Almost claim to shit claim to fame story
My mum used to live for the opera, she gave up drinking and smoking, shopped at charity shops, saved money in numerous ways. Her only vice was Glyndebourne Opera, going to see as many shows as humanly possible.
She would love taking people to see the shows, entertaining them with the most lavish spreads she could put on and talking to them about what they were about to see and what they had seen.
She used to get infuriated by the corporate tickets, people that would watch the first half of the opera then go and get shit faced and not return for the second half, leaving some of the best seats in the house empty, but she didn't feel that she could just take the empty seats.
One day in the late 90's I had gone with her and saw that Michael Portillo was sat a few rows in front of us. Just before the second half starts, he still hasn't returned and I turn to mum and said "Why don't we just go down there and take his seat?" She was having none of it, we'd get thrown out and barred. We couldn't possibly do that. "But," says I. "If he does return we can just turn 'round and say "Well, that's not the only seat you've lost this year.""
She still wouldn't allow me to do it, Portillo returned to his seat and watched the rest of the opera and I never got my chance to sell my story to the 'papers.
( monkeyboyalpha jumping on the bandwagon since, Fri 21 Sep 2012, 11:23, Reply)