18 June ’05, Saturday. Our Box Seats ???
A couple, three days have gone by and I’ve got some catch up to do again. We did have a great time seeing “Lion King”, and it was everything that we have heard it was…Fantastic !!! We had good seats, 3&4th seat in from the middle Isle, and about 2/3rds of the way up from the stage in the first section. Pretty lucky for those of us that have waited until the last minute. We were there for the matinee, and because it rained, we didn’t feel like we were taking away from seeing other sites. As it was, not to soon before the play was over, it cleared up, so off we went to continue walking the streets and having a good time again in London. For the 2nd day in a row, we didn’t get back to the campground until after 10. This is not like us, we normally like to have our glass of wine, make our dinner, wash dishes, and be all done by 7:30 at least. Thursday, we took in another show…”Billy Elliott”. We had seen the show when it was in the theatres, and when we saw it was on the stage here, we just hoped we could get seats. We heard that the box office opens at noon to sell the tickets that may be available for that same day performance, so we were there by 11:30am. The line had already started to form, so we jumped right in. Some how, Louise had heard from someone in line or passing by, that if you went to another line inside…you could get tickets right away…. She jumped at the “chance” and got us 2 tickets for the matinee again. We were thrilled, that is until we got inside, went to our seats, and sat down… WE COULDN’T SEE THE STAGE !!! Our tickets were for balcony box seats…they were just in front of the stage, and up on the 2nd and a half level. If and when you sat down, you couldn’t see anything. If you were to stand, you had a great view. As it was, we found that these seats were, for us, the best seats in the house…we had a great time…we could wonder around the whole area, take off our shoes, eat and drink our snacks with out bothering anyone, and just have a good time with an incredible show. Billy Elliott was outstanding !!!! Again, another late night in getting back to “Bumble Bee”, and getting to bed tired… Friday morning as I was entering the shower, I just barely noticed someone passing through the door. After a quick thought, I thought about who that might have been. Sure enough, after showing and checking with the reception desk, I found out that Bob and Helen (a couple we had met in Ireland, and whom we had been since corresponding with emails, and trying to get together again) were indeed here. They had pulled in yesterday and here we were, pulling out today. That’s ok, we had a chance to get together for coffee and a long talk, and with hopes of getting together somewhere in Europe later in the year. They are a couple from Fall City Wa., and are traveling for a few months in Europe as well. Eleven AM and we were pulling out of London and heading towards the coast for the last few days in Great Britain. About 15 miles north of London, and on one of the many freeways, I noticed that the “hot engine” light was blinking, and the temp of the engine was climbing pretty quickly. After pulling off on to the shoulder and getting to the back of the van, I noticed that the cooling water was “flowing” out of the engine…I couldn’t stop it if I had wanted too…we had lost the water pump !!! !!it, not now… We had a couple of quart bottles with water in them, so dumping them into the radiator and watching as it flowed out as fast as I was putting it in, we had no options. Get the hell off the freeway and find help. Now tell me, why is it you can only have serious problems on Fridays, Saturdays, or “Bank Holidays” (National Holidays to us) ??? Well, to shorten this up, we did find a mechanic in Harlow (just north of London), we couldn’t get in until this morning at 11:00, and they had to order 2 water pumps (not sure which one, if any, would fit). It was to take 1 to 2 hours max to do the job, but as our luck continues, we didn’t leave until after 4:00. After all was done (we hope, as they had a heck of a time getting the water to stop), we found a nice campground about 5 miles west of town. After sleeping in the parking lot of the garage last night, this is going to be heaven tonight. Fact is, we had dinner tonight at one of the local pubs, and I had probably one of the best meals of the journey, right here in this, very little community…Tomorrow…only He knows… wish us luck…
A couple, three days have gone by and I’ve got some catch up to do again. We did have a great time seeing “Lion King”, and it was everything that we have heard it was…Fantastic !!! We had good seats, 3&4th seat in from the middle Isle, and about 2/3rds of the way up from the stage in the first section. Pretty lucky for those of us that have waited until the last minute. We were there for the matinee, and because it rained, we didn’t feel like we were taking away from seeing other sites. As it was, not to soon before the play was over, it cleared up, so off we went to continue walking the streets and having a good time again in London. For the 2nd day in a row, we didn’t get back to the campground until after 10. This is not like us, we normally like to have our glass of wine, make our dinner, wash dishes, and be all done by 7:30 at least. Thursday, we took in another show…”Billy Elliott”. We had seen the show when it was in the theatres, and when we saw it was on the stage here, we just hoped we could get seats. We heard that the box office opens at noon to sell the tickets that may be available for that same day performance, so we were there by 11:30am. The line had already started to form, so we jumped right in. Some how, Louise had heard from someone in line or passing by, that if you went to another line inside…you could get tickets right away…. She jumped at the “chance” and got us 2 tickets for the matinee again. We were thrilled, that is until we got inside, went to our seats, and sat down… WE COULDN’T SEE THE STAGE !!! Our tickets were for balcony box seats…they were just in front of the stage, and up on the 2nd and a half level. If and when you sat down, you couldn’t see anything. If you were to stand, you had a great view. As it was, we found that these seats were, for us, the best seats in the house…we had a great time…we could wonder around the whole area, take off our shoes, eat and drink our snacks with out bothering anyone, and just have a good time with an incredible show. Billy Elliott was outstanding !!!! Again, another late night in getting back to “Bumble Bee”, and getting to bed tired… Friday morning as I was entering the shower, I just barely noticed someone passing through the door. After a quick thought, I thought about who that might have been. Sure enough, after showing and checking with the reception desk, I found out that Bob and Helen (a couple we had met in Ireland, and whom we had been since corresponding with emails, and trying to get together again) were indeed here. They had pulled in yesterday and here we were, pulling out today. That’s ok, we had a chance to get together for coffee and a long talk, and with hopes of getting together somewhere in Europe later in the year. They are a couple from Fall City Wa., and are traveling for a few months in Europe as well. Eleven AM and we were pulling out of London and heading towards the coast for the last few days in Great Britain. About 15 miles north of London, and on one of the many freeways, I noticed that the “hot engine” light was blinking, and the temp of the engine was climbing pretty quickly. After pulling off on to the shoulder and getting to the back of the van, I noticed that the cooling water was “flowing” out of the engine…I couldn’t stop it if I had wanted too…we had lost the water pump !!! !!it, not now… We had a couple of quart bottles with water in them, so dumping them into the radiator and watching as it flowed out as fast as I was putting it in, we had no options. Get the hell off the freeway and find help. Now tell me, why is it you can only have serious problems on Fridays, Saturdays, or “Bank Holidays” (National Holidays to us) ??? Well, to shorten this up, we did find a mechanic in Harlow (just north of London), we couldn’t get in until this morning at 11:00, and they had to order 2 water pumps (not sure which one, if any, would fit). It was to take 1 to 2 hours max to do the job, but as our luck continues, we didn’t leave until after 4:00. After all was done (we hope, as they had a heck of a time getting the water to stop), we found a nice campground about 5 miles west of town. After sleeping in the parking lot of the garage last night, this is going to be heaven tonight. Fact is, we had dinner tonight at one of the local pubs, and I had probably one of the best meals of the journey, right here in this, very little community…Tomorrow…only He knows… wish us luck…