Met a friend, one repeatedly met, for a post-lunch walk with the GF. He managed to chart a really nice way through Islington and over to Shoreditch. London is a very green city sometimes. It made me quite nostalgic for London, though the warm weather certainly contributed. We ended up in Whitechapel and then got a black cab to take us to the Globe and all nostalgia came to an abrupt halt as life here is very expensive indeed and I remembered how easy it was to feel one was struggling no matter what.
At the Globe we watched the Comedy of Errors. At first I couldn’t remember the plot, which always makes it harder to enjoy Shakespeare, but when the confusing intro bit was over, it was easy to settle in. Or it would have been had it not been for the most noxious family sitting in front of us: three boys who clearly did not want to be there, and a father who gave off the most unpleasant sociopathic vibes. It is a problem with the Globe, that parents bring their children here to be educated regardless of interest, but in this case the miasma of unpleasantness exuded by the father made it all worse.
Anyway, it was good fun, with some good performances and a commendably energetic one by the actress playing Adriana who didn’t let a broken ankle and crutches get in the way. And of course it was short, an important consideration when the audience members are revolting and the seats are as hard as they are at the Globe.
Another person joined us, one whom I’d not met before, an Austrian politician belonging to the Green Party and with a city position, though in his mid 20s – the sort of thing that still gives me a shock as in my mind I’m in my teens, twenties, thirties and I guess forties all together at once.