London and Billy Elliot.

It was the school October week and Katie and I decided it was time to head for London town to catch up with some good friends and Katie's sister. if you remember, I missed out on the Wimbledon trip so it was my first time seeing some folk for a long time.

We stayed at Gill's in Hampstead - Gill runs a hostel for young people coming to London to work who can't afford their own place. it's a bit like Uni digs for adults - there are all sorts of people living there but they get cheap (for London) housing and and all meals included, a great deal. And they are also living in one of the most well off places in London.

As usual we walked a heck of a lot around London and took in some sights - our favourite past time however was spotting people who could be considered to be famous.......we saw David Gray the singer, Sharleen Spitteri from Texas (the band) and in a cafe near to Gill's we saw "tabloid sex kitten" (according to the London Evening Standard) Abi Tittmuss. You could say that we didn't have much joy spotting celebs.

We did want to do a London show whilst we were down - Katie"s Mum had recommended Billy Elliot so we went to see it. Turns out that it was in the exact same theatre as the last show we saw - Starlight Express.

If you want a review you are asking the wrong person - I was impressed by the talent on show, the dancing and singing and all that - especially from the young lads in the main roles. But I think musicals are not really for men - even if we do enjoy any aspect of them we're really not supposed to say. I would rather have seen a band to be honest. I did spot someone else "famous" at the show though - ex Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen.

We also visited Tara (who I taught with in NZ) and Sam with his pregnant wife Emma. They were all doing very well and at the time of writing Emma has now given birth to a wee boy called Max. Many congrats to the Carrington's.

However, we didn't take many photos at all - in fact I think we took 5 all in and they were either in the theatre before the show or on the train home. Some tourists we are these days......

This children's bike was chained to the railings in a posh bit of London

The Victoria Theatre for Billy Elliot

The excitement for the show builds

The excitement can't be contained - "I hope I don't fall asleep"

The child next to me belonged to a family who spent most of the journey home  reading their bibles.

An excellent trip all round and good to get away from the car crashes and all sorts of other things that we've had on our mind lately - let's hope there is more good news on the blog from here on in. The next story will be about Halloween and will have lots of pics, I promise!