2013 - Day Out 12: The Lord Mayors Parade, London

Date: Saturday 09 November 2013

It is the second day of our London Weekend, today we will be visiting The Lord Mayors Parade and finish the day with another theatre show.

Despite not sleeping well on my first night at a hotel, considering I went to bed just after 12am, I slept until just after 6am, where I get dressed and pop outside for some "fresh air", returning to my room where I have a shower and feel refreshed before meeting Mr UKBuses for breakfast. After a filling breakfast followed by a few pots of yogurt, we head back to our rooms to get our coats before meeting back in reception where we walk around to the bus stop and catch Stagecoach London's service 115 at 09.35am alighting at the terminus of Aldgate Bus Station. A few pictures are taken whilst we are there and we then make our way to the bus stop to catch Stagecoach London's service 205 to Liverpool Street Railway Station, where we have time to take a few photographs at the bus station, once we find it. In the end we walk through the railway station where at the back is the entrance to the bus station where a few photographs are taken. Some "fresh air" is taken and texts answered from Mr D9 (mentioning Wimbournes!) before making our way to the London Underground at Liverpool Street Station, catching the Central Line for a journey of about one minute alighting at the next station of Bank. 

As we leave Bank station, we get some liquid refreshment for the parade and make our way back to ground level finding a spot to see the parade and as soon as we take our spot, the heavens open and the rain pours down. We see the presenters, this year being Chris Hollins and my favourite, Helen Skelton, see picture right. We are standing by Chris as he prepares to go live on the BBC, and he took time out to speak to some of us in the crowd. With the rain coming down faster, I get wet and even more so by people who have their brollies up and the rain dripping off them making me more wetter. As the parade starts, I see our Helen for the first time, which means that I have now got a big smile on my face. The parade lasts about an hour with quite a few floats and people passing us, my highlight was the scantily clad dancers going past. With the parade coming to an end and surprise, surprise, the rain stopping just as the parade ends, we make our way back underground getting onto the Central Line again at Bank and making our way to Marble Arch Underground Station, where we stop off at J D Wetherspoons, "The Tyburn", see picture below left, for lunch and this is the first time we have made a visit to this establishment. We are still full from breakfast so we decide to spend a bit of time drying off whilst enjoying a pint, Mr UKBuses buys this round so I give him one of my CAMRA vouchers once I spot a drink on one of the pumps, I find a table while he waits to get served, he comes back with my voucher saying that they couldn't accept it, what I thought was a pint of bitter, turned out to be a pint of cider. Whilst drying off I send a tweet to Helen Skelton, who replies with a kiss on the end of my reply, which makes my day and I have a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

We are drier than when we came in so we make a move and head to the bus stop where we catch Arriva London's service 73 where we alight at Victoria Bus Station after a journey of fifteen minutes. We take a few photographs whilst at the bus station before walking around the roadworks to find Stand J, where after a long wait, Metroline service 24 turns up and we board another Borismaster, staying on the bus for about twenty-five minutes before alighting at Leicester Square. Upon arrival at Leicester Square, we make our way straight into Leicester Square Underground Station where we catch the Northern Line for a short journey changing at Embankment onto the District Line, where after about fifteen minutes we arrive at Whitechapel where upon leaving the station, we make our way to our London regular, "The Blind Beggar". Upon arrival, the pub is quite busy due to a rugby match being shown on the television and it is my turn to buy the drinks, but Mr UKBuses still has the dearest round of the weekend so far as this round comes to £8.10. After finishing our drinks we say goodbye to The Blind Beggar, we will be seeing it again in 2014, and cross the road to catch Stagecoach London's service 205 alighting at Aldgate bus station, taking a few photographs before catching Stagecoach London's service 115 back to the hotel.

We alight at our hotel bus stop, arriving back at 16:10pm, where we make our way back to our rooms to freshen up before heading back out for the show this evening. After freshening up, I make my way to the hotel bar to have a couple of pints of Budweiser whilst Mr UKBuses has a nap and just before 5.30pm, we make our way to East India DLR station going one stop, changing at Canning Town and onto the Jubilee Line, making one more change at Waterloo onto the Bakerloo Line, where we alight upon arrival at Charing Cross Underground Station. We get to ground level and walk past Trafalgar Square and make a return visit to J D Wetherspoons "The Lord Moon Of The Mall" where we hope to get a bite to eat before the show. As the drinks are purchased, Mr UKBuses tries to find a table but as last night, the pub is packed and we have trouble finding somewhere to sit. We stand at the back of the pub and after about twenty minutes we spot that someone is on the move, so we get cheeky and put my coat on one of the chairs to claim the table whilst the previous occupants get themselves ready to leave. As they leave the table someone else heads for our table and an argument nearly ensues, I claim that we have been waiting for ages and that my coat was actually on the chair, taking my tip from a German and a towel and a sun recliner!! Food is ordered and we have to rush it a little bit as we have to make our way around the corner by Charing Cross Underground Station again to make our way to the Adelphi Theatre.

We arrive at The Adelphi Theatre where we find our way to the upper stall and with myself not feeling to good when we get to our seats and turn around to look at the stage we soon find how high up we were and whilst this goes on, Mr UKBuses seems to be having a vertigo attack. We take our seats and cling on for dear life and we watch The Bodyguard with me eventually getting the storyline towards the end. It was a good show and during half time, Mr UKBuses decided to join me for some "fresh air" outside to get back on a steady ground level. With the show over, we make our way outside of the theatre and back to Charing Cross Underground Station where we take the Bakerloo Line to Waterloo before changing onto the Jubilee Line to Canning Town where we alight and change onto the DLR to take us back to East India and the hotel, where I bid goodnight to Mr UKBuses to sample a couple of nightcaps before going to bed myself, a bit later than planned as I was talking to a few people in the hotel bar, I did eventually get to bed just after 1am.

Another brilliant day was had and another west end show was visited, back to bed for a little rest ahead of the Remembrance Day Parade tomorrow.