I went a lovely special view of the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 last night, courtesy of the National Geographic Channel. It was great - a bit like seeing it in a shopping centre - but great nonetheless. Countless priceless artifacts and treasures, with soothing James Bondish music and audio commentary by Omar Sharif. It was like that scene in For Your Eyes Only at the Pyramids. I was expecting to be knifed by a shadowy assailant at any second.
My only complaint was that there was no big reveal, no death mask as it's too fragile to travel, but it more than made up for it with plenty of other stuff to absorb. The craftsmanship is amazing, and the fact it's lasted all these years speaks volumes. I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that it's all so old, he said stating the obvious.
Sadly you exit the exhibition via the gift shop, which was more King Tat than King Tut, so I didn't buy anything. I'm not ready for Ancient Egypt Monopoloy or a mock-Arabian tea set quite yet.
Then a sumptuous middle eastern banquet followed and nice goody bag too. But have you ever been to the 02? It's bloody miles away from anywhere. And I can't believe how big it is. I've never been before, though I was working for Sky at the time of the launch of the Millennnium Dome, and we got tons of free tickets to go and visit, but I never fancied it.
Now, it's got a high street of shops and restaurants, a huge ice rink as well as two arenas. Much bigger than you think. But if there's no Tube, as there was last night, what do you do?
Still better than watching football. Not that I would anyway. I'm relieved that England are out. No deluge of footy themed everything next year. They're paid too much and they don't care. Why should we?
