2012 has been the most amazing year ever for me. From the Olympics to finally meeting the Backstreet Boys, it has just been one amazing experience after another. So this is my review of the year I shall never forget!
2012 got off to a great start with a bumper packed January. It all started with Rachael and I attending the Royal Ballet's annual performance of The Nutcracker. Sitting there watching a beautifully performed ballet while listening to music which brought back childhood memories from my own ballet classes and gymnastic competitions.
Barely a week later, I went to my first of many trips throughout the year to The O2 for the London Prepare Series. This was a great chance for Rachael and I to attend the gymnastics, which we had failed to secure tickets for at the Olympics. We had this amazing view of the floor from the front row of the block we were sat in up in Level 4, with the Uneven Bars directly below us. We were extremely fortunate to see Team GB's Men qualify for the Olympics, not knowing the excitement they would be causing come the summer.
Rounding off January was the chance to attend The National Television Awards, again at The O2. I took along my old friend from High School, Faye, who I had not seen in a long time. We had amazing seats in the block right next to the stage, so had a fantastic view of everything happening on stage and also in the sections where the celebs were sat. The best part for me was being in attendance on the night when Gary Barlow won a Special Achievement Award for his extensive charity work.
It was not until March until I was out and about again, with yet another trip to The O2. Rachael had asked for me to use her Christmas money to buy tickets to see JLS and being the great mum I am, I obliged but yes it meant having to sit through it myself. We had seats right at the back of the nearest block to stage but we were very lucky as the block next to us and after asking, a steward allowed us to move down and sit in better seats. I have to admit while not their biggest fans, JLS are a fantastic live act, much better than when they were competing on the X Factor. Sadly, the night ended up with me coming down with a stomach bug, leading me to throw up in London Bridge station!
It was back to the Royal Opera House in Convent Gardens in April for a performance of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the Royal Ballet. Fantastically choreographed with an inspired tap performance! We were up in the heavens for the performance, sitting in the cheap seats, but amazingly it was one of the best views we have had since we have started attending the ballet.
It was back yet again to The O2 for one of the most anticipated events of the year for me, Steps Reunion Tour! It was also the first night out for me and Jon in a long time. I have a been a fan for such long time and was so happy to see them back and so excited to be at their first ever gig at The O2. To hear and see them prove their critics wrong with amazing live vocals and tight harmonies and to see the crowd joining in with every dance routine was a fantastic experience!
Just over a week later, it was back to The O2 (5th time if you are counting) for the NKOTBSB tour and a chance to spend time with a friend who had relocated to Singapore, over a year before. I had taken advantage of buying a Bronze VIP pass for us, something which was sold separately from the concert tickets. We got to attend the Backstreet Boys' (the reason I was attending the gig) soundcheck and got to have a Q&A with them. It is definitely an experience I would do again as we got to see boys as their cheeky usual selves! Even better, we found out before everyone else that would be coming back to London to record in the summer (which as you all know turned out to be a blessing for me).
For the concert, again I was back in the block next to the stage with yet another amazing view! The show was amazing, explosive and full of surprises! I will concede that NKOTB are good live, though held together by Joe and Jordan, though Donnie has bags of stage presence. But Backstreet Boys were so much better live and sung all their old hits! I did watch it again on live stream, the next night and screamed at the announcement of Kevin returning and when it was announced AJ was going to be a Daddy!
May turned out to be start of a busy few weeks for me and the family, beginning with a free event at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Shrek The Musical was celebrating its first year and held a family fete, given the families a chance to have a tour of the theatre, take part in numerous activities and a chance to meet the cast, including the main four cast members. We brought a programme, which became covered in autographs through meeting all of the ensemble; Rachael even had her photo with the Fairy Godmother, which was tweeted for the world to see by Shrek The Musical. The best part for me was getting to meet Kimberly Walsh, member of Girls Aloud and who played, at the time, Princess Fiona. I will forever be grateful to the staff member who offered to take a photo for me so I could meet her!
Six days later, Rachael and I jumped on a train to Watford. It was time for the Harry Potter Studio Tour! I am not going to give too much away as I don't want reveal some of the amazing surprises that tour provides. But I will give one piece of advice, when entering the Great Hall, keep to the back of the group; it will give you more time to get photos and a better chance to get a photo of the great hall with the bare minimum of people. To know I have walked on sets that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and a whole host of British talent is an amazing feeling. We took a chance to have a photo on broomsticks, which are not comfortable to sit on. We walked up Diagon Alley and saw the most amazing Hogwarts camera set. I cannot wait to go back!
The end of May brought a surprise in the form of Lea Michele being in London to attend the Glamour Awards. This was too good a chance to pass up for us to meet Rachael's idol! We got to see so many celebs arriving and only got to meet 5: Jamie Campbell Bower, Jason Issacs, Lea Michele, Eva Longoria and Cuba Gooding Jnr. Totally worth the long wait!
The beginning of June was the Queen's Jubilee and we celebrated it on holiday in Wales. We spent a fun packed day on the park and ended it by catching the end of the special concert on TV. Wales was a welcome break from the craziness of the year so far and we had an amazing time. Well except for all the rain! We were lucky enough to catch the last train out of Borth before the train lines became flooded. But what was meant to be a six hour journey turned into an horrendous ten hours and when we finally arrived home, we discovered that many of the small animals we had seen at the zoo barely a few days before had sadly been caught in the flood waters and died.
A couple of weeks later, Rachael and I were standing on a small stage in HMV, Oxford Circus having press photos taken with Carrie Underwood. We had discovered her new album was being released in the UK for the first time and we decided to meet her and go and see her live. That day really reminded just how fantastic meeting the fans can be, especially when two separate fans video your meeting, despite having no need to do so.
The next night, we made our first ever trip to the Royal Albert Hall to see Carrie Underwood live in concert, her one and only and first ever UK date. We had managed to get last minute tickets and got some pretty good seats. She was amazing and the one thing I learnt about country music is you can literally sing about anything and the song will still be bloody good!
Three days later, we were back at London for our second year at West End Live. I love absolutely love this yearly event as it is free and it gives everyone a chance to get a taste of all the amazing shows playing in the West End. It gave us a chance to see Shayne Ward in Rock of Ages before he left the show, gave us a taste of what to expect from Shrek and Horrible Histories and the chance to see why Matilda was gaining rave reviews. The added bonus this year was being able to see three well known theatre stars perform material off their debut albums and then meeting them. We had already met two of them and to have them remember us was fantastic!
Finally July had arrived and I knew I was in for a great month. It was time for my very first convention: London Film and Comic Con. Regular attendees had classed it as having the best line up ever, which in all honesty, was! I was lucky enough to meet: Robert Maschio, Holly Marie Coombs, David Prowse, Zack Galligan, Danielle Harris, Brian Krause, Anthony Head, Michael Winslow, Ke Huy Quan, Alex Winters and Mickie James. My favourite guest was Brian Krause as he was so welcoming and really knew had to put the fans at ease when meeting him. I am hoping to attend this event in 2013, depending on the line up!
The end of July was when a long held dream finally became true for me! Meeting the Backstreet Boys. Thirteen years after I first tried, I was finally successful, twice! The first day I only met three of them but the second day I went I not only got photos with five, but I also completed my autographs of them, met fans who I had spoken to online, had a naughty chat with AJ, while he hung out of the window and all of this was on the day they had decided to bring the cameras along to shoot some footage for the documentary for the 20th Anniversary.
The summer holidays arrived and was packed with so many amazing memories. Started off with the Olympic Torch Relay which came through our local town centre. To be able to see this, especially the change over was fantastic and not something I expect to see again in my lifetime!
Next up, kicking off our very busy August was our first trip to Olympic Park to see the Women's Hockey. The Park was huge and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves, they loved watching the hockey, but they loved even more the fact they were able to try out the sport themselves, thanks to the mini pitches placed just outside the arena. Thanks to good timing, we saw and promptly met Nicole Cooke, a member of the road cycling team for Team GB.
We ended that day with a trip to the Royal Opera House to see an amazing Olympic Exhibition, which chronicled the fascinating history of the Olympics, displayed every Olympic Torch used since the Torch Relay was introduced and a selection of medals won by some most well known athletes ranging from Jesse Owens to Steve Redgrave. This was topped off with us having a family photo (and nice one for once) with the Olympic Torch!
A week later it was back to the Olympic Park, with my dad, to see the Women's Handball Semi Finals. I had never seen or heard of this sport until I booked the tickets. It was fast and furious and fantastic to watch. The fans are so passionate about it. I will say the Gamesmakers were fantastic the day we went, helping me and my dad by giving better seats and helping my dad travel from end of the park to another.
The London 2012 Olympics were amazing from beginning to end. It was on every day in our flat in some capacity, that how we enjoyed it. Danny Boyle's spectacular Opening Ceremony for me was like sticking our fingers up at the World and especially America and saying we are damn great nation and we were there are the forefront of major change this world has been through (especially making it known that we invented the internet, not the yanks!. I remember our first gold medal and how loudly I was screaming at the TV, cheering on the rowing team. The windows in my bedroom were wide open and the lady who lives across the road, happened to be outside talking to someone at the time, so she must have thought we were mental! But seeing our medal tally grow and grow each day amazed me and while we can third, no one will ever beat the US and China, so the way I see it, we won in the battle of the rest of the world! LOL! I am so incredibly proud of what we acheived, that I took Mattie to see the Gold Postboxes of local gold medalists!
The day after the Olympics Closing Ceremony was the first of many trips to the West End and with each one, we did one of the Discovery Trails set up by the Mayor of London. We started with the Purple Trail which took us on a tour of Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Oxford Street and Green Park. It was then off for a bite to each, where we got to meet some members of the Spanish Olympic Team. In the evening, we went to see Singin' in the Rain, a fantastic musical, especially as they make it rain on stage, twice! The evening ended with us meeting the main cast members, including Scarlett Strallen.
Four days later, it was back on the Discovery Trails, this time the Red Trail. The route began in Westminster and took us across the river onto the Southbank and then back across to the Houses of Parliament. Then off we went to see Billy Elliott. A brilliant musical where the kids really do outshine the adults and where you will be shocked at the foul language coming out of the children's mouths! Meeting the cast was probably one harder ones we have had. But my daughter was very happy when the security guard made sure she got to meet Kaine Ward, who played Billy the night we went.
The next day it was off the Selhurst Park for first time that season for their community day. Though we had already been photographed with the Olympic Torch, we got the chance to actually hold as a couple of Torchbearers came along to the day. The kids got to meet a select few Palace players and the majority of the Crystals Cheerleaders. They also got to try out a few new sports, which they loved especially the wall climbing!
It was back up to London two days later for another Discovery Trail, this time the Blue tour, which took in the sites of Tower Bridge, the Globe Theatre and St Paul's Cathedral, to name but a few. On reaching our final Wenlock at the Tower of London, we decided to take a boat ride up to Westminster, something I had never done before. We timed it just right as horrible dark clouds were moving in quick. From there, it was off to Wicked for the second year running and the first time we finally got to see the phenomenal Rachel Tucker perform as Elphaba! The stage door was more crowded than I had ever seen it but perhaps it may have had something to do with a certain ex-boyband singer who was at the time in the cast!
We were back into London just four days later for yet another Discovery Trail, this time the Pink Trail in the heart of Theatreland. I have to admit I was amazed at just how easy it is get around the area and found out where other theatres were, which I had always wondered about. It ended where we begun but also right where we needed to be, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for Shrek the Musical. The musical was amazing and something we would have gone and seen again but sadly it closes at the end of February. As always, it was down to the stage door immediately after, where I not only discovered my next door neighbour is part of their orchestra and meet the cast members but we got to meet Freddie Flintoff, who had seen the show with his wife and kids!
Four days later, it was time for the Yellow Route of the Discovery Trails through an area of London I had never explored, London's East End. We even discovered the market where the Backstreet Boys had gone shopping while in London! After that it was off to Mamma Mia, a show I had been reluctant to see as I thought the movie was awful! But the show was amazing, especially considering everyone could sing! The stage door brought a programme full of autographs, due to the sheer number of main cast members, all of whom were happy to stop and speak to us.
The next day it was time for the Paralympic Torch Relay and after a quick calculation of where we could see it due to it being behind schedule and an appointment we had to attend, we shot up to Regent's Park. We not only got an amazing view but we got to meet the torchbearers and have a photo taken with the torch! I think Rachael and Mattie enjoyed this relay more than the Olympic one!
1st of September gave us a return trip to the Olympic Park for the Swimming heats. Sadly due to how busy it was on public transport, we just missed seeing Ellie Simmonds qualify for her final. We managed a whole hour of enjoying it before the kids got really fed up and I cannot blame them as it was so hot where we were sat up in the heavens! But kids loved it and we were all so impressed with the talent of the swimmers! The afternoon led us to the final discovery trail, the green route, which was a long but fun walk around Regent's Park! It was also the first trail the boys and my husband had been able to do.
We were back to the Olympic Park the very next day but this time for the athletics in the amazing Olympic Stadium. After a bad start to our visit, we had an amazing time. While we were sat high up, we had an amazing view. To our left, we had a clear view of the flame and immediately in front of us the discus final (cannot remember category though), which Aled Davies of Paralympics GB won! To be in the stadium to see us win a gold medal was a once in a lifetime experience, especially the cheers were deafening and electrifying!
Eight days later, I headed up London in rush hour to grab a spot for the Greatest Team Parade. Four hours of waiting was worth it as we had a prime spot! Charlie loved it and everything about Team GB! Seeing the athletes, whether or not they had a medal round the neck, was a great way to say thank you for the most amazing summer they had provided us! The crowds packed out every spare space of pavement so the cheers were just as loud as they had been when we were at the Olympic Stadium! We even saw Boris Johnson on his bike!
After what had been a crazy summer, I got to have a rest finally for about a month before the craziness begun again! Though I did attend a book signing in between for the launch of John Challis' second part of his autobiography, which my husband attended as he loves Only Fools and Horses!
October brought a month with nearly every weekend filled, beginning with the Entertainment Media Show at Olympia at which we celebrated Mattie's 7th Birthday! It was a relaxed day with so many incredible meets. But the biggest for me was Matt Smith, who plays the current Doctor in Doctor Who! We also got an incredible drawing of Mattie done by Henry Davies, which I cannot wait to have framed! Mattie also had the class mascot for the weekend and we were very happy that many of the guests we met were happy to pose with the monkey for a photo, though I still suspect many thought we were nuts for asking!
The next day was a trip back to the O2 for Cheryl Cole's concert. Before the show we attended the British Music Experience, which is a fantastic place dedicated to amazing artists we have over here. We almost nearly didn't have the seats we eventually sat in as we had been moved due to a change in the stage layout but after complaining we ended up back in the front block with an amazing view of both the Main and B Stages. For anyone who says she cannot sing, well she sung the whole set live and was fantastic. We even got guest appearances from Will.i.am and Wretch 32!
The final two weekends in October saw me and Jon have our first ever holiday without the kids, one night in Paris, a city we had both always wanted to see. We had an amazing time and are planning to return for longer at the end of 2013, again without the kids. The weekend after, we attended my brother's wedding. The rest of the year was filled with family events to do with Christmas.
My final event of the year was a trip to Wembley to see Disney on Ice's Passport to Adventure. We had amazing front row view. Poor Mattie took time to enjoy it as poor thing did not like the loud music despite having ear defenders! But he managed to watch the final couple of minutes! The ice skaters were amazing, even with the couple trips and falls there were. We right by one of the front corners so got to see the skaters right up close in their amazing costumes. Definitely want to be in the front row again if I go to another ice show!
All in all, 2012 was one of the best years of my life! Just how can 2013 top it?
Booking through the official website is usually straightforward but not so much when booking on the day tickets are released for a new season. The longest I have waited to book was two hours and usually by then, all the good seats have gone. But this time, I went online after the mad rush, but as a result, it took me checking a number of dates to get seats in an area I wanted and at a price I was happy with. We ended up seating front row of the Lower Slips of the Amphitheatre at £10 per ticket. It does come with a restricted view, but it is worth the price because it is still a good view, despite having one side of the stage restricted to you to watch.
