London Tide @ Lyttelton Theatre…

It was a 42 minute dash from the moment my much-delayed KLM flight touched down at London City Airport to me sitting next to Stuart, G&T in hand, at the Lyttelton Theatre to watch Ben Power’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend, now a musical and renamed London Tide, aptly situated on London’s glitzy South Bank. 

So, was it worth the sprint? Ish. But only ish. 

National Theatre yup

Great cast yup

Dickens yup

Complex plotting yup

Boarish men yup

Self-sacrificing women yup

The odd murder yup

Heaps of melodrama yup

Music by PJ Harvey yup

Clever set design and staging yup

But… but…. The songs were dirge. The singing iffy. The production over-long and boring. A few fell asleep. 😴 

At three hours in, one of leads stands at the waters’ edge for what seems like an age contemplating suicide. 

I muttered, “jump” 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Arsenal…

Great to watch the second leg of the Champions League Quarter Final in the Allianz Arena stadium with many of the gaygooners last night.   

Less good was our performance and the score.  

With so much at stake for both teams, it was perhaps understandable chances were in limited supply.   

The first half was almost boring - but the second half was a livelier affair.  Leon Goretzka heading against the post before Guerreiro's follow up was scrambled away by Raya, also via the post. 

But Kimmich's attacking header proved decisive and ensured Arsenal's wait to win the Champions League for the first time goes on.  

A very disappointing result to put it mildly. 

Back to the Premiership and hopefully winning ways again on Saturday.   

Onward and upward my friends.     

@Arsenal  

#COYG  

#BAYARS 

@gaygooners

Meetup in Munich…

Good @gaygooners got to meet some of the Bayern Munich @QueerpassBayern group last night before the @FCBayern v @Arsenal 2nd leg QF match tonight. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Thanks for organising @carljfearn 

May the best team win. And by best team I mean @Arsenal of course. 🔴⚪️⚽️

Bayern Bound…

Bayern! We are coming for you!

@Arsenal

@Regenersaurus

#BAYARS

Home At Last…

It was a long overnight flight back from Texas but Darce kept me entertained throughout (mainly by keeping my flying nerves at bay with copious quantities of booze) 🍷🍷🍷🍷

I watched Wonka and Saltburn onboard too which were both enormous fun. 🍫🛁

We’d both had a great time away travelling together, but I think we’re equally really happy to be back home. 🙂 

I’ve really missed Stuart. But, shhh, don’t tell him. I do like to keep some sort of allure. 😂

Houston: I’m Your Baby Tonight…

It was our last night in Houston so we decided to dress up a bit and head skyward - to a high rooftop bar. Overpriced cocktails 🍸 on the 23rd floor? Million Dollar Bill sort of place? Don’t mind if I’d do. I love an Expresso Martini. And so I’d been Saving All My Love For You. 

We got the tram there. Surprisingly quick, surprisingly cheap. Next time we’ll use it more often, we’ll Run To You. 

From our rooftop perch on high we spotted a hither unknown place to me down below called Puttshack. Nine hole crazy golf in a bar with food. What’s not to like? Darce said there are ones in London too but How Will I Know? In this case I Learned From The Best. 

Each ball was linked to your name which was displayed up on the big screen before you took your shot. It didn’t always get it right though, My Name Is Not Susan! Haha. It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.  

So we spent the rest of the night scoffing, quaffing, and putting. Great fun. I won. Which made me Queen Of The Night. 

Houston, I Will Always Love You. 

Houston: We have a problem…

Ñ…actually we don’t. Darce & I had a fantastic day at the NASA Space Centre Houston scrambling all over NASA rockets and multitude of space artefacts in the exhibition centre. We even got to touch a bit of the moon! 🌔 Which seemed apt for a trip that started with an eclipse. 

Lots to see and do in the beautiful sun and moonshine - we had a great day. 🔭🧑‍🚀🚀🛸🛰️

Houston: Those first impressions…

It’s big. Huge. Houston is 40 miles across the city limits in some places.

The bus drive down from Austin was fairly quick. But we started entering Houston almost an hour before we actually reached our destination! 

Darce and I staying at the InterContinental which is a nice place. The bar and the food in the restaurant was good too. 

But as with most big American cities, you have to have a car to get around. Or in our case, a taxi. It’s just too far to walk anywhere. Especially in this heat.

Popping to a convenience store? Get a taxi. 

Go out for something to eat? Get a taxi. 

Go to a bar? Get a taxi. 

Today Saturday, we are planned to do a bit exploring. So you can probably guess how we’re going to get around… 🚕

Austin: Shopping, more BBQ, bats, more comedy, and Rainbow Road…

Yesterday Darce & I hit the shopping trail. A massive mall; American Eagle, Aeropostale, Apple Store for a Vision Pro demo, and then the KiwiMart (sorry Walmart).  

Later we went into town to complete the consumerism experience for another fabulous barbecue at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. We love that place. 

After that, we wall out onto the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the one and a half million bats come streaming out at sundown. The way you do. 

A 1980 renovation transformed the bridge into an ideal bat cave, soon attracting migrating Mexican free-tailed bats. Decades later, Austin's bat numbers have swelled and locals have adopted the beloved creatures as neighbours who happily handle the city's bug mitigation and provide an amazing nightly show.

To top of the night off we went to go and see stand-up comic Margaret Cho at the Paramount. Her stand-up is absolute filth. Some walked out. We loved it. 

Oh and we popped into Iron Bear gay bar on the way home to watch a Mario kart tournament. Go figure. 

Next stop Houston. (Now my passport was arrived!)