Been looking forward to the tenth of October for a long time.

The day started with "a local grocery store" delivering groceries (duh) to us, so now I won't have to go shopping for a long time. ;-)

Then I did some housewifey things I seldom do, i.e. I ironed some clothes. Don't think I've done that in years.

At half four we left for the tube, by which we finally ended up at the Strand, where we had supper at a local Italian restaurant (with no Italian waiters, even though there were a lot of waiters--we had at least four during the 90 minutes we were there). I thought the food was nice. I even had dessert. Couldn't finish it, but that's not the point.

After supper we crossed the street and went to see...drum roll, please...yep, that musical again. I had been touching wood for six weeks every time I was afraid of Philip Quast not turning up, and I grinned broadly when I could see his name on the board in the foyer.

Still didn't believe it until I saw his understudy (the increasingly unpopular (in my circles) Mark Houlihan - but that's because he tried to out-sing Quast, a feat which will be neither forgotten nor forgiven) perform in one of the earlier ensemble scenes. I could breathe easily for the first time in weeks.

The point is, we had paid through our noses for these seats and up till tonight I have been unfortunate enough to miss Quast in 33% of the performances I went to specifically to hear him sing, so it was crucial he was there. Since I went with my flatmate I wouldn't have left if he weren't, but I would definitely not have sat through yet another performance with his understudy.

I know, I'm bad.

Well, the show was bloody brilliant again (my fourth performance so far), and even though we sat close to someone who stank from hell and back (think old gym clothes), that did not ruin the experience.

Just one thing--maybe I'm being picky here...or just creepy--unmarried men are usually supposed to not wear wedding rings, right? So, basically, for authenticity, actors should also leave their own rings behind when entering the stage to portray single people? ;-)

And now for something completely different. From one idol to the next, actually. I watched the Michael Palin special on BBC 2 during the weekend and as soon as it ended dragged my flatmate with me into the sitting room, where we watched his first (and, in my opinion, second best) travel series, Around the World in 80 Days (hmm, interesting to see that three of my biggest favourites have appeared in different "versions" of that story...and no, the 1989 film with Brosnan and Idle is not among those). I must have seen the series at least five times, but it is still a great watch and also brings back a lot of memories. It is, after all, the programme which made me a fan of Palin's. I actually know exactly where I became a fan...which is either sad, obsessive, creepy or all of the above.

Never mind that, I am going to bed. Been a long day and I have just one day left of my holiday. I need to land first.

It took me at least four times of hearing it before I realised that Madonna tried to say "Ik ben trouwig" in the intro to her song "Sorry". Duh.

And if any Norwegians out there wonder why haven't mentioned the death of Jan Werner Danielsen it is simply because I still cannot believe it. I read about it a few hours after they found him and I was in shock. I'm very fortunate that I saw him performing live at least twice. It is such a loss.

Labels: comedy, evita, film, food, linguistics, michael palin, music, musicals, online shopping, personal, philip quast, theatre, TV