Happy hump day! (by that, I mean happy Wednesday, not literal humping....I guess I should have just written happy Wednesday, but that wouldn't have been any fun now would it?)
Today I thought I would tell you all about my awesome weekend!! I say mine, I spent it mostly with good friends and doing awesome things- hence the reason it was an awesome weekend.
Soooo! Let us start with Saturday. The plan was originally for me and mum to go to see a show in London together as my birthday present and then we were going to meet up with Jade for a picnic in the park and a good old catch up. In my mind I had already decided what show I wanted to see. It was Wicked, the show about the story of the wicked witch of the West. I'd heard the iconic song, Defying Gravity, and wanted to see this song sung live for myself. As it was also Jade's birthday recently, we'd decided to swap presents and cards when we met up and as my gift to her, I decided I would try and get her a ticket to see Wicked too should the price not be completely ludicrous. In order to get the tickets, the plan was to rock up at Leicester Square/ Piccadilly Circus/ Theatreland, head to a half price ticket booth and hope for the best!
As we got out of the tube station at Piccadilly Circus (Leicester Square also has a tube station, although if you don't mind walking, the two are only a few minutes apart) we spotted a half price booth selling tickets from West End's top shows and headed there first to see what the prices were. Mum had done this when she went to go and see Kinky Boots and said that checking out the prices from a few different booths in the area was the best thing to do. It turns out she was right! The first booth quoted us over £40 for stalls tickets for Wicked, so we went with that quote straight to another booth called Leicester Square Box Office (LSBO) who quoted us a price that sounded much better! While we were queuing up while I was texting Jade about the prices of the tickets. She wanted to join us at the theatre but finding the price was more of a factor for her. She said that maybe she could go when we come to London next time as she wasn't sure we'd find a price that was affordable for her. For me, this made me more determined to get her a ticket if I could. Things were looking good on the price front and when the lady at the desk quoted us £29 for stalls tickets, that was us sold. Mum very kindly bought my ticket and I bought Jade one as well. As I slid the ticket into Jade's card I felt a huge sense of achievement. She seemed so disappointed to not be able to come to the theatre, so this present was sure going to cheer her up.
Next up was our picnicking mission. We'd bought tickets for the matinee performance at 2:30 and since the time was now 12, what was going to be a leisurely picnic was now going to be an eat and run situation and Jade had not even left her house yet! And the worse thing, I couldn't even tell her why I was getting so panicked either! Ahhh!!
We arrived at St James's Park via Trafalgar Sqaure (we walked this- again, if you like walking, this is quite close by) and was greeted with the sight of a Union Jack-clad Mall. The London marathon was taking place the next day so the area was buzzing with stewards, event staff and vans prepping for the big day. It was also quite a warm day so walking among the crowds along the Mall to Buckingham Palace was a bit exasperating. Why Buckingham Palace you ask? Well, my snap-happy mum loves the opportunity to see a tourist hotspot and of course immortalise it on her camera.
As the time ticked by and with Jade still somewhere in London's tube network due to arrive at Green Park station, I got more and more nervous and anxious we may not have any time for lunch, let alone telling Jade she's about to go and see Wicked, or even get to the theatre in the first place! Ahhh!!
At about 1pm in Green Park Jade finally emerged and I excitedly shoved the card in her face. I obviously said hello first, but maybe due to my nerves hanging out due to the time, I was so anxious for her to open her card and reveal her surprise.
Jade's reaction to her theatre ticket was priceless. It was only after jumping about and almost crying that she revealed she'd never been to the theatre before! Never. Been. To. The. Theatre. Ever. WHAT?! This was a crime that thankfully, due to Yours Truly, was set to go unpunished. She was finally going to the theatre and what a show to see on your first time!
 |
| Just 3 complete nut jobs about to see Wicked |
The show itself was, well, Wicked! I won't say too much because you should really go and see it for yourself. Brilliant, enthusiastic actors, a great story and that song (that I was admittedly waiting for for the whole of the first half) was lump-in-throat fantastic! Jade was loving it too, especially the part of the show where dancing eggs entered the stage! Like I say, you need to see this show for yourselves!
Top tip if you are going, shop around for the right priced tickets.
After the show we all came out feeling surprisingly tired and went for a quick drink before heading home. Jade loved her surprise and I'm so happy that she did and that it was me and mum that were the one's to break her theatre virginity. I don't know how I'm going to top that present next year though.
I also want to thank Jade again for my presents and card, the keyring will hang proudly on my keys and we will all play that card game soon, too.
So now onto Sunday. Most of the day was a lie in after the exciting day the day before, but in the afternoon I went to Top Golf with some friends I'd not seen in a while. Well, a couple were friends of friends but the afternoon was fun all the same. I'd never been to Top Golf before but if my experience with crazy golf over the years is anything to go by, my fate was basically set; I was going to completely suck with any victory being a fluke. Surprisingly, I came 3rd in one game and 4th (out of 5) on the second game so I took that as not completely sucking and left that evening with pride. It was also great to see everyone again and catch up on what we've all been up to over the years since I'd seen them.
All in all, my weekend was amazing- Wicked- in fact and this weekend will definitely be a bit more chilled, although I'm sensing that if the weather is dry again, I'll be the muscle-man for all Matthew's gardening exploits. The car boots have also started in Abingdon so our Sunday mornings will again be filled with bargain hunting. You know you're an adult when you get excited about such things as car boot bargains, gardening and furniture shopping.
I'll see you all again next week. Have a lovely weekend everyone and I will be back with all the goss and goings on soon!
Share your thoughts :