Leaving London just sucks. Dale and I headed off to the airport, he for Knoxville via Atlanta, and me for Modesto, via SFO. Except for some tension at the SFO airport when I found out that United had, without notice, moved my connecting flight up an hour which caused me to nearly miss it, the journey home was uneventful.
A word of advice about the Giraffe restaurant at Heathrow; it’s menu is different form the one on Wilton road and not nearly as good!
Anyway, I am home again, with wonderful memories and a shitload of cookies.
My love to all of you who made this trip so amazingly wonderful: Dale, Bob, Pugs, David, Bill, Ellen, Rich, Jonas and Linda and the rest!

Okay, the last day is kind of a blur, but let me see if I can remember an of it correctly.
A gang of us, went to brunch at the Cafe Camelo, a nice little place on Elizabeth street that ERinVA and her construction worker friends all go to. It was pretty good, but if you order the Waffles ask them to bring you syrup and butter – otherwise they put it on for you and not nearly enough. But they do have great omelets.
This was a day for packing and last minute shopping. Dale, Pugs, Bobz and I walked down to the river and back, just a chance to say goodbye to London for Dale and I.
Back at the hotel I found that Mr. & Mrs. Patel had bought for me about 50 packages of the Oat Shortcake cookies that I loved so much, and true to their nature they would not let me pay for them. If that does not say everything that needs to be said about the Cherry Court, I do not know if I can say it any better. If you are looking for room service and everything like you get in a US hotel, the CC is not for you. But if you are looking for a great value – at the current exchange rate my 7 nights was less than $600 -, clean rooms, amazing location and wonderful people, the CC can not be beat. Yes, their breakfast is a basket of fruit, a cookie (Oat Shortcake if you are lucky) a granola bar and a juice packet; so what! I put those things in my jacket pocket for walkabout snacks and go find a “nice cooked breakfast”. Anyway, the CC is just fabulous, even if my bathroom door did not open all the way because the new bed was too long.
Anyway, we finally got Ollie for a show, and he did not disappoint. With Connor Kelly as Michael, he was just great. Great acting and one of the best Angry Dances I have seen! His scream at the end is just nuts! And he told us all to “f*** off”! Dream ballet was marvelous and so was his “street” Electricity.
Our last meal was at Nando’s, and then back to the theatre to see Rhys and Jake one last time. This was a chance to see it from the front row center of the Dress Circle. Makes a nice change, but I would not do it again. Being up close is the only way to see Billy!
Tough saying goodbye to all that were there, and to London.

This is the day we all came here for! The REAL 5th Anniversary Show!
Weather was beautiful, then not and then again.
Breakfast at Giraffe, and then Pugs, Dale, Biully Whiz and I went to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Actually, this is just like the parade at Disneyland but you can not see anything through the fence. But we did see the queen leave in her car.
Seriously, I love British tradition and pageantry, but I could have skipped this and worked on my blog in stead.
Anyway, then another journey to Covent Garden, where I enjoyed by far the best fish and chips of this trip or my last. Victory is mine!
Dale and Bobz and I, met up with electrrricity and his mom (Jonas and Linda), and went to see Oliver. I drifted in and out during the first half.because of my beer at lunch. After the show, which was a nice and mindless way to spend 2 1/2 hours, we went back to Victoria and gathered up more of our little flock for a nice dinner at Wagamama’s.
The on to the show!
Okay, nothing special! But there were a ton of members from all forums (fora?). Rich B and Ellen had finally made it. Sadly my friend JJF did not. Hoping he might come today.
Dean-Charles and Connor, a great show, but I think the “WOW” show I had been gagging for came last night.
But I am still hoping to see Olly in my last two shows on Thursday.
See you then! ONE MORE DAY!

Well I missed a day of posting and so everything has become a blur.
Day Five was Tuesday, and probably more people have rolled in, but I lost track of when and who. Uhmm, I think Kat and her friends Shaun (sp?) and the other guy whose name I have forgotten, arrived this day, and johnnyc as well.
It started out with breakfast at Weatherspoons in Willow Walk. Another nice meal, after which Dale and Bobz and Billy Whiz and I went to Covent Garden for some amazing cookies. Dale and Bobz wanted to see a play called “The Woman in Black”, and BW (David) wanted to do some photo printing, which gave me the opportunity to hop back on the BIG BUS as my ticket was still good.
I sat up top and froze my ass off!
After nearly dying of hypothermia as we crossed several bridges, I deboarded at Tower Hill, grabbed the Tube and dragged my now ice bound ass back to Victoria where I had a nice beer at King George’s pub, where I nearly nodded off.
A ton of us, may 8 or 10, went to Nando’s for dinner, followed by an absolutely wonderful show from Tom. No flubs, no problems, his Electricity was astonishing and his acting was great, though not quite as tearful in the Letter. But he is a great actor.
DALDRY!! Are you reading this while you are down in Cannes? The rushed lines in the winter scene where Billy says “What’s so good about that?” and Michale then says “Why, I’d miss ya.” DOES NOT WORK!!! Every BETM I have ever seen does this, and it is done badly by the best acting Billys and Michael’s we have. SLOW IT DOWN!! Most of the audience does not understand it! RANT OVER!
Anyway, another great show!! And another great day!!
Wait! I forgot about the David Barker Tour Company’s Westminster by Candlelight walk! Yes, Billy Whiz does lead tours. We walked down Victoria Street to the streets behind Westminster Abbey that are still lit by gas lamps. And while we teased David about how unimpressive this walk was, in fact the value of it was not in seeing the gas lamps, but in enjoying a fine evening walk with great friends.
Thanks BW!

Those of you who know me well know that I almosr always store my reading glasses on the top of my bald head. Very convenient. And for most of this trip I have been sitting in seat E15 of the Stalls at the VPT. Which means for at least 6 shows, someone is sitting behind me.
Well, on May 12th, my friend PatC was sitting behind me, and shortly into the show he tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I could remove my glasses. It seems that they were positioned so that the lights from the stage focused through them and greeted kind of a single beam of light pinpointed on the eyes of the person behind me. I pity the four people prior to PatC who suffered through the show without telling me. I am surprised none of them burst into flames from the focused beam of what Pat dubbed, my “Death Ray” glasses!

London! Make up your mind about the fooking weather!! Nic and sunny then sunny and cold and then cloudy and threatening rain and then sunny and then…..Jeeeeeeesus!
Today is the day the crowd begins to roll in!
Dale and I have falle ninto a rut about breakfast at Giraffe. But it was good again.
Caught up with Pugsnort and her friend “Marty”, whose real name is not mart but maybe Joel or something like that. We went down to Bond street for Marty/Joel/? to buy some shoes. I make less in one month than he spent on shoes. Nice little shopping adventure!
We split up for the afternoon and waited fo Bobz to arrive, which he did in due course but then we “ditched” him and tzwicky joined up with Dale and I for a Big Bus tour, or most of it. Our tickets are still good until 2 PM today, so may go on more of it.
A word about the Big Bus tour, maybe two words. I had been told to try this and had not my lest trip. I must say that it is quite fun. Dale and I were very tired from all the walking we had been doing, so it was nice to sit up top, enjoy the day, and see London. Even the price (which in this case tzwicky insisted on treating Dale and I – bless him) is not cheap, it is well worth it. And of course you can get on or off anywhere you want for 24 hours from the time the ticket is bought.
After the tour we headed back to the hotel, collected the lost Bobz, and met the gang for dinner. We were now growing, as Billy Whiz had joined us!
Okay, so this was interesting. We went to a Mexican restaurant, which is totally different from Mexican restaurants in the states. No chips and salsa at the table. Nothing gratis anyway. And I had minted LAMB fajitas, but they only served flour tortillas soft, and when I wanted extra they charged for it. In other words, they did not have soft CORN tortillas. But it was tasty!
We all met again before the show. Our meeting spot was the usual, Little Ben, and I was able to use my iPhone to get a picture of a few of us from the London Traffic cam internet feed. Weird, really. You will need to follow me on Twitter to see it. By this time the lovely BEKat27 had joined us along with a couple of friends, but just for a few minutes as they were off to see Wicked.
The Billy was Rhys again, with a new – for us – Michael, Conner Doyle. Rhys was great! He is a tremendous actor! And I really enjoyed Conner’s Michael, though I am beginning to agree with Dale that Espress is better in the Broadway version. We also had David Bardsley as Dad. I had seen him as Dad once or twice my first trip, and he does not disappoint! Overall another good show. I am hoping for at least one “WOW!!” show before I go.
Today is looking to start off clear as a bell. Better go seize it!

The weather has been typical London – warmish one minute and cold the next. We have not had much of what you would call rain, just drizzle now and then.
I still love London although the newness has worn off.
Dale and I argue about the London Underground versus the New York debacle thingy they call a subway.I love the tube and find it so easy to manage! Well, except I am leaving my card on the reader too long or not long enough and it keeps giving me an error, which a station agent said is fine as long as I get a green light and the gate opens.
FOOD!!! I have not had a really bad meal yet! By this time last trip, I had had about 5. Did I mention that absolutely amazing sandwich at Harrod’s!!!!!!! I suspect people will shoot me out of boredom before they stop hearing about it!
Today is Day Three, and I hear Dale coughing next door, so we will be off to nreakfast soon.
Oh, LOL, last night the tour guide asked how a guy from Tennessee and California knew each other and I said we met on the internet. Well, you can imagine what response that got! And then when you explain that there are a whole group of you and you all love Billy Elliot, well, things do not get any better. And then there is that obvious older man, younger guy thing. I should have called Dale a few pet names but he might have hit me.
For the record, we have SEPARATE rooms for a reason! (I snore)!

London – Day Three
No show today, so no reviews, but one heck of a fun day.
Breakfast at Giraffe again, our new favorite place, followed by a morning visit to The Tower of London, which is so much more fun to enjoy with a friend.
And then an afternoon visit to Harrod’s, where I had the best sandwich of my life at the Spanish restaurant there. Chorizo, sweet potatoes, Spanish cheese, some kind of sauce, grilled onions and some wonderful bread. The sandwich had a rich, smoky flavour and it was just, effing amazing!!! And there was a tomato based sauce on the accompanying potatoes that was also wonderful. Can NOT be described!!!
We shopped at Harrod’s. I found some Burberry Red but learned that Signore Ricci cologne was discontinued at Harrod’s about 1 year ago!! I coul dhave gotten some in 2008 if I had thought about it.
After that, Dale and I hunted down the Hard Rock cafe and he did some shirt buying, for himself and for others. He got a really nice shirt for himself.
In case Rashasha1 reads this, I will not mention that we had to have a fast dinner at McDonalds before rushing back to the Tower Hill station and going on the Jack-the-Ripper tour. Now, I am a big fan of London Walks tours, but this was not as much fun as it could have been. It was nice, and an okay way to spend 2 hours and about 8 quid, but we could have had a nice leisurely dinner and an earlier bed time.
So now I am off to bed, all caught up.
Lots of friends coming tomorrow.

Things I like better about UK show (prolly repeating myself here, but who cares):
• The boxing scene. For one thing, in the UK show it really looks like Michael hits George in the balls; in the US the boys go so low between the legs it could not possibly hurt! I mean, yeah we Yanks have bigger balls than the Brits, but still… Just a joke, okay? And I like how Billy actually repeats the lines “…and the fine tradition…” loudly and clearly, which you almost never see in the US. And I really like the UK George. Lots of funny lines that the US does not have.
• The Royal Ballet Audition. There was no need to change this for the US show. It makes more sense, it is funnier, and you get to see why Billy is upset about it. Also, I prefer the UK smashing of Tall Boy’s head into the safety curtain to the cheesy and poorly done fake punch in the US version. And in the UK version they do not waste time with that stupid line of Ballet Girls marching by. I like the whole scene with the judges, with the tape and the pencil and the money.
• More later today – it is 5AM and I need to go back to bed!
• Waiting for Dale to wake up. I could pound on the wall but that would be mean as I woke up with a terrible coughing fit last night and prolly kept him awake!! Anyway, did I mention I like Joe Caffrey as Dad. Great acting and line delivery, though I prefer Greg Jbara’s “It’s and egg actually”.
• Not sure about Craig’s Tony. I like some of the scenes, but he is a bit of a cry baby.Jury is still out.
• I am loving seeing the show in the “original Geordie”. Hahahahah! It is missed in New York and elsewhere and for the most part could be brought back. There is something so refreshing about it.
• Another minor acting bit: When Billy does his first two pirouettes, he is so proud of himself and he smiles. He may do that on Broadway, but I never noticed it. Here, every boy does it and it is very well communicated to the audience.