Quick trip to London for a show

Up early again this morning and straight out for the now-standard walk up to the entrance of Wytham Woods. Managed it in 58 minutes, so the pace is staying pretty consistent which is pleasing. Good to get the steps in before the day even starts properly.

Work, however, was another story. Extremely busy again and definitely stressful at the minute. Feels like there’s constantly something needing attention and very little chance to pause for breath. Still, got through it all and at least I ate well today, which is helping balance things out a bit.

Jack cooked dinner for us this evening which was appreciated, and then we made sure to leave on time at 4.30pm because we were heading into London for the theatre. Amazingly, the journey in was unbelievably clear — almost suspiciously so — and we got parked in the usual place without any problems at all.

From there we had a nice walk across towards Piccadilly, grabbing snacks from Greggs on the way because, despite dinner, it somehow still felt necessary.

The show we’d gone to see was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry at the Haymarket Theatre and it was absolutely brilliant. The second half in particular was incredibly emotional and really hit hard in places, but overall it was such a well-done production and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. One of those performances that stays with you afterwards and gets you thinking.

After the show we wandered back through London, got in the car and headed home. Thankfully the roads were still fairly clear and we made it back around midnight without any drama.

A long day, especially with work being as stressful as it currently is, but definitely worth it for such a good evening.

End of Day Summary:
A busy and fairly stressful workday balanced out perfectly by a fantastic evening in London. The theatre trip completely justified the effort and late night, with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry turning out to be emotional, thoughtful and genuinely memorable. One of those evenings that reminds you why it’s important to still make time for things outside of work. 

Manchester and Hamilton Show

 Woke up early and wasted time on the phone as usual

Went down and had some coffee and croissants and gradually everyone got up and came through to the kitchen. Charlotte made us all laugh with sending an image of a lake and a lovely morning saying that was her view. Even Jodie was asking if they'd driven off somewhere in the evening!

Nice scrambled eggs for later lunch and then Charlotte, Miles and I went over to Go Outdoors as I wanted to get the gloves that I had seen previously, couldn't find the ones I wanted until about to leave and a small pair were in amongst a load of others and they were exactly what I needed so I bought them right away and Charlotte ended up getting a wet-suit!

Back to Lewis's and it was time to set out for the train station, it was just me, Tash, Mum, Lewis and Emily. The others, Charlotte, Miles, Jack and Jodie didn't have tickets so they went to the gym so we said our goodbyes as Charl and Miles were heading off to Nottingham ad not coming out for a meal after the show.

We walked to Cheadle and were a bit early so has a drink in the local pub and then got the train, we were in good time and got some food and walked to the theatre and took up our places in the top circle. Was the best seats but we've had worse so nothing to complain about.

Must admit I wasn't overly bothered about the show and didn't really know what to expect but it was very, very good. I really enjoyed it. The show is all rap and hip/hop-style singing and very little talking of any sort. It was hard to follow at times but very glad that I went and experienced it. Ate far too much rubbish but when we left we walked to The Anthologist which is a cocktail bar to meet Jack and Jodie was was met with a pleasant surprise to see Charl and Miles - they decided not to go to Nottingham afterall so were out with us for the evening which was great news.

Had a couple of drinks and then wandered down to our restaurant, Ciccheti which is near Deansgate which is such a great, lively road - love it along there. The restaurant was a good choice, nice atmosphere and food and drink.Once all done and dusted we were going to make our way home but ended up at NQ64 which is the place with all the arcade games, that was a laugh and we had a couple of drinks in there and played the games, me and mum were decent on the dance mat!

Jack took Mum home so it was just me, Tash, Emily and Lewis on the train, nothing exciting to report. Back at Lewis's and we sat in the kitchen and had a few more beers and then then everyone went off to bed but Charl and I stayed up talking and listening to music.

We chatted for ages about all sorts of things, a few tears, especially when I asked about marriage and Miles fear of flying. Such a shame. It was good to talk though and around 4.00am we gave up and went to bed.

A great day and evening - absolutely loved it.

Love our family and how we all get on together and do this

Dreamgirls

Managed a full day at work today. Quite productive but again very tiring. Managing to remain disconnected from the emotion which is pleasing

Tash came home after work but not for long as she was meeting up with Sharon and Kerry to go to the theatre and watched a show called Dreamgirls, came back quite late but said it was well worth it and really enjoyable. Can’t remember the leading lady’s name but she was on the voice and Tash said she was amazing so that’s good. 

I just had dinner and got the fire going after going for a walk around the village in the pouring rain. It gave me a good excuse to use my Dry Robe though! The main reason is I’ve got a fitness app and I’ve reduce the daily steps target to 4K whilst I’m doing rehab. So I forced myself to do it as it’s the second day to meet that target, didn’t need to worry, ended up about 5.5k in the end!! That’s steps, not distance!!

Tash went out so lazed in front of the fire and watched a few episodes of Narcos, got back into it very quickly, it is addictive viewing. Really enjoyed it. 

A decent day I guess. 

Easter Saturday – Book of Mormon

Woke up around 9.00am and everyone was hungover! Lewis was in a bad way, no surprise there really and slowly we all got going.

Around 10.30am we got on the road to London, I went and picked Mum up from home and Lewis and Jack just slept in the car! We drove so slowly waiting for Tash to catch up but they didn’t until we got to the actual parking place which was so odd, I could not have driven any slower! I know they have the black box but I was 60mph all the way there! Anyway, we booked a parking place near Marble Arch which was cheap and convenient and walked to Marble Arch and went past Claudia Winkelman washing her car with her kids so that caused a bit of excitement!

At Marble Arch we were greeted with the strangest sight, there were no cars to be seen at all and it was a tent city wherever you looked. It was part of the Extinction demonstrations which are part of the global peace warriors initiative. Or something like that! It’s taking place all over the UK and the world which has been in the news but it was so interesting to see it in place – there was no way any traffic was coming through these areas and the police presence was really high, we walked through the middle of it and it was interesting and we made our way to Hyde Park. Today is also 420 Day which is the universal weed/drug day as well…so that was good timing!

We found a nice spot and had our picnic which included Moet Champagne which Lewis struggled with! Bit of relaxing and then walked down Oxford Street (empty!) to Regent Street down to Piccadilly Circus where the theatre was for our show – The Book of Mormon. We got in as they were calling people to their seats and our seats were very good, high up, but we had a decent view so we were all happy with that.  I had heard reviews about the show in that it was supposed to be hilarious but didn’t know what else to expect…and bloody hell, was it a shocking surprise. As suggested, it focussed on the Mormon church and teases religion and racial stereotypes and prejudices. But it was disgusting! I can’t describe the songs or the dances, it was just simply appalling bad taste but very, very funny indeed. The shock value was turned right up to ten! I later found out it was written by the guys that write South Park so that put it all into context for me/us.

After the show we all agreed it was brilliant and we loved it, but at the same time could understand how it could infuriate and disgust people of a different constitution. I would certainly consider wisely anyone that I would recommend it to!

Afterwards we started walking back towards the car  but took the back streets parallel with Regent Street and found a nice pub/bar to stop for food and drink and we had a couple of pints in there. It started to get a little cold because it was in the shade so we walked on further down Carnaby street and then down Oxford Street again and we found another pub and two more pints in there. I kept extending our parking end time and it was great because there were no extra charges for doing so, excellent value for money. We finally gave in and walked to the car properly going through all the protesters again and near an incident where the roads were all cordoned off by the police but luckily it wasn’t our way out so didn’t affect us. Tash drove as I’d had a couple of pints…and Lewis and I slept all the way home…nice!

Stopped for MacDonald's on the way back in Headington – although my quarter-pounder wasn’t included and then went straight to bed, everyone was knackered!

Outside the pub after the show…

Wishing Happy Birthday to Lewis in Hyde Park before the show…

Matilda for Ivy’s birthday

I dropped Tash off to work early in the morning and then back home to do some work of my own before getting ready and then picking up Ivy from Sue’s and then making our way back to Tash’s work to collect her and then we drove off to London. The traffic was fine until we got into Central London of course and then things went pear-shaped! My windscreen wipers would not stop working, it was so odd, whatever I did I couldn’t turn them off. We sat in loads of jams but eventually I was able to drop them off near to the theatre and they walked on whilst I managed to find somewhere to park near to Blackfriars for my meeting with Janice and Gabrielle, but I had to leave my car parked with the damned wipers still working away so I was really worried about the battery running out.

The meeting was a waste of time and I was done in under an hour, back to the car and the wipers were still going!! I drove around for a bit and ended up in Shoreditch again, such a coincidence to be there a few days after having been there so recently. Went round in circles and eventually got a bit of grudging help from a mechanic who pointed out where the fuses were and sure enough I managed to turn the bloody wipers off!

I then went back towards Drury Lane and found somewhere to park and went and got a coffee and cookie whilst working and waiting for the show to finish. Tash had taken Ivy to see Matilda for her 4th birthday and the show today included Miles’s brother Ozzie. I wandered down to meet them and Tash said it was good and we saw Oz by the stage door before going back to the car and making our way home.

Stopped at McDonalds of course for healthy food…and then back to Bicester to drop Ivy off and then home

She appeared to enjoy the trip and experience – let’s hope so.

Heavy head and Shrek

Woke up with a heavy head this morning, not too desperate but still not much fun! Sat downstairs with Jack and watched the X-Men film we’d recorded and it was very enjoyable. Had a big fry-up for dinner and then got ready for football, it was an afternoon kick-off today but we needed to leave by 12.30pm.

All a bit tense to be honest, there’s a definite lack of enthusiasm and respect with the team and players at the minute, it’s really hard work. Jack was struggling with his knees and ankles and could hardly walk, let alone run but we didn’t have enough players so he had to play. He did fine but was struggling throughout and didn’t last.

First half was pleasing, played some decent football and moved it well and were 3-0 up. A bit less quality in the second half but still managed to win 5-1 in the end. Pleasing after a weird start to the morning.

Tash wasn’t in when we got home so we had our dinner and then went into Oxford, parked at Tasha’s work and met with Sue, Brendan, Nik, Gaz and Emily to watch Shrek. It was very good and really enjoyable. An excellent show which matched the film and was great fun.

When it finished we said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Jack & I then watched the beginning of I’m a Celebrity Get me out of here and it was quite addictive in the end and I watched all of it. I then didn’t want to go to bed and stayed up watching other things until after midnight – stupid of me really because I know I need to get up at 5.30am tomorrow

Tash wasn’t around because she and Charlotte had taken Jessica and Katie to London to see Lewis in the show he’s been working on all last week. It’s going to be on ITV in January and should be quite enjoyable actually – it’s a high profile show with Celebs learning/performing acts and his one is obviously skipping. I was getting updates from Tash and Charlotte as they were excited by who they were sharing time, drinks and nibbles with. I can’t say but they’re not mainstream celebs any more but they’re all well known back in the day!

They got home around 12.30am so we spoke to seconds before trying to get some sleep but they had a fantastic time and Lewis really enjoyed it

So, a very, very busy weekend – I am absolutely drained!