Blog - Opera With Sarah (2008-04-19)

Other feeds

What's New

Previous blog Next blog Archive

Opera With Sarah (2008-04-19)

Category: Diary. Posted: 2008-05-02 07:40:47 BST.

Not wanting to make any rash decisions about getting the cogs and chain replaced on my bike, I started reading my Haines Manual when I woke up. This agreed with MarkE that a chain should last about 1,500 miles, but the cogs should last longer. Well, I'd done well with the chain (I reckoned I'd done about 2,500 miles), but will have to make sure that I keep the cogs and chain cleaner, so that I don't wear out the cogs so quickly next time. Becky woke up fairly early too, so it was time for tea. I'd never realised how much tea Becky drinks. She's the only person, apart from Dindin, who stays at my house, and says "yes" to tea every time I offer. Since I had some mushrooms from my weekly organic delivery, Becky suggested mushrooms on toast. This seemed like a strange idea, but tasted really nice.

Becky was going to Cheltenham later on, and was going to go shopping for a wedding outfit. Being a woman, this was likely to be an outfit she would only wear once or twice, so I suggested that we walk up to the charity shop, and see what we could find. I remember walking past the greengrocers, and seeing buckets of bananas for a quid each. Excellent value, but I did have some organic, zero-air-mile, bananas at home. We didn't find anything suitable in the charity shop, but there is another one within walking distance of my house, but in the other direction. After giving up finding anything in the charity shop, we went into the cobbler's shop to buy some laces (Sarah still has my black trainers, so I couldn't wear them this evening). The owner was smoking inside the shop - I'll have to report him for that.

Having seen all the bananas, Becky mentioned cheese and banana toasties. This seemed like a really bad idea, but I was up for trying it. There wasn't time for lunch and walking to the second charity shop, and, of course, we chose lunch. The toasties could have done with a bit more cheese, and one fewer banana, but they still tasted OK. My foot didn't give me too much jip when we were walking, but it did start doing so when we got back home.

After Becky left, I made myself another cuppa, and realised that I had almost run out of milk. I'll have to get Becky to take less milk in her tea. I then downloaded and installed ITunes, ready to start using my iPod Touch. The software installed OK, but I didn't get around to connecting up my iPod. I starting copying one of my CDs onto the PC (something I'd been meaning to do for years), and then watched this week's Click (which the PC had recorded earlier). I discovered that watching an MPEG-4 programme and copying songs from CD at the same time wasn't a very good idea, as ITunes gave up after a few songs. I started it going again, and then went to do the washing-up (I don't think that the toastie maker would have coped very well in the dishwasher, and we'd also used my non-stick frying pan to fry the mushrooms in).

After finishing the washing-up, I left ITunes copying another CD, and then realised that it was almost time to leave. I quickly changed into some smart clothes, put the laces in my shoes, and walked quickly up to the station (fortunately, my foot didn't give me jip). The ticket machine at Langley still doesn't take credit cards, so I put 5p in the permit to travel machine instead. It took my money, but refused to give me a permit to travel. I'll be getting that 5p back from First Great Western, don't you worry! There was some gimmer smoking on the platform, but he was far enough away that it didn't really affect me, so I saw sense, and didn't say anything. Feeling knackered, I slept all the way to Paddington. I don't know what strange angle I slept at, but my foot was giving me a hell of a lot of jip when I got to Paddington.

I bought my travelcard, and then went to catch a Circle Line train to meet Sarah at Angel. After going through the barriers, I realised that the Circle Line wasn't running, so I had to go back through the barriers, travel up the escalator, limp across Paddington station, limp up and down the stairs, until I eventually got to the Hammersmith and City line. I didn't have to wait too long for a train, and really wanted a seat when it did arrive. Fortunately, it wasn't that crowded, so I got to sit down. I changed trains at King's Cross, and limped up and down more stairs to the Northern Line, to catch a train to Angel. It was only one stop, so could have walked, but decided against it.

We'd arranged to meet at half-five, but I actually arrived at just after five, so had a lot of waiting around to do (and some perving, of course). The Oddly Enough section of the Reuters website kept me entertained for a while, until I saw a woman arriving on a fold-up bike. I'd never seen somebody fold one up before, so watched her to see how easy it was. Unfortunately, she'd never done it before, and failed miserably. I hated watching her struggle, but knew that it would end in tears if I tried to help! After about five minutes, three people came to help her, but they were about as much use as I would have been. She eventually managed it, and got on the train.

Sarah arrived soon afterwards, looking as sexy as always. She said that there was an all-you-can-eat vegetarian restaurant near Angel that costs £3 each. This seemed too good to be true - there was bound to be a catch somewhere. She wasn't sure exactly where it was, so, when we were walking past a Police Station, I suggested we go in to ask for directions. After about a minute, two totty Community Support Officers appeared, but I had to ask Sarah to chat to them, because I didn't know where we were going. Oh well! We weren't actually that far away, and we found the restaurant quite quickly. It looked fairly cheap (as one would expect for three quid), but the food was very tasty. There were lots of posters on the walls, explaining how healthy vegetarian eating is. There was a good range of organic drinks, but they added quite a bit to the price of the meal. We should have stuck with tap water.

After having had two courses, I was still quite hungry, so asked Sarah whether there was time for a third. We were going to watch a mate of hers perform in an opera, but I didn't know what time it was, where the opera was being held, or what time the opera started. Anyway, Sarah said there was plenty of time, so I had a third course. Sarah decided that the best way to get to Highgate (where the opera was being held) was by bus, but when she found out how long the bus journey took, she decided we should use the Tube. We arrived at Highgate after 7 o'clock, which wasn't ideal because the opera started at 7, and we had no idea how to get to the venue! We asked for directions at a bar/restaurant by the station, and then walked back outside. Sarah and I had understood the directions differently, so both started walking in different directions! I was convinced that I was right, so we went my way. Fortunately, this was the right decision, although my foot was giving me jip as we walked quickly up the hill. The opera was held in a small theatre above a pub, and the blokes on reception let us go in, as long as we stood by the door, and didn't sit down until there was a break. We did this, but ended up getting in the way of half of the cast coming in! I didn't actually understand what was going on in the opera (even though it was in English), but did enjoy it.

At the end of the first third, we didn't rush downstairs to the bar, because there were two other friends of Sarah in the audience, and she wanted to find them. After finding them (they almost walked past us, because they didn't recognise her with her "new" hair cut), we went downstairs to the bar. Unfortunately, the bar was really busy by this point, and they rang the bell before I'd got served. Oh well! We walked back upstairs, and sat down. The women who was sitting next to me had put her coat on my chair, and sighed quite loudly when I politely asked her to move it! The second third was just as confusing as the first third, but there was some more totty to perve at! As soon as the lights went on to signify that it was the interval, I stood up, hobbled quickly down the stairs, and was first to the bar. I remembered what people wanted from the previous interval, but I got a bit confused by Sarah's orange juice, and ended up ordering a pint. Expecting this to be really expensive, I was impressed to see that a Stella, two lime and sodas, and a pint of orange juice cost me less than a fiver.

We found a table to sit at, and tried to figure out what was going on. Fortunately, the programme explained the plot, which made things a bit easier. One of Sarah's mates told me that their mate would be singing from a balcony in the next third. While we were sitting down, I realised that it is a Wetherspoon pub, which explains why the round was so cheap. A lot of Wetherspoon pubs have memorabilia from whatever the pub used to be, but, in this case, the signs to the theatre did actually point to a theatre. We took our drinks up with us, and, this time, the woman was standing right in front of my seat, and sighed loudly again when I politely asked her to move. Surely it's not that much too expect! At the end, Sarah asked whether I knew which one her mate was, and was surprised when I said, "Wasn't he the lad singing from the balcony?"! Afterwards, we went downstairs for a few more drinks, joined by Sarah's mate who was performing, and his girlfriend (with a nice low-cut top).

I lost track of time a little bit, and realised that it was about 11:20, and the last train to Langley was 12:30. We left fairly quickly, and I hobbled down the hill, and into the station. There wasn't a direct train to King's Cross, so I had to change at Camden Town. I always get confused at Camden Town, so Sarah very kindly offered to change with me. She's a top lass. We had to run for the King's Cross train, which then waited around for a few minutes, so I'd knackered my foot even more for no reason. Apart from limping, I had no problems changing trains at King's Cross, but arrived at Paddington at 00:27. The 00:30 was leaving from platform 1, so I had to run across the whole width of Paddington station, but I just about got there in time. Unfortunately, there wasn't a toilet on the train, but at least I'd caught it. I sat down next to some totty, and continued reading the Reuters news website. I was sitting in the middle of a group of people, and one of the blokes was trying to explain the "Way a pie" song. I smiled, and he said, "Look. That bloke knows what I'm talking about.". I smiled again, and said, "I do, but you really have been watching too many pantos". I can't remember much more about the journey back, but I do remember my fellow passengers being quite entertaining.

It was hard work hobbling back home from the station, and I was gagging for a cuppa when I got home. I watched one of the many programmes that I still had to watch while drinking my tea, and then went to bed (leaving ITunes copying another CD onto the PC).

Please feel free to post comments about my blog here, but please keep to these rules:

• Write in English, preferably with good grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Keep it clean.
• Be constructive.

When you click on the Next button below, your comment will be displayed, so that you can check you're happy with it, but it won't actually be entered. You will then need to click on the Submit Comment button, before your comment is actually submitted.

Previous blog Next blog Archive

Bookmark with: