Easter Sunday.
When you arrange to do things at weekends, you always assume that come the day you'll be excited by the prospect. And yet when it comes round you end up thinking that what you'd really like to do was sit around and do nothing, maybe go to the pub, or whatever else.
The reason why we were going is that we got tickets for Bellowhead's 10th birthday concert at the Royal Albert Hall. And although i love their music and love seeing concerts in the RAH, it does mean leaving home for the night, arranging for our good friend Gary to feed the cats, the cost of staying in the UJC. And so on....
And as the weather was expected to break and rain for most of the day, it would have meant lazing around the house, eating saffron buns and so on. Anyway, we had already bought the train tickets, the hotel room and arranged something for Monday too. So, better get on with it and have a good time.
Before heading off, there was time for a session on the cross trainer, write a blog, edit some shots, drink coffee and watch football. Its all go here, I tell you.
That all done, and taking an early lunch, we head out of the house at one so in plenty of time for the quarter to two train. The rain had already begun by this point, but wasn't heavy. So, we found somewhere to park, walked to the station to find our train waiting. Always a good thing. At Folkestone a young scally got on, turned out, or so he said, he was just released from the police station and was heading home and did not have a ticket. Listening to him thinking that society owed him enough so he could travel free was mildly annoying. Anyway, I am sure the BTP would catch with hi in Ashford.
By the time we got to london the rain was hammering down, makes little difference if you're travelling on the tube I guess, but once at Waterloo we had to dash to the Club dodging the raindrops. We had a cuppa in our room, then went to the par for a drink of something stronger, before we headed out looking for a place to eat. It was still pouring, so we decided to slum it and eat at Burger King on the station before travelling up to South Kensington and the RAH.
Full of burger and fries we go down into the underground and make our way at first to Charing Cross, as Embankment station is closed, and then onto South Kensington. When we got there we find the place jam-packed full of people. I had forgotten that it is where the main museums are, and people had taken to them because of the rain. We had to force our way through them to get to the subway, then I am like an ice-breaker, forging a path through those who were walking taking up the whole width of the subway. By the time we got to the end, the crowds had thinned out, and so we climbed the steps beside the Science Museum and the V&A. The rain had stopped, so it would be pleasant waiting for the doors to open.
We had hoped to find a pub open, but just found universities and embassies. We made our way to the RAH, got a the measure of where we would have to queue up, and went to find the stage cafe for a coffee.
Once we had drunk, we retired to a bench in the park beside the Albert Memorial to watch the folks pass by, which is one of those great things you can do which is free.
at seven we went to queue up, there were plenty already in front, but we knew there would be plenty room inside, as we only had standing tickets. We go in with ten minutes to spare before the gig began, and as we climbed the steps to the arena, the view of the hall took our breath away.
The band came on bang on time at half seven, and ended up playing nearly three hours, and did soething like four encores, of which this is the last:
Once the gig ended, we went outside with the short trip back to the hotel. On our way to the tube station, we flagged down a taxi and so were back at the hotel within ten minutes, sitting in the bar watching MOTD and supping a pint. Although Norwich did not beat liverpool, we did put up a fight losing out 2-3. Too little too late it might be, but better than the capitulation we have seen since Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment