I have quite a relaxed day today, which I must say is a first in my history of travel. Because for once I don’t have to get up at some inhuman hour and stumble to checkin half-asleep.
My flight only leaves at 7 pm, so that means a checkin at 5:30. This because I am sharing a room for the first night with Indis and Elentari, and they arrive no sooner than 6 pm.
Varda, who is to be my roomie for the weekend, couldn’t get the saturday off work, and I had been worried about that because I didn’t want to miss anything of the convention but I do not have the means to pay for a night in a Hilton hotel by myself. Luckily, the lovely sisters offered me a stay in their room for the one night. They have arranged a camping bed for me to sleep in and everything! Aren’t Ringers great?
So anyway, my mother drives me to the airport and I check in, which thanks to the wonderful invention of Self-Checkin Points, is a matter of minutes. All I have to do is press a few buttons and insert my passport, and the boarding pass comes popping out.
As I seem to make a habit of wrecking my mother’s suitcases when I go to Ring Conventions (one broke at last year’s FF, the other during my trip to ORC) I have aquired my own very roomy, quite hideous orange travelcase, which I leave at checkin, and mum and me go for tea and one of our favourite pasttimes: people-spotting.
Finally it’s time for me to leave. It takes a long time for me to get through security, as I have to do it twice: once in the terminal, and again at the gate. Then I get onto the blue Gwaihir of KLM and off we fly, away to the Distant Shores in the West.
My flight is pleasant and fairly uneventful, though the landing is not exactly great fun due to the strong sidewinds. I may have overcome my fear of flying for LOTR, but that doesn’t mean I really enjoy moments like that.
Having arrived at Heathrow, I collect my bag (it may be hideous but it’s also easy to spot on a luggage belt), change money, and set off to find an Underground station. I had originally tried hard to avoid travelling on the tube, as I was somewhat intimidated after the bombings, but it seemed like there was no other choice, as the hotel has no shuttle service and the fare of a taxi would send me bankrupt even before I’d reach the merchandise tables at the Festival, which would be a Very Bad Thing. So, steeling myself, I decide to use the Underground anyway.
Problem is that I can’t find it, and finally I have to take the Heathrow Express to another terminal, where fortunately there is a tube station. Laiquendi has given me directions of where to go with which service, so that all goes perfectly, even though I am far from comfortable during my trip. And it takes a long time.
At last, at about 9:30 pm, I arrive at Wembley Park Station, where I receive a phonecall from Indis, who advises me to take a taxi from the station to the hotel. It’s not really a long walk but it’s not exactly a good neighbourhood for a young elfmaiden to be walking around at night. I take her advice and take a London cab (woo! I did something touristy!) to the hotel, where the ladies are waiting for me. We hug and are glad.
After I have set down my case and freshened up a bit, the three of us go down to the lobby to meet the wonderful Mathom and Mr. Mathom. As I have not had dinner yet, we decide to go to the restaurant and have a quick bite, only to discover that it closes at 10. The bar is open but there’s a football match going on, so it’s not an ideal place for social behaviour at the moment. We decide to go back to Mathom’s room and order room service.
The food we get is lovely, though expensive, and I empty my whole plate (which is a rarity for me, just ask anyone who has ever met me anywhere)! We have a great time talking and eating, and it’s near midnight when the three of us say goodnight and return to our room.
Saturday, 27 August
Sadly, I get virtually no sleep at all this night, because my campingbed sags so much that my bum nearly touches the floor, and no matter how I lie there’s always one body part getting cut off from blood supply. It’s only come morning that I fall into uncomfortable slumber, which is of course short-lived, because we have agreed to Moot in the lobby at 8:30, and with three people and only one bathroom, getting ready takes a while.
So it is that we only arrive at breakfast at 8:10, and we eat quickly so as not to leave people waiting. It is a lovely breakfast, though. I do love English tea.
However, when we get to the lobby, there is still no one there. We ask for a sheet of paper at reception and make a nifty sign, but still no one comes in, except a load of Japanese tourists, a load of Swedish Tourists, and another load of Japanese tourists. We wait until 9, and then decide to go to the Conference Center with just the three of us. Our tickets are checked and our bags searched (this happens every time you leave and enter again), and then we are free to explore the venue. Of course I don’t get far without buying something: a beautiful pewter statue of Merry pledging allegiance to Théoden that I’ve had my eye on for quite a while, but have never seen for so low a price in the Netherlands. I am so weak (when Merry is involved, anyway).
As the Opening Ceremony draws near, we slowly make our way to the Main Hall. Once there, we are forced to separate, as I must find a seat in the back of the Hall, while Indis and Elentari have reserved seats at the front that come with their Platinum Tickets. Throughout the weekend, the reserved and regular areas of the Hall generally become known as the Cool People Area and the Poor People Area.
But thankfully I run into Laiquendi and Hobbitgirly and her friend, who couldn’t make it to our Moot because of problems with public transport, but who have made it to the convention on time anyway. They also have Poor People Seats, so we sit together and attend the Opening Ceremony.
Once again the event is MC’d by the delightful duo Two Dead Elves, a.k.a. Craig Parker (Haldir) and Mark Ferguson (Gil-Galad). They do the introductions, which takes quite a lot of time as there are a lot of guests to announce, including academics and people from the Tolkien Society, artists (such as Alan Lee, John Howe, Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger, and Daniel Falconer), and some stuntment who were in the film, like Jed Brophy, Mana Hira Davis, and Shane Rangi. The latter is having his first convention, and he is so nervous standing in front of the crowd that he stutters and his whole body shakes. This while he is a huge and impressive man (he was the Mumakil Rider who was killed by Éomer in ROTK).
And of course there’s the actors. While there’s a lot of ‘third Orc from the right’ people, even moreso than last year, most of them are entertaining, and of course there’s Billy coming later on, so we don’t complain, really.
After the Opening Ceremony, there is a Q & A session with Bruce Hopkins (Gamling), Jed Brophy, and Kiran Shah (Hobbit scale/stunt double).
Bruce is, as usual, running around like a five-year old that’s had too much sugar at breakfast, but also very funny and entertaining. He shows us clips of his new film projects, during which he actually stands still!
Jed is an amazing man, I just can’t say it enough. He is a natural comedian, has an incredible body language, is very physically fit, has a great singing voice, gorgeous bone structure, and beautiful children. For those of you who don’t know: his son played Eldarion (the son of Arwen and Aragorn) in ROTK, being only five at the time of shooting, and in fact during the Q & A session Jed announces that he has just received word that the boy has won an award for his performance in the film.
Kiran I can only admire from afar, I am in such awe of him. He has been in more films, I think, than all the other guests combined, and a lot of those are among the greatest films ever made: LOTR, Star Wars, Titanic, Legend, Chronicles of Narnia, Dark Crystal… and yet we hardly ever really see him. He is also humble and funny and just plain rocks.
The three of them share amusing stories about props they nicked from the set, auditions they did for the film, and accidents they had (or saw happen) during filming.
Then it’s time for the Parkers. This is a bit of an inside joke that was invented last year, when a distracted member of staff accidentally printed Craig Parker and Mark Parker on the programme sheet, causing much hilarity among the fans, and even more when the person who operated the computer and the big screen, who’d also caught this, projected ‘Next up: Q & A with The Parkers’ on the screen. So that’s how that came about.
They are joined by Joel Tobeck, whom we can recognise in the film as the Orc Lieutenant with the unusually decorated helmet at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (“late as usual, pirate scum!”). This is also a very charming and lovely man, though he seems a bit lost in the beginning, to be put between Craig and Mark who are ‘old hands’ at conventions.
The Two Dead Elves start the session off with an old favourite of theirs, the one-word-at-a-time-story. It’s about Legolas travelling from Kiev to Birmingham, riding a chicken and wielding a mangle for a weapon. Yes. Don’t ask.
They have an actual Q & A for a while, and Craig says something really friendly about us fans, telling us how reporters keep asking him how awful it is to work with “those weirdos”. Craig’s reply: “but they’re good weirdos!”. When asked about the craziest thing a fan has ever done to them, Joel tells us a story about a lady who gave him a packet of Cheese Whizz and then requested him to be the plate. No, really.
When questions run out they start another old comedy game, in which they can involve Joel also: the one-line-at-a-time poem. And of course, considering the story we have just heard, this poem is titled ‘The Day Pippin Got Covered in Cheese Whizz’. I am not going to reveal the contents of said poem here, for obvious reasons.
There is another thing they do where members of the audience stand behind Craig and Joel and operate their arms, and then the session is over.
But we need not fear, for the peak of all silliness ensues: the Radio Play! This comedic piece, written by Mark and acted out by him, Craig, and whoever else is crazy enough to join in, was a great success last year, so Mark has written another one for the occasion.
Again it starts with Frodo (Mark) leaving Valinor, this time because he is thrown out by Elrond (Craig), after the Hobbit has developed a taste for cannibalism and has eaten most of his fellow residents. He goes back to the Shire to collect Sam (Craig) and get back onto the Road, where Sam keeps offering to carry everyone on his back, “for old times sake”. Of course they collect other Fellowship members on the way, including Aragorn (Joel), who is going through a divorce, Gandalf (Jed), who has become an actor and parttime barlady, and Legolas (Jed), who made a career as an airline stewardess. With the help of Legolas they get on an airplane, but sadly it crashes on a deserted island, on which our heroes find Merry (Craig), Pippin (Jed) and a depressed Treebeard, who has been quarantained on the island after he has been diagnosed with Dutch Elm Disease. Together they discover an evil plot by Richard Taylor (Richard Taylor) who has genetically manipulated Gollum (Craig) to morph into King Kong, in order to achieve world domination. Of course, this attempt is thwarted, and Gollum morphs into Aslan and eats Richard Taylor, and they all go and have tea, though sadly Frodo eats Aragorn and Merry during this. The End.
Not as funny as last year, I must say, but still hilarious at times.
After this there is a Q & A with Richard and Tania, which is really interesting and never suffers a lack of eager questioners. Though you have to keep paying attention, as Richard’s quite monotonous voice makes you zone out easily. But they are really nice people and have so much to tell, really.
When they are done (much to the disappointment of their audience), there is a screening of FOTR, which we do not attend as we have gone quite hungry, and besides it’s the Theatrical version, which strangely doesn’t do it for me anymore, now that I’ve seen the Extended. So we wander off and browse the dealer’s room. Again. Though I don’t buy anything this time. Go me! This may, however, have something to do with the fact that my wallet is empty.
Lai, Hobbitgirly, and her friend kindly offer to accompany me to the nearest cash point, which is actually quite a distance, but it gives us exercise and fresh air.
I get cash. Woohoo, more money with which to buy stuff I don’t need! Oh, and food.
After this, my companions go their separate ways. I go around the dealer’s room again, and pass the table where Richard, Tania and Daniel are signing. It’s not crowded, so I stand in line for them with my Weapons and Warfare book ready at hand.
They are such wonderful and generous people! Mr. Taylor actually gets up to shake my hand and introduce himself, asks me if I’m having a good time, making conversation, and I have a nice chat with Daniel Falconer about why W&W is our favourite film-book ever, and I find out that he has Dutch parents and can even speak Dutch! He is so cool, and so very, very nice.
I go back to the Hall then and watch a bit of the film, but once they get to Lothlórien I get annoyed and leave again. I return to the hotel for a quiet cup of tea, and go looking for Indis and Elentari. After a while I track them down, and we go for another round of the dealer’s room and a cuppa with Mathom and Mr. Mathom, who are waiting for the Fellowship Feast to start. This is a dinnerparty with all the guests, and it is included in the most expensive of the Cool People Tickets (The Exceptionally Cool People Tickets? Hmm).
As Mathom and Mr. Mathom make their way to the Feast, Indis, Elentari and myself retire to the hotel to get some dinner. The restaurant has an awesome buffet, and we eat to our heart’s content. I try to call Varda a few times, but she hasn’t arrived yet, so I return to I & E’s room, where I sit with them until they get ready for bed.
I take all my luggage with me downstairs then, and prepare to wait for Varda in the lobby, but the nice lady at the reception tells me I can transfer the room to my name and wait more comfortably there. I take her advice and go up to the room, where I wait for V until midnight. Just when I have given up and am making ready to get to bed, she arrives, tired from her long journey, but we still have a cup of tea and chat for an hour, before we finally roll into our beds.
Sunday, 28 August (Billy’s birthday!)
After a good but way too short night’s sleep, Varda wakes me up at 7:30. We go down to breakfast, and I discover that our room goes with a different breakfast (continental) that the one Indis and Elentari have (English). Not that it matters a lot, as I don’t eat much in the morning anyway, but while the English breakfast (now renamed the Cool People Breakfast) has actual tea, the continental breakfast serves this 3-hour old gutterwater that tastes more like coffee than tea. Yech!
We go to the Conference Center, where Varda picks up her ticket, and I get to show her around in the dealer room. She is much better at restraining herself than I am, really.
Returning to the hotel we change into our costumes. Varda has not managed to bring her Beren costume, so she comes as Varda instead. My Lúthien must therefore spend this event without her betrothed, but I make up for it by trothplighting myself to the infamous and fabulously attractive KnittedMerry (http://www.livejournal.com/users/knittedmerry/). He says he has to think about it, as he has so many wives already, but I have good hope he might accept my proposal. Now I shall just have to learn how to knit baby-Hobbits. ;-)
We catch the last bit of a Q & A by some assorted Elves, Orcs, Hobbits and Men, and then it’s time for Alan Lee and John Howe. Their talk is really interesting, they really know their craft and their Tolkien, and it is a delight to be in their presence.
When the artists’ talk is over (again, much to our disappointment) Varda and I go around the dealer’s room again. I am considering whether or not to buy a Gamling action figure (I gave mine to V for her birthday and they’re not for sale here anymore), and finally Varda gets fed up with me and buys it for me. Aww!
I also buy John Howe’s Myth and Magic artbook, and Alan Lee’s new Tolkien Sketchbook, which is awesome. V also gets some books, and we have them signed by the respective artists. I think I may be in love with Mr. Lee, he is that friendly, and such an incredible artist.
V and I go back to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and to have a cup of tea, before we return to the Conference Center. There, we watch the very amusing Ring Wars, which is a competition in which the contestants are, for once, not fans, but the actors themselves. They get rounds of film trivia questions, the first multiple choice and the second with buzzers (which were actually rubber duckies), and there is a round of charades that has us in stitches. The game is won by team Haldir’s Revenge, which consists of Bruce, Jed, and Craig.
Then there’s the Charity Auction with Special Guest Host. Already I’d heard rumours float around that Billy has already arrived and will be attending the con today also, due to the fact that he has cancelled at ELF and is therefore available to come here, instead.
And indeed, to thunderous roars of ‘Happy Birthday To You’, the incredibly charming and charismatic Mr. Boyd enters the stage. The charity we will be collecting money for is, indeed, his own ‘baby’, the Scottish Youth Theatre. There are some interesting items to be auctioned off, including a pair of Haldir Plushies (which go for the highest price of all the items, and Mark declares all bidders above 250 pounds “insane”), a Galadriel litho signed by Cate Blanchett (that was the one I’d be interested in if I had any money), a callsheet from Billy’s newest film project that’s signed by him and the director and some other actors, an end-of-filming card from Elijah and Sean, and, at the very end, Billy takes off his bracelet and decides to sell that, too. I never did find out how much money they raised, though.
We don’t stay to watch ROTK, but instead we go down to the signing area to collect Varda’s autographs from Craig and Mark, and to set Craig to rights about a comment he made during the auction (when Billy said something silly, Craig returned this with “and they say the Irish are stupid!”). Mark is really friendly, signs Varda’s picture and talks a bit with her. It must be depressing for him to be sitting beside Craig though, whose queue is about ten times longer than his own. After we have stood in said queue for quite a while, we get to talk to Craig. He signs Varda’s picture as well, and atones for his behaviour at the auction by blaming Mark. All seems forgiven, there is no Irish Grudge, and besides Varda is not carrying weapons so I don’t have to interfere or watch Craig get a sword in the back (again). ;-) She also has a picture taken with him, and insists that I pose with him, too. Yay! Being close to Craig is a Very Good Thing. He is so cute.
Having recovered from being so close to the Cuteness That Is Craig, we return to the hotel to change clothes for dinner. As we want to attend the Fiction Writer’s Workshop at 6 and Galadriel’s Ball at 8, we decide to have dinner early today, only to discover that the restaurant doesn’t open until 7. Drat. So we chat in the room some more and have more tea before returning to the Conference Center.
The Writer’s Workshop is great, very educative, fun, and useful. Exchanging thoughts with other writers is great, especially since writers tend to think that what they do and how they do it, and the problems that they encounter, are unique. Hearing how people use techniques and tricks you use as well makes you feel less alone somehow. Also we get some fun quick exercises, in which I hopelessly fail as we have to write things in only five minutes, and I spend at least three minutes thinking of how to formulate a correct sentence.
After the session we have a nice talk with the speakers and some other participants, and we exchange anecdotes and story tips. It’s great.
In the Hall Indis and Elentari are already waiting exitedly for their entrance at tonight’s Fellowship Feast. I do hope to hear exactly how it all was, because them having seats in the Cool People Area, where I was not allowed, we have had very little time to interact over the weekend.
Varda and I hasten to the hotel to get some quick dinner, because I want to be on time for the Ball and I have to change as well. Last year’s Ball was such fun, with folk music and singing and a lady teaching us line and circle dancing, quite different from the noisy and quite out-of-theme ‘parties’ you usually get at such events.
Sadly, however, we arrive at the Ball to find out it is exactly that. It is being held in an utterly dark room, with a DJ playing loud rock music on a bad sound system, and people sitting around awkwardly in the dark, holding their drinks. There is no band, no dancing, no fun.
I cannot tell you how disappointed I was, because having attended the Ball last year I had so been looking forward to it, only to find out that it has been turned into a bleeping high school party, just like at all the other conventions. You’d think the FF had learned something after having such a nice party last year. This is a theme-weekend after all, and something like this does not fit into that at all. Varda and I leave after fifteen minutes, and I am quite crushed about the whole thing.
We have a consolation cuppa in the room and chat a little. When V goes downstairs to check her email, I reach for my bag to look for a pen and my book, and to my great surprise find one of my old notebooks in it, one I thought I’d lost a year ago. It contains two unfinished, unpublished Inklings that are actually not half bad, and I resolve to finish and edit them so that I may post them later on. Varda and I have a nice time in our room talking, as well.
So the evening was not a total waste after all.
Monday, 29 August
After a good but short night’s sleep and yet another breakfast with the Tea of Doom, Varda and I pack up the last of our things and check out of the room, leaving our cases at the reception of the hotel before making our way, for the last time, to the Conference Center.
First up is a Q & A with the delightful Billy Boyd. He is, as always, charming, funny, polite and professional. His answers tend to wander (I am still not quite sure just how he got from his opinion on Lost to discussing the rules of cricket), but all in all he is great fun. The questions are overall quite intelligent, and he only gets asked to sing once. He declines politely but firmly, like he ALWAYS does, people! Stop asking it, it’s getting annoying.
He tells us about his latest films, shares his experiences on LOTR (“most horrible experience during filming? Dom’s birthday party. He took us for tequila. It was horrifying.”), his opinion on lost (“I’ve seen it, and I know what the monster is. [pregnant pause] It’s Viggo.”), and confirming or denying any rumours about him spread by Mr. Monaghan. It’s great.
We stay for a while to listen to Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, but since I’ve already heard most of it and Varda doesn’t find it all that interesting, we leave to get in line for Billy’s autograph. It says on the programme that it only starts this afternoon, but we go to check anyway, as V has to leave early to catch her flight. And indeed, when we arrive the queue already stands all the way down the hallway. We get in line with Hobbitgirly and her friend and have a chance to talk about conventions while we wait. And we wait a long time, but as it is because Billy takes his time for everyone, we don’t mind really much.
At last we enter the signing room, and there is Billy, looking tired but with a smile and a friendly chat for everyone. He signs first HG’s picture and then V’s, and we get a picture taken with him. Varda insists I pose with her again, so I had Billy Boyd put his arm around me and smile at me, which was more than I could have expected this weekend. Thanks, V!
Having had our share of Billy encounters, we have some tea together and share a muffin, and take a last lap around the dealer’s room. As it turns out, one table appears to want to loose some of their larger merchandise, and are selling them for bottom-prices, including the Fellowship Pack, which would cost me about 80 to 100 euros in the Netherlands, but now is only 10 pounds. I contemplate it, as I really really don’t have room for it and how do I take it on the plane? But finally, because us Dutch just can’t resist a good bargain, and because I do still need a Gandalf and a Legolas, I walk away with the huge box under my arm. Sigh.
Varda also yields to temptation at the bookstand, and buys the illustrated Silmarillion and all three illustrated LOTR books.
Then it is time for her to go, sad though it is. She has to be more or less awake tomorrow for work, and really can’t take a late flight or fly home tomorrow. I am sad to see her go, but take comfort in knowing that I will see her again soon at RingCon.
I make my way back to the Main Hall alone, and even get a chance to sneak illegally into the Cool People Area for a talk with Indis and Elentari whilst crouching on the floor between the seats so that the staff won’t notice. Which is difficult with a Fellowship box under your arm, let me tell you. They agree to meet me in the foyer to say goodbye before I go.
I sneak back to my seat and attend the rest of a multiple-guest Q & A and a part of a stunt fight demonstration together with Lai, who very gentlemanly offers to accompany me a ways on the tube on my journey to the airport.
But before it comes to this however, there is still one more thing to attend, which happens to be one I have been looking forward to a lot: a lecture about Merry and Pippin, and their development on the page and on screen. Never before have I ever seen someone taking the effort to have a lecture about just the two of them, and I cannot tell you how glad I am to sit in a (rather small, I admit) audience of people who think as much of these characters as I do.
The lecture is all it promises and more, it may have even been the highlight of the lectures for me this weekend. The lady who does it has obviously studied her subjects well, and has a great love and enthusiasm for them. She counters the argument often used for Merry and Pippin about how they are interchangable and expendable, and discusses their great importance to the story, the seemingly parallel but in fact also vastly different development of their characters throughout the Quest, and how they are two very different characters that complement each other. So many points are made that ring so very, very true in my Merry-loving heart, and when we start discussing how Merry was grossly slighted and neglected in the film, my day is well and truly made. How great it is to see I am not the only one who values Merry’s character!
After this excellent lecture and the following discussions, I take a few more minutes to have my pictures taken with KnittedMerry and KnittedPippin, which is, in fact, the only picture I have taken during this whole weekend. I am not a great photographer, to be honest.
Then it is time for me to go to the foyer, where I say a tearful goodbye to Indis and Elentari, whom I will not be seeing again in the foreseeable future, due to the fact that I may be busy moving house (fingers crossed, everyone!), and they are not coming to RingCon.
Lai and I leave the Conference Center behind and pick up my case at the hotel, then set off to the tube station, where we meet Hobbitgirly and her friend, who were also on their way to the airport. The three of them generously lend me money for my ticket (thanks again, so much, mellyn!) as I seem to have spent my last scrap on the Fellowship. We then get on the train to our first transfer station, but while we are buying my ticket to Heathrow Lai and I lose sight of the other two, and I do not get a chance to say a proper goodbye to them.
After a few stops on the way I have to say goodbye to Lai too (thanks so much for everything you did for me this weekend!) and I journey on alone.
Once at Heathrow, I discover, to my great dismay, that my flight is delayed for more than two hours! Two valuable hours I could have been spending attending the last of the Conference! I am not a happy Elf, as I’m sure you understand. Because instead of staying at the Festival until the end and having a good time, I have four hours to while away at the airport, not exactly the most exciting of places on a monday night. So I try to sleep, fail utterly, take myself out to dinner, attract lots of odd looks due to the Fellowship under my arm, read Desolation Island, call my parents, try to sleep again, fail again, and read some more. Whee.
Finally, when the terminal is nearly deserted (my flight being the last one to leave), I board the half-empty plane and cause much conversation among the stewardesses with my Fellowship pack, until finally one girl approaches me and asks about it. By the time I am done explaining LOTR fans and LOTR fan conventions to my attentive audience, it is time for takeoff, and after only 45 minutes my plane lands sometime after midnight.
My much disgruntled mother picks me up at the airport, and I spend an hour showing my younger brother all the stuff I bought, including a Tree of Gondor Pendant that he’d been searching for for six months, and that we had despaired of even existing. He is very happy and grateful, and I do believe I will make a Ringer out of him yet.
I finally go to bed at 2, which is not a good thing as I have an interview for a flat early the next morning, and am a complete zombie at it as a result.
I have had a wonderful weekend! Thank you so much, (((((Varda, Indis, Elentari, Laiquendi, Hobbitgirly, Mathom))))) for being such great company, and I do hope to see you all again really soon! Tenn’ enomentielva, mellyn!
Women are definitely insane 
)
brings me right back there, miss London already 
Radio play, and I will never forget "the day Pippin got covered in cheese whizz" Joel had the hardest part :o each time mark would have a word that was weird to rhyme on 
lol 
)
