17th December & the Wicked Update
I promised I'd write an entry about my day in London, and I figure tonight is the best time to do that. First things first, though, it was quite possibly one of the best days of my life. My sister and I had been looking forward to going to see Wicked again since we went last time in May, and we'd been saving up much of our money so that we could go again. My sister didn't think that we would go, though, because I told her (quite truthfully) that all of the tickets of the lower price range had gone, and that we simply wouldn't be able to afford it.
I thought that this was honestly the case, and I had almost resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn't be going, when I - on the off chance we might get some money for the cause - asked my Mum if she would mind me taking Alisha all the way to London by myself. It's along journey, and a very big place, and I thought she would say no. I couldn't have been more wrong though, because she actually seemed pretty thrilled by the prospect of us going together, and she said that she would even pay for the show tickets for us (£60 plus p&p each!) on the one condition that she could be there when I told my sister that we were going.
So, on Saturday December 13th, 2008, my sister and I were going to see Wicked, for possibly the final time. When I paid for the coach tickets I made sure we could get there early in the morning, and we would have time after the show too. At 7am on the Saturday morning we arrived at the coach stop for the 7:15am coach to London. It was freezing cold, and pouring it down with rain. The driver let us straight onto the coach because the weather was so bad, and because I'm a wonderful sister I let Alisha have the window seat. We left the coach stop at exactly 7:15 by the coach clock, and after a couple of trips onto the coach by dad to make sure we had all the food we needed for the journey, we settled into the trip nicely. For the first couple of hours Ally and I dozed on and off, because we'd woken up quite early, and at around 10am we made a video on my phone. Our first video of the day.
We arrived in Victoria coach station, London at around 10:30am, earlier than expected, and it was still raining. Since the show didn't start until 2:30pm, we had nothing to do. Originally we'd planned to meet the Wicked cast, and get their autographs, but the weather was so poor that this would have been impossible with only the little umbrella that I had between us, so we went back into the underground station and got ourselves some food. MacDonald's. *eyeroll* I've found that when in London I lose my appetite, though, so I didn't eat much. After that we decided that we had plenty of time, and we decided to get ourselves onto a bus tour of London.
It was about twelve o'clock when we got onto our tour, which was due to last for two hours. Alisha insisted that we sit on the top of the bus, which had a little shield over the top at the front, and the rest was open-air. We sat near the front, so we didn't get wet, but we were still freezing. It was so cold up there I lost all feeling in my feet, fingers, ass and nose. It was awesome, though because we saw a few epic landmarks. However, Alisha began to worry that we were going to be late for the show if we did the whole circuit, so after an hour on the tour we asked the tour guide where the best stop would be to get the underground back to Victoria station, opposite which is the Apollo theatre where Wicked is performed. The tour guide directed us off the bus at Piccadilly Circus, where we walked back towards Oxford Circus, along Regent Street. On the way, we saw Hamley's Toy Shop.
Here we made our second video of the day. Hamley's is the most epic toy store I have ever seen in my life. Not only is it huge, and old, it's lined from floor to ceiling on the bottom floor with stuff toys. Alisha and I went wild, and spent a good fifteen minutes running around the bottom floor. We didn't stay long, though, because we didn't want to miss the show.
A quick underground trip later we were back in Victoria, and ready to see the show. We both bought items from the souvenir shop. I got a new Wicked sweater, and Alisha bought a mug with the Wicked logo on, and then we went to go and sit in our seats. I had been worried that they weren't as good as they could have been, since we had X 3 and 4, near the end of the row on the right side of the theatre. Last time I had been so close to the edge, I'd sat with a pillar in front of my face for the whole show. This time, I'd done well when I bought the tickets, though, because X isn't - as I thought - the third row from the back. It's actually quite far forward, and so we had PRIME seats. We could see the whole stage, and we got some little binoculars to focus up in the faces of the cast. Here we made another video on my phone, showing our seats. I couldn't wait for the show to start, and neither (I think) could Alisha.
The best moment, though, was when the show started. Galinda came hovering down to stage in her giant bubble, and I whispered to Alisha frantically: "It's DIANNE! DIANNE!" since we both love Dianne, and think she's definitely the best Galinda we've ever seen. That was the first moment of excitement. The beginning of the show was flawless, but little did I know it was about to get better. The moment Elphaba came onto stage, I grabbed the binoculars from my sister, and almost cried out in delight. "It's KERRY! IT'S KERRY! KERRY! KERRY! KERRY!" I could hardly contain my excitement. KERRY ELLIS WAS FINALLY PERFORMING. From the moment she said her amazing "Oh, what, do I have something in my TEETH?" to the end of the shown, I had a huge grin plastered across my face. Well, until they performed the sad songs, then I wasn't smiling. XD I spent the whole performance with this fantastic buzzing in my chest, partly to do with the volume of the casts' voices as they sung.
When Fiyero came on, I threw another hissy of excitement whispering "It's OLIVER!" happily as my sister grinned at me. I laughed so hard at points of that show, I don't think I've ever found anything like that so funny before. The show does get better every time you see it.
There were two girls sat behind us who, for one, had bought pretty much the whole gift shop between them, and secondly who were sobbing so hard by the end of the performance it was almost comical. It was their first performance, and it was truly a wonderful one for them to have seen. Kerry Ellis, Dianne Pilkington and Oliver Tompsett all on stage at the same time is enough to make any true Wicked fan happy. <3
After the show, Alisha and I made another video, this time outside of the theatre. It was around half five, and since we'd eaten lunch so early we were really hungry. And, since we didn't have to be back in Victoria to catch the coach home until 9pm we decided we'd head for something to eat. We went back to Regent Street. Here we found a Marks and Spencers (classy, I know), and ate in the dinner hall section. Again I couldn't finish my food, but it didn't matter. I was having so much fun, even the rain couldn't keep my spirits down.
After eating we went shopping, and went into Borders and a few other awesome shops before finding ourselves back at Hamley's. We couldn't resist it, so we decided that we'd give ourselves a limit to how much we could spend, and go in and buy something. We walked out half an hour later with two cute dog plushies between us, which we named London (my doggy) and Fiyero (Alisha's)., and a packet of candy cane sweets with chocolate inside them. After this, we headed back to the coach station to find the departure area, which we were worried about finding.
We got back there an hour early, and sat in the station for a while, making videos, watching our other videos and playing with our toys. >_> What a big kid I am. Seriously.
The coach arrived on time, and we got on it at quarter to nine, leaving at 9pm sharp. On the way back we attempted to make a final video, but by this time we were tired, and my phone was running out of battery, so we left it half finished, and fell to sleep. By the time we got home it was midnight, and we were surprisingly tired. By the time we got to sleep it was 1am. It was honestly SUCH an awesome day. I'll never forget it if I can help it. <3
It made me realise, though, just how independent I can be. I was worried about taking Alisha in case something went wrong, but everything went off perfectly, and we avoided any disasters carefully and easily. It was wonderful, and if I could get the money, and better weather, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, this time seeing more on the bus tour. :D
The sad thing is, the point Alisha remembers best about the whole day was that on the way back to the coach station we saw a man pissing up a wall. XD What a wonderfully disturbed child she is. :B
-- There. I told you I'd update. sorry it's long, but it was so cool it deserves a long entry. Aren't you glad I didn't update about my WEEKEND in London? Goodness, we'd have been here for WEEKS.
As for today, it's been a pretty awesome day. Penultimate day before Christmas break, we had coffee and tea and croissants and chocolats in Mr Summers' English Lit class, successfully stalling him for two hours and planning an essay rather than writing one. Matt baked a chocolate cake - a huge one - and it was ferking WICKED. Seriously.
Tomorrow I have a mini Christmas party in Psychology with Mr. Read, and he's taking photos of us to put on his wall. I wonder if I should curl my hair or not... I don't know. If I can get up early enough I guess I just might try it. That photo will be on the wall for a whole year. It has to be good. O_O
And then I have two weeks off for Christmas, New Year, and to revise for my Psychology and General Studies exams that are coming up in January. I hate exames. >_o
Anyway. Bed time. Tooooodles.
xoxoxox
I thought that this was honestly the case, and I had almost resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn't be going, when I - on the off chance we might get some money for the cause - asked my Mum if she would mind me taking Alisha all the way to London by myself. It's along journey, and a very big place, and I thought she would say no. I couldn't have been more wrong though, because she actually seemed pretty thrilled by the prospect of us going together, and she said that she would even pay for the show tickets for us (£60 plus p&p each!) on the one condition that she could be there when I told my sister that we were going.
So, on Saturday December 13th, 2008, my sister and I were going to see Wicked, for possibly the final time. When I paid for the coach tickets I made sure we could get there early in the morning, and we would have time after the show too. At 7am on the Saturday morning we arrived at the coach stop for the 7:15am coach to London. It was freezing cold, and pouring it down with rain. The driver let us straight onto the coach because the weather was so bad, and because I'm a wonderful sister I let Alisha have the window seat. We left the coach stop at exactly 7:15 by the coach clock, and after a couple of trips onto the coach by dad to make sure we had all the food we needed for the journey, we settled into the trip nicely. For the first couple of hours Ally and I dozed on and off, because we'd woken up quite early, and at around 10am we made a video on my phone. Our first video of the day.
We arrived in Victoria coach station, London at around 10:30am, earlier than expected, and it was still raining. Since the show didn't start until 2:30pm, we had nothing to do. Originally we'd planned to meet the Wicked cast, and get their autographs, but the weather was so poor that this would have been impossible with only the little umbrella that I had between us, so we went back into the underground station and got ourselves some food. MacDonald's. *eyeroll* I've found that when in London I lose my appetite, though, so I didn't eat much. After that we decided that we had plenty of time, and we decided to get ourselves onto a bus tour of London.
It was about twelve o'clock when we got onto our tour, which was due to last for two hours. Alisha insisted that we sit on the top of the bus, which had a little shield over the top at the front, and the rest was open-air. We sat near the front, so we didn't get wet, but we were still freezing. It was so cold up there I lost all feeling in my feet, fingers, ass and nose. It was awesome, though because we saw a few epic landmarks. However, Alisha began to worry that we were going to be late for the show if we did the whole circuit, so after an hour on the tour we asked the tour guide where the best stop would be to get the underground back to Victoria station, opposite which is the Apollo theatre where Wicked is performed. The tour guide directed us off the bus at Piccadilly Circus, where we walked back towards Oxford Circus, along Regent Street. On the way, we saw Hamley's Toy Shop.
Here we made our second video of the day. Hamley's is the most epic toy store I have ever seen in my life. Not only is it huge, and old, it's lined from floor to ceiling on the bottom floor with stuff toys. Alisha and I went wild, and spent a good fifteen minutes running around the bottom floor. We didn't stay long, though, because we didn't want to miss the show.
A quick underground trip later we were back in Victoria, and ready to see the show. We both bought items from the souvenir shop. I got a new Wicked sweater, and Alisha bought a mug with the Wicked logo on, and then we went to go and sit in our seats. I had been worried that they weren't as good as they could have been, since we had X 3 and 4, near the end of the row on the right side of the theatre. Last time I had been so close to the edge, I'd sat with a pillar in front of my face for the whole show. This time, I'd done well when I bought the tickets, though, because X isn't - as I thought - the third row from the back. It's actually quite far forward, and so we had PRIME seats. We could see the whole stage, and we got some little binoculars to focus up in the faces of the cast. Here we made another video on my phone, showing our seats. I couldn't wait for the show to start, and neither (I think) could Alisha.
The best moment, though, was when the show started. Galinda came hovering down to stage in her giant bubble, and I whispered to Alisha frantically: "It's DIANNE! DIANNE!" since we both love Dianne, and think she's definitely the best Galinda we've ever seen. That was the first moment of excitement. The beginning of the show was flawless, but little did I know it was about to get better. The moment Elphaba came onto stage, I grabbed the binoculars from my sister, and almost cried out in delight. "It's KERRY! IT'S KERRY! KERRY! KERRY! KERRY!" I could hardly contain my excitement. KERRY ELLIS WAS FINALLY PERFORMING. From the moment she said her amazing "Oh, what, do I have something in my TEETH?" to the end of the shown, I had a huge grin plastered across my face. Well, until they performed the sad songs, then I wasn't smiling. XD I spent the whole performance with this fantastic buzzing in my chest, partly to do with the volume of the casts' voices as they sung.
When Fiyero came on, I threw another hissy of excitement whispering "It's OLIVER!" happily as my sister grinned at me. I laughed so hard at points of that show, I don't think I've ever found anything like that so funny before. The show does get better every time you see it.
There were two girls sat behind us who, for one, had bought pretty much the whole gift shop between them, and secondly who were sobbing so hard by the end of the performance it was almost comical. It was their first performance, and it was truly a wonderful one for them to have seen. Kerry Ellis, Dianne Pilkington and Oliver Tompsett all on stage at the same time is enough to make any true Wicked fan happy. <3
After the show, Alisha and I made another video, this time outside of the theatre. It was around half five, and since we'd eaten lunch so early we were really hungry. And, since we didn't have to be back in Victoria to catch the coach home until 9pm we decided we'd head for something to eat. We went back to Regent Street. Here we found a Marks and Spencers (classy, I know), and ate in the dinner hall section. Again I couldn't finish my food, but it didn't matter. I was having so much fun, even the rain couldn't keep my spirits down.
After eating we went shopping, and went into Borders and a few other awesome shops before finding ourselves back at Hamley's. We couldn't resist it, so we decided that we'd give ourselves a limit to how much we could spend, and go in and buy something. We walked out half an hour later with two cute dog plushies between us, which we named London (my doggy) and Fiyero (Alisha's)., and a packet of candy cane sweets with chocolate inside them. After this, we headed back to the coach station to find the departure area, which we were worried about finding.
We got back there an hour early, and sat in the station for a while, making videos, watching our other videos and playing with our toys. >_> What a big kid I am. Seriously.
The coach arrived on time, and we got on it at quarter to nine, leaving at 9pm sharp. On the way back we attempted to make a final video, but by this time we were tired, and my phone was running out of battery, so we left it half finished, and fell to sleep. By the time we got home it was midnight, and we were surprisingly tired. By the time we got to sleep it was 1am. It was honestly SUCH an awesome day. I'll never forget it if I can help it. <3
It made me realise, though, just how independent I can be. I was worried about taking Alisha in case something went wrong, but everything went off perfectly, and we avoided any disasters carefully and easily. It was wonderful, and if I could get the money, and better weather, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, this time seeing more on the bus tour. :D
The sad thing is, the point Alisha remembers best about the whole day was that on the way back to the coach station we saw a man pissing up a wall. XD What a wonderfully disturbed child she is. :B
-- There. I told you I'd update. sorry it's long, but it was so cool it deserves a long entry. Aren't you glad I didn't update about my WEEKEND in London? Goodness, we'd have been here for WEEKS.
As for today, it's been a pretty awesome day. Penultimate day before Christmas break, we had coffee and tea and croissants and chocolats in Mr Summers' English Lit class, successfully stalling him for two hours and planning an essay rather than writing one. Matt baked a chocolate cake - a huge one - and it was ferking WICKED. Seriously.
Tomorrow I have a mini Christmas party in Psychology with Mr. Read, and he's taking photos of us to put on his wall. I wonder if I should curl my hair or not... I don't know. If I can get up early enough I guess I just might try it. That photo will be on the wall for a whole year. It has to be good. O_O
And then I have two weeks off for Christmas, New Year, and to revise for my Psychology and General Studies exams that are coming up in January. I hate exames. >_o
Anyway. Bed time. Tooooodles.
xoxoxox
posted by Kitty Taylor at 10:32 pm
4 Comments:
Woooow. xD Your day sounds absolutely awesome! I remember going to London, and had the most epic moment down in Baker Street because I'm such a Holmes fan. But seriously, it sounds absolutely fantastic, and I'm glad you have some fun!
I love Baker Street too. <3 If we'd had more time I'd have taken my sister to the museum. :O
It was fantastic, though. :D
Great post. It’s only been a few weeks since I was at The Theatre Royal Haymarket to see ‘The last Five Years’ and this has made me want to go again.
My favourite musicals are all by Stephen Sondheim and a few friends have told me not to see Wicked as it would grate on my cynicism. Maybe I should just give in to curiosity.
I think it would definitely grate on your cynicism, but hell. It's worth seeing anyway? XD
I love London. I love the atmosphere, and everything about it. I don't think I'd like to live there, but I've thoroughly enjoyed every trip I've had there. <3
There are so many musicals I still want to see, though. Seriously. FAR too many. I'll never afford them all. XD
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