Falling in Love

These were the days when I began to fall in love with London. When you’re struggling just to survive, it’s hard to get your thoughts out of the fog long enough to notice the amazing things around you. Now that I could breathe a little, my senses started to awaken to this amazing city.

Since I didn’t have anything to do when I wasn’t working, movies became my main pastime. Not only could I see the movies where I worked, London also had a plethora of interesting theaters big and small all over the city. Of course, this was before you could stream movies at home. There were club theaters that would play older movies in double and triple features. Since there were so many movies I had never seen, I launched into a movie-going frenzy, sometimes going to see three and four a day. As I ventured around London to find the theaters, I began to see more and more unique and interesting aspects of the city. 

Live theater is also a big part of London as well. Not only do they have the large, West End theaters but there are a number of small, intimate theaters, many above the pubs. I went to a one-man play where the male actor told the story of a female character who was talking about a saga of sexual abuse that she had endured. It was an interesting phenomenon. If it had been a woman playing the part, her femaleness would have distracted me from the message. Yet somehow, because it was a man, I felt a sympathetic connection that drew me into the story in a much greater way.

I did go to some of the big musicals too. There was one called Starlight Express I went to see several times. I had heard about it from someone on the ship who had seen it in New York. She told us about how all the actors were on roller skates, skating and jumping all over the theater. It sounded cool so I went when I had the chance.

Starlight Express was an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical - one of the longest-running in West End history. It was about trains that came to life and the struggle of the underdog. The story was kind of hokey but the action was unique. The actors would hook together to make up the trains and race all around the theater. 

The set was built on three levels. As is usual in a theater, the lower and closer you sit to the main stage, the more expensive the tickets. Since I was a chintz, I got my seats as cheap as possible in the upper balcony. But the cool thing with Starlight Express is that part of the racecourse was built right in front of the balconies. The actors came a lot closer to the entire audience. 

One of the times I went, the balcony was fairly empty so I moved down to the front where the actors skated by. Part of the show entailed the actors jostling each other as they raced and they would fall onto the railing. So that day, the actors fell right in front of me.

Tickets for live theater are expensive but one way to get them cheaper is to line up for returns. You go to the theater early and wait in line for tickets that get returned for that show. Even though I had a little money now, I was averse to spending more than I had to. And since my time was less valuable to me than money, I didn’t mind waiting. You also got into a camaraderie with everyone else in the line.

Another way I used time to my benefit was in my choice of transportation. The main modes of public transportation in London are the Tube and the buses. If you are going to use public transportation all the time, it’s best to get a pass. The further out from the center you are, in the outer zones, the more it costs. As I lived in Zone 4, it wasn’t cheap.

The fastest way around is by Tube but if you have the time, taking the bus is far more interesting. Most of the buses are double-deckers, so you go to the top floor, get a seat in the very front and you get to watch London go by. With either the bus or the Tube, the further out you live, the less crowded it is when you get on. But as you get closer to the center, the more packed it gets and it can get very tight.

There is an etiquette to the public transportation. It’s an every person for themselves kind of proposition. Most men who are sitting do not get up for women. If you didn’t get on early enough to get a seat, that’s your lot. If you got up every time there was a woman, you’d never sit and sometimes you have to ride for quite a while. I did try to give up my seat for elderly or pregnant people.

Another etiquette on the Tube is that you generally try to keep quiet. There were two main groups that did not keep this etiquette – Chinese and Americans. For the most part, if people were being loud on the Tube, they were from either of these two groups.