tube fun never ends

^if you know that inside joke, you're pretty cool. 

it's really just something that my dad doesn't stop saying in Lake Powell because we hate the tubes on the boat. 

Anyways, in this context it obviously means the underground! woo!

So I have this weird love for the underground/metro/subway... whatever you want to call it. I'm kind of a public transportation guru or so I'd like to believe and I'm usually (aka always) making the calls on which stops to get off on and which lines to take- thanks to my dominant, type A personality. I think it's such a genius idea to have such an efficient and quick way to get around!

But I have two stories of the tube gone wrong, and I kind of love it because it gives me something to look back on and laugh.

Story number one:

Let me tell you about the ward I've been assigned to- the Mitcham ward. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. 

an hour and a half. 

Hi yeah Utah county where I grew up? Churches on every street practically. Almost anyone could walk to their church in a matter of five minutes or less right? New concept for me here.

So it starts at 10am, and Kenzie and Lily have been assigned there as well. We plan to leave around 8:30 in order to catch the suburban train leaving at 9:08am, but we have to take the tube to get to Victoria station where the train is leaving from. Supposedly, if we took the Central line from Queensway (the London center is smack in the middle of Queensway tube station and Notting Hill Gate for those acquainted with London) and then connected at Oxford Circus where we could get on the Victoria line, we would get to our destination. Well we get to Oxford Circus and receive the lovely surprise that the Victoria line is closed that day. 

A moment of panic, some re-routing, and three line transfers and two stops later, we find ourselves at Victoria station. The 9:08 train is long gone by now, and I'm just praying that there's another one leaving to Mitcham soon. Luckily, there was one leaving at 9:36 and we hurry on board.

25 minutes later, we pull into the Mitcham junction stop. We were in coach number eight of eight, and as we stand at the doors to exit the train the doors will not open. We push the "open door" button and they're not moving. In a panic, we're asking each other why we can't get off the train, and a guy (in his English accent) tells us that the platform is short and you have to go up to coach seven to get off. We take off on a dead sprint to coach seven, but alas... the train begins to move. We look at each other shocked that our morning had gone this way. and very late for church mind you.

so anyways... to make a long story less long, we get off on the next stop, get back on going the other way, get off on the right stop, take a tram to our final stop, have no idea what the church looks like nor where it is (our directions say walk up the slope. the church is in a building that looks like an old house), find the right place by some miracle, walk into sacrament meeting 30 minutes late, and find ourselves in a ward where we stick out like a sore thumb. All 3 of us are blondes, and the ward we attend is 95% black. After a lovely testimony meeting, we get invited up to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies. 

After sacrament meeting, the bishop asked us to come in his office. There, he had a priest come in and bless the sacrament for us so that we could take it because we had obviously missed it due to our tardiness. I've had some cool experiences like this week to week as we've attended church across the world in languages I do not understand. I'll have to share another time. Love the gospel though. I was really grateful for the opportunity to take the sacrament and appreciated that the sweet bishop realized the importance of renewing our covenants.

All three of us were then called to primary.

Sunbeam teacher and primary pianist. 

I don't know how mom's do young children everyday, all day... but props to you. I was worn out after 2 hours. Not to mention I was in desperate need of showering.. maybe 3 times they loved braiding our hair. 

 this is Stacy. 

She loved to tell me about everything going 

on in her life, wanted to wear my watch, and would 
only listen if we sang "popcorn popping."

Story number two:

Our show kick didn't end at the Empire theater on Saturday night, and Monday we got to go see The Swan Lake ballet at the Royal Opera House! So much fun- and the lead in it could not have been a prettier dancer.

We ate dinner at the centre (which is freakishly good.. I swear the universe is against me and my love of good food) and then we were in somewhat of a rush to get to the ballet, especially considering the fact that the tickets said on them "late admittance will not be permitted."

Giving ourselves over an hour, we walked to the tube station, got on the tube and had gone about 6 stops when someone pulled out their ticket. My stomach sank as I realized that my ticket was currently sitting on my bed a half hour away from where I was.

The way that Taylor and Kylie later told me their perception of this incident beats mine, so in their words:

I looked over at them and calmly stated, "I forgot my ticket."

Taylor shot me a look of surprise and said, "well.. should we go back and get it?"

me: "nahhh... I'll just go on my own."

and I stood up and walked out.

Apparently Kylie and Taylor looked at each other after I got off the train and asked if I had had a different agenda and had been planning that all night. They were convinced I wouldn't be attending the ballet tonight.

Meanwhile, I have about 40 minutes to get back to the centre, get my ticket, and take the tube to where I need to be and then find the opera house.

I'm happy to say I pulled it off. I arrived at the ballet with 5 minutes to spare having burned at least 500 calories and was in a full sweat.

Totally worth it.

p.s. whenever you get out of the tube, a voice over the intercom says, "mind the gap" indicating to be careful not to fall between the platform and train. Hence, mind the gap!