Wednesdays are always busy for me, and this was certainly no exception. To begin, I woke up fairly early, as is the custom on Wednesdays, and then proceeded to get ready and left fairly early for school. As per usual, the Hammersmith line was really bad, and ended up making me about ten minutes late, in spite of my having left around an hour and five minutes earlier! When I did show up, I walked in a little late for my advertising course, but it was all well and as ever I was well entertained by the lecture that I sat down to watch, both by it’s content and always moreover by its lecturer. During the course of this lecture, my professor said something that nearly made me (and actually succeeded in this on more than one subsequent occasion) laugh aloud out of nervous laughter mixed with genuine mirth. What he had said was more or less innocent on his part and I suspect that it was either due to his being British, or more likely to his personality. He was talking about exploiting people’s disabilities for advertising purposes (like the handicapped) and he mentioned an ad made in Britain some time ago where they featured (in his words) ‘a retard’. He kept talking about this ad and kept referring to this mentally challenged fellow as ‘a retard’ or for some reason proving to be funnier yet to me ‘the retard’. Even writing this now makes me crack-up I think because of its obvious lack of consideration to the political correctness that I am so used to at home. When people make reference to something being ‘retarded’ they usually mean it to have somewhat of a punch to it, but in the context of this bloke, he meant it only in pure description without any hint of slander or disrespect. It is a silly point to dwell on, but it really made my day or at least that hour.
Following the course, I went to the Tower of London to meet my class there. Dr. Reuter met us near the tube stop, and I got a good picture from there. We then went to see the Tower from the inside and it was rather neat to be in there again. I saw King Edward I’s private apartment, which was certainly far less stately than I would have expected (or remembered since I was there five years ago). Edward, for those of you who may recall the name but not from where, was Longshanks in Brave Heart, the Hammer of the Scots (go Edward!). I also actually got a photo of his throne (there are only five thrones in Britain apparently and this is one, the others being at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Queen’s Palace in Scotland (I don’t recall it’s name) and in the Parliament building, where she opens the sessions once a year. Anyway, we went to the White Tower, and that was rather fun, because we got to see the suit of armour that King Henry VIII wore when he jousted the King of France, as well as many other neat things in that tower. It was apparently the first and most important building that William I (the Conqueror) had constructed in the Tower when he took over Britain. We then went to the Jewel Tower, where naturally the crown jewels are kept, and we got to see the coronation of Elizabeth II back in 1953, now there are two interesting comments I want to add to this, the first is I think the Queen was fairly attractive back then, which is funny to think of now when I see pictures of her. The second point is that Dr. Reuter apparently took part in the coronation ceremony, because he was saying that he was only an airman then, meaning that he was in the RAF back in the early 50's which made me wonder A: how old he was, and B: if he maybe had fought in World War II, or even possibly Korea? Well, we saw the crown jewels and they were rather spectacular, which naturally is supposed to be their point right?
After we left there, I set off and watched a small group of what were historian/actors reenact the plot and punishment of Guy Fawkes, Britain’s most beloved historical villain. I of course have always had sympathy for him, as I, myself, am also Roman Catholic, but it was very amusing to watch this little troupe act out this famous historical scene in the Tower of London itself, where the interrogation of Mr. Fawkes really occurred nearly 400 years ago. These actors did a very good job, and it was all for free, meaning there was no solicitation of money after the performance, in fact I think they are hired by the state to do this. After watching this little event, I then walked toward the exit when I found a beefeater about ready to make a speech about Traitor’s Gate, so I stood and listened to that, and for those of you ever planning to visit the Tower in future, the beefeaters are far and away the best thing about the place, although it is all terribly fascinating. I wanted to see just one beefeater speak before I left, because they are usually fairly sharp and funny, and they look neat. There were actually many of them about the whole time I was there, and I guess there are about 40 of these fellows in existence at any given time, of which I probably saw 10 there at least.
Realising I had another class to attend, I scurried off to the tube station, where I quickly got to and waited for some time for the bloody circle line, which took far longer to get to us than I should have liked, afterward I took the far more expedient central line back to Holborn station, where I ended up being nearly 10 minutes (again) late to class. Being a bit worn out, I slept some during the music that he played for us, but made it look like I was concentrating on it’s beauty instead. Plus, owning the album already really helped me to be familiar with it anyway. He gave us our tickets which were a staggering £32.00 a piece! The saddest part is, I lost mine apparently, but would not learn this until I got to the concert hall. Anyway, after class, another bloke and I went down to Trafalgar Square, and went into the National Gallery, which was all the more impressive, because I realised there were many more famous paintings there than I knew before and I got to look like I was somewhat of an authority showing this chap what I already had seen the week before. Still, it was fun to learn of all the exciting things there, and I loved especially looking at all the paintings from the 18th century, which is fast becoming one of my favourite historical periods. We decided to leave the museum and headed out and by St. Martin in the Fields (which is adjacent to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square), and we ate at Pret de Manger and got some sandwiches. A slight sidenote about sandwiches if I haven’t already mentioned this, they are huge in England and nearly any shop you enter that sells food will be sure to have pre-made sandwiches in it, so if you ever go to England in future and need something to eat, think sandwich... they’re everywhere!
Having eaten our meals we went to the theatre The London Coliseum, where the ENO (English National Opera) was performing that happiest of Mozart’s collection “Die Zauberflöte” or the Magic Flute. I was very excited for this because I had never actually seen a performance live or otherwise and here was my opportunity to see it first hand, not only live but also played by the ENO! There was only one setback that I had mentioned briefly earlier, I lost my ticket, and I could not for the life of me find the damned thing. So after giving all the places on my person a most thorough inspection, I asked the theatre attendants if I could do something for this, and they were kind enough to print me off another ticket, and I made it at last inside the theatre. Well, the theatre was exquisite, I tried to take a photograph of this, but my photograph turned out quite bad. It was so elegant inside, and regal really, which makes sense considering that the queen had her own box there. As to the play itself, it was rather entertaining, and quite well done, save to say the poor queen of the night, or rather the unfortunate actress who played her, could not quite hit the top notes of the arias she was given and as a result after she had finished singing them, she was booed for her vain efforts. I certainly could not blame this woman, because aside from those very top notes, she did actually do a very good job of her role, and those top notes happen to be above the written music scale, plus Mozart added them as purely a joke anyway.
The opera itself, it’s contents rather, were very interesting and very reminiscent of all things from the 18th century. Herr Mozart, was a much more fervent Free-Mason and Enlightenment idealist than I had ever realised. I knew he was a bit of both but to be so true to that conviction that he would place it in a piece that was Vaudevillian? It was somewhat shocking to me, and maybe it is really an obscure point, but it was something I certainly was not used to or not completely aware of in his character. After the play had finished, I went home via the bus, and arrived home rather late, and went to bed shortly thereafter.