I'm Still Here

Just like Carlotta in “Follies,” I’m 'still here' in London, slogging away on thesis and job search. Had a good meeting today with my thesis supervisor who says I’m on the right track, so Pheww! 4,000 words down, 11,000 to go! It’s really been an interesting research process as I’ve talked to and/or met a number theatre directors and critics! I think I confused some folks by my last post when I talked about being at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s office. That was for at thesis interview, not for a job. My last thesis interview was being wined (a nice Pinot Grigio) and dined (tasty mushroom omelette) at lunch by playwright/director Terry Johnson. He directed Kathleen Turner in “The Graduate,” and Christian Slater in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” He’s also written a ton of plays, including “Dead Funny” which was at Woolly Mammoth some years back. He had a lot of good insight (and used the f word a lot! Needless to say I’ll be cleaning up his language for the thesis..lol)

Speaking of that f word, I ended up dropping it on Virgin Trains last week. I was trying to book a train to go to a friend’s wedding later this month. Virgin had cheapest/most convenient fares, but their website was continually down with a message saying try back in a few hours. I gave it two days and then numerous calls to customer service led nowhere (the irony being that while you’re on hold the message says “Do you know you can now book tickets on our website?”) Umm, yeah, not so much! When I finally got through, they quoted me a much higher fare, saying that the cheap ones were only available on their website. Again I say, umm, yeah, you mean the website that’s not working?! Literally must have called and complained to 4 people, each of whom was ruder than the next. Screw you Virgin Trains, I took my business to Chiltern Trains that was a bit more but had much friendlier staff!

Speaking of friendly staff, I had two very positive customer service experiences to make up for the bad Virgin one (ok, that sounds weird..lol). The first was getting my National Insurance Number (kind of like Soc. Security). I had an appt. at 12 and when I first walked in to the office, it looked like the Arlington DMV at 4 on a Friday on the 30th of the month! I thought “uh oh!” However, they called my name right at 12, then went to another waiting area and my rep Jacqueline came to fetch me at about 10 minutes after and was very apologetic that they were running late. How do I describe Jacqueline? Powder blue sparkly suit, bright auburn hair and about 4 feet tall. Anyone picturing that short woman in Poltergeist would not be too far off with that image. However, it was not scary at all. She was very helpful and efficient.

Also helpful? The staff at the Belle Epoque café (aka the best reason for living in Newington Green). I dashed over there for a sandwich and coffee, but then found I’d left my wallet back in my flat. No worries, they said, you’re such a great customer and in all the time, you can just pay us next time you’re in. J’aime Belle Epoque! What else do I aime? The film “Paris Je T’aime!” OMG, run, don’t walk to see it! Best movie I’ve seen this year!