It’s not grim up north

So Manchester was lots of fun. :o)
I spent a lovely friday afternoon in Green Park with my folks. We had a large picnic and lots of fun.
I then speeded across town to Leyton to meet Allan and drive up north. The new M6 Toll road was excellent and saved us heaps of time.
We checked into The Place and marvelled at the size of the apartment they had put us in. My two bedroom flat in Balham would fit into the lounge! The entrance hall was bigger than my bedroom. Anyway enough of the apartment.
We headed immediately to meet the boys on Canal Street. They were in Manto and due to the ridiculously inexpensive 2 for 1 offer on drinks we managed to get merry quite quickly.
Next item was food before heading to Via Fossa for more drinks and some disco dancing.
Saturday was spent mostly shopping and wandering around town after a leisurely lunch checking out the straight scally boys in the food hall.
A trip to Holmes Place in town for some much needed exercise, swimming and then some sauna action and steam room fun. Nothing seedy though I should report even though there was a rather nice young man in the steam room.
Allan and I managed to get some food for breakfast the following morning (planning ahead) and then we met at Velvet for food and drinks before heading to Queer and ending up at Essential.
Essential was excellent. Although being filmed for their TV show was not so much fun ;o) Mike and I stayed upstairs mostly but the rest stayed downstairs. The club is open to 8 and all in all I must say was very fun! More and more I’m thinking living in London isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Sunday was a leisurely breakfast at the apartment before a leisurely beer or three down Canal Street in the sun (something London definitely misses is outdoor seating on Old Compton Street) before we discovered the park and sat with the other boyz and girlz soaking up the sun and fun.
All in all a very relaxing and fun weekend away. I might have to do that more often. Brighton & Hove Pride, Manchester Pride in fact weekends away in general I think are the order of the day.

train trauma

Today I was a tad late due to train trauma. Who said London had the best transport network in the world…
I usually get the train (with lots of colleagues) from Clapham Junction to Kensington Olympia at 09:08 but as the previous train (08:38) had been cancelled it was packed to capacity with people in with the driver ten minutes before it was scheduled to leave. So a few of us from work waited for the 09:25 sadly this though was cancelled. So the next train was due to leave at 09:38 and guess what… it was cancelled too!
Then the 10:03 was delayed so I was a late. Grrrrr
I did get to have a coffee and croissant and a long chat with some people from work I don’t see enough of though. So that was nice.

Washington DC

allan_iain.jpg capitol_night.jpg allan_trade.jpg
So Allan and I have spent the Easter weekend in Washington DC doing the usual tourist sights and staying at the Hyatt. It’s been a lovely weekend and I’ve introduced him to the delights of A&F.
We’ve spent a few nights eating and playing and discovered Lizard Lounge last night which was excellent and made a change from the cowboy hell that was Remingtons.
Just dropped him at the airport and come back to Reston to check into the lovely newly refurbished Hyatt Regency. Work for the rest of the week and then heading back to London for Saturday morning.
It’s been really lovely. Lots of pics which I’ll sort out when I get back.

Mini Ipods

After much rumour and debate Aplle announced at MacEXPO the launch of iPod mini They know their target market well I feel “Oh, one other minor detail, you can choose your iPod mini in one of five trend-setting colors: silver, gold, green, pink or blue. (All shiny.)”

It’s the last bit in brackets that gets me – everyone I know buys things because they are shiny. London is full of magpies ;o)

Warning: Do not drink beer!

Shock and alarm was spread among Metro readers earlier today when it was reported that women in London have been utilising a new date rape drug known as ‘Beer’
‘Beer’ is applied to the target male in an attempt to make him say and do things that he would never normally do if her wasn’t intoxicated.
Such as going home with women that closely resemble three-piece suites, road kill, etc.
‘Beer’ has been identified in the following key constituencies:
The 12 – 92 age demographic, bars, pubs, clubs and park benches.
Police say ‘Beer’, unlike Rohipnol, is virtually undetectable in the victim, making evidentially-based prosecutions virtually impossible in the absense of a confession.

The Tube

Recent events in London have meant the tube is again a popular topic of conversation.
I’ve noticed this in an increased number of hits for the culture jamming spoof stickers I saw on the tube and took pictures of back in June 2002.

So here are some more amusing links for those looking for info on the tube.
London Transport Museum presents ‘The Real Underground‘
A very rude spoof of the tube map we know and love!

weekend sans hyperlinks

It started early Friday evening with a trip down the dogs. Yes I ended up in South Wimbledon at the Greyhound Track for a friends 30th celebrations. Lots of fun it was too. Sarah and I spent a lot of time checking out the guys to see if there was any scally straight boy totty to be had. She threatened to fight me for one of them. I didn’t need to though as we had both been beaten to him by some blonde girl with very little visible sign of taste.
So then a few more beers later and ?15 down on the evening we headed back to Jacs and Helen’s to carry on the party.
By this time a bunch of drunken thirtysomethings decided to relive the eighties in music. So everything from Ultravox and Depeche Mode through to The Wonder Stuff and Japan was played very loud until the early hours.

Saturday I headed into Tooting to meet Matt as we were going house hunting. After a bit of research on the net we ventured into an estate agents and then met Mike before heading off to look at some potential areas. It started to rain around 4pm so we took cover in the Trafalgar. Not a good move to start drinking that early. Still it set us up for the night ahead. We headed into Clapham and had another drink before meeting the rest of the gang at the Admiral Duncan. The lovely Lee then joined us as we strolled to the Duke of Wellington for yet more alcohol and we were joined by some of the outintheuk crew including the ever chirpy Scally. (I’m so not wearing A&F there anymore).

To round off the evening we went to London Bridge and ended up in a car park the boys assured me was a club. It turned out to be a very nice club too. XXL to be exact. Luckily I was not the only one to have never been before so I kept close to the group 😉 Way too many sweets later (I love flying saucers and fruit salads)

A few hours later (well actually more) and Matt, Mike and I arrived back in Tooting to catch a few zeds.

Mike took his life in his hands waking Matt and I before midday. He did however offer cups of tea by way of apology. Neither Matt nor I are what you might call morning people! After catching up with Andy Roo we ventured down to the flat below to see the carnage that happens when you gut your flat completely. We’d worked up an appetite by this time and we headed back to the Trafalgar for Sunday Lunch – quite possibly the largest portions outside the US! The girls from Friday night had joined us and we had a laugh and a few beers before Matt and I decided we really should resume house hunting. We bade farewell to Mike and Andy Roo before wandering aimlessly around South London. Well not so aimlessly we passed every estate agent window in our travels and tooks some details of flats we want to see. Finally a coffee and catch up with the lovely PR Paulli before heading home for an early night.

How did I manage to cram so much in this weekend? It’s becoming a bit of a habit since Jack has been staying with Nigel. I should really be saving more since I am buying somewhere new.

AOLTWLGFF

Yes I know a damn long acronym that one. Okay so last night was the end of a company wide film festival. They showed Hedwig and the Angry Inch and I was joined by Jacs and the lovely Mr Miller. I’d seen it before but neither of the others had. I must say I found it much easier to follow this time around and was less disturbed to see Michael Pitt from Dawson’s Creek playing a gay christian rock kid.
Davo has had the pleasure of meeting John Cameron Mitchell who is currently working on a new project entitled The Sex Film Project.
So all in all it was a nice night. A few drinks afterwards was going to be at Vespa Lounge but they were closed (too few girlz or something) so we ended up at First Out. I haven’t been there for ages. Left earlyish and wandered through town with Jacs over the newly refurbished Hungerford Bridge and gazed at possibly the best view of London you can get without working in Canary Wharf 🙂