in the open window taking a picture of the view from our room that made it look like we had stayed in a posh place. However, if someone took a picture of our building from the other side of the street, it would have looked like they lived in, well, not Holland Park darling. Anyhoo, I yelled out ‘what the hell are you doing?’ or some such other warm greeting before considering the fact that startling Em on a window sill more than 10 metres above the ground was not the brightest thing I have ever done. As it happens, Em did not in fact plummet to her early death from a second rate guest house. But I digress… Swapping places, I decided to do likewise and take a pic from the window and opened it right up to stand on the ledge thereby attracting the attention of two gentlemen who were standing on the steps of the adjacent building. We waved but did not exchange phone numbers. Decorum people. Decorum.

Got organized and left for the great metropolis that is Watford. Two hours later I am stuck at some station, no trains running to or from London because of the failure of a set of points on the line ahead. Trudged off to the bus stop because the replacement buses were busy replacing another train somewhere else that had broken down. Waited 40 mins in the FREEZING cold while every number bus EXCEPT the number 8 went by. Joined at the bus stop by a young Indian man who asked me if I was waiting for a bus… Lost the will to live.

Trudged back to the station and found the trains running again but just missed one. ARGH!!! Went into waiting room mmmmmmm heaaater. Long story short, got into Watford 3hrs after leaving London, a journey that should have taken 20-25 mins, tops.

Nikki picked me up at the station and we drove off then her car broke down again. She got out and for a minute I thought she was going to do a Basil Fawlty on the car with a tree branch but sadly, no. We administered first aid to the car and managed to get home. Decided to go for a quick drink and a bite to eat and while sitting there in the pub it started to SNOW. First snow I have seen since 1982 folks. It hasn’t changed much. Still white, wet and cold. It was too warm for the snow to stick but it was cool watching it fall and even cooler being not in it when it was doing so.

Monday dawned with a hint of excitement. Nikki and I had decided to go up West and see if we could get Daniel’s autograph at the stage door. It was do or die, you understand. Anyhoo, I rustled up a couple of items from my stock of Australiana that I thought he might like and got a card for Em and Nikki and myself to sign and waited for the evening. After checking on Em, we set off for Shaftesbury Ave and when we got there almost ran into Alan Radcliffe and Marcia Gresham (Dan’s mum and dad to you.) I asked would they give our gifts to Dan to which Alan said ‘Sure’ and that was that. We went round the back by the stage door and set up position right behind the barricade. It was 9.45pm and almost time for Dan to come out. Weeeee!

But get this! At just after 10, a tall man in a black coat worked his way gently through the gaggle of fans waiting for Dan. IT WAS ALAN RICKMAN OMG. I saw him and my mouth dropped open and I lost the capacity for speech. Nikki later said it was a beautiful moment (hmph). For the seconds that it took for him to pass by all I could do was stare. That is sad, hey? OMG my hero. He looks GREAT!!!!! Sigh.

And then Dan came out. Nikki started hyperventilating and needed breathing instructions. He worked his way around the crowd of fans and got to me. His dad was there and said to him that I was the one who had given him the presents. (What were they? Tim Tams and Vegemite of course!) He loves Tim Tams and said ‘Oh fantastic!!!!!!!! Thank you. Then we had a conversation about Tim Tam milk shakes. He signed my program and Nikki’s and said he liked my nails (sparkly silver French manicure – shiiiiiiny) Can you believe it? The whole thing rocked so hard. Afterwards, Nikki and I wandered off, happy and slightly unbelieving, into Soho before deciding that was not a good idea and returning to the B&B. That was the best day of my holiday. Happy Birthday Nik. You are a mate!!

Some pics and even a vid to follow when I can get to it.

Take care. Much love.