Tate and Globe...

Putting the car trouble out of our minds for the next couple of days we were off to London today for my birthday treat.

Up at 6:15, we were checking in at 6:45 for an 8 am flight to London City. A coffee and croissant in the Airport was followed by a hot breakfast on the plane.

The credit card check in scenario is great – no queues!!

On the flight, the Steward knew my name. I didn’t recognise him at first but it was a guy called Nick whom I’d not seen for probably 15 years. He was a friend of Malcolm Logan’s. I’ve been in various bands and music projects with Malcolm over the years, most recently Crazy Wisdom, but since 1998 when I closed Reptile records, I’ve only seen him once or twice.

Nick used to hang around with us when we were in a band called Call Me Clive in the late eighties. Our claim to fame was touring with Goodbye Mr MacKenzie, of which Shirley Manson of Garbage was a member. It was good to see him again and he sent us on our way to London with a couple of bottles of Gin and some White Wine. Top bloke!

The landing at City was a bit hairy as the plane descends twice as steeply as normal. But it was worth it as, by 9:50 we were at Piccadilly Circus.

I headed for the Record Shops of Soho, Selectadisc, Mr CD, Sister Ray the Record Exchange etc etc, there must be around 20 shops on and around Berwick St. As ever I had no real idea of what I was looking for, I’m an inveterate browser.

In the end I bought a disc of string quartets based on the music of Genesis from 1970-1980. An acquired taste. I tried to buy an EP by Jason Falkner, once of the great band Jellyfish, but the shop couldn’t locate the disc that went with the cover so I left empty handed.

Then it was onto the tube again and over the river (or under the river) to London Bridge Station and a short walk to our hotel on Southwark Bridge Road. Superb room and so quiet. I loved it.

After a quick G&T to revitalise us it was off to the river and we went to Shakespeare’s Globe. I’d seen on the net that there was a performance of The Tempest tonight but I’d called to enquire about tickets and it was completely sold out.

After just a quick look round we went to the Pizza Express next door for lunch including a bottle of wine. I love Italian white – best white in the world for me. Whilst we lunched we watched the passers by being pelted by rain and hail, which luckily had cleared by the time we emerged, rosy cheeked into the fairly windy day.

We made our way along to the Tate Modern, surprised to find it was free to enter. Highlights for me were works by Mark Rothko, Cy Twomby (great name!), Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, and Gerhardt Richter – the “Richter” of my 1999 Soundscape CD “Reinhardt Richter Rosenquist”.

Midway through our visit, we bought coffees and went out onto one of the balconies next to the great chimney, which dominates the building and the skyline. From here (which was very windy indeed) we looked out over the river onto St Paul’s. The bright blue skies and white, white clouds made a brilliant backdrop. In fact throughout the gallery there were several exciting views of the great church, which was almost a work in itself within the gallery.

After a visit to the shop (I love the shops in Art Galleries – I prefer books with pictures I think) we went back to the Globe intending to take the tour, as we wouldn’t be able to attend the play in the evening. But it was five o’clock and the exhibition was just closing.

We wandered into the box office and asked about returns. They said the queue started from 6pm with any returns being sold first come first served at 6:30. So we went off for a swift drink and, at 5:45 we started the queue. We were first. We had a chance.

At 6:30 the guy from the box office came out with just two envelopes. He said he had two £5 tickets for the standing area (people who watch from here are “Groundlings”) or two £29 tickets for front row grand circle.

£60 lighter (£1 each for cushions) we entered the theatre at 7:15. What a brilliant experience. I thoroughly recommend you go to a show if you’re in London. I do find Shakespeare difficult to follow at times due to the arcane language, almost like watching a foreign language film without subtitles. But the spectacle itself is half the fun. I wouldn’t mind going again next time I’m down. I’m so old I needed to be in a seat though. Two hours non-stop standing after queuing for nearly an hour would’ve been too much for my decaying legs…

After the play we walked back to London Bridge and took the tube back over to Soho where we found a nice little Indian Restaurant, again in Berwick St. Then it was back to the hotel and we finally hit the sack around 12:30. It was like having a second birthday. Thanks Anne – you’re the best!