We have been to see Grace Pervades, with Voldemort in it, and I am so tired I can hardly write, never mind think of anything sensible to say.
Mark is in the shower. I will write until he gets out and then I am going to collapse into oblivion.
Grace Pervades was wonderful.
It was the story of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, and it was theatre as I remember it from my youth, not a microphone in sight.
When it finished we sat very still for a moment or two, because we couldn’t quite manage reality so suddenly. It felt as though we had been given an unexpected present, and we staggered back to the tube station feeling shocked.
The Tube is a bit overwhelming. There seems to be a very lot of people on it, although it is not true that people all stare at the floor. Some people smiled, which was rather nice, like finding allies in a troubling world.
It has been a bit of an adventurous day. We started with the most enormous, and excellent, breakfast, which we were both agreed was possibly the nicest hotel breakfast we have ever had, because everything was so perfectly done. I had hummus with eggs and hash browns, and it was as smooth and creamy as if it had been whipped, not at all gritty the way hummus usually is. We ate far too much and had several cups of coffee.
After that we went out.
We went on a bus.
Mark has always wanted to go on a London tour bus, and it was jolly splendid, although colossally, massively expensive. Buses in the Lake District cost three quid, but these cost almost fifty quid each, although they included a boat trip and the chap explained helpfully that we could have a free walk as well if we liked.
I blinked a bit at that. I am quite used to walking for nothing, it was something of a surprise to discover that this is considered a bonus in London.
I have stared so thoroughly at everything that my neck hurts and I am still feeling a bit dizzy even now. It is an astonishing place, with so many things to look at that the bus almost went too fast. I was in something of a state of confusion until I realised that the commentary was in all of the wrong places and told us about what we had just gone past and ought to have been paying attention to but hadn’t.
We have seen lots and lots of things. Also it rained, although we live in the Lake District usually so we are used to that.
We had dinner at the hotel before the theatre, and it was excellent, except we ate too much. We had lamb shank and red wine, followed by sticky toffee pudding and whisky coffee.
I am still feeling uncomfortably full even now, hours and hours later.
Mark has returned.
It has been amazing.
I will talk to you tomorrow.
