The London Blog #7

Mom complained that I don't have any pictures of me in London, so I took one right after I got out of bed yesterday morning. This is for you, Mom: 

Sunday, May 2, 2010
11:30am
I am sitting in the lobby of the Shaftesbury Hotel in Paddington, stalling before I head for Heathrow. I have checked out of my tiny hotel room (with the smallest shower in the world that I had to literally wedge myself into!) I'm doing some writing.

Yesterday morning, I took the overground train out to Richmond and Twickenham (there was a rugby match in Twickenham and the train was packed). Someone had suggested this was a nice area and I make mention of Cecilia living there at one point during Jack's life in the book. I decided on Richmond, near the Thames. It was nice to ride on an overground train and actually see things.  I took pictures of some trains at Waterloo for my nephew Rhett, who is almost 4 and loves trains. I tried to get a model of a tube train for him, but couldn't find one.

Went back to the hotel for a bit to change up for the show last night. Then, I went on the London Eye and took a lot of pictures. It was good to see the city in overview like that. My nephew Zack, who is 11, loved ferris wheels when he was little - I think he would really like to ride the Eye someday.

In the short amount of time it took to get from Waterloo to Covent Garden, it started pouring rain and continued the rest of the night. I had a scarf over my head, but I still got drenched! I finally bought an umbrella for 5 pounds. Then I went to the Vaudeville to meet up with Spyridoula (Spy) from Ottawa to have dinner before the play. She was great! I like her very much. We also found some other people from online and we all had dinner at a bar across from the stage door. It was fun to talk with other Matthew fans about him for a bit and to meet all these Britons! After being alone all week and not having anybody to hang out with, this was good for me.  Here's a pic: 

It was closing night for Private Lives at the Vaudeville. There is talk about bringing it to Toronto (where Kim Cattrall grew up) and New York next year, which would be great, but it's not set in stone yet. They closed this run because Kim has to go and promote SATC2 and Matthew is promoting Robin Hood (he's the sheriff), filming Any Human Heart and possibly The Promised Land (with Colin Firth, the other Darcy haha).

The show last night was magnificent. The chemistry between Matthew and Kim, especially at the end of the first act, was on fire! And Matthew had a freedom about his performance I hadn't really seen during the other two shows, that I know from experience can only come from it being closing night. The most performances I have ever done of a show is about 20 and they did hundreds. I have to imagine it's hard to keep things fresh after that amount of time, but that very last show will lend itself to some very creative outcomes.

After the performance, more than 50 people were gathered at the stage door in pouring (and very cold) rain for about 90 minutes. At one point, we were told that the stars were cleaning out their dressing rooms, and little by little some people gave up and left. I stood talking to Spy about lots of things - life, Matthew, etc. I like her very much! After about 90 minutes, we were all told that Matthew and Kim went out the front door of the theatre and nobody got anything. I imagine some people were quite upset, and I was disappointed for them! I wanted to try to get a picture of myself with Matthew, because I was "cut out" of the one on Thursday that Waltraud took, and as a joke, to have him now sign "Felix Carbury" on my program and tease him about channeling him at the stage door Tuesday night, but didn't get my chance. (Felix is his caddish character in "The Way We Live Now", and he's drunk pretty much through the series.) Spy and I shared a cab (she to Earl's Court, me to Paddington), and we vowed to keep up with each other on Facebook and the forum. She was off to Prague for vacation today and had only been in London to see PL and meet Matthew, which she didn't get to do. I felt bad for her, but she seemed to have a good time! She will come back through London next weekend.

I have lots of thoughts about the trip, aside from the sightseeing, so I will extemporate on those when I get home. Not looking forward to the flight (but will again try to get 1st class for my 2 seats), but I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight!