Friday, June 29, 2007

I am Don Quixote! Lord of La Mancha!

I have discovered an online radio station (www.live365.com - Max Broadway Zero Hour) that plays nothing but showtunes. And not just the overplayed stuff they have for tourists, but old stuff, new stuff, off-Broadway and on, title songs and filler bits. I'm really enjoying hearing new songs mixed in with my old favourites. I've heard of Man of La Mancha, of course (thanks, Dad), but I've never listened to it. So when the title song came up, I was intrigued. Because lately, I've been thinking about getting a dog (stay with me here, this is actually a serious post), and naturally thinking about what to name it. Or, even more lately, I've been thinking about getting two dogs, and then they could keep each other company. One of the names I've come up with is Horatio, for Hamlet's best friend in Hamlet. Because a dog is man's best friend, geddit? Keeping with that theme, I was thinking about other theatrical best friends, like Antonio, Riff, Valentine, Sancho Panza--you see the train of thought? Then I was thinking of other things that were a girl's best friend, diamonds, gaff tape, so on. And eventually I started thinking maybe I should name them after my favourite Tube stations, just to be annoying. Although, I'm not sure, if I were a dog, if I would respond to "Covent Garden" and "Waterloo." "Waterloo" and "Trafalgar?" Perhaps not. I was just about of the opinion that "Piccadilly" might be a fun name for a dog when I heard that someone parked a car full of bombs in Haymarket Street--this is right next to Piccadilly Circus, right down the street from where Phantom of the Opera is playing. If you were me, and you were walking from the National Gallery to the Criteron Theatre to see, oh say, "The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged" you would go right past where this car was parked, full of gas, nails and (thank God) a defective detonator. I told you this was a serious post. I'm not talking about this to freak anyone out, but just to contemplate the fact that this stuff happens. I was just thinking about how lucky I was to live in a city where I could get on the train and go to work and not have to worry about getting blown up. (I try not to think about how easy it would be to park a car under one of the bridges--who puts a train up in the air anyway?!)I forgot where I was going with this. I guess this is the depot for the train of thoughts. Ha. Oy. I'm so mad that people are trying to blow up my city. And so sad that people feel the need to target London. Why? God, who knows. I'd rather think about dogs.

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