london weekend
On Thursday up to London to visit an old employer (skipped fare as, just like the old days, no ticket inspectors walking round to check/sell me a ticket) - sat in the 'Penderel's Oak' on High Holburn for a couple of hours with the IT administrator drinking and eating, as has become a tradition with her and I for my brief visits back to UK. Then back to their office to see who else I remembered (not many - at least one room full of secretaries was subject to unknown slightly drunken man bursting in trying to find people he knew and failing)... got the bus east through the city to and across London Bridge to 'The Barrow Boy and Banker' at the south end of the bridge and waited for James... a pint there and then moved to some other pub next door... headed from there back west for pizza in Soho then went on a margerita finding mission, via a CAMRA pub 'The Porterhouse' which I had been to a long time ago and never been able to find (mostly through lack of trying) again - found margeritas in 'Navajo Joe's' (or really the bar below it, 'Joe's Bar'). James had to get up early to be sysadmin the next morning, so after that headed back to Stepney.
Friday pottered around in James' flat a bit in the morning, acquired oyster card, then went on touristy walk around central London, from Embankment along the riverbank to Parliament Square, back along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, then along the Mall to Buckingham Palace, around Hyde Park past Marble Arch to Paddington Station. An amerikaner friend/former colleage was passing through - met here there, went to the 'Queen's Head' near Sloane Square, then to her father's flat, across London to drink at the 'Liberty Bounds' by the Tower. Dinner at 'Toto' back near Sloane Square, and then up to Old Street to '333' with James and Dom where we danced until the wee hours.
Saturday, morning sleep. Greasy bacon+egg breakfast at about 1400; by the time that eaten, tea drunk, photos played with, it was time to head to the 'Nag's Head' in Covent Garden (where I spent a whole day accidentally drinking in 1997) to meet an old friend from university and her lovely sister. A few beers there (James back on his old habit of making mixed Smirnoff Ice / Guinness drink at the pub table - yum), Chinatown for food (duck and other chinesey things - not pub so do not remember name), Joe's Bar for too many margeritas, thrown out at 2320 so went to the 'Long Island Ice Tea Bar'... definitely far too much to drink there - people kept either putting drinks in my hand or demanding that I buy rounds. oh dear. back at friend's house at 0430 to discover no electricity. drunken fumbling with fuses with no success (but fortunately also no drunken electrocution). Woke up on friend's couch next morning, lay there for hours slightly uncomfortable but not too bad - eventually stood up to go to railway station, got as far as front door and had to throw up in lavatory. oh dear. Rested another half hour, then tried again. Made it 30m outside the door this time before having to lean over in the gutter; another 200m and again. By this time there was nothing left to come out, but I still had to stop a couple more times. All the way, my poor friend's sister had to keep stopping and waiting and trying not to look. oh dear.
Slept on the train on the way home... almost missed stop... back for big sunday dinner (pork) with family and then sound asleep until Monday morning - as I've said to people before, best way to cure jetlag is to get massive hangover(s).
Friday pottered around in James' flat a bit in the morning, acquired oyster card, then went on touristy walk around central London, from Embankment along the riverbank to Parliament Square, back along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, then along the Mall to Buckingham Palace, around Hyde Park past Marble Arch to Paddington Station. An amerikaner friend/former colleage was passing through - met here there, went to the 'Queen's Head' near Sloane Square, then to her father's flat, across London to drink at the 'Liberty Bounds' by the Tower. Dinner at 'Toto' back near Sloane Square, and then up to Old Street to '333' with James and Dom where we danced until the wee hours.
Saturday, morning sleep. Greasy bacon+egg breakfast at about 1400; by the time that eaten, tea drunk, photos played with, it was time to head to the 'Nag's Head' in Covent Garden (where I spent a whole day accidentally drinking in 1997) to meet an old friend from university and her lovely sister. A few beers there (James back on his old habit of making mixed Smirnoff Ice / Guinness drink at the pub table - yum), Chinatown for food (duck and other chinesey things - not pub so do not remember name), Joe's Bar for too many margeritas, thrown out at 2320 so went to the 'Long Island Ice Tea Bar'... definitely far too much to drink there - people kept either putting drinks in my hand or demanding that I buy rounds. oh dear. back at friend's house at 0430 to discover no electricity. drunken fumbling with fuses with no success (but fortunately also no drunken electrocution). Woke up on friend's couch next morning, lay there for hours slightly uncomfortable but not too bad - eventually stood up to go to railway station, got as far as front door and had to throw up in lavatory. oh dear. Rested another half hour, then tried again. Made it 30m outside the door this time before having to lean over in the gutter; another 200m and again. By this time there was nothing left to come out, but I still had to stop a couple more times. All the way, my poor friend's sister had to keep stopping and waiting and trying not to look. oh dear.
Slept on the train on the way home... almost missed stop... back for big sunday dinner (pork) with family and then sound asleep until Monday morning - as I've said to people before, best way to cure jetlag is to get massive hangover(s).
posted by Ben Clifford at 12:35 GMT
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