Photos belongs to Brenda do not use elsewhere without permission

Thursday, May 22 (midnight)

It's now midnight EST and I awoke this morning at 6 a.m. London time, so my mind is in quite a fog even though I slept for several hours on the plane. Like Roby, I still find it difficult to comprehend the magnitude of this experience. There was just so much wonderful stuff that was crammed into such a short span of time!! To take a short journey to the beginning of the adventure, when I learned late last Friday night/early Saturday morning that Roby had been given an extra ticket for this event, my first impulse was that I couldn't possibly go since it was such short notice. I wrote an e-mail to Roby asking if she was really asking what I thought she was asking, and told her to call me to confirm. So, at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning, I got a call from her and we decided that I should look into the possibility. I first of all tried Priceline.com, but all of my bids for a ticket were turned down until the price just got too high even to consider anymore. So I took a stab with Delta, the airline with whom I have Frequent Flyer miles. I called the SkyMiles representative and learned that I could cash in miles for a round trip ticket as long as there were seats available. Since it was so last minute, I did have to pay a $75 penalty for late redemption, but that was all it cost me other than the usual taxes and stuff that you always pay on a frequent flyer ticket.

That was how it happened that I found myself on a flight to London on Sunday evening, going with the good wishes of my boss at work who said I needed some time off anyway, and to take an extra day if I so desired. The flight was perfect, I got a nice bit of sleep on the plane, and I arrived on time at Gatwick airport early on Monday morning. Because it was so early, it was a breeze getting through customs and I was soon on the Gatwick Express heading into Victoria Station. A short cab ride took me to the hotel, and along the way we passed Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace, and saw one of the mounted guard patrols just leaving the palace with their beautifully festive horses and soldiers. The cab driver said that our hotel was where all the rock stars stay when they come to London and he speculated that we were going to love our stay there. The hotel was beyond posh, but quite modern (Roby called it post-Modern) and I was treated like royalty when I arrived there. I was in my room by 9 a.m., and as I knew it would be a late night, I decided to sleep for a while until Roby got there. I got up in the early afternoon, took a shower and felt much nicer so that I was ready to meet my soul sister when she arrived mid-afternoon. It was as though the two of us had known each other all our lives, and we had such fun finally getting to hug and talk in person. I had taken along all of the most recent magazines, DWL soundtrack and USA Weekend insert that I had collected to send to her, and she shared all of the invitations and other items that had been given to her for the event that evening. We picked out an outfit for me to wear from the many I packed (I couldn't make up my mind) then started to get ready.

Once we figured out how to make the DVD/CD player work, we grooved to the music of the DWL soundtrack as we finished getting ready, and then went downstairs to the ultra-modern (and ultra-dark) bar for a drink since Roby was already starting to shake. We learned that the Warner Brothers Theater where the screening was to take place was only a short walk from the hotel so we set out on foot. It had been alternating rain and sunshine all day, and we both decided not to schlep our umbrellas to the function because we didn't want to be burdened with them. This turned out to be a mistake because the rain, in true London fashion, suddenly hit while we were walking the 3 blocks to the theater. Nevertheless, we kept trudging and soon found ourselves at the theater, and not too terribly damp. We were trying to figure out how to get into the theater because there was a huge crowd of people just standing around and we initially thought this was the line to get into the theater.

Then I noticed that there was a line of barricades and these people were all standing behind the line. I suddenly realized that these were people who were lined up to watch the parade of celebrities go into the movie. About that time, we heard one girl state excitedly that she had seen Ewan McGregor, and Roby and I just looked at each other with expressions of wonder. We walked past this line of fans, showed our invitations and waltzed in past the barricade. I have never felt so much like a celebrity in my life even though it was completely undeserved. When we got into the building, we just continued to flash our invitations whenever we came to a checkpoint and eventually found ourselves at the theater. On the way there, we passed one private function, which looked like it could possibly be a gathering of the VIP's for the event. Turns out we were right. Once in the theater, we saw that about 4 rows had been identified as reserved seating. There weren't many people in the theater yet, but the row just in front of the reserved seating was filled with the exception of the two seats on the end next to the left aisle, so we sat there. The theater was a typical movie theater with a large center section, 2 aisles and smaller side sections. There were also a couple of side aisles by which you could enter the front of the theater rather than coming in the back doors and walking down the steps. There were free bottles of water and free bags of flavored popcorn on each seat, and a woman in an old-fashioned usherette uniform had trays of Haagen Das chocolate ice cream for the taking as well. The theater started to fill and the excitement was building. Roby, in the meantime, continued to shake. I mean, I could see the girl shaking!! I teased her mercilessly, but we still were having a ball. As time for the screening neared, a lady who is sometimes seen in pictures with Ewan (long blonde hair, she was in the photos with him when he went to Emily Mortimer’s wedding last fall, wore a large hat as I recall) came in and started to organize things. She must be his personal assistant or something. Anyway, we were listening to her chatter as she spoke to the ushers about who would sit where in the reserved seating section - "Ewan's friends will be here, and Sharleen's will be here and ........"

At the same time, other ushers were putting water and other things at the front of the theater, and we began to understand that we were sitting on the aisle where the big shots would be walking to their seats after the opening announcements. Finally, the VIP's began to come in, one of the first being Alan Rickman. Roby said that every time she looked around he was looking at her and I told her it was because she looked so gorgeous (and she did, too.) Eventually, the room was filled, with the exception of the seat just behind Roby (this was to be Sharleen's seat) and one behind Sharleen, which was to be Ewan's seat. The announcements started with a woman who introduced a lady from MediCinema and then another lady from CHAS. Each talked of their charities and their gratitude to Ewan and Sharleen for all they had done for both organizations. The atmosphere began to change in the room as the CHAS lady was speaking (very eloquently, and without notes) and we could feel that Ewan was there somewhere. A glance to the left revealed the top of his head in the side aisle that entered at the front of the theater. When they were introduced (Ewan and Sharleen) and walked in, I thought that I would have to resuscitate Roby. I do think she stopped breathing for a minute there! Anyway, I recall absolutely nothing about Sharleen, but took in every detail of Ewan's appearance. No surprise there, huh? He was dressed in a gorgeous European-cut black tailored suit with white shirt, black tie and black shoes. His hair was combed straight back in Obi-style (though not long at the back) and his beard was full and very Obi-like.

He let Sharleen talk first, then spoke of how he had seen a commercial about CHAS years ago that had touched his heart in a way that he couldn't ignore. So he got involved in that charity and later in MediCinema. He talked of the commercials he had done for both groups, then talked of his gratitude to 20th Century Fox for donating a screening of Down With Love even though it doesn't premiere in England until September. He acknowledged how rare it is for a studio to do something like this and seemed truly thankful to them. He said he hoped that everyone enjoyed the film, then added shyly, "And I'm in it, too!" in an endearing way. As he walked by us to go to his seat, he was pulling out his black Poindexter glasses and putting them on, so again I wondered about his eyesight. Does this man wear glasses or not? Anyway, that doesn't matter. There were several commercials for various things before the movie, including the CHAS and MediCinema ones that Ewan had done. During a very old commercial (I can't recall what the product was) featuring Peter Sellars, I first heard his laugh and we continued to hear it throughout the evening. Sometimes he was howling, sometimes just chuckling, and sometimes it was his regular bell-like laugh. I noticed that he didn't really laugh at his own stuff during DWL, but he really howled at some of David Hyde Pierce's bits as well as Renee's gags. The audience loved the movie and applauded as the credits began, and again after the video.

As we left the movie, we walked right by Ewan and Eve and he was apparently receiving accolades from his friends and the other VIP's. He looked relaxed and happy and seemed to be enjoying himself tremendously. We walked back to our hotel with Roberta still in a state. She couldn't decide whether she was happy or sad or both, but we just kept walking. When we got to the hotel, there was another set of barricades with fans and photographers outside as well as a line of official photographers inside the lobby (apparently the outside photographers were the paparazzi and the inside ones were the ones with special permission to photograph the event.) Roby went upstairs to freshen up but I didn't want to miss any excitement so I stayed in the lobby and waited for her. As I waited, the VIP's began to arrive and had official photos taken as they came into the lobby. Ewan came in with Eve and the lady from CHAS, so there were all sorts of photo combinations with them. Alan Rickman came in while the Ewan photos were going on, so he waited with his escort at the door until it was time for his photos to be taken. I saw Kelly Macdonald and someone I now think was Emily Mortimer (from Young Adam) as well as a lot of other folks who were photographed but who I didn't recognize (lots of British actors apparently.) When Roby came back down from the room, I introduced her to our lovely Louise, the woman who had arranged for this miracle. I had asked around and learned who she was, and we both expressed our gratitude to her for this incredible gesture. Then we went into the area where the reception was going on.

There were two levels of this area, and the lower level was crowded with a dance floor and a DJ as well as a lot of small tables for standing around. We found the open bar and got a couple of glasses of champagne to celebrate our evening, and then headed for the upper area which was less crowded and which also held the reserved tables for the VIP's. We estimate that there were between 150 and 175 people at this party, and we kept pinching ourselves to see if we were actually there. We passed Alan Rickman's table and smiled at him and said hi, then stood in a corner looking around. Not seeing Ewan on that end of the room, we went to the other side and immediately spotted him and his entourage engaged in excited conversation with all sorts of people. I propped Roby up against a wall (yeah, she was still shaking) and we spent a little time getting acclimated to the feel of the room. We noticed a number of people going over to Ewan and talking, but couldn't tell if they were friends, fans, or both. At one point, he got up from his table and went to hug someone who had just come by. He talked to that person for a while and then, as he was passing by me, I made my move. Our eyes met and he looked at me as if he was trying to figure out if he knew me or not. I told him that I had actually met him in Wetumpka and he looked honestly shocked and laughed. He said, "Well, I never expected to run into someone from Alabama here!" I told him that I was the person who worked for the Atlanta Symphony and he smiled and his eyes lit up. He said, "I remember you!! You gave us brochures about the Symphony and invited us to the concerts!" He really did look genuinely pleased to see me again, and that meant a lot to me.

He apologized that he hadn't gotten to take me up on my offer to get comp tickets for him for any symphony event and explained that he had been really busy working on many of his weekends. All during this time, Roberta was hanging back with an _expression like a deer caught in headlights, so I told Ewan that, when I had met him in Wetumpka, he had signed a photo for a dear friend from Italy and that said friend was with me and had a gift to give to him. I was holding the Young Adam book that Roby had translated (Roby was too nervous to hold it) so I gave it to Ewan and explained that Roby had translated it but that she was too shy to talk. This really seemed to please and amuse him, so he reached for Roby and pulled her into the conversation. It was so fun to see her face light up as he kissed her and asked her reaction to the book and to the movie. We talked about having read both the French and the English versions of the book and he seemed interested in our opinions. I told him I was quite anxious for the movie to find a US distributor and he told us that the deals were being made right now in Cannes (we learned later that he had just flown back from Cannes that afternoon.) We mostly chatted about Young Adam, then I asked if we could take pictures with him. He agreed, and Roby gave me her camera to use, but neither of us was familiar with how to use it. He had his arm around her but I could see nothing but shadows through the viewfinder. I fumbled with it a bit, then just decided to point the thing at them and hope for the best. But I couldn't make the shutter release, so I continued to struggle with the little beast. Of course, Roby didn't mind because he was cuddling her all the time (it pays to be short like Roby because he had to bend down to get his face near hers and he was also proudly holding up the book).

Finally, Ewan had to show me what I was doing wrong (imagine, getting photography lessons from Ewan McGregor-sweet!) and I got the picture to shoot. Then Roby took a picture of the two of us, but I could see that her finger was over the flash (hmmmm, wonder if that was on purpose?) Ewan looked great in that photo; it was just me that was missing! He kissed me a couple of times and I was amazed at how incredibly soft that beard was (and his lips, for that matter!) Then I said that Roby was the one who deserved the kisses since she had done all of the work on the translation, so he took my advice and kissed her again. I loved the look of surprise on her face with that one! We thanked him for his time, he thanked Roby for the book and we wandered off to a corner to recover. We also drank some more champagne to celebrate!! I noticed Jim McGregor standing nearby, so I waited until he was free to tell him how sweet it had been to get a letter from him last summer when I wrote to Ewan. He said it was great to actually talk to someone to whom he had written, and he said that Ewan was insistent that all letters be read by either he or Carol and that photos be sent if possible. He said that they don't write to all of them, just the most special ones, and that they do share the contents of the special ones with Ewan. We chatted about how rare this sort of attention to fans is in the world today, and it was clear to see that he really loves his son and is proud of him.

We had photos made with him as well. I chatted for a while with the lady who had talked about MediCinema and we talked about the healing effects of film. I related my story of having been laid off last summer and how I used movies as my main entertainment since I could watch and re-watch my tapes and DVD's without incurring any additional expenses. I also told her how I had especially used Ewan's movies to help me through the unemployment time. Not only do his films offer a wide variety of cinematic styles, but he also explores a huge range of emotional material, something that can be quite therapeutic when you’re in the doldrums. She was really kind and seemed grateful for the high profile Ewan had brought to her charity. I went over to chat with Eve at one point, but Roby just stayed by the wall, still trying to breathe again. I told Eve that I had met her in Wetumpka and she smiled and said, "Yes, I remember you. You were the one who gave us brochures about the symphony." (Glad to know I made an impression, even if it was as a pseudo-member of the marketing department for the Atlanta Symphony!) I thanked her again for having been so generous with her time that day and allowing me to speak with Ewan when she had come with Clara to visit him on the set. She said that he loves to talk to fans so she was glad to "share him" for a while.

We also talked about her experiences with Southern hospitality and she said they had really enjoyed their time in Montgomery. She apologized for having missed all of the symphony concerts, but said that Ewan was doing a lot of PR stuff when he wasn't filming, so they just hadn't had the time to come to Atlanta for family outings. She was so sweet, and I still think that she is absolutely gorgeous. She is tiny, built like a ballet dancer with large eyes and a lilting voice. I really do like her. As I was turning to go back to Roby, I almost bumped into Lindy King, so I said hi and said, "You're Lindy King, aren't you?" She said she was and then asked if she had met me at some premiere. I had to laugh, and I told her I was just a fan who admired the way that she had steered Ewan's career. She said that it hadn't been difficult to do as he made pretty intelligent choices all on his own. She was also very sweet. Seems that Ewan is surrounded by kind and giving people. As we were leaning against the wall, reliving the evening and reviewing our experiences thus far, Roby couldn't find the pictures she had made on her digital camera. We began to fear that she had perhaps accidentally erased them, so we waited for another open moment with Ewan and asked for a "reshoot", explaining that we feared we had somehow lost our earlier photos. I used my camera this time, and he happily posed with us again. What a sweetheart (though I looked like I had consumed just a bit too much champagne by this time!) I should note that he still had Roby's book in his hand, so I think he must have been showing it to other people. What a tribute to our genius Roberta! (And by the way, we eventually did find those photos on Roby’s camera.

Seems we were just a bit too flustered to think logically there for a while!) After another glass of champagne, the party started to wind down and we saw Ewan slipping out a side entrance with the CHAS lady. Eve and Jim McGregor wandered by and she appeared to be looking for Ewan. I told her that I had seen him leaving by the side entrance and pointed out that he was already in the lobby, so she and Jim went out another exit to join him. As she was leaving, she turned to me and said, "You're amazing! I can't believe you came here all the way from the states." As if wild horses and terrorist threats could have kept me away! Jim told us again that he had enjoyed meeting us, and Roby told Eve that she was a lucky woman, something we all have thought time and again! Then they were gone, and suddenly there was no need to remain at the party. We received gift bags from Pringles of Scotland as we left the party. The bags contained the gray t-shirt (called the "Ewan Shirt"--the blue one is the "Sharleen Shirt") and some information about the two charities. We had been too excited to eat many of the appetizers that were circulated around the party, and we had consumed substantial quantities of champagne, so we felt a need to eat. The wonderful staff at the hotel got us a taxi and directed the driver to a great Chinese restaurant that was still open. We went for a late night dinner, then back to the hotel to unwind, though this proved an impossibility. It was well after 3 a.m. before I could get to sleep, and when the alarm rang early on Tuesday morning for me to get up and go to the airport, I simply couldn't move. I

called Delta and moved my flight to Wednesday (luckily, no penalties to pay with frequent flyer tickets.) Roby and I met for a farewell breakfast as she prepared to return to Italy, and then I had to say goodbye to my new soul sister. We continued to process our feelings about our adventure and still do so today. This was an amazing couple of days, and it's hard to comprehend that it's already over. I spent the day Tuesday exploring the area near our hotel, and caught a lunchtime concert at the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, a place quite famous for its music program. Ironically (or perhaps providentially), the performers were a young violinist and a couple of pianists from the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ewan's old drama school! I went to Pringles of Scotland on Bond Street to get more t-shirts for Roby and me, had fish and chips in a quaint pub and took the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral where I had intended to attend one of their daily Evensong services. When I arrived, I learned that there was to be a special service that day, and that tickets were required to enter. Not having a ticket, I went to the front of the church to see if there was a way to get one and a sweet little old lady there gave me her extra ticket. I was thrilled to learn that the special service was the renowned Festival of the Sons of the Clergy, an annual event that was celebrating its 349th anniversary! The Lord Mayor of London was there along with choirs from 3 well-known English cathedrals. The music was spectacular and the service full of the pomp and circumstance that the Brits do so well. Then I topped off the day by seeing Ian Mclellan in a play, The Dance of Death, in the West End, sitting on the 2nd row.

I'm just overwhelmed by my good fortune, and eternally grateful to Roby for giving me this opportunity. I loved meeting her, I loved helping her to survive her Ewan encounter and I loved having this wonderful shared experience that neither of us will ever forget. It truly is amazing the friendships we can form over the Internet, and my life has certainly been enriched by the great friends I've met on this mailing list.

Brenda