London Pride Week and Plenty of Theatre
Well, y’all, I was simply having too many fun adventures to post last week; we’ll get to that eventually. This week’s post is a recap of the week leading up to London Pride! If you recall, we ended the previous week with a visit to the Owl & Monkey cocktail bar.
This week started strong with theatre tickets I’d bought in February – Next to Normal, starring Caissie Levy. This show has been near and dear to my heart for over a decade (it was my college thesis), and getting to see this masterful production made my heart sing. It was Q’s first time seeing the show, and he was equally as impressed with the talent on that stage as I was. If you have the chance, this one is a must-see!
On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to attend my first STAR Ticketing conference! I’ve been working in ticketing for a few years now, and this was my first conference for it. It was so cool to start to build some connections in the London theatre scene, and the panels were all fascinating.
On Wednesday, another London first – I went to my first Press Night! This is essentially an opening night in London, and it was so cool that Mean Girls was my first one. They had a pink carpet (so fetch!), and the show was really great. Fair warning, they’ve changed some lyrics and swapped out a song. Once I got over the fact that it wasn’t exactly like the original, I had an amazing time.
Continuing my week of theatre, two of my team members at work brought me with them to see Julie: the Musical. It’s a super fun off-West End show about Julie D’Aubigny, a sword-swinging, opera-singing bisexual. It was such a fun time, and I got a “Flaming Bisexual” pin for my collection (which I sadly lost during Pride 😭).
By Friday, I was a bit overstimulated. It was a busy week full of wonderful social things, but by the time I got done work, I needed to sit on the couch and process. I missed home, I was exhausted, so I went and got Popeyes. I never ate Popeyes at home, but there is something about it here that takes the edge off the homesickness. Q and I sat on the couch, watched tv, and went to bed early.
Saturday was London Pride, and while I was super excited to go, I didn’t really want to go alone. So I spent the morning at home working out, writing a blog post, killing time until Q got home. We got decked out in our rainbow finest, and headed to my office. They hosted a pride hub for employees to hang out, drink, socialize, etc in a safe space. We had so much fun hanging out with various coworkers, we actually missed the whole London Pride parade! Ah well, next year, I suppose!
My friend Itai was in town, so we met him for dinner at one of his favorite Covent Garden spots: The Lamb & Flag. The fish & chips here were so good, I’ll definitely be back.
After a lovely meal, we went our separate ways to see different shows. Q and I went to Operation Mincemeat (I had won the lottery). While I won’t say it was my favorite show, it’s very popular and has won various awards, so I think I’m in the minority.
To round out a very full week, I stayed on track with my fitness, got a manicure at PN Beauty in Ilford (so good), and Q and I did some more home organization projects to make our space even more of a shared home.