Highlights-London to Wolverhampton

My reason for going to Wolverhampton was to see a live performance of the Rocky Horror Show. I almost went to the wrong train station in London (Paddington), but I corrected my error as I was waiting. I glided to another bus stop hoping no one would notice my near-fatal error. The train trip London, Euston to Wolverhampton was 1140am to 1:30pm I had an English breakfast as a late lunch at a pub near the train station. The apartment I rented for the one night was behind the theater. The audience at Rocky Horror skewed much older and wider than some performances I have attended, but were still very rowdy. A bartender at the pub told me that the traveling production comes every year.

Notable Items

As frequently happens, I made two errors getting to Wolverhampton and the apartment I rented for one night. The first more serious than the second.

I had planned getting from the Victory Services Club to Paddington Station by bus. I selected the route and the times to get to the station on time for the bus to Wolverhampton. I had even visited the bus stop to make sure it was the right one. Standing at the stop today, luggage at my side, I checked the departure time on my train ticket to Wolverhampton. This was when Error One became evident. I was departing from Euston Station, not Paddington. Darn!

Transport for London made error recovery easy. Bus stops have guides with destinations listed alphabetically showing the bus numbers that get you there and the nearest stops (in the vicinity). I walked a short distance to the correct bus stop.

The second error wasn’t serious. I executed my well-practiced “Ralph exits the station from the wrong door going the wrong way” maneuver. My normally forgiving and understanding wife has a low tolerance for this mistake (can you blame her?). This is why I usually park her with the bags inside the station while I figure things out. When I return, I can pretend that I didn’t just wander all over figuring out where NOT to go.

Attending the performance of the Rocky Horror Show was much different than my last experience in 2019 commuter rail distance from London. The Wolverhampton crowd was very energetic with shouting at and interrupting the dialogue. Woe betide any performer who had to pause in delivery of their lines. The Narrator caught the worst of it. She gave as good as she got, talking back or reacting to many of the comments. Sometimes with retorts you had to be a local to understand (“You must be from Tipton.”) I had to use chatGPT to get some insight on that one.

I remained seated for the first two verses of the Time Warp while people in front and behind stood up to dance. After the second verse, the retired Royal Navy man next to me gave me the elbow so we stood and joined in the dancing. We stood immediately for the encore rendition.

While the Narrator got most of the jeers and interruptions to her dialogue, Brad and Janet did not escape. Early in the play, after they enter the castle seeking to use the telephone, Riff-Raff tells them, “Wait here” and walks off stage. After Brad and Janet stepped two paces toward the audience to deliver the lines, someone from the audience yelled, “He said wait there.” The actors actually stepped back.