Osmonds

Packing for a return trip to London makes any of our 'last days' on the Island feel strange. Today, we were out by 11 a.m. to get the 11:45 a.m. FastCat. I am not sure what Wightlink is doing at Ryde Pier with their waiting room, but every recent visit has coincided with a variation in the queuing and waiting system. Today was no different, with everybody held behind the newly installed barriers before ticket inspection started when the boat had docked.

We crossed the Solent on the sun deck, which is a bit of a surprise for the end of October. The crossing was lovely and smooth. We bought coffee from the Costa concession in the terminal before heading past the historic dockyards to the coach stop, which has been temporarily moved while the bus interchange at Portsmouth Harbour station is improved.

We took the National Express back to London because there were railway engineering works, and this felt like an easier option. I think it was. The coach was comfortable and not too busy. We'd reserved seats close to the front. We spent the time chatting and eating lunch. A large group of people were picked up at Guildford, which made the vehicle noisier, so that's when we donned our headphones.

Unexpectedly, there was a drop-off in Wandsworth. If we had prepared for it, we would have hopped off. I didn't want to rush, fearing we'd leave something, so I opted to stay onboard until Victoria coach station. PY disagreed with my choice. However, it was still reasonably easy to get from Victoria to home via Clapham. Unusually, the last leg was on a train to Windsor that was on diversion via Kingston, so I got to listen to a number of station names that would have been announced on my route to Staines when I worked there a few years ago.

After some time at home and a quick pasta dinner, we headed to our regular Sunday night cabaret at The Cray Coqs. Tonight, it was Osmonds night, and it turned out to be very popular and sold out. Our regular seats had been reserved.

Jamie Chatterton, Georgia Lennon, Alex Lodge, and Danny Nattrass had all been in The Osmonds musical a few years ago and were reunited to perform some of the songs tonight. They were joined by Max Cadman, although his numbers were moved to the start as there had been some accident that required a visit to A&E. At the end of the night, he posted an Instagram confirming all was OK.

The evening was a little different from the other evenings, with Jamie, Alex, and Danny performing most of the songs together and sharing some behind-the-scenes anecdotes from their time in the musical. A standing ovation concluded the evening, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. PY wishes he had known more of the songs.

We went to the chicken takeaway when we returned, meaning we've had two dinners.