First ballet for the boys

Several lifetimes ago I booked us all tickets to see English National Ballet performance of The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum. We went up from Basingstoke yesterday as the Paddington Line is closed, but it turned out to be an easy run into town followed by a monster afternoon of shopping in Regents Street and Oxford Street. Suffice to say attempting to put one foot in front of another was challenging. Why can't people just walk in a straight line? The worst offenders are the texters; weaving all over the place and you cannot get past them. Close second; the couples. Invariably holding hands and dawdling along looking in every shop window. Come on people, some of us have got places to be!

We all did pretty well out of it in the end. I was especially pleased with my new black Ralph Lauren polo shirt. The boys stocked up on Gap Jeans and Eddie took out the Men's Department at M&S. We drew the line at Hamelys - quite literally Hell on Earth.

By 5.30pm we were knackered. Time to hit Chick 'n Sours for cocktails and some supper before the ballet.

Trips to London always take it out of you, but the boys really enjoyed the ballet which was the main thing, and all in all it was a good day. When we finally got home at 11.30pm, we were very happy to collapse into bed. And we were all asleep in minutes.


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