To Drury Lane by Underground

Queens Way underground station.

Not quite as cold today. The snow has almost disappeared but there is still a little bit of ice, mostly in the gutters or against parked car wheels, occasionally on the footpath. We studied the underground map and decided we needed to get on at Queens Way, which is just around the corner, and get off at Holborn. We were making our way to the West End, specifically Drury Lane, for a matinee performance of War Horse, at New London Theatre. We had paid for our tickets on the internet in mid-November, it was a Christmas present from my dear sister, Heather.

Interesting detailing on the Freemason's Grand Lodge in the West End.

Front entrance of the Grand Lodge.

 It is a magnificent show. The animals in it were all puppets as were some of the soldiers. There were small birds, crows, a goose who behaved like a watch dog and the horses. The horses were life-sized and very life like. They quivered and whinnied, reared and nuzzled. Their ears twitched and rotated as a live horses do to catch a sound. The puppets were produced and worked by the Handspring Puppet Company and they were brilliant.

The story is about a boy whose horse is sold to the military to become a cavalry horse in the first world war. The staging of this show is brilliant, music helps to tell the story of how Albert runs off to join the fighting, even though he is only 16 and not the required enlisting age of 19, to track his horse, Joey, down and bring him home.  Joey goes through some hard times and changing fortunes before an injured Albert is reunited with Joey, as the horse is to be destroyed after being caught up in barbed wire at the front. Our seats were in the back row of the dress circle and we had the best view of the whole stage. You can see some snippets from the show on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-bni4QqSv4

New London Theatre in Drury Lane.

We had a bit of a wander around the West End before the show. We found a Marks and Spence store and went in to check it out, decided to call back on our way home and buy some provisions for our Christmas dinner, now we’re all set for the big day. We were going to try and book in somewhere nice, unfortunately public transport doesn’t run and taxis are apparently hard to find too. Seeing as how we have an oven and hob as well as a microwave, we decided to do our own!!

Christmas decorations in the West End.

Almost home, street decorations in Queens Way.

Curb-side warnings, telling pedestrians to take care!! people mostly ignore them and just walk when and where ever they please, it doesn't even seem to matter whether the lights are red or green!!!