…but not much changes.
I left London in 1991. I’ve returned a couple of times since then, but not on my own. It’s funny how your perspective changes when you’re on your own in an old home town again. It’s as if you see the place with your own perspective again, whereas you would otherwise see it through the eyes of the person you are showing it to.
Not much has changed since 1991. A lot of the buses have been replaced with newer models. My snot turned black within five hours, so the pollution levels sadly haven’t decreased. Travelcards for public transport are expensive, at £4.70 for a one-day two-zone pass. Still, at least I can afford one these days and don’t have to forge them the way I did in the eighties. Many of the comic shops have gone away or moved. Neal’s Yard still looks the same. And there are bloody trendy pasty shops everywhere. It seems to be the new fast food.
Anything else? Oh yes, I saw someone carrying Krispy Kreme doughnuts inside a Tesco’s carrier bag, so those must have made the leap over here, too.
I didn’t feel that I’d be intellectual company for anyone this evening in my half-comatose state, so I opted to purchase a ticket for Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre, on Coventry Street near Picadilly. I’d seen this once before a few years ago in San Francisco, but this one had more British humour and dialogue, and was raunchier and more suggestive than I remember it. Anyway, it was a blast and I loved it. It was well worth the full price ticket I had to purchase to gain entry.
A quick 7½” pizza at the Deep Pan Pizza Company rounded things off. I could’ve done better than that, of course, but eating in a cheap place somehow reduces the sad bastard factor of eating alone.
Dead Can Dance tomorrow!