Theatre is Back!

M and I both have this week off work, so we are turning it into a bit of a staycation (holiday at home) with some trips out. TG had been wanting to see Everybody's Talking About Jamie since she watched a recording at school, so I booked tickets as a birthday treat for her and H (though rather nearer H's birthday as we wanted to wait a while until Covid measures had been lifted).  We originally booked for next Sunday evening, but that show was cancelled and they exchanged the tickets for last Sunday afternoon. The first tickets they sent us were slightly better than the originals, but when we got there we discovered they had given us another set with much better seats. 

Being at the theatre again felt both strange and a little alarming - we are so unused to being somewhere with a lot of people - but also emotional. All the actors and musicians who had been unable to work for so long clearly relished being back and the energy of the show was fantastic. We all loved it, including M who was a bit unsure whether it was something he would enjoy, and the actors who played Jamie and his mother both got standing ovations. TG loves musical theatre and performers need all the support they can get just now, so I have two more shows booked for the two of us over the next couple of months - Six at Oxford at the end of August, and Hairspray in London at the end of September. 

After the show we went to Chinatown, which is just across the road from the theatre, for dinner. Strangely given that M and I have both lived in London and go there fairly often we had never eaten in Chinatown. It may have been the first time but it won't be the last. It was just warm enough to sit outside and watch the world go by while we ate. The meal was excellent and included some very pretty coloured dim sum. You can see in the photo above that it was pretty busy, and this was without foreign tourists in London. You can also see that TG (on the right with lighter hair) is now as tall as H. I'm beginning to think she may end up the tallest of our daughters, which would be a huge shock given how petite she was until the last year or two.  

As it was dry we walked from Euston Station and back, which took about 30 minutes each way. R and H have discovered an app called Too Good to Go on which cafes and food shops sell boxes left over food at the end of the day rather than let it go to waste. It is lucky dip; you pay a small amount for a box or bag without knowing what will be in it, and are given a collection time to pick it up. H found a coffee shop on Too Good to Go which was on our way back to the station and bought a box which turned out to be four large and very tasty vegan donuts. We had to wait at the station for a bit as the train we would have caught was cancelled due to lack of staff, so TG and I ate donuts while we waited. H was more restrained and took hers home!  

The combination of good company, the sheer joy of the theatre and the delicious Chinese food made for a wonderful and memorable day out. The long lockdowns and the limits imposed on daily life for so long by the pandemic have made us truly appreciate things that we used to take for granted.