When The Cats Are Away. . . .

The kids went to Zurich Friday morning for their swim meet. So Chizz and I planned some activities! I went down to the 1/2 price ticket booth in Leicester Square and scored some tickets to the revival of Porgy & Bess. It was pretty good. I remember many, many, many moons ago I saw a rendition of Porgy & Bess that featured Sammy Davis Jr. Chizz didn't remember that. I think it was like a Hallmark Hall of Fame Production or something. This is a pretty old musical. Porgy & Bess was first put on in the 1930s and has an interesting history. It was the first musical to be staged with an all black cast and it was the first segregated audience in Washington DC. I also found a funny incident where the play was staged in Nazi occupied Copenhagen with an all white cast. Ridiculous.

On Saturday we went on a tour of Marlyebone put on by London Walks. I have written about that organization before. Marlyebone (pronounced mare lee bun) is a very upscale neighborhood that runs behind Oxford Street and through Regents Park. We saw the church where Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret were married. It was a great walk and as usual with any outing with Chizz, it ended up at a pub. I didn't know it but it was a big rugby TV day with a tournament called the Six Nations. I think it was sort of like their Superbowl but all of the teams play each other so it lasts longer. The big matchup of the day - England v. Ireland. We were at the pub and had gotten a table for the first match (Scotland v. Italy) but the pub was jammed packed by the time the main event rolled around, I am certain we could have sold our chairs for a quid or two. I have no clue what rugby is about, it is sort of football but on steroids and very many strange rules. They actually lift people in the air to catch balls, forming a pyramid like cheerleaders do at football or basketball games. After watching some 100 minutes of rugby, I don't understand it one iota more than I did when I started watching it. Although that might have more to do with the many beers I was having. By the way, Ireland kicked Englands tail. Hooyah!!

We ended it all up having dinner at a very nice restaurant we have been wanting to go to for some time (The Formosa Dining Room) and the food was amazing. The kids came home. The teams did well. Kiki swam for the Seniors and they took First Place overall, Snakes's Junior Group took third place, giving the combined team second place in the standings. They brought home trophies for the school and were very proud. Swimming is not huge in England on a whole. In fact one of Kiki's friends asked her why she was missing school on Friday. She told him she was going to Zurich with the swim team and he says "Wait, we have a swim team?" No respect!

All in all a good weekend.