No Hot Water

Bright and early up. Bright and early stayed in bed. Bright and early turned on the TV for morning shows. What is hot is a show about the Customs Officers at Sydney Airport in Australia and/or the Luton Airport in England. It shows people trying to smuggle contraband items on the flights. Everything from a Bird's Nest "cake" from China to immense quantities of cigarettes in duffle bags. Also, cocaine smugglers who swallowed lots and lots of condoms filled with drugs. In fact, one man has the "honor" of holding out for a grand total of 48 days in a special cell at Luton with bags and bags of cocaine in his system. He refused x-rays, he refused food and only drank a bit of water now and then. 48 days, can you believe it? The Customs Officials were amazed at his strength of character. Finally, he gave in after one of the officers brought in a pizza to eat while on duty. The smell of the food broke the dam and he started wanted (and eating ) food. His "food" came out finally. Amazing stuff for early morning TV.
At about 10, we decided to shower and head out. Guess what? There was NO hot water, and almost NO water pressure. Judy decided "no shower for me", but I had decided to think of this as a camping trip and jumped in. It was freezing! I would turn it off, lather up, turn it on, rinse off, turn it off, lather another bit and repeat. I even shampooed my hair IN A HURRY.
We decided that the owner, Pieter, had to be informed and so sent him a text: NO HOT WATER. PLEASE ADVISE.
Within 5 minutes he had answered: I will send a maintenance man right over. That was good. It was about 11 and we wanted to get lunch/breakfast. Five minutes later, Pieter texted again: I am in the neighborhood, so I will come over in 5 minutes. Good news for us. We waited and then there was a tiny knock on the door and there was Pieter, in the flesh. A nice young man, with a big smile and full of apologies for the water. "I don't know what happened, but I will certainly refund you for this day. The maintenance man will be here to see what is wrong and hopefully, fix it fast." We were quite impressed with Pieter. A good, friendly host, on top of things. So, we all three left the flat and we went off to eat.
We didn't have to be at the theater until evening, so we took another long walk. We had our "winter gear" on, and the sun was shining, so we could stroll around. This time we decided to walk up Regent Street from Picadilly and go to Hamley's Toy Store.
Hamley's is the kind of children's toy store that is geared for adults, in my opinion. I think there are five floors, with things like Arts and Crafts, Magic, Trains, LEGO by the zillions, costumes, dolls, stuffed animals, and the odd board game. Magicians work every floor. One man was demonstrating a flying sort of spaceship that zoomed overhead, returned to him and with his hand he was able to make it hover or zip away or go up or go down or go crazy. One girl was demonstrating an art project with "magic" markers that made a single color (blue) and with another one, you could turn it into yellow for example. "One swish of the magic marker and you have a completely different color. See, my drawing changes every time I choose another color." I mean it is an adventure just to go into the store.We were immediately in a good mood. It was FUN to be there. Very crowded and lots of children running from this demonstration to that table, to another section and their parents or grandparents saying, "Well, Hermione, I think you have quite enough of those Princess necklaces already. Why not look at the Bumblebee tiara. That's cute." Or, "Brendan! Put that truck back instantly, you could break it if it drops.....Brendan, what did I tell you? Now, put back the pieces and let's hurry to the next floor before....." Or, (me to Judy), "This would be great for Manami, she loves to draw, doesn't she?" "Yes, but a 500 piece oil pencil set with its own easel and apron is a bit too big to put into our suitcase....AND it costs EngPd 250. Maybe this set of six markers is better." Me: "Yes of course, what was I thinking."
We spent one hour in Hamley's and managed to get out without breaking our bank or our weight limit. The only disappointment was that they no longer carried the famous puppets we had brought the boys when they were younger. They had a dragon and a clown and a princess AND a skeleton that all came apart into his many bones.
After this, we walked to Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery for a quick look at the Victorian HUGE paintings and then off to the National Portrait Gallery around the corner. The Portrait Gallery is one of our favorites museums in London. We went to the Modern Portraits section and there were amazing pieces of art. One was of a famous actress and it was made of constantly changing colored waves of color. Of course, there was a portrait of the Royal Princes with their Royal Faces and family history of pomposity (they make us sort of desire a return of the guillotine: Down With Royalty and all that).
We ate a sandwich in an Italian cafe and hit the sack for a late afternoon nap at 5.
The play this night was Alan Ayckbourn's ABSENT FRIENDS, first produced in 1974. In his author's notes, Ayckbourn says, "This play is far more claustrophobic, almost oppressive than others I have written. It is a play for a small intimate theater where one can hear the actors breathing and the silences ticking away." The Harold Pinter Theatre was a perfect place to see this play because no matter where you are seated, you are close to the stage.
The story is quite simple: a party is being given for a man whose wife died in a drowning accident. His two best friends and their wives are the hosts. It is a quiet theme for a play. It is filled with small, silent pauses and lines that make you laugh and wince at the same time. For example, the hostess (Diana) is "slightly fraught and smiles occasionally, but it is painful." Evelyn is a young mother, "slightly expressionless" and absolutely bored with life and her husband. As the play opens, Evelyn is reading a magazine and rocking her baby in a pram. She is without life. Here is the dialogue.
DIANA: Should he be covered up as much at that, dear?
EVELYN: Yes.
DIANA: Won't he get too hot?
EVELYN: He likes it hot.
DIANA: Oh, I was just worried he wasn't getting enough air.
EVELYN: He's all right. He doesn't need much air.
These lines don't seem funny at all, but in the way they were delivered, the audience laughed out loud. The boredom of Evelyn, the nervousness of Diana were a perfect mirror image of the entire play.
The party's main guest is Colin, whose wife drowned. He is a very peculiar fellow, who manages not to notice that the things he says are very very hurtful to people. His two buddies reject him completely during the play and want nothing to do with him. The marriages of the three couples are very rocky and there is massive fighting going on between them. Diana, the hostess, finally cracks under the stress and there is this lovely monologue at the end of Act Two.
DIANA: People used to say "You can't join the Mounted Police. You're a little girl. Little girls don't join the Mounted Police. Little girls do nice things like typing and knitting and nursing and having babies." So I married Paul instead. Because they refused to let me join the Mounted Police. I married him because he kept asking me. And because people kept saying that it would be a much nicer thing to do than....and so I did. And I learnt my typing and I had my babies and I looked after them for as long as they'd let me and then suddenly I realised I'd been doing all the wrong things. They'd been wrong telling me to marry Paul and have babies., if they're not even going to let you keep them, and I should have joined the Mounted Police, that's what I should have done. I know I should have joined the Mounted Police. (Starting to sob) I want to join the Mounted Police. Pleas....(She starts sob louder and louder till they become a series of short staccato screams)."
The actress was almost barking, not sobbing. It was hysterically funny. They manage to manhandle her out the door up to her room. It is almost slapstick, but very sad and painful. On the stage, in a deathly silence is her husband Paul and Colin, the guest. The silence is huge. You laugh quietly afraid to make noise. No-one speaks. Paul is suffering not just because his wife has had a fit, but because he has been unfaithful to her and she has rejected him completely. Colin is oblivious to anything meaningful in life. He is a braying sort of fool.
Finally, after a long and painful silence, Colin speaks.
COLIN: Have you had this trouble before, Paul?
PAUL: Not quite like this.
(At one point, Diana, quite hysterical screamed at Paul to "stay away from me. Don't touch me!')
COLIN: I think you should go up with her, you now. She probably needs you.
PAUL: Oh come on, Colin. You heard her. She doesn't want me within twenty yards of her.
(silence)
COLIN: (in another world) I remember when Carol had the flu. (Carol died drowning) She wouldn't let go of my hand....
PAUL: Col.
(silence)
COLIN: Yes.
(silence)
PAUL: Do me a favor. Just shut up for one minute about Carol, would you. I don't want to hurt your feelings but....(shouting now) NOT JUST AT THE MOMENT!!
Again, very tense scene, with big silent spots. Huge holes, very scary moments of nothing. And then, you just had to laugh. You couldn't help yourself. The situation was so fraught with danger and anger that it was actually funny. I wanted to say, "Stop for a minute. Give me a chance to breathe.
We left the theater exhausted but energized. The walk back to the flat was short and at 11:00 we stopped at the local Lebanese cafe on Rupert Street and had a late snack of meat and tomato stew. And then off to bed. Another day down and out. Another great piece of theater.