Sing, Frodo, sing!

Yesterday Hiro and I went to the theatre to watch the first presentation in Lodon of Lord of the Rings, the musical. Hiro was a little concerned how they would condensate all the story on the stage in just 3 hours. I was more wary if it would be too ridiculous to see the Gollum and Gandalf singing.

Good news: Gandalf doesn't sing. And the Gollum sings just a few verses. Most of the singing is done by the hobbits and elves. Unfortunately the elves are a pain in the ass, but every play needs some beautiful girls with long dresses and even longer hair screaming in a high pitched voice. Otherwise, it would not be Broadway (or West End).

The story is in fact a little crammed but c'mon, did anyone really expect a story that took 9 hours to be told in the screen (in a terribly confusing way, in my opinion), would be clearly told during 3 hours in the stage? I asked Hiro to tell me the plot before it started and it was enough.

So, if you never had the patience to read the book or see the films, don't worry. You probably will feel lost in some scenes, but it is not a huge problem since the scenography is amazing. The production mixes technology and really expensive effects with circus techniques and puppeteering (which I really like). I loved the darkriders, the balrog, the spider and the first appearance of Gollum.

If you're planning to go and you're short of money, I recommend the dinner+theatre deal in lastminute.com - the tickets, plus a good pizza, side salad and juice cost £20 each. Of course the seats are the cheapest ones available (up there in the ceiling of the theatre), but I think it was very good value, and we had no problem to see everything that was going on the stage .

London doesn't want diabetic people in here

These days, when my parents-in-law were here, I found out that London in a DIABETIC-UNFRIENDLY-CITY! Of course I had never thought about that since Hiro's father, who is diabetic, had a lot of trouble to find decent drinks and food that were sugar-free in London.

I must say I was really annoyed to find out that this city, that is so worried about halal meat, vegetarian meals, vegan options and nut-free and allergy advices doesn't give a damn to the diabetics! Differently from the halal meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans, diabetics can die if they eat sugar. It's not a religious or ideological issue - it's more serious than that.

And then we went to Nando's at Baker street and surprise! No sweetener. We asked for a cofee that my father-in-law could not drink. And then the waiter told us that there was no sweetener in the whole restaurant. "Drink it with sugar!" he said.

To add insult to injury, he refused to give our money back. After complaining a lot, he gave us a voucher for another coffee. Not very useful, since I don't plan to go back there... But we must go someday, just to spend that voucher. And then put sugar in the coffee.

But if instead of having a health problem, he said that he only eats chicken that is allowed by God to be transformed in food, slaughtered by a guy who says "Allah" to each one of them at the moment of the killing, then then Nando's would have plenty of Halal chickens to offer!

God, where is the diabetic lobby in this city? How many people allergic to nuts live in London, and how many diabetics? I can only conclude that diabetics are not doing their lobby properly.