A Day Out

Yesterday was a good day. Haircut in the morning then trip out in the afternoon followed by pizza, and, most  importantly, no reports! Back to them today but never mind. My friend had got a couple of tickets to see QI being recorded at the London Studios which are near Waterloo. You are not guaranteed a seat but if you turn up on time and queue for long enough which we did, you will probably get one. It was all very exciting, as it was a new experience and I was curious to see a show with a live audience being made. When we finally got in, they advised finding your seats first before using the ladies (only three cubicles, queue in the cold for over an hour, just after lunchtime, so you can imagine the line!) Anyway, once back in my seat I found I had not missed anything. After a while of more people coming in, the floor manager came on and told us a few 'housekeeping' things (glad to see it is not just the teaching profession that uses that annoying phrase for telling you where the fire exits are!) He reiterated the often spoken warning that phones should be switched off, and anyone found using one would have it confiscated and a factory reset done to it before it was returned. Well I had switched mine off on the way up the stairs as I didn't want to risk that! He then announced that our 'warm up' act would be coming on in a minute. That turned out to be Stephen Fry himself. He is very warm and funny, relaxed and seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. He did a little advert for the show, along with Alan Davies, and then the show began. Victoria Wood was one of the guests. She is tiny! Well she looked it from up high anyway. The show was based on the letter K for kitchens, and the subject matter was anything related to food. (Which made us very hungry I have to say!) At one point there was even some food on offer which two of the contestants tucked into with great relish. The show runs pretty smoothly from start to finish, with a few retakes of bits at the end. It was amusing and interesting as ever and a most enjoyable experience. I am about to have my tea-one of the dishes mentioned-baked potatoes with anchovies mashed up in them. I think they said it was a wartime recipe. I can report that it is not very nice! I added sardines, sweetcorn and a little grating of cheese which made it much more tasty!

                      Getting near to the end of the queue.

One of the cast hands plaques on the wall. Melvyn Bragg who I saw when I was with the same friend on the way back from an evening NUT demo.
Below are the 'audioboos' we the audience said loudly for Stephen Fry's tweet. Can you guess what they say? I know, and it is hard to tell!