22 of 50: Lord Moon of the Mall (Westminster, London)

Kinky Boots! and Rain.

Today was a joint birthday present for me and delta.  The wife had already booked four tickets, and this is one of the shows that I really wanted to go and see.  Originally, the plan was for me, the wife and gamma and delta to go, we all thought it would be good to invite delta’s female friend (delta-ff) instead of gamma, and she was really keen to come. 

We looked at the weather forecast (the real one), and it had a 100% chance of rain, so we all felt that maybe it might rain.

We drove into London, this is pretty normal for me when we have more than 2 people.  We park up at Thomas Moore Square (near Tower Bridge), it’s a good price (£12 for 24 hours if you pre-book), and it’s just outside the congestion zone.  It’s a small and interesting walk along St. Katharine Docks and passing the London Tower, on to Tower Hill tube station.  I have four oyster cards, and only one needed charging.  We took the tube to Embankment and walked up to the Strand from there.

My normal process when going to a show is to find the theatre first, so a very small walk up the Strand and we could already see the signs outside the theatre.   During the small walk the wife found out that her waterproof coat was not, and that she had wet patches on both her bosoms (making it look like she had a baby milking related issue).

Now we decided to go to the Wetherspoon for brunch (or brinner as I think it should be called).  

We went to ‘Lord of the Mall’ because it was the closest.  My first photo was photo bombed by a London Bus, and the other photos are not great.  Of course, I needed a photo of the carpet, and when the flash went off on the camera I got some very strange looks (what kind of sad person takes a picture of the carpet but not any pictures of the actual interior?). 

Delta and I took the opportunity to use the toilets which were downstairs.  The wife and delta-ff managed to get us a table.  I was planning on ordering food from the table, but there was no queue so the wife offered to place our order.  There were not the usual choices, the menu was pretty limited in my view, and more expensive than home (but probably normal for London).  We decided to get three starters (for £12), and I had a beer.  The wife had wanted Onion Rings, but she was told that the pub does not do any deep fried food.  We are all a bit confused as to how they cooked the chips (oven?).   The pub itself is nice, a great piece of architecture with high ceilings and many pictures on the walls.  The toilets were designed for the shorter person.   

Time was passing, and it was time to make our way to the theatre.  We got wet again walking to the theatre.  We had pre-booked tickets, and had no problem collecting them.  We were in the circle at the back.  We were early and waited around half hour before the performance started.  What a show, this really is the best I have been to.  The songs, that acting, the guy that plays Lola was truly amazing.  The queue for the ladies at the interval was crazy, but not my problem!. 

I would recommend this show to anyone.  Delta-ff cried, it’s her first visit to a theatre show and she was so happy/excited, I am so glad we invited her along.  Delta had a huge grin on his face the entire time.

Afterwards a trip to Five Guys, I managed to start eating the wrong burger (sorry delta-ff), we ordered two lots of large fries and it really is enough for four people.   It is expensive (over £50 for all of us), but it is one of the kids favourites and it kept us out of the rain whilst we waited for the rush hour to pass.  The tube was a little crowded at 6:30, but we got out of London with no main issues.  The drive home was horrible, the rain was so bad that even I had to slow down (and I drive a BMW, so that is not in my nature).  

We dropped delta-ff off home and got home soon afterwards.  I think this is my best visit to London for a show, and I am still buzzing.  

And the pub was OK as well.