On Monday night we had our final Indian take-away from Chesham Tandoori – probably the last we’ll have for several years. (Nephew) David, his wife Tara and daughter Lola came over for final goodbyes.
On Tuesday morning we lugged our heavy bags to the station and rode four separate London Underground trains to Parsons Green where had another long walk with our bags to meet Dick, our old friend and Sam’s Godfather. He soon took us to his barge, Jacana, where he stays when in London. We had been expecting a narrow, cramped canal barge. What we were brought to was a 100 year old converted river barge, about 150 feet long and about 20 feet wide. Inside it is cavernous including one room with a baby grand piano. Being berthed on the Thames, it spends half the time afloat and half the time sitting on the mud.
Once settled we all went for lunch at a nearby pub with all of us choosing bangers and mash to eat.
After lunch Dick had to leave to go to Brussels for a conference. We spent a short while settling in on the boat before heading off. To get back on the underground we had a pleasant walk through Wandsworth Park and over the Putney rail and footbridge. We caught a couple of trains to Tottenham Court Road station.
We first checked out the locations of the Dominion Theatre and the Creation restaurant where we were to later have our dinner and show. Then we entered the British Museum where we spent the next few hours perusing the exhibits. We first went to the European section. I particular wanted to see the ancient clocks and watches section but this section turned out to be closed for a couple of weeks. Nevertheless there were plenty of interesting exhibits to see. Next came the ancient Persian section then ancient Egypt. We concluded our tour with the Asian sections.
Having worn our feet out we decided to stop for a cup of coffee. We found a pleasant street café nearby to recharge. We still had time left over so we went wondering and ended up in a pub near Covent Garden for a pint/glass of wine.
Soon it was time for dinner. Because of our ticket/dinner deal we weren’t presented with the full menu but we were still able to choose two course meals that were quite tasty. From the restaurant we went back to the theatre to pick up our tickets. Rather than sit around for half an hour we had another walk around the area before settling into our seats a few minutes before the show started.
We had little idea about the story for “We Will Rock You”. It turns out to be set in the future when the music corporations have banned any form of live music and it’s up to one ‘dreamer’ to rediscover rock music. Sounds cheesy but it was excellent. All the music was by Queen. As we are familiar with all the songs, as was much of the audience, it was quite involving.
By the time we made our way back to the boat it was almost midnight. It didn’t take long before we were out for the count.
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