Thursday 2 July

HOT!

The plan is to do 4 things today but Tina is very tired and needs a brief rest. My feet are really hurting - achilles x 2 and blisters on both feet. So we end up doing three things during the day. The London Eye is missed out.

Our first stop is Westminster Abbey - 15 pound each! magnificent and finally I see the pyx. If you ever want to win at Hangman choose pyx as your word. No class has ever got it! Tina buys me THREE ties - 2 London scenes and musical notes.

Next stop is a couple of minutes away - the Churchill Museum and WWII Cabinet War Rooms which were underground. Fascinating.

We take the underground to quickly get to the Tower of London. Masses of people and very hot. Tina heads straight to the Jewel Room. I was impressed by The Great Punch Bowl which can hold 144 bottles of wine - how much Tui beer would that be? Later we see the rack and other torture implements. Tempting. I buy a tie!

We race back to the hotel via the underground, shower and have room service and then we are off to The Phantom Of The Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre (they've been dong it since 1986), Haymarket. We were in the 4th row! This show was stunning. I couldn't believe the staging in the first half - so dynamic with huge blocks being effortlessly moved about to create many differing "scenes". At the start with the overture the chandelier is lifted off the stage, over our heads and up to the ceiling - it was scary! And later it comes "crashing" down fast. The same when the Phantom descended from high up in a piece of sculpture, sang and then ascended - it was terrifying.

What a show. What a day! This is what it's all about.

Here's a joke out of a paper - I've seen it twice since being away.

Kelly is having his hair cut by his barber, Luigi, who asks where he's going for his holidays. "Italy" says Kelly.
"My homeland. Where are you going?"
"Rome."
"You don't wanna go to Rome. Horrid, crowded place. Go to my hometown, Polermo. How you getting there?"
Air Italia."
"That's a terrible airline. Find another. Where are you staying?"
"Hotel Haelser."
"It's a tourist trap, a rip-off. Go somewhere else. What you gonna do in Rome?"
"We hope to see the Pope."
"Sure, you'll see him, looking like my thumb from two football fields away."

A month later Kelly is back. Luigi says, "I was right, right?"
"Well," says Kelly, "Air Italia treated us great, we loved Rome, the hotel upgraded us to a suite for free. At the Sistine Chapel I leant on a panel - it swung open and revealed a private chapel with the Holy Father sitting there. He beckoned us in and he said 'I'm gonna bless you. But first, ya know I've been a Pope a few years now, and almost every day I bless the crowds in St Peter's Square. Three, maybe four million people. Half of them are men. Do the math. And you know, not once have I seen such a terrible haircut!'"