Limey Excitement

So, back to London.

I rode the Stansted Express back to Liverpool Street Station. I sat on the same side of the train as I did going to Stansted 2 weeks ago, facing backwards...so it seemed like life was going in reverse pulling me back to English speaking civilization.

And, why don't we have train sheds in the US? Once you're in a train shed, you know you're in Europe. Maybe that's why we don't have them in the States -- to keep us grounded.

I decided to do something I'd wanted to do my first night in London -- go see a show in the West End. So I went to the TKTS booth and got a 25£ ticket to Death of a Salesman with Brian Dennehey. (I thought it odd that the half price ticket booth was called TKTS, just like in New York. Is this some sort of worldwide code? Spell tickets with no vowels and it means they're half price? In France, is there a BLLTS booth in Paris?)

Then I went to get some money -- 1500 EEK actually turns into a piddling little pile of Pounds Sterling when given to the money changers -- so I needed a bit more. Luckily, there was a Citibank branch right across from my hotel. Go in...and realize...I think...I've left my ATM card somewhere in Estonia (probably in the machine I took out all those EEKs to buy my pimp coat).

I don't think I've ever been so lucky. Where is a better possible place in the world to realize you've lost your Citibank card than in a Citibank office (in Queen's English speaking London)? So what could have turned into trauma was rather a low key affair. Within 3 minutes, I was in the phone with the US lost card office, found out there was no debit purchases made, and began the process of getting a new card.

The show was pretty good. I've read Salesman and I think I watched the movie in Dr. Bunting's class. (Right, guys?) But I'd never seen it performed...it was pretty brutal. Dennehey was good, but whoever played Mrs. Lomen was excellent. She stole every scene she was in. (They wanted 3£ for the Playbill, so I have no idea who the other actors were.) Some of the staging was a little shmaltzy, but I remember it being written in a such a way that it's hard no to block it that way. Of course, if I was directing, and I had a double-platformed, counter-rotating stage, I'd probably go off the deep end, too.

Afterwards, I was psyched up for this conveyor-belt sushi place I'd passed, but it was closed. So, I finally caved, and had Pizza Hut by the slice in Liecaster Square -- my first pseudo American food in 14 days...and that's OK by me.