To start at the beginning, we took a flight from Glasgow to Heathrow this morning. All went fairly smoothly, but I was irritated that there was no room for my carry-on case in the luggage rack, and that the plane was too warm. We took the Elizabeth Line and then the DLR to Ally and Cat’s flat, where Cat was working from home and made us a coffee. The flat is now almost completely finished and looks beautiful, with the kitchen complete and the dining room table and chairs and the couch in place. The couch deserves special mention; it is perfect for the room, it’s a large and comfortable corner couch in an oatmeal colour, but not too large, just exactly right for the space. After a rest James and I headed to Trafalgar Square and went to the National Gallery for a quick look around. We were chatting to a really helpful and knowledgeable guide who showed us the best angle to look at the skull in the painting “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger, which we were learning about a few weeks ago in our Northern Renaissance Art class. He also showed us how one of the ambassadors’ shoes points in a different direction as you pass the painting, and the handle of the lute too.
We met up with Gordon, Sheena and Peter at Brown’s in Covent Garden for a pre-theatre dinner, and Ally and Cat joined us a bit later straight from work. The meal was very pleasant and we were very close to Wyndham’s Theatre where we went to see Kenneth Branagh playing King Lear.
It was great; it’s the first time that I have seen King Lear and I thought that it was an excellent production. Kenneth Branagh was very good as the deteriorating main character, although I couldn’t help feeling that King Lear was very much the author of his own misfortune. The supporting cast were strong and although ultimately tragic, it was a riveting watch. After we said our goodbyes to the Dykes's, the Anderson contingent went round the corner to the stage door to see if Kenneth Branagh was going to come out. No doubt he did eventually, but it was a chilly wait so after about 15 minutes we gave up and decided to head home. Just as we did so two elderly men exited the stage door * and eagle eyed Cat noticed that one of them was Sir Ian McKellen, wearing a hoodie under his jacket. Well we already knew that Sir Ian lives very near Ally and Cat, so we weren’t too surprised when he also headed to Tottenham Court Road Underground Station. He and his friend were ahead of us but we overtook them, and then we all stopped at an amazing art installation just outside the station. As well as art projected onto the walls, the ceiling appeared to open up and as you watched you felt as if you were shooting up through the clouds and stars. It was splendid. Down we went into the underground station and Sir Ian turned the other way, but lo and behold he appeared on the platform just along from us. We realised that he must have taken the lift, which is fair enough since he is eighty-four. We then changed into the DLR at Bank and the same thing happened again, just as we boarded the train the hooded figure of Sir Ian appeared at the other end of the platform. By this time it all felt slightly comic. As we got off the train at Limehouse Sir Ian came walking towards us and from his stare he had definitely clocked by this time that he had seen the same four people throughout his journey. Especially because we had all accidentally made eye contact with him once or twice during the journey, so he knew that we knew who he was. He finally peeled off to head east along Narrow Street while we headed west. I do hope that he didn’t think that we were stalking him. It did add a frisson of excitement to our journey though!
* a visit by his luvvie chum Sir Ian is probably what delayed Kenneth Branagh from leaving the theatre. I should really say Sir Kenneth since he is also a knight!
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