As the Wind Blows

A couple of months ago I wrote about trying and trying again until you succeed and though the week had barely begun I felt like a hypocrite. Here in London they’ve had a number of film premieres and after my failed attempt at seeing the Harry Potter  premiere, I decided to try my luck with Tintin. Needless to say I couldn’t make it to Belgium because the coach tickets were all sold out, so I decided to visit the scene of the London premiere. Leicester Square was set up for two premieres that day, and anyone who’s ever been to Leicester Square knows that it’s like being in a cattle station on an average day (except at 6am on Sunday mornings as previously mentioned). And like the Harry Potter premiere, everything was fenced off for ticket holders only. Instead of standing there assertively or finding a non-ticketed place to stand I just gave up and went home.

So I decided to go to a Bollywood film premiere instead of a Hollywood premiere. Although SRK said it wouldn’t be big so there would be little security his publicists must have thought differently. There was more of a furore over RA One than Tintin and almost but not quite as much as Harry Potter. Like the Harry Potter premiere though it started to rain and being Autumn the wind was too chilly for my liking. And again I gave up and, I went home.

But that day wasn’t entirely unsuccessful because the RA One premiere was at the O2 in Greenwich and I haven't been to that area of London before so I thought I’d make a day of it.  Greenwich has great views of London from the hill with the Observatory Tower (where the Greenwich Mean Time line is). There’s also a walk along the River which is like stepping back into the early 1900s until it hits the industrial areas, then it’s just creepy.

The Military Academy at Greenwich is where they shoot a lot of movies (according to the woman at the information desk) and I was lucky enough to be there when they were filming. Actually I don’t know if lucky is the term to describe it. Making a film is for people with a lot of patience. Half the time I was exploring the Painted Hall and the Chapel, the extras and the film crew were just standing around and then they only filmed for a couple of seconds before stopping again. No wonder it’s so expensive to make films when most of the day is spent standing around in costumes or getting people ready to stand around in costumes.

Speaking of costumes, the actors in Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre have the most amazing costumes!! I was completely mesmerised by the whole show and in awe of how many sets and speedy set changes the crew undertook during the performance. And all the magic tricks! Like how they moved the boat across the stage or how the Phantom disappears at the end - Wow!

There's so much to do and see in London and while I've seen everything that I've wanted to whilst I've been here, I know I'll definitely miss having lots of options of things to see and do.