Now unless you've been stuck under a rock (hopefully not in the English Channel) you'll know that on Friday a momentous thing happened- we 'Brexit'ed. Now I'm not going to get too bogged down because I already did my rant on Friday....at the TV so I thought I'd do something radical and not do a blog entirely about the EU but for the record, this is where I stand (in brief).
I personally believe we are stronger inside the EU and I was greatly saddened when I woke up to the news we'd left. In the face of change, I'm sceptical and fearful of what the decision will now mean for our country and the future implications it will have around the world, especially as the 'out' MP's are back-tracking pretty fast. It makes me wonder if they really know what the plan now is themselves. As I said before I won't go further because after all, everyone's entitled to their opinion and the people have spoken. Besides, I don't want to be accused of bullying or belittling others' opinion as I'm not 5 years old. The only thing that bugs me are those who voted without any awareness or knowledge as to the way they were voting. Yes it is a democracy but does that really stand for much when those who have free reign to vote, vote without even researching their choices?
Rant over.
Now for the real reason I'm blogging today; to say how amazing it was to see Coldplay live. I should say first of all that Matthew doesn't really like Coldplay very much but he agreed to come with me. However, I've been wanting to see them for years and years and despite the eye watering amount I paid, I can say it was all worth it. As the chord from their first song was struck, the lights came on and our wristbands came to life, I was in tears (happy tears). A moment I had wanted for years was finally here, and I was here with my best friend. I couldn't have been happier. Despite having a whole new album of songs, it was their older music that proved the biggest hit with the thousands of fans. It was a unity of colour as "Yellow" played, and the crowd were up swaying and singing along to the iconic "Fix You" It was hard not to get emotional as the daylight faded and the light's from everyone's wristbands struck against the darkening sky. As the night was drawing to a close, "A Sky Full of Stars" proved a truly euphoric moment as Matthew came to cuddle me and I saw everyone's wristbands light up for the last song, I felt amazing and in that moment I didn't want the concert, or mine and Matthew's weekend together to ever end.
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| I love this picture of us, every time I see it it makes me smile |
Now, although the concert was amazing, getting to our seats proved to be less of a joyful experience. It seems a disability can only be a true disability if it's in wheelchair form according to Wembley Stadium, as even disabled seating was proven to be inadequate for someone who cannot bend their leg. As a result, and after hopping from information desk to dozens of baffled stadium staff and a very rude supervisor (note the supervisor asking Matthew very abruptly "so what's your condition then?"), Matthew was given a wheelchair to sit in for the concert. I could not imagine how he must have felt, but I certainly felt upset knowing that somewhere as big as Wembley Stadium could not cater in this day and age for someone that has a wheel-free disability. I felt upset because it made me realise that nothing has really changed in terms of attitude to the disabled since my dad passed over 8 years ago; you're still made to feel awkward, you're still spoken to like you're an idiot and more disgustingly, you're made to feel almost apologetic for being that extra burden and in fact, for being disabled at all. However, I will point out that there were some very helpful and respectful members of staff that kept us informed with our seats and who did go to all lengths to rectify errors of judgement made by others, so to them I say thankyou.
So after the night ended I asked Matthew what he thought of it all and he said "it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." Success there then I think!
Now to the hotel. In terms of location- you couldn't beat it really for the price we paid. I would say to do your research on the best routes to Wembley as I assumed the tube was best. However the bus we needed ended up- as we later found out- passing right past our hotel!! The 92 bus that is and as I was assumed the master of journey and route planning for the trip, Matthew will never let me live down that error of judgement. Don't get me wrong, I got us to where we needed to go, but maybe not as efficiently as I could've done- sorry Matthew!
The hotel in terms of looks and other superficialities- not so good. The room we were initially allocated wasn't yet ready so we were offered a room swap for one that was ready. The room was very basic but it had what Matthew dubbed as a "death smell" which was off putting and there were also some fundamental flaws in logic we noted, such as being given a pile of tea bags with no presence of a kettle, and no hand soap in the bathroom. Anyway, that was the least of our problems as one morning we awoke to the sound of scuttling and chewing. It was then confirmed by Matthew that we had some mousey friends. This speculation was backed up by the discovery of rat traps under the bed and behind the toilet. This is London and it wasn't a 5 star hotel so we just put it all down to circumstance and carried on with our weekend.
The day after the concert, we decided to head into Central London. A risk for us as we'd already been stung for "tapping in" and "tapping out" of places within a 3 minute window (we'd tapped in at what we discovered too late was the mainline station when the tube station was 3 minutes down the road) However it didn't prove quite so painful as we were more eagle eyed this time and as the saying goes "once bitten, twice shy" We had resourcefully nabbed some McDonalds vouchers from the metro whilst on the tube (if that isn't "Londony" then I don't know what is) so dinner was sorted, now to queue up for Madame Tussauds to see what the fuss was about with this new Star Wars exhibit and boy what a clusterfuck the queuing system was. Door 1 queue, door 2 queue or door-I-don't-have-a-clue queue the only thing that was certain that we were getting wet in the rain and getting increasingly pissed off at being passed from queue to queue and watching people trying to skilfully and "accidentally" push in- and one succeeded too as his excuse was having a baby to keep dry! An outrage.
Eventually we got in and had a look around. Matthew had never been before and as most people do, we started to judge whos wax work looked the most convincing. There was a ride half way round that as predicted had no legroom *sigh* It was then time for a Marvel 4D experience. An experience which was given more room than all the other wax works in the building put together! As with most over-anticipated things, disappointment followed as me and Matthew concluded it was a little childish for us.
With that came the main event; the whole reason we braved the awful queues, the rain and the zone 1 tube prices, it was time to travel to a galaxy far far away....Matthew got to see Jabba the Hut, C3PO, R2D2, Luke SkyWalker, and he even got to sit in the Millenium Falcon with Wookie and see the Lord himself, Darth Vader. But was it all worth the fuss? He didn't think the Star Wars section was as elaborate as it could've been, but by the looks of the photos he seemed to have got some enjoyment from it all.
We both agreed that without any Clubcard vouchers or 2 for 1 deals, Madame Tussauds isn't worth doing as for a full price entry it was £34! A bit too expensive for what it is. The rest of our day was spent at the Southbank where we used our McD's vouchers and ate with the view of the London Eye and Big Ben in the sunshine- perfect.
Our last day in London was uneventful really. We decided as we were both knackered and I was back to work on the Wednesday, that we'd just head back. I had enjoyed every minute of our break together and I'd achieved one of my dreams to see Coldplay live and I was heading home with my nicked Coldplay wristband and outrageously expensive merchandise. Me and Matthew work so well as a team and I can't wait for our next adventure- which will be Birmingham in October to see his favourite bands.
As our train pulled up at the station to take us home, we saw the number 92 go over the bridge past our station and both laughed.
Til next time readers have an awesome week!
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