An evening with Mary

Last night was Mary Poppins night. John & I hopped on a train just about to leave at 15:36 but it only went a few hundred yards when it stopped and an announcement said that if there were any passengers on the train, they would come and fetch us! As we were almost late for the train we hadn't heard any previous announcements and had to get off and walk back to the station and board the other train just about to leave. Apparently there was a fault and they had to disconnect four of the carriages.

Because of this, we were not on the train due to arrive at Leigh On Sea at 15:52 where we were collecting Sandy. John tried to call her mobile but had to leave a message - it turns out she has a new phone which we didn't know about. So she got on the train anyway thinking she might not have spotted us but then discovered we were definitely not on that train, so disembarked at Benfleet. Meanwhile Chris phoned John asking where we were and we explained what had happened. Therefore we collected Sandy from Benfleet station. What a fiasco!

We met up with Christin at Eros in Picaddily Circus and then walked around Leicester Square and onwards towards the Prince Edward theatre. We found a pub (The Cambridge) where we had something to eat and drink. Chris, who works in London met up with us and to his horror we'd already eaten. We couldn't have waited as we'd realised that the show was starting at 7pm not the usual 7:30. We had to rush the waitress up a bit but just about made it in time, leaving Chris sitting there to pay the bill!! Bless him.

This is the second time that John and I have seen Mary Poppins but Christin and Sandy had not. Of all the shows, this is my favourite and the second time it was even better!



There are so many different sets including the house complete with rooms and stairs, the park, and the rooftops. Brilliantly done and so colourful. The cast is superb, all great singers. The Mary and Bert were different to last time and possibly the children too but you can't fault them. The songs of course, have you clapping your hands and singing along, they are so familiar.



The pic above is the part where all the chimney sweeps get together and sing 'Step in Time', my favourite part of the show. After this, Bert walks around the entire stage, and when I say 'around', I mean up the sides and along the top, hanging upside down whilst still singing! The end sees Mary Poppins fly out of the stage high above the audience until she disappears. Amazing! And the encores were fab too. Am I selling it enough? GO SEE IT!

Christin had to get back to Kings Cross to get the connecting Thames Link train to St Albans. We escorted her only to find that nothing was boarding at Kings Cross and so had to make a diversion via another station. We had already planned to see her on Saturday, the day before she leaves for home in Florida so it wasn't quite goodbye.

I had a phone call on my mobile just as we were approaching the car the other end. It was Christin. "Guess what?" she asked. She said she just had to tell me that she'd been asked out on a date (again) by someone on the train. This is the third time during her stay in England. I don't know...these American floosies, what are they like? JUST KIDDING Christin! :-)

(Posted 20 Jun 2007)