One of the highlights of the trip was watching a musical, and we lined up with Soho's half-price ticket counter on the day, but after a while we realized that there were no tickets for the musical we wanted to see.
So we discussed whether we would watch a comedy or a Shakespeare play, but we concluded that it was difficult to understand each other's English ability.
Then, a men's couple's ticket scalper came close to us. Apparently they were watching us from the beginning.
They asked us to buy the 4th floor seat of the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" at a price four times the fixed price.
By the way, the fixed price of the 4th floor seat is a quarter price of the 1st floor S seat and there are many students and workers in jeans.
We firmly refused to buy tickets at such a high price, it was too stupid, but they said that the tickets for the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" will be sold out and not easily available.
So we talked, "It's expensive to pay for the trip to London again to see the Phantom of the Opera," or "I don't know when it will come to London next time."
And we decided to buy them at their asking price, but half of the predictions of the conversation at that time were right.
The reason is that my friend who got married two years later doesn't come to London again, and 10 years later, I saw the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" in the S seat just above the orchestra box It is.
At that time the musical “The Phantom of the Opera”, which I saw on the 4th floor, was better than any of the musicals I had ever seen, despite the price four times the fixed price.
今回の旅行の目玉の一つはミュージカルの鑑賞で、私達はソーホーの当日半額チケット売場に並んだが、しばらくすると私達が見たいミュージカルのチケットが残っていない事が分かった。
それで、私達はコメディを観るか、シェークスピア劇を観るかを話し合ったが、互いの英語力では内容を理解するが難しいという結論に達した。
すると、男性二人組のダフ屋（ticket scalper)が私達を目指して近寄ってきた。どうやら彼らは初めから私たちに目をつけていたようだ。
彼等はわたし達にミュージカル「オペラ座の怪人」の４階座席を定価の４倍の値段で買わないかと持ちかけてきた。
因みに、４階座席の定価は１階Ｓ座席の４分の１の値段で、ジーンズ姿の学生や労働者が多い。
こんな高い値段でチケットを買わされるのは余りにも馬鹿馬鹿しいと私達は堅く拒否したが、彼等はミュージカル「オペラ座の怪人」のチケットはこの先も売り切れていて簡単に手に入らない、と。
そこで、わたし達は「再びロンドンまでの渡航費を払ってオペラ座の怪人を観にくるのも高い」とか、「次にロンドンに来るのは何時になるか分からない」とか話し合った。
そして、私たちは彼等の言い値で買う事にしたのだが、その時の会話の予想の半分は的中した。
何故かと言えば、その２年後に結婚した友人は再びロンドンに来ることはなく、私の方はその１０年後にオーケストラ・ボックスの真上のＳ席でミュージカル「オペラ座の怪人」を観たのだ。
あの時に４階席で観たミュージカル「オペラ座の怪人」は、定価の４倍の値段にも拘わらず、それまで私が観たどのミュージカルよりもすばらしかった。
