I love presents to myself...

In museums in the US, the gift shop stays open slightly later than the actual museum, ostensibly so that people can load up on stuff before they leave. In London, I learned the hard way that the gift shop closes a half hour before the museum does, and the Royal Shakespeare Company shop is not open after the play is finished. These things are, in my opinion, not the best business sense. Maybe someone wants to drop a load of cash in the shop before they leave and didn't have time to do that at the intermission because they needed to use the restroom and they are a woman so the line was insanely long. Just saying.

So I didn't get to pick anything up at the actual RSC shop. Instead, I purchased several things on line and had them shipped to me. And they arrived yesterday. It is nice to have some reminders of the awesome time I had at the play!

What's with today today?

So in my 12 years living in the city of Boston, my favorite radio station has been 101.7 WFNX. Not to say we haven't had our problems - like when the radio station got rid of Angie C in the mornings and when they changed the format (for a time) from "alternative" to "alternative rock" (gag) - but for the most part I can count on FNX to play songs that I want to hear.

When the new morning program, "The Sandbox", started, I was not terribly keen on the guys: Charlie, Fletcher, and Special Ed. First of all, Special Ed and Fletcher sound a lot alike, and they kept playing "Hey There Deliah" by the Plain White Ts ALL THE TIME, and I wanted to rip my ears off of my HEAD. But lately, I have begun to warm up to the format and the guys, especially Fletcher, who seems to like the same Brit pop music that I like.

This morning, the guys were interviewing a psychic who they were hoping would contact Joseph, the ghost living in the radio station building, in the hopes that he could get the mice out of the building, so that they would stop eating the guys' food. For a split second, and I am not even sure who said it, possibly Special Ed, someone referenced the greatest camp movie of all time (IMHO) - Congo- when he said, "Stop eating my sesame cake."

Guys, you just made me a permanent fan.

"I must to England; you know that?"

Back from England having spent a fabulous time with my friend and intrepid travel buddy, JeGlide, in London and an equally fabulous time in Stratford, where I did get to see DT and PS in Hamlet and started to cry about it once we were safely back in the hotel room. I think that I was overwhelmed that something I had anticipated with much excitement for months was finally over (and it was worth it, the money, the anxiety, the anticipation. So worth it.)

Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of the things that we saw:









I am still utterly jet lagged and cannot stop thinking about Hamlet, not just the performance, but the play itself. Good thing I still have the Branagh version from Netflix.