Hey! Guess where I am!

London again!  Yay!

I was sort of, y'know, just here, but I've come to see some plays (and the fact that it just so happens that the first episode of Season Three of "Sherlock" will air when I'm here is a happy coincidence).  The nice lady at Immigration asked what I intended to do while I'm here, so I said, "See lots of plays."  She surprised me with, "Which ones?" and my answer (of three West End titles that are not likely to transfer to the US) apparently convinced her that I am, indeed, a perfectly good American theatre geek who is not planning any sort of terrorist activities.

The flight was uneventful, although this is (at least) the second trip when I have been unable to fall asleep when (slightly) reclining in an airplane seat, wearing earplugs and eye shades, bundled up with pillow, blanket, and non-binding clothing, yet I found it amazingly difficult to keep my eyes open during a play that night -- sitting, bolt upright, and actually trying to pay attention to the play.  Normally, the first night I get in, I go to the half-price ticket booth and get a ticket for the loudest, most obnoxious musical I can find.  But, tonight, I thought, screw it, I kinda want to see this stage adaptation of "Strangers on a Train."  Yeah.  Maybe a live version of film noir is not the best choice for wakey-wakey.

I'm staying in a different flat than the one I've rented the last couple times I've been here.  The jury is still out on this one.  It's a few blocks farther away from the underground -- which wasn't that big of a deal today, but let's see if I feel the same way when carrying purchases.  In the rain.  The person who owns the place is in Australia, so sent a friend to meet me.  Who did meet me, although I got here earlier than she did (thanks to a failure to communicate which was kind of my fault, as I'd forgotten a particular quirk of calling London numbers internationally).  The two other reasons the jury is still out are:  (1)  the bedroom seems to be suspiciously colder than the living room (so I may have to crank the heat up super-hot in the living room for it to sufficiently warm the bedroom); and ... wait for it ... (2)  coming home after theatre tonight, I blew a fuse and killed ALL OVERHEAD LIGHTING in the unit.  (I thought I'd killed all power completely, but when I saw blinking lights on the wireless router, I realized all was not lost.)  I emailed the owner in Australia -- I couldn't bring myself to wake up the owner's friend at this hour, and I can't imagine she'd do much about it anyway.  (And, really, I have heat, some lights, TV, fridge, and internet, so I'm (mostly) good.)

Well, the weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow ("nice" here meaning "not raining") so I've got a touristy day trip planned.  (Let's see if I actually feel like doing it in the morning.  Let's also see how I survive showering in the dark.)

Oh, and I had a literal "brush with fame" today.  Tom Hiddleston brushed my shoulder on his way into the theatre.  (It was only after the fact that I realized I should have immediately dropped to the ground, writhing in pain, in the hopes it would earn me house seats to his otherwise sold-out show.  Damn.  Moment lost.)