Dear Diary - 24 Hours In London

Last week, my boyfriend Ben had an idea.

"Let's go to London!" he said.

"When?" I replied.

"On Friday. We'll just go for the day."

"EH? For the DAY?"

"I'll drive us there and back. It'll be fine. It'll be fun!"

Cue my panic that we were going to die in a car accident/accidentally drive into Buckingham Palace/get lost.

As avid musical theatre lovers, we frequently (pre-COVID of course) take trips to London to watch shows, eat delicious food and window-shop. But usually on these trips, we take the train to Euston station and book a Travelodge for a night or two.

Ben decided that he was determined. We were going to take his younger sister to London as she'd never been before, and we were going to watch the musical Heathers. One of our favourites, which we actually went to see on our third date (which obviously made all of my friends and family worry as I was going on a date in London with a stranger I'd met on the internet, but that's a story for another blog post!)

I thought, great, I can try and get some cool blogger photos of me wandering around London while we're there, plus I get to see my favourite musical.

So, here's a diary of what we got up to in London for 24 hours:

Friday 6th August 2021

5:00am My alarm goes off.

5:09am My alarm goes off again.

5:18am "Come on Jem. Get up. We have to leave at 5:30 and you're not going to be ready."

5:19am Blearily try to put my contact lenses in without jabbing my eyeballs out. Shove on some leggings and a sweatshirt for the journey. Pack my bag with 3 different outfits as though I'm some sort of celebrity in preparation for 'getting photos for the gram'. Cringe at myself.

5:30am Get in the car. Complain that it's raining, that we don't have enough snacks, that it's cold and how can it be cold when it's August?!

5:30am - 10am Pick up Ben's sister. Drive to London. Pouring down rain one minute, bright blue sky the next. Panic that I've only brought summer dresses and white trainers.

10am - 12pm The elite Spoons breakfast.

12pm - 5pm Wander around London, see the sights, make Ben take photos of me in various locations. Peggy Porschen. Outside Buckingham Palace. Outside the colourful houses of Portobello Road in Notting Hill. Cringe at myself again but am somewhat proud for stepping out of my comfort zone. Raincoat on, raincoat off. Thunder and lightning. White shoes now brown with London dirt.

5pm - 6pm Shove a burger and chips down from Honest Burger. Rosemary salted fries are the best.

6pm - 7:45pm Rush to catch the tube to Theatre Royal Haymarket to watch Heathers The Musical. Join queue, sit in our nosebleed seats, complain that the world's tallest man is sitting in front of me. Wonder if they could put the heights of people who've already bought tickets on seating plans to avoid such heartbreak in future. Might suggest it - could be a great Dragon's Den idea. Debate asking a stewardess for a booster seat. Instead decide will have to spend the rest of the night with my neck slightly crooked to be able to see anything.

7:45pm - 10:30pm Watch Heathers. Remember why I love it so much. Realise that we've taken Ben's 16 year old sister to a somewhat explicit show. Avoid eye contact at all times. Wish I was able to sing as amazingly and effortlessly as West End performers. Wonder if 27 is too old to start singing lessons.

10:30pm - 11pm Quickly grab McDonald's for the tube back to the car. Note: If you haven't already tried them, get the cheesy garlic bites. Thank me later.

11pm - 12pm Catch busy tube back to car and sit next to a man who clearly doesn't understand the term 'social distancing' who keeps pressing his knee into me. Gross.

Saturday 7th August 2021

12pm - 4am Fall asleep in odd positions in the car (seriously, it's 2021, why haven't we invented car seats that turn into beds?) so my neck/back/everywhere hurts. Get home, crawl into bed without even taking my makeup off.

Hope you've enjoyed this more personal post! Let me know if you like these Dear Diary, Bridget-Jones-style posts - I used to write SO many of these when I was younger! I wish I'd had the courage to blog back then...