Showtime

The second part of my time in London was quite solitary. For the first time since I left Vancouver I was without even a temporary best friend. The hostel had a bar as a common space and there was never a shortage of people in it, but I guess I was subconsciously ready for some alone time. I didn’t realize that I spent the majority of the next few days exploring London solo until I sat down to right this post. I’ve been keeping small notes in my iPod so that when I find the time to sit down and write an entry I won’t forget any of my favorite details/people. When I looked at the “People” list in my notes it was almost completely blank. The only exception was an Australian police officer named Nick. I had first encountered him on a pub crawl in Dublin, and as luck would have it I ran into him on my last night in London (again on a pubcrawl). The party was sparsely attended but we managed to make the best of it. For the second time in as many weeks I woke up feeling less than 100%. That night was my only real social endeavor during my final 3.5 days in England. At this point I’m not certain how I feel about it, and whether or not it will be continue. It does become tiring having to say goodbye to people every few days, so there is something to be said for having a travel companion. My next stop is in Oslo where I will be visiting a good friend from my UBC days, so that will be a refreshing change from having to learn all about strangers. I’ll let you know how that turns out. My solitary efforts in London focused largely on the theatres of the West End. The next portion in this post will amount to bragging and then I’ll offer a tip for seeing shows and saving $. The weather was less than ideal so I took refuge in the theatres on the rainy evenings/afternoons. I was able to take in 3 excellent shows. The first was Million Dollar Quartet, the story of one exceptional night when Elvis, Jonny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were all in the same small recording studio in Memphis. Over the past decade my musical tastes have expanded well beyond the alternative/rock genre that dominated my teen years, and during that expansion I have added many Jonny Cash songs to my playlists. As a kid, 60s and 70s rock dominated the stereo in our minivan on long roadtrips and summer vacations, so I was familiar with many of the songs and was even able to sing along to a few. It was a great evening that had the audience, myself included, out of our seats dancing and singing. As I was out of my seat I couldn’t help but laugh at myself and think of all the times I gave my mother shit for her silly dancing in her seat during those family trips. The next day I was hoping to indulge my inner child and see the Lion King. Unfortunately it was sold out so my plan B was a matinee of Phantom of the Opera. Phantom has been playing for 25 years and is arguably the most popular production of all time, so a description is unnecessary. The third and final show in my theatre hat-trick was by far and away my favorite. We Will Rock You is about a time in the future when all life is lived online and free thought and expression, especially through music, is forbidden. The story winds its way through the greatest hits of Queen and only further illustrates how talented Freddy Mercury was. Now how did I attend all these shows on a backpackers budget? The key is being a loner and attending the shows solo. You’re watching the show, so who cares if you don’t know the person beside you. Most weekday shows don’t completely sell out and/or theatres keep a few seats empty in case they need to accommodate guests with special issues. You simply buy the cheapest possible single ticket to the production at one of the discount ticket brokers in the main square. Usually your assigned seat has a partially obstructed view or something else wrong with it as to warrant the bargain price. When you arrive at the theatre you go to the box office and ask if they have any available upgrades for a single ticket. I was 3 for 3 and was sitting in £75 seats for £18-24. 3 shows for the price of 1 and about enough “culture” to last me the rest of the trip.