This week has been busy to say the least. It began with my first ever London theatre experience and ended with a trip to Wales!
Matilda, Jack the Ripper, and maths exams
Starting the week with a trip to see Matilda and to say I thoroughly enjoyed it would be an understatement: I love theatre and will be going to many more before I leave.
The following evening was the Jack the Ripper walking tour. Most people have at least heard of this infamous killer and to actually stand where one of his victim’s was discovered was a little eerie. At the same time though, the dramatic changes of the London buildings and architecture and of course the installation of lighting in what were once dark alleys really detracted from the overall experience of the tour.
Friday in class, I did my first maths exam since I left school many, many years ago. I have to be honest, I really didn’t think I’d ever have to take an exam like that again. But it wasn’t so bad…well, I survived.
M&M World
There really isn’t much to say about M&M World other than it’s located in Leicester Square and has FOUR floors dedicated to candy! Even that annoying person that only eats green M&Ms (and admit it, we all know someone like this) will be satisfied here. You can even personalise the M&Ms with your name or a short message.
Wales
The week finished with an overnight trip to Wales, with a very amusing tour guide. While I cannot vouch for the validity of his stories, they were entertaining, so I thought I would share some short snippets that I can actually remember (I should have written them down):
- Edward the Second died in a most unfortunate way—according to the all-knowing tour guide (again, I’ll leave it to you to investigate these claims), a horn was inserted where the sun don’t shine, followed by a hot poker, which slowly, but I’m assuming painfully, resulted in his demise.
- Farmers (I assume this was a very long time ago, but cannot remember exactly what was said) would colour the backs of their sheep to get an indication of the number of lambs they could expect (I’ll let you use your imagination to fill in the details). Interestingly, I still saw sheep with colours on their back—I was later told this may be a method for preventing sheep theft, rather than counting the number of expectant mothers.
- Women were courted with wooden spoons. According to said tour guide, if a guy gave you a wooden spoon carved with a heart, it was practically a proposal for marriage. To be honest, if I was given a wooden spoon, I know exactly what my response would be (note the hot poker in the first story).
We visited an old coal mine (among many other interesting places—there were castles) that was transformed into a tourist attraction. At ninety metres beneath the surface, I thought I would be seriously freaking out, but it was actually a really fascinating experience. The characters that were Welsh miners made it that bit more entertaining.