So it’s the summer holiday with my most anticipated movie of the year (Guardians of the Galaxy) days away and my favourite TV show (Doctor Who, like you didn’t know that) 28 days away, it’s pretty much confirmed that this holiday will be awesome.
Last Friday the awesomeness started when my mum and I went to London for a pretty eventful day.
The main reason we went to London was to see Julius Caesar at Shakespeare’s Globe. It is the second Shakespeare play I have seen on stage as I saw Macbeth last year at the Globe too. The play was great with a lot of history behind it, but there was a mild problem beginning with something called RAIN.
The day started very hot and sunny, so mum, the weather expert she is, said (in a huge exaggeration) “OH, it’s going to be sunny ALL day. You don’t need a COAT or LONG TROUSERS.” (Like I said, it was a huge exaggeration). So I went to London with shorts and without a coat.
Then, about a quarter of the way into the play, it started raining. Very, very hard.
Luckily Mrs. We-don’t-need-coats got the Globe’s rain ponchos to protect us from the rain, but underneath us at the groundling the floor was getting flooded.
The actors even acknowledged this as one line was “You meet us on this happy day,” which caused everyone to laugh and applaud.
After the play there was another “event” which was unique. We went to Waterloo train station only to find that many trains were delayed or cancelled.
…except I didn’t react like that. But thanks for the input Tennant. So we waited until another train came except this one was crowded. Really crowded. Jam packed in fact. So we waited again for another half an hour before we could get on another crowded train.
The reason for all this was lightning strikes which affected the signal box (as the obviously automated voice over the speakers said). The story was reported in the news later.
So that’s a day in London, pretty eventful. My next blog post will be a review of Guardians of the Galaxy, then Doctor Who stuff followed by reviews of Series 8. Incidentally, here’s a teaser trailer:
Editor’s note: The original version of An eventful day to Shakespeare’s Globe was published on 26th July 2014 in Ben Williams’s World.
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Reminded me of Latin at school
Ceasar adsum jam forte
Brutus ad erat
Caesar sic in omnibus
Brutus in eat
Not many people get to watch Julius Caesar in the rain.
It seems that the disposable rain plastic poncho is a ‘must-have’ accessory for the groundlings.
As we groudlings got through the gate waiting for the theatre door to open, the heavens opened! Each poncho cost £2. Did the ponchos keep us all nice and dry? Well- to a degree.
The standing ticket is only £5 each for the groundling – the best £5 I ever spent in my life. In torrential rain, with wet feet, soaked cotton bag, we had a unique shared experience as groundlings. Was it worth it? Yes, we wore the Globe’s rain ponchos!
Didn’t you also tour the Globe exhibition? That absorbed another couple of hours when we were recently visiting the “smoke”.
Surely you also fitted in some other “attractions”, we crossed the millenium bridge, had lunch at St Paul’s, on to the Museum of London, and back to St P’s in time for a service, after which we were kicked out (well, encouraged to leave). Then there was Covent Garden with all its eateries etc before heading home!
Hi David,
No, we didn’t get to see the Globe exhibition as we were queuing outside the gate, so that we could be the first to occupy the best standing point near the stage. Next time we would do another trip just to do the exhibition.
I love the Millennium bridge, and love the beautiful bell ringing from St. Paul’s. I hope the train ticket is cheaper so that we could visit London more often.