I recently went down to London to catch up with friends and got to see Francesca, who had been *trying* to get me down in order that I could receive my birthday present (all the way from October!).

It turned out to be tickets to go and see Young Marx, a play that opened this autumn (actually on my birthday!) at the new Bridge Theatre, by the river. It was such a fab gift idea, as I love the theatre, comedies and a bit of Karl. It followed a fab day of eating nice foods, strolling around the Christmassy shops and markets (including John Lewis, where I spent rather a lot of money on a giant Ferrero Rocher as a gift) before she at last revealed where we were heading.

The Bridge Theatre itself is a brand new commercial theatre in London, and it has a beautiful and ambient foyer, that can be seen in the picture below. There was no time before the show to get a drink, but the box office was an open table that seemed friendly, and there was some lovely ice cream at the interval.


The play itself is a dramedy featuring a revolving stage, interchanging accents and a lot of climbing into cupboards. There were several jokes that made me giggle, and I did find it very enjoyable. In terms of a critique, I think I would give it 4 stars, as although there were many positives, some aspects were a little under-acted. I adored the set, the theatre itself, jokes and the play, although perhaps would have seen it tightened up a little dynamically, in order to maintain its wit.

Particularly this seemed to be noticeable at the point of the death of one of the main characters, who was grieved over for one scene, but Marx, in particular, didn't seem to be... sad for much time at all. My main problem is with this character, as his genius also seemed a little curtailed by the content crammed into the play, and although I loved parts such as his meeting with Darwin, it did appear a little underwhelming.

Rory Kinnear, as Marx, did show him to be a flawed character indeed, however: made all the more effective by the juxtaposition of the more restrained Jenny (Nancy Carroll) and Nym (Laura Elphinstone) - especially when they did unleash their justifiable anger.

To those of you unfamiliar with the rail system in England (maybe the whole UK, but certainly here in England), at the age of 16, you become an 'adult' ticket on the trains. This means that instead of getting 50% off train tickets, you now pay full price unless you buy the '16-25 Railcard'. What is this, you ask? I'm so glad you did: you pay £30 per year and can get 1/3 off train tickets.

Seems fair, no? Well I find it unfair for the following reasons:

• 16-year-olds are now obligated to stay in further education or an apprenticeship until they're 18. Even apprentices, who do actually get paid, only earn £3.50 per hour. Yet 16-18 year olds still have to pay full price.
• Young people are most unlikely to own cars, because of the RIDICULOUS insurance costs for young people to have a car, so rail companies should try to appeal to this captive audience
• Global warming is a thing and using a train is probably far better than travelling by car. Incentivising a more eco-friendly transport system can only be good, right?
• £30 per year for a railcard is quite steep, which is probably done on purpose to deter people from actually saving money, but I'm not sure I would actually buy myself one as it would take a few journeys to pay for itself.
• The increased privatisation without regulation of train companies can allow these companies to hold young people (with tiny political capital) to ransom.

aghghfgufhsuahidhsd v

PS - I lied in my previous post when I said I was on a hiatus from ranting, I'd just clicked post and I remembered this HUGE inconvenience

As my time at university approaches, I have been a little worried about feeling homesick so I've started a collection of items to bring with me that will make my dorm room feel more homely. I began by buying goldfish, fairy lights and scented candles, but found that photographs were really the best way to keep a piece of home with me wherever I go. I have mentioned my love of LALALAB in some of my previous posts, and was lucky enough to be sent some free prints by them which have really helped me develop these ideas.

I have always enjoyed making scrapbooks, and my mum and her sister always used to help me when I was a kid. As I've got older my scrapbooks feature more photos and postcards than drawings of people that are really just faces with stick legs. LALALAB's prints (my favourite kind are known as vintage in the app) are perfect for adding sentimental value to a page.

I managed to get tickets in the pre-sale but it was HORRIFIC. I know a lot of people that didn't manage to, but here's some advice for the general sale.

-The queues may start before the ticket sale actually begins, but if you get through you'll probably get bumped back out, as you won't actually be able to buy any tickets, and there's only a certain period of inactivity you're allowed.

-Have your details copied from a Word document or a different tab or something so you're all set.

-Don't try and click on the first date. The chance of you getting it is tiny, and the time it takes to click on a seat, your computer to realise they've all gone, and you to click back will mean other dates may have already sold out: be realistic :)

-Once you get in, BE FAST. Tickets will be going like mad for the different dates, and during the time between clicking on the ticket you want, and the page you load, the ticket may already have gone.

-Make a Ticketmaster account, and make sure you have all your details ready to go. You'll need to be FAST. I had forgotten my password and I had to make a new one, but the timer in the bottom right was making me so flustered 😂😂.

-Try not to panic. I screamed the whole way through entering the details!

-Ticket cap is 6, which is kind of the standard, and more than the pre release amount.

- Physical tickets won't be handed out, which means there won't be the huge resales and bot-buying that was seen on Broadway (tickets went for the crazy price of up to $10,000).

-Don't refresh the page. Ticketmaster likes to torture us, because you can't actively doooo anything, just sit in the queue. Unlike things like Glastonbury, which you actually feel like you're actively getting your tickets, you just have to wait for it to load, or not.

-Check Twitter. In the pre-sale, it was trending on Twitter, so have a look at what people are saying.

There are also a few things to make it gross and terrifying:

-Why is it being held at noon?!

-The queue situation is rubbish, and some people were having waits of 40 minutes whereas others, just joining, would get in straight away. Try on as many devices that you have.

-Also, if you don't manage to get a ticket in pre-release or general, the whole system is designed to prevent resale, so you'll likely have to wait quite a while before the second leg opens up to buy for.

Good luck :)