Change of Plans

May 25, 2010

We had a very surprising day today. We were scheduled to go to Canterbury this morning at 10:00. Who knew then how the day would end? But before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you about all the pushups I did this morning before showering. According to Michelle, I have the flattest chest of any man she knows. (Isn't it usually the men making those kinds of complaints?) So, I've decided to try to rectify the situation with pushups. It hasn't replaced my morning runs; it's just an add-on that occasionally replaces them. After working my pectoral muscles (and showering) I met up with Michelle to eat the breakfast she had prepared for the day before. Aside from the soggy toast it was pretty yummy. We rushed out the door to meet the group across the city where our coach was scheduled to pick us up. The bus, as it happened, was overheating and the eventual decision was to cancel the trip because no replacement could be found. I was a little bummed because Canterbury would be sooo cool. I had read all about it online the night before and was rip roaring ready to go. I got over it pretty fast though. Instead, they paid for us to go on the London Eye which is a glorified humungous Ferris wheel that gives an incredible view of the whole city. It costs 17 pounds to do, so obviously Michelle and I would never have paid to do it, but since it was offered, we joined along. I really enjoyed it. The wheel moves very slowly and it takes about a half an hour to complete a rotation and consequently, your journey on the Eye. We got some fun pictures. After our trip on the Eye, we found ourselves with Robert Crappo. He’s a really nice guy in our group that neither of us knew very well before. He joined up with us for the day of fun. We made the decision to see a show but we didn’t get very far on our way when we noticed a great little jazz combo. They were packing it up as we came up, but we asked them to play another one with the promise that we’d pay them well. So, they started playing a tune and I threw my shoulder bag off, grabbed Michelle’s hand and started dancing with her. It was so fun despite the fact that I was a little bit rusty. It’s been a little while since we last swing danced. Despite that, we drew in quite the crowd right there on the water front of the Thames. When we finished, I threw them a few pounds and thanked them but they promptly thanked us. Although we didn’t see it because we were busy dancing, lots of people were tossing money at them because we were dancing. They thanked us for bringing the crowd. Afterward, Michelle and I decided that teaming up with a jazz combo might be the best way to fulfill our study-abroad dream of pan handling and street performing. We decided that the best show to see that night was Oliver, so we headed to the West End to get our tickets. Since our trip to Canterbury was cancelled, they gave us 40 pounds to see a show that night. Well, we got student-concession tickets to Oliver for 25 pounds! We had some time to kill, so we started exploring around Covent Garden. There were a lot of neat shops around. I finally found a shop that sells straight-edge razor blades. The steel seems to be good quality, but the handle seemed like really weak plastic. I wasn’t convinced to get it then. I might go back though if I can’t find something better. I’m interested in changing the way I shave of course because of a recent education on the topic in an article on artofmanliness.com. We grew bored of Covent Garden and needed to find something to make Michelle and I feel better. The day after I ran out of Listerine Pocket Mist, both Michelle and I got sick. I’ve had a sore throat and she’s been congested. After we found something for her at the drug store, we went down to Fleet Street. When I was planning to leave for London my plan was to get a haircut short enough to last the whole time here in order to save money. Well, I realized that if I really wanted to make the claim that I’d LIVED in London, I’d need to get a haircut there. What better place to get a haircut than Fleet Street. It took a little bit of searching, but we finally found a barber on Fleet Street. I was soooo excited. We took pictures and everything. We wanted to find a place that sold meat pies too, but we needed to get back to the West End for our show. Luckily we did have time to eat dinner before the show because we made good time getting back to the West End. We found an awesome Indian restaurant called “Masala Zone” near the theatre. The food was so incredibly good. By far the best Indian food experience I’ve ever had. The theatre for Oliver was on Drury Lane (I’ve decided to return there to take a picture with a muffin). I was really impressed with the ability of the kids that were cast in the show. They were great little performers. Especially impressive was the boy who played the Artful Dodger. Oliver was pretty good and Fagin was great. There were some things about the show I didn’t like, but overall I really enjoyed it. Michelle absolutely loved the girl who played Nancy. She discovered the song “As Long As He Needs Me” a little while before coming to London and she was excited to hear it performed live. It was such a fun day even if it was not anything like we planned.