O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo
On Wednesday I suddenly remembered that I had two discounted vouchers for afternoon tea at a nearby restaurant. When I found it, I realised that the vouchers had expired two days previously. Anyway if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So I rang them up and asked if I could still use it and he said yes. So today at lunchtime I went there with Indira and enjoyed the delicate sandwiches, light and fluffy scones and cakes with tea and a glass of prosecco each. Then I cheekily asked my Italian waiter, if I could still use my second voucher another time and he said it’s fine with a wink and even gave me back the voucher I had given him. Looks like I can come back as many times as I want.
As we walked home, there was a dead pigeon by the roadside. Indira went to check if it was genuinely dead or faking it. “Leave it” I said. She is too softhearted. “What would you have done if it was not, smother it?” I ask. She was thinking more of a kinder death and anaesthesia. She is actually more fun now that she has decided to retire. We don’t talk much about work anymore but about our other pursuits.
So you might be wondering what has Romeo got to do with all this. Well, Indira told me on Wednesday that she had booked tickets to see the ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday and she was quite happy for me to join her. I checked to see if there were still tickets left and there were and that’s what we did this evening.
She picked me up at 6 and we drove to Woodford and caught the tube to the Embankment, crossed the bridge to the South Bank to watch the show. The South Bank was heaving with people having a fun time and music blaring.
We walked to the Royal Festival Hall and I went to collect my ticket while she went to get a drink. The ballet is the Rudolf Nureyev choreographed version of the English National Ballet’s performance of Romeo and Juliet. The story was told through dance and music over three hours with a couple of breaks in between. I am not very well versed in Shakespeare and should have recapped on the storyline before I went to see the show, but it didn’t matter. The story was easy to follow and the dancers did a superb job. The live orchestra was too soothing and I kept drifting off to slumberland. Where is that nice cup of tea when you really need it. The three hours passed before we even knew it and we made our way back.
As we crossed the bridge back to the station, Indira remarked on how lovely the lit up buildings surrounding the Thames looked in the background of the night sky. In the midst of all the modern buildings it is still the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral which stands out proud and defines the London that I have come to know and love.
