Canterbury Tales at the Gielgud

We attended a performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "The Canterbury Tales."

One of the dudes from East Enders, Michael Matus (he had the recurring role as a stereotypical American on Absolutely Fabulous) figured promiently.

The director Mike Poulton was the star of the show, however, as it was easily the most complex and originally staged play I've seen in some time.

Dale Gets Lost, Finds His People

While Mom took a nap this afternoon, I walked around to find a good currency exchange and some "take away" food.

I wandered around SoHo which was wall to wall gay men, especially around the Seven Dials and the shops around Dean Street.

Almost everyone was well groomed in a button-up shirt with an open collar. Sort of the unofficial gay uniform here like a t-shirt jeans and a baseball cap would be in San Francisco.

Our theatre tonight was at the Gielgud, so I got a taste for what the current nightlife is like without have to lose my sleep to join in....

Mom at Covent Garden Market

Turned Back From Buckingham

Our plans for Buckhingham, aside from maybe sticking our tongues out at a guard or two were altered.

First, we arrived too late for the Changing of the Guard.

Next, the ticket office cancelled our reservation for the Queen's Rooms. We would have appreciated any effort they might have made to notify us of this before we spent five pounds on a cab to get there and queued up for a half-hour.

More Good News More Bad News

After a lengthy queue at Customs and a speedy transfer, we arrived at St. Martin's Lane Hotel

Though the service was excellent and our room was ideal, the staff put us off for a while about the condition of our belongings.

When the porter brought our bag to us, it was gaping open, shredded at the corners, and held together with tape. I could close the latches with the suitcase empty, but the inside was exposed.

Just the same, nothing was damaged or missing.

We went got an excellent new suitcase on Picadilly and gave our destroyed bag to the porter.

"I'll take it outside," he said, "I need something to kick."

Boston to London

Mom was at Logan to meet me at the gate. We went through another security battery and had time to eat at a greasy bar food restaurant.

Our flight left on time. We were seated next to several of our shipmates who are staying in the same hotel in advance of the cruise.

All the items in the in-flight goody bag glowed under black light and all the lavatories were illuminated with black light.

We were both impressed with the safety video which was a cartoon rendered in blocky 60s-feel characters.

Mom had a conversation with one of the crew members and asked if there was a reason why all the flight attendants were so cheerful. "Boston is an easy trip. Everyone is so polite," she said, "it's not like this flying in and out of New York."

SFO to Boston

On the flight to Boston, I met a soldier on her way to a weekend with her five-year-old. She was about to be deployed for her second tour of duty in the Middle East.

She was first sent to Afghanistan and will now be stationed in Baghdad.

I thanked her for her service.

She said her greatest reward was watching a major Afghan party run a woman for president. She openly wondered when a major US party would have the courage to do the same.

Another Wrinkle and Wrinkle Removed!

A few websearches demonstrated that my AC adapter issue was in fact a battery issue.

I resolved it but went to SFO for my Boston flight with the laptop half-charged.

At the airport, I took my computer to a automated charging station and topped the power up. It was very space age. Unattended remote controlled, taking credit cards and securing charging ports with red light isometric thumb-print readings.

When I went to retrieve my Pismo, the thumbprint reader wouldn’t work! Neither would the courtesy phone beside the station!

I had ten minutes before my final boarding call to rescue the device from three tech support people and while I was waiting my phone ran out of minutes. Ultimately, Pismo and I were reunited just in time for takeoff.

Another Wrinkle

The AC adapter on my laptop just busted. :(

It's 11pm the night before we travel. I've got about two hours of power left on my Pismo now. Not that I'm going to be making any mid-air posts....

At least I found out in time to websearch directions to the Apple Store in London.

Good News/Bad News

The good news? Our luggage arrived at the hotel today three days ahead of schedule.

The bad news? According to our courteous concierge, the suitcase was "broken beyond repair," though none of the contents were missing!

Stay tuned....