London, Sept 13: Cousin and Comedy

 Sept 13

Chris and Clare in Crouch End

Another gorgeous day. We went to Crouch End via the underground and the 91 bus on a journey to see Cousin Clare and her husband, Chris. The driver on the bus did not know the Edison Road stop, so we got off too early and, with Clare's directions, got back on the next bus. The driver on that bus also did not know the Edison Road stop! But, we got off at it and, up the road, was Clare waving to us. We walked a short walk to her flat, a light-filled ground floor flat with access to a back garden. Clare works in the city 3 days a week and Chris works at home for a large food distribution charity, Felix. 

   We walked a very short distance to a nice Thai restaurant and then walked a bit around Crouch End, a part of London they love. Chris has season tickets to Arsenal and the stadium is within walking distance. He also follows hockey and there is a stadium for that, too. The center of Crouch End is very pretty. The two of them know a lot of history of the area. They told a story of Bob Dylan once seeking a man with whom he was going to record. He went to the wrong house of a man with the same name and the woman let him in to wait. She did not recognize Dylan. When her husband came home, he asked why Dylan was sitting in their parlor! Below is a photo of the oldest comedy place, also a pub.

     Crouch End also has what is supposed to be the oldest comedy venue in London in a beautiful pub. Dunns, a famous bakery, is also in Crouch End. And, Queen performed their first concert there; at the time they were known as "The Queen." Quite a few actors live in the neighborhood. The above photo shows where Queen first performed.

  

   We got a coffee at a local coffee shop and then we headed back to Ladbroke Grove to do a laundry. Then, we went into the West End to the Duchess Theatre to see "The Play that Went Wrong," a comedy which Jecca and family saw several years ago and recommended. We had to change trains as ours had delays and felt very pleased with outselves at figuring a new way out and still arriving early. The play is about community actors where everything in a play that could go wrong - does. We saw so many examples of things we have personally witnessed while directing young actors. The set completely falls apart in surprising ways. Characters are  knocked out by doors and are unceremoniously taken off stage on broken stretchers, through windows and stuffed into a grandfather clock. 

Actors forget their lines and mispronounce words like "facade" as "fack aad" and "cyanide" as "cy - a - needy." The acting was terrific with amazing timing and audience rapport. We befriended a young Spanish actor who moved to sit near us because the man next to her was crowding her and pressing against her leg. We walked out with her after the theatre had emptied.

Sept 14, Thursday.

    We have now been in England for a full week. We have eaten Japanese, Persian, Thai, French, Italian, and Turkish food! Wow.

Bird on the sconce

     Today we had a "neighborhood day" with beautiful weather - just a nice summer day with blue sky. We had a slow start which included a robin flying in the front window. We had to open up a large (locked) window and wait for the bird to find its way out, which it eventually did.

     Then we walked down Cambridge Gardens and strolled the Portobello Road with its shops etc. We had an iced coffee and later ate at Mia Mamma. Yum! Mark had a pizza with a very thin crust which he liked and Barbara had an eggplant dish which she loved. It was eggplant with a tomato confit and cheeses with a bottom of a pea sauce. Turns out the restaurant was visited by Stanley Tucci and a story ran about it on CNN. The owner wanted to start an Italian restaurant years ago and brought 3 Italian mamas with no professional culinary experience to work in the kitchen - hence, the name.