Social Theory, ABBA, and a Hen Party

What would you do if you had 48 hours in London? Hehehe…

Since it was just me (Deb) I’m writing this post in the first-person. Sorry, Dave.

I checked three items off my bucket-list:

1. I attended a Hen-Do (explained below),
2. I watched ABBA perform, and
3. I visited the Auto-Icon of political reformer and theorist, Jeremy Bentham.

My dear friend, Clare, is getting married in May (to Pete) so I was invited to her Hen-Do. What is a Hen-Do? It’s a mix of a bachelorette party and a bridal shower, packed into a full day affair. I’ve seen them on the weekends in Durham, and they can get pretty outrageous. Sounds like a plan. I packed my bag and headed south. But, I needed to arrive a day early to make it on time, so what to do?

Jeremy Bentham is a well-known social reformer known for his work on utilitarianism, the belief that you should bring about the greatest good for the greatest number (i.e., make as many people happy as you can). I first learned about his work and its trajectories in college and later graduate school. Bentham died June 6, 1832, but “he” lives on… kind of. If you want to see his mummified remains, you can find him behind glass at University College London. Britannica explains his reasons as wanting to donate his body to science and “following the dissection, his skeleton and mummified head be dressed in his clothes and hat, positioned with his chair and staff ‘in the attitude in which I am sitting when engaged in thought,’ and placed within ‘an appropriate box or case’ for viewing.” I paid my respects.

One of my greatest loves is ABBA. Unfortunately I never saw them when I was young. BUT they are still performing in London… kind of. I did not know about it when we came to England, but in London there is a purpose built arena where you see a virtual concert. It was amazing. A great summary of it is here. I couldn’t stop smiling.

The next day it was off to the Hen-Do. I met up with the group for a lovely afternoon tea at the Clermont Hotel Charring Cross.

After tea we headed to Piccadilly Circus were we had a dance lesson and learned a choreographed dance (for the wedding!) to… ABBA! Can it get any better?

We learned the dance…kind of (imagine two rabid squirrels let loose in a dog show) we headed off for cocktails at Espcapologist.

And it all started with afternoon tea!