After that horrendous journey on Wednesday, and with the Tube strike ongoing, I was more careful yesterday and left earlier, straight from the office. The most attractive route was to take the #28 straight up North End Road, then catch the #9 into town. However, I could easily walk to the end of North End Road and avoid having to take the bus - and not only would this save me money, but it seemed the wiser option. Indeed, I was right - during my walk, not a single #28 passed me going in that direction.
I arrived at the stop for the #9 just before it did! Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Routemaster, and crowded. I got a seat upstairs. I'm sorry to say that the criticisms are spot on - the air conditioning is completely ineffective, and you can't open the windows on the upper deck - it's like a sauna on hot days. AVOID IN SUNNY WEATHER. During the 1.5 hours it took to crawl its way into town, I mused that it was as hot as the Hell to which I'd happily consign the striking Tube drivers. Mind you, I was lucky to have a seat - we were completely full by the time we got to Hyde Park.
I gratefully disembarked on Strand, crossed the road and entered the blissfully airconditioned Savoy Theatre, to the side of the entrance to the Savoy Hotel - not down the back, as Google Maps would have you believe. There are lots of stairs down to the stalls - with a plethora of bars. There seemed to be one specifically for the rear stalls,and wrecked as I was, I just didn't fancy trekking around looking for the other bar, where the group would be meeting, none of whom I'd met before anyway. So I had my dinner (a packet of sweet chili crisps), and took my drink into the theatre, where I had a seat right beside the sound booth (lovely, no-one pushing past me!). There was plenty of legroom, and I kicked off my shoes and chilled.
The view was just fine, I thought:
(Mind you, the people in front of me were yet to arrive at this point.) The show opened to the most incredibly long overture I've ever heard, and it was a relief when the curtain rose. Until we were subjected to the Shirley Temple-esque June. In short, the show is about the famous stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee, and deals mostly with her childhood, with her mother (Imelda Staunton) pushing her and her sister, June, around the Vaudeville circuit. June duly runs off with one of the dancers in the show (somewhat of a relief), so mom turns her attentions to her hitherto-neglected other daughter, who, of necessity, ends up as a stripper. And the rest is history, pretty much.
The highlight of the show, for me, was Imelda Staunton - I never knew she had such a voice! The entire audience leapt to their feet to applaud her at the end, and justifiably. All in all, I enjoyed it. Currently booking up to the 28th November, and a decent night out. Plenty of third-party sellers available, but do check prices on the official site first. Oh, and I never did meet up with the group - frankly, I was exhausted and I just crashed in the back for the duration.
Afterwards, I joined a biblical crowd at the bus stop outside. Three #91s arrived in a row, immediately followed by a #9 - which meant that I was ideally placed to squeeze on, as it stopped with the front doors directly in front of me. It was another Routemaster, of course - they focus on particular routes. Now, another disadvantage of them is that you can also enter by the middle doors - which meant people were pouring on simultaneously through multiple entrances. Impossible to control. I soon found myself in a sea of people. Heading upstairs, the people in front of me discovered that there were no seats left on top. You can't stand on top, and there was no way to go back down - so we stayed where we were, on the stairs. I was to find that this was easily the most comfortable place - I had a whole two steps to myself, rails to hold onto, a window to see out of - and I could see the board that alerted us to the next stop. Perfect! And the most oxygen of anyone on that bus.
Unusually for a Tube strike, the bus driver was jokey, and pretended that the bus was non-stop to the terminus. In fact, we didn't stop at a single bus stop until mine, at Hyde Park Corner - which was handy. We must have waited there for 10 minutes while people squeezed off the bus. It easily took me five minutes to ease my way down the stairs - without stepping on the feet of the poor girl behind me - and through the mass of people between me and the door. Ironically, the #9 that arrived right after us was completely empty..
My next bus stop was adjacent to this one, and I waited for the #74, which would pass within a couple of minutes' walk of home. When it eventually came, it was crammed though, and they weren't letting many on. So many were desperate that I hung back. Checking the bus route map, I saw that the other buses calling there - the #14 and the #414 - passed by Fulham Broadway Tube, which is walking distance from me. And there had been a #14, which had been practically empty. So when another came, again practically empty, and there was no interest from the crowd at the stop - I took that. And ultimately arrived safely home, if stiff and tired. And slightly deaf in one ear, from the woman beside me who was on the phone when I sat down - and stayed on it for the next 20 minutes, yapping constantly (in some language I didn't understand) - she stopped for at most 8 seconds at a time. I counted. I was amazed when she finally stopped entirely..
Oh what a relief, back to Ireland tonight and there's nothing on for the weekend! I need a rest. For Monday, my new group - the aforementioned London Dramatic Arts Meetup - has turned up trumps, with discount tickets for Hang, at the Royal Court Theatre! RSVPs were closed, so I tried getting tickets elsewhere - to no avail. Since they reopened the RSVPs for me before, I thought they might again if I asked - and they did! So I got one. And as I said to them, I'll be much more likely to meet them this time.. Also great that it's a lot closer to home for me. Now, that would've been handy this week..
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