What a song and dance over trip to the theatre

MY BROTHER used to live in London and, every year, during the October half-term, my mother and i used to visit him. We would take in a show, and visit popular sights.

This particular year we forgot to book a show, but my brother assured us it didn’t matter because we could buy some theatre tickets at one of those roadside kiosks. neil was so used to London that he forgot that we were not au fait with heavy traffic. he was walking swiftly in front of us until he was nearly out of sight.

‘i know a kiosk,’ he said. ‘There is one just around the next corner.’

‘Don’t walk so fast,’ wailed Mam. ‘We can’t keep up and we’re not used to all this noise and busy roads.’ he sighed and walked on. ‘Over here!’ beckoned my brother irritably. We tried to follow him as best we could, but got stopped by the traffic lights. eventually, we arrived at the kiosk and were surprised to find a long queue. The noise from the traffic was deafening. eventually, we reached the front and spoke to this very bored-looking man behind the glass front.

‘Got any tickets for Cats?’ my mam bawled.

‘No’, he replied sharply. ‘Phantom Of The Opera? Blood Brothers? Anything will do, we just want to see a show.’ ‘Let me have a go’, i said. ‘i can shout louder than you.’

By this time, the traffic was almost deafening. The people behind us in the queue had begun to tut and were starting to become restless. ‘What about Oliver!?’ ‘Madam,’ he replied wearily, ‘this is Charing Cross underground.’ i was mortified, especially when we saw my brother was pointing to the kiosk next door. ‘You should have waited for us!’ was all Mam could manage to splutter.

Melanie Phillips, Pembroke, Pembs.