| the baby squirrel etc... |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:42 pm] |
After we went to the toilets at the Savoy, which were worth the trip to London on their own (I got a photo on my phone)we found a park to sit and eat our egg sandwiches that Mike had made. He also got us a can of drink each and some crisps (chips) and chocolate. We spread all our bits out on our bench, and I put my drink on the ground by my foot, AND THEN a baby squirrel sat on my foot and tried to steal my drink. It was so cute, and we named it Squidge, and it sat between Mike's feet and ate bread, and about 20 Italian tourists walked past and stopped and looked at him. Mike had never had 20 Italians looking between his legs before. The gardeners passed and they said it was unusual for one to be so tame. We could pat him and everything.
Then we saw the show which was amazing, then we went to the Savoy toilets again, and then we went home, got back to Leicester about 2am.
The next day at school Mrs Fisher the deputy-head was boasting that she was going to see Ian McKellan in King Lear at Stratford-upon-Avon in a couple of weeks time. I thought "I'd like to see that" but assumed it would have sold out months ago. I went on the internet and there weren't any tickets, so i rang just to see if there was anything, and the lady said she had a couple for 48 pounds, sitting apart, and then she said "if you want to sit together there are 2 8 pound tickets for tonight's performance left" and I said "YES PLEASE" and we were off again. It was brilliant. On the way to Stratford in the car I read the study guide, comic strip version and the proper play, but we needn't have done because the acting was so brilliant and natural there was never any lack of understanding. Ian McKellan played King Lear, and Sylvester McCoy played the fool, and William Gaunt was Gloucester. The latter 2 were in Dr Who so that kept Mike happy. We were right up the back but could see everything perfectly, and I took our binoculars which helped. Ian McKellan took his clothes off briefly which was impressive. It was pretty amazing seeing a Shakespeare play in the town where he was born with such high-profile actors in...if we'd wanted to we could have thrown stuff at them really easily. I wouldn't take kids from school there. |
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| third time unlucky |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:44 pm] |
I have to add that that night we went to the Savoy was one of the best nights of my life, I was so happy sitting in the park eating my egg sandwich I had tears of joy in my eyes.
Our third attempt at seeing last-minute amazing theatre didn't go so well. I booked tickets to see Robert Lindsey in The Entertainer at the Old Vic for last Wednesday. Mike got of work early and we had stacks of time to go down there, but there was an accident on the M1 and we got stuck and didn't get to Highgate until 7:45, the performance starting at 7:30 and still at least 1/2 hour away on tube and foot. So we went for a walk through Highgate Wood and looked at 105 and 196 Muswell Hill Road where Dad used to live, and had a drink and some cheese at the Woodman pub and watched a football match on the big screen. Not exactly what I'd been looking forward to but it still ended up a nice evening nonetheless. It was a warm night, the last few days it's been cold and rainy again. I quite like cold and rainey really, and I've just washed my scarf so it's fit to be worn again so I'm nice and cosy. |
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| TORCHWOOD |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:50 pm] |
this is cut and pasted from the email we sent parents and known Dr Who fans...sorry for being lazy and doubling up. This all happened Thursday 10th May.
Well... we got up at 5am, Mike had made sandwiches the night before and we'd packed a huge suitcase with costume options in. Drove to Cardiff, pulling over on the way to report Mike sick and me looking after him (mopping up vomit etc). Felt really awful lying but hoped it would be worth it. Got to the Cardiff docks really early. Drove into the city in search of a charity (op) shop to buy non-striped ties and a nice jacket for Mike, got all that, went back to the site. Met nice people, some professional extras that do this all the time, lots on Casualty, Dr Who and Torchwood. Had an amazing breakfast served around 12pm. Got squished into a car and driven to the other side of the river to Cardiff Bay where they were filming. The plot was Toshiko (Japanese character) has fallen in love with a guy who was frozen during WWI and had been thawed out, but they have to send him back to his own time to repair the rift which Owen opened last series. Or something like that. We sat in the car for a while, then had to get out and stand in various places around the bay where Tosh and the WWI guy were. It was pouring with rain all day I must add. Then we were told to go back to the car and keep dry and we realised that was just a rehearsal. We sat in the car and watched through the fogged-up windows and rain the two main actors rehearsing for ages. Too far away to hear anything. There were 20 of us extras all up, 5 of us in this posh car thingie and the rest in a mini bus. After a while they asked all of us in the car to get out so Tosh could get in. At this time Mike and I both spoke to her...Mike held the back door open for her to get in and she didn't look happy so he said "would you rather sit in the front" and she said "yes please" and smiled at him and sat in the front and said "thanks". Then we were told to get all out stuff out the car as well so I opened the back door and got my stuff and noticed Tosh was sitting on a jacket which had been provided by costume for someone else to wear so I said "excuse-me, sorry, I just need to get this jacket" and tried to tug it out from under her, but she ignored me so i just gave up and ran away, then i told the guy whose jacket it was and he went back and got it. So that was out brush with fame. We were due to be in 2 scenes with 2 different costumes (most of us were just told to change our jackets/coats). Our car group stood under the tent where all the filming equipment is, waiting for Tosh to come back for quite some time. Then the director (or it might have been 3rd director) who looked a bit like David Tennant apologised to us all and said none of the extras were going to be used because it was too difficult with the rain EXCEPT me and a young guy called James. So i said Mike was my husband and he'd stay around too if he could be used at all so he said he'd keep that in mind. So we waited a bit more for the car to come back with Tosh, but then the director man came back and said he was signing us ALL out after all. So the car came back and not only Tosh got out (still looking miserable) but OWEN too who looked fresh and smiling (mind you he hadn't been standing in the rain all day) and they walked past us, and we all got back into the car and waited for a driver, but then some of the other extras got out of the minibus and walked around a bit and we didn't know if they were being used or not. So we sat there for a long time, then we were all told to get out the car and into the bus and then the lot of us were driven in the bus back to the base, signed out and went home at around 6:30pm. Had a Wimpey burger for dinner on the way back. Mike was told he would make a fantastic next Dr Who, unfortunately it was the young very inexperienced guy James (who said at the start of the day he didn't like waiting around much!) who said this and no one with any say in the matter.
So yes...when the episode is shown next January (in UK at least) with Tosh and the frozen WWI guy, and you see them chatting in the rain at Cardiff Bay, just remember WE COULD HAVE BEEN STANDING IN THE BACKGROUND!
i swear since we arrived in England on the 16th June we have not had a single day where it has continuously rained for the entire day until yesterday. Oh well, good for the farmers I suppose.
Love Pru and Mike xxx |
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