Tuesday, October 23: Packing and Hairspray

I figured it would be an odious task and indeed it was. On an extremely positive note however, if I miss anything Jamie is now responsible for finding it and stuffing it in his own luggage. I am very glad we thought to buy a duffle bag and pack it inside Jamie's luggage for the trip over. We used every inch of it despite the dryer having misplaced several socks and a pair of underwear or two. This after me taking great pains to purchase non-breakable and small souvenirs. I managed to disburse all of my souvenir guidebooks among the various suitcases so none should exceed weight restrictions.

No food in the flat so I took the boys up to Canary Wharf for lunch. Colin wanted to see the "Big JT" again which was set up right outside our Jubilee Line Canary Wharf Underground station. Liam was curious and also wanted to eat at Wagamama one more time so we bundled up and headed over towards Jamie's office. He and Garry came down to check out the hype for next Sunday's game so we ran into them on their way to get coffee. People in NY Giants and Miami Dolphin jackets were shoving trading cards and lapel pins in our hands left and right. Colin managed to muscle up to answer a trivia question, "What city are the Giants from?" and won a Miami Dolphin's t-shirt. He wanted to wear it to the theatre that night. Um, think not! Poor Liam couldn't work up the assertiveness to jump in there and of course was a bit out of sorts because Colin got a free cap AND a free t-shirt. Life isn't fair, but I can't blame him. If I were in his shoes I'd be feeling a bit glum myself I imagine.

More packing in the afternoon and then I settled in on my bed with my laptop to watch three more episodes of "The Vicar of Dibley" while putting a heated cloth on my neck. Of all days to wake up with an excruciating pain in the neck...besides the one snoring next to me. Sheesh, I don't think I've had "crick" like this in literally decades. Wonder how in the world I managed to do that in my sleep. Maybe that is what a decided lack of earplugs will do.

I also took the time to arrange for last minute tickets to see a show in London's West End. I thought that might be a nice surprise for Jamie for his birthday. Except as usual the bugger guessed yesterday that I might be up to that. Oh well, at least I got to surprise him on which show. He knew I was interested in "Wicked" and might try to find tickets to "Spamalot" because of the kids. We ended up going to see "Hairspray." It is the first time it has run in London and it's press opening is on the 30th. So we were treated to the opening cast. It was fantastic! I think Liam was absolutely enthralled and Colin even squirmed at an absolute minimum. Every once in awhile he had to ask why people were laughing and these were jokes you just don't explain to a seven year old.

Lest anyone tut tut me taking a child so young to a musical with sexual innuendo I must point out I saw "A Chorus Line" in London when I was almost eight years old and it did me no lasting harm. I am so glad we got to do this for our last evening in England. I really did want to find a way to take the boys to a show and it turned out to be a lovely way to celebrate Jamie's birthday as well since we will be leaving the day before. Hence, the champagne toast during intermission.



Tomorrow it's planes, trains and automobiles. Technically, taxi, train, plane, automobile.