Spellbound In London
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Faye and Mandy outside the theatre with the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child sign. |
We were back in London to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Before the pandemic, there were three audio description shows on in January, July and September, now, post-pandemic, there's only one.
We booked our tickets a year in advance, the woman we spoke to on the phone very kindly moved us from row Q (the wheelchair spaces) to row F, where the audio description signal was better.
Due to the train strikes planned for 26th September, we had to rearrange our whole trip, this involved cancelling a night at the hotel and jiggling the train assistance round. However, when they decided not to strike, we changed our plans back.
The train from Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston went surprisingly fast. My mum and I were glad to see a few people, including us, still wearing face masks.
London traffic lights don't beep, which I feel is unsafe for blind/visually impaired people. I had to rely on my mum to say, 'come on, Faye.' it made me laugh when we were waiting at the traffic lights, some students were in front of us, and when the lights changed to green, everyone just stood there... Until my mum said, 'Lets go!'. I said to her, ‘you're like the teacher showing kids how to cross the road.'
We stayed at the Royal National Hotel again. This time, we were in a different room to last time. Something has changed about this hotel. I don't know if I’d stay here again. I remember the room being much easier to navigate. Perhaps, because it was a different room? I couldn’t reach the bed, so my mum had to move the two beds up each of the walls, so that I could get near and be able to turn. The TV was at least well placed, in front of my mums bed. I don't know if it was intentional, but I liked the fact that the TV had audio description so I could enjoy Coronation Street and the pre recorded Strictly Come Dancing (the live shows don't have audio description) it was nice to enjoy this.
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| Bedroom with two single beds with white linen. Brown carpet and two small tables, one with a phone on. |
The bathroom was strange. It was an ok size, although it took a few wiggles to do a full turn. I had to be careful not to reverse into the glass shower door behind me. I'll describe the layout: as you come in the not hugely wide sliding door, to the left, is a glass, encased shower. The glass cover only goes about halfway. To the right of the door, is a sink area. To get a handful of soap, like at the ibis, it was in a black box high up on the wall and, again, my mum had to help me.
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| Picture as described of the toilet and rails. |
The toilet at first glance, looked ok, it had two bars, one next to the toilet, however, the other was a stretch away on the far wall. I nearly fell reaching for it as it was too far to reach. Reversing out of the bathroom was quite a tight squeeze. My wheelchair is longer than the average, so getting out was a bit tricky as the wall was right there. To escape the bathroom, I have to do a full turn and come out forward.
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| Toilet with bar showing as described. White toilet and grey floor. |
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| Sink as described showing position of soap dispenser, white sink with black surround. |
Breakfast at the Royal National Hotel was ok. Unfortunately, they didn't have the mango smoothie like last time, so I had to make do with juice and for the larger tablets we asked for a taller glass so I could make up my own fizzy drink. I have to say that the staff here were so so helpful. After sitting in the crowded restaurant on the first day, on the second and third day, we were escorted to a much quieter section with tables I could get my chair under.
Thankfully, the access here is very good, they seem to have widened the lifts and had a refurbishment, but in updating the bathroom, they've made it worse. All it'd take to make it safer, is putting the soap dispenser at an easier to reach place and a second bar on both sides of the toilet. One of the reasons we stayed here was the mango smoothie at breakfast, which made it possible to swallow my many tablets. The fact they didn't have it this time, and the poor room layout, is why I’d be reluctant to stay here again. We wrote to the hotel to tell them of our experiences and although they listened they just said that the room meets health and safety standards and to get a bigger room you have to book a city sleeper room or a family room which may be more expensive.
On the Saturday, we walked to the Palace Theatre to get our bearings.
We’d pre-booked an Italian meal at Carlucios which was good as it got busy.
When we booked it, we asked about the wheelchair access and we were asked how big the chair was as a larger than average one wouldn’t fit through the door. They also had no disabled toilet. As they had food I can eat, we booked it.
The restaurant is literally just around the corner from the theatre. Getting in, there were two doors, once through the first door I had to reverse a little as the other door,was placed sharply to the right.
Our table was just ahead. I don't really remember how the wheelchair fitted in the table, so it must've been ok. The woman who served us just spoke to my when we ordered, but when the food arrived, I thanked her and she acknowledged this.
The food here was delicious. I had a chicken risotto. Although the chicken was dry and hard due to what it was cooked in, the rest was full of flavour.
The wheelchair access entrance of the Palace Theatre London is around the side, as the front has steps. Once you have alerted someone you are there, they'll get a little ramp to get over the step and into the theatre.
The toilet was our first stop. It was nice: clean and long, though not a changing places. The decor was blue, with light blue walls and dark blue bars, one either side of the toilet and a white sink.
Inside the theatre, thanks to the slope that was the isle, I was able to take my wheelchair down to the seats and transfer. I think other wheelchair users were sat at the back in row Q, those needing audio description were at the front for the signal. I don't know if there was a touch tour, but imagine it would have been amazing!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was fantastic! The audio description, for the first half worked brilliantly. It helped that I have read the book beforehand, as my mum got quite confused.
I'll try not to give too much of the plot away, and will just say this:
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is about Harry and his son, Albus' relationship. It’s an emotional journey of friendship, turmoil, time turners, fear, love and, of course, magic!
My mum was mesmerised by the effects.
The show is done in two parts, both with an interval. When we came back before part two, my mum wanted a coffee, however, the bar was downstairs with no wheelchair access. It also only took credit cards, so the only way to purchase refreshments at the Palace Theatre London, if you are a wheelchair user, is to hand over your bank card and pin number to a complete stranger, trust they won't rip you off. *** do not do this, banks would not advise it and it may be an illegal practice *** What the theatre should offer is a cash to buy option and/or a portable card machine.
The show was brilliant and we'd love to see it again.
The next day, we’d arranged to see one of the charity’s families whose little girl was in Intensive Care Unit. We got a bus to Kings College Hospital. I like London buses. They have a voiceover system that announces each stop and some even say 'alight here for' and tells you a tourist attraction. The only thing I don't like about the London buses is the wheelchair space is tricky to drive into, there are about four bars surrounding it. Another feature of the London buses that I like, is how easy it is to get on. Once you have alerted the driver that you want to get on, an alarm will sound and the second doors alone will close, then, an automatic ramp pops out and you can drive on. The first time this happened, I was scared, thinking the bus would drive off with my mum and our two friends on board, when the doors closed. I was relieved when the ramp popped out like a tongue! The journey to Kings College Hospital went surprisingly fast. The hospital is on a hill, overlooking a park. As we were two hours early for seeing our friend, we went to the park. To get in, were the type of gates, that remind me of farms in Yorkshire, they were zig zaggy to go through, but once in, the path was flat, with only a few natural hills. As we strolled along, we passed sports courts, where people played basketball, tennis and skateboarding.
We looked for a cafe. A woman told us about the hut, so we went in search of it. We found it behind the sports area. I thought it was where the balls etc were kept. It was literally a shed like hut that offered bacon, sausage and cheese butties and cake. The large slice of cake was delicious and tasted homemade!
After the snack, we had some time, so found a pub and ordered lunch. The outside had both steps and a ramp, but nothing to distinguish between them. Inside it was a typical pub, with dim lighting. We found a table near the window. It was loud, indicating it was busy, which could've been why the food took a while to come. I had a Nourishment Bowl. It was sooo tasty and packed with vitamins. As we left, we forgot that only one door led to the ramped entrance at the far end. The inside of the building reminded me of a church with its stained glass coloured windows, and the shape of it.
King's College Hospital is on the Southbank of the River Thames. When we went up the ramp and into the foyer, it reminded me of a super posh hotel, with pillars and high ceilings. We met our friend in the Costa coffee shop, which is just as you walk in. I remember it being not huge, but with spaced out, round tables that had a stump in the middle holding it up. Although it was loud in there, with the coffee machines whirring, we could (mostly) hear each other. It was lovely to catch up.
The bus driver who picked us up was lovely and let us on, reminding us of the Sunday service. This bus was packed and a voiceover came on telling people to grab a seat and hold on tight, a safety feature I liked.
The next day, before heading home, we went to St.Pancreas train station. It’s a very grand one, although the entrance is a bit confusing. Inside, commuters swarmed like fish, a mix of expensive French and London based shops lined the station and a lift takes you up to the next floor.
Here a massive statue stands depicting the history of trains.
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| Bronze statue showing men laying the train tracks |
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| Bronze statue showing people on a train reading books and newspapers |
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| Bronze statue of a man and woman embracing |
We then left London Euston for Liverpool Lime Street.
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