We’re leaving tomorrow. Part of me is sad, because there are so many things that we didn’t get to do, but part of me is really looking forward to being back home with friends and family and a media that doesn’t completely ignore the netball! 
Today dad dropped the car back bright and early, then we headed out into the city again. We went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. So did a few thousand other people. This is something that happens every second day. It’s not like it’s rare or anything, but we were lucky to get a spot where we could see, despite arriving about an hour before it started! I say started… that was when the first lot of people in silly hats with instruments walked around the side of the fountainy-roundabout thing we were standing on. No-one actually came out of the palace gates until about an hour later! We got to listen to lots of people in guard-uniform play brass band music, and see a few guys in funny hats (funnier than the bearskin ones. They looked a bit like the love child of Lady Gaga and Cousin Itt) ride past on horses (one of which was playing up rather delightfully ). The actual outside-of-the-gate bit lasted about 5 minutes or so, which was a bit of an anti-climax!
But I’m still glad we went, coz if we hadn’t I would still be wondering what it was like!
We ended up talking to a Kiwi woman standing in front of us – we’ve come across a few over here actually, lots in Scotland especially.
Took the tube (still LOVE that thing, by the way – when we met up with our friends yesterday we initially met at the Gloucester Rd station, and as soon as I walked in I sniffed the air and said to dad ’smells like the underground!’) to Leicester Square, where we ended up getting West End tickets for £12.50 (more on that later). Then walked over to Covent Garden, where we had lunch and checked out the market. This was very cool – full of vintage jewellery stalls interspersed with places like Lush (went in for a good sniff – I love that place!) and clothes stores etc. Pretty sure I could have spent a lot more time (and money) there than I did!
Met up with dad again, he was watching a street performer trying to get out of a straitjacket. Just as it finished and we were walking away, I spotted someone who looked kind of familiar to me. I did a double-take, thinking ‘nah’ (coz the whole time I’ve been over here I haven’t run into anyone I knew that we haven’t intentionally met up with, but I’ve been wondering if I would, since everyone seems to have a story like that), then she did one too, and went ‘Brooke?’ It was a girl I played netball with in second year uni! Randomest thing that’s happened to me on this trip by far, but very cool!
Then back on the tube to St Paul’s Cathedral, where I sat on the same steps as the birdwoman, then on to Paddington Station (photo in front of Paddington Bear souvenir stall) then back to the B&B to get changed (dad didn’t think we needed to, but I was wearing sandals and a top with food down the front, and was worried there might be a dress code. There didn’t seem to be, but better safe than sorry!). Went to Chinatown for dinner, which was yum, and they had pearl iced tea (aka Bubble Cup, which is one of the few chains I haven’t seen in London), which I was pretty excited about coz I’m kind of addicted and I haven’t had one in about three months!
Then off to find the theatre. We ended up going to Avenue Q. I dithered for a while, but since my dad is not the hugest fan of musicals and was pretty much just going along with me, I decided not to drag him to Wicked, figuring he’d enjoy Avenue Q more. The best way I can describe it is Sesame Street for adults – a mixture of real people and puppets, whose puppeteers are fully visible, although you don’t notice them at all really. Some puppets are obviously based on Sesame St muppets – there’s the Trekkie monster who sounds just like the Cookie monster except for the fact that he’s a total pervert, and Rod and Nicky, two guy-puppets who live together, one annoying the crap out of the other (Bert and Ernie, anyone?). I think Kate Monster is supposed to Prairie Dawn, and Princeton Franklin, although I don’t remember Sesame Street well enough to be sure.
Our seats were as far back as you could get, but the place was tiered so we still had a good view of the stage. And it was FUNNY. We both LOLed a lot. I’d seen bits of some songs on youtube, but didn’t really know the storyline at all. The cast were awesome, and the girl who played Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in particular was great – each character had a really distinctive voice and she sang phenomenally well in both. Dad even said it was one of his three favourite things we’ve done while we were over here – success!
I now have certain songs from it stuck in my head. I managed to keep a lid on the singing on the tube though. ‘The Internet is for Porn’ in particular would have got me some funny looks!
And that’s it for my last post from London… might get a chance to post at LA airport, but if not, ka kite in Aotearoa! 
Wow! It’s been a great trip!
You’ll be back in time for ENGL meetup on Tuesday night if you’re keen…(should be in your e-mail, if not e-mail me and I’ll send it through).
Loved reading all your stories and adventures. Wish I was back there too. It’s nice knowing there’s always more to see and do and reasons to go back!!
E xx
When I see you remind me to kick you for not dragging your dad to Wicked. Seriously. I bet he would have liked it more than he thought.
YAY for Avenue Q though, that is rather awesome. Teehee!
Glad our collective comment got through. We thought it might have been tagged as spam because it has no URL, but no, it really was us.
LOL at your bumping into someone you knew! Now you have “a story like that” too!
@ Esther: Yeah I got the ENGL email, can’t come though coz I’m going straight over to the west coast to start work on November 2nd for the summer
I asked Juliet to keep me on the email list though so I can keep up with what’s happening.
Will email you when I get back to Kiwiland!
@ Holly: Lol yeah he might have, but Avenue Q was fun, and hopefully I’ll get another chance to see Wicked one day!
Show sounds fun
They had a guy with puppets earlier on that show “who’s got talent’.