Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: Day 13 of 40 - London Saturday Afternoon Matinee at the Theatre

Sunday, May 29, 2022

Day 13 of 40 - London Saturday Afternoon Matinee at the Theatre - The Corn is Green

Nicola Walker plays Miss Moffat

You may remember Nicola Walker
for her work in Last Tango in Halifax
on TV

Saturday morning we woke up in our little flat at Flaxman Terrace less than a block from the British Library. After spending 9 days on a cruise ship - we were fully adjusted to the 5 hour time difference. For the next week this will be our home. We could not book our usual place by the FSU campus - this town is booked solid for the Queen's Jubilee this week. They are celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 70 years on the throne. It seems just like yesterday when they crowned her for the first time in 1952.

We had a light breakfast in our eat-in kitchen - then while I cleaned up a bit - Lulu went for a few groceries. As we put the groceries away - she said she wanted to go see a play - The Corn is Green. She said it is sold out for the last 10 days before it closes on June 7th. My job was going to be to find 2 tickets for the 2 PM matinee - and it already is 11 AM. This is a job for Dirty Harry.

Besides walking - the cheapest way around London is with an Oyster Card. It allows you to ride all buses and subways - keeping a running account. When it runs out of money - you top it up - like you top up your gas tank in a car. We already had cards from last year. We got on a bus to the National Theatre down along the Thames River. At the box office - we discovered the play was sold out - but when I showed my hearing aids and asked for front seats - they complied with 2 in row 10. We were in. They gave me the seats for 20 pounds each. We even had an hour to go to Tesco and get a few theatre snacks.

Our seats were excellent. The place was packed. To my surprise the National Theatre is quite modern. The seats were well-padded.

The Corn is Green is a long play with an intermission. 3 hours total. I had read a little bit about the story hoping to be able to follow along. Here's the plot. Basically a spinster lady decides to move to the mining country of Wales. She is planning to educate young miners to prevent them from having to spend their lives in the mines. She spends a lot of work on Morgan in this play - he excels and later goes to Oxford. Where does the corn come in? Well - according to Lulu - I could not understand a thing - Morgan was going to start a farm and get out of the mines that way. I am guessing his going to Oxford was a metaphor for the farm. He became a success - and the teacher stayed there and help more students get out.

Again - I am hard of hearing - and the Welsh accents were difficult for me.

Lulu reminded me - my Dad worked in the Number 8 Mine in Coaldale PA for 25 years. When I was born - he bought a farm 10 miles south of the mine. He tried to be both a miner and a farmer at one time. He tried it for 10 years with little success. That farm - was his The Corn is Green. We moved to town - I went to good schools - my parents made sure I went to college.

We stopped at O'Reilly's Pub for supper. It was packed with fans ready for the Liverpool v Madrid soccer game. Busy as they were - the pub set a table and served us a Steak and Guiness Pie for supper. 9 years before - Jan and Dickie Davis entertained us at that pub. They were old friends from Tamaqua PA. It all felt like home. Old friends are the best friends.

My corn is green..