Greetings families and mates! (I told you I would try using that phrase more. I’ve not been good about that up till now, but every commitment has a beginning right??) After two very satisfying days in London and its surrounding area, we had plans to head to Reading for the day, about a half hour’s train ride out of London central. Reading may seem like a very random stop on such a huge trip but it made our agenda because we had plans to meet good friends from our first Carnival contract there. Ross and Kylie are a super fun pair from Wales and Scotland, respectively, who danced a contract on the Paradise while we were there. Ross is now in the UK run of “Annie” and we had tickets to go see his late show that night. So Reading it was, but not before a (all together now…) WALK to our train station to get there. Honestly, I think our feet have given up protest and our now working with the rest of our bodies and not against them to help us achieve our never ending footed adventures. But with our ambitions to keep everything in backpacks that allow free hand and arm movement, our shoulders are starting their own line of complaints. It’s not without reason. Though we have managed to leave behind quite a bit on this trip, our backpacks are still heavy. They are still holding everything we’ve needed for these 6 weeks. So alas, walking always comes with some discomfort, but I really think we’ve done quite well and have avoided any serious injuries.
After our short ride, we made it through Reading town center to our hotel, which, much to our surprise, was a true hotel, the nicest of almost any we’ve had on this trip. Ironically, the place was 5-10 pounds cheaper than our previous 2 nights stay in London and probably 30 times nicer. I suppose that’s really a testament to London’s prices. So we were thrilled to be in the less demanding Reading for the night, awash in our huge bed with comfy duvets, a full on rain shower head and complementary breakfast and internet. I write this now from a train heading to Brussels, where I know the self-confessed hostel we are staying in will be nothing like that. So we enjoyed it as we could and took unnecessary showers before meeting up with Kylie. Ross had a matinee to be in, so we spent a couple hours catching up with her before the 4 of us ate in a restaurant, which has honestly been a fairly infrequent activity for us. Most of the time our trip has come down to either seeing this or eating that. We have mostly decided to see this, whatever this is. Food will come soon enough. The places we’ve seen will most certainly not.
After a delicious dinner we headed back to the theatre and enjoyed the two hour rendition of “Annie”, particularly Ross’ scenes and lines, which included a commendable attempt at an American accent. Before they had to set off to drive to Scotland through the night, we snagged a drink (Kris trying an apparently locally famous PIMMS) The night became late and sleep was short but sweet. Two trains today. One to London for our third and final time and an onwards train to Brussels, where my expectations are decidedly more earnest then Kris’s. This is my pilgrimage to take in the famous Belgian beers. Kris just wants to relax. Who could blame her?? More reports soon.
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