Walk for Life – 23 June

Walk for Life is now in its 13th year and has become the largest HIV and AIDS fundraising event in Europe. It is a great day out for everyone, taking in some of the sights of London on an easy 10km stroll along the Thames. Details of last years walk can be read here and in seen here, where the AOL UK team raised over ?1500.
If you want to go along register at: http://walkforlife.co.uk [team name AOL UK – you don’t need to work for AOL] or phone 0870 011 0022. Then just email me to let me know you’ve registered or pop a post in the comments. I’ll email people who’ve contacted me closer to the time to arrange meeting up and other details.

Mr Pannett

Has now gone almost for good – with the exception of a possible brief meet up in London mid June and a week of fun and frolicking in San Fransisco the end of June.
Stupid I know but I miss him already.
Lucky him though he is ‘doing’ Europe and then the east and west coast of the US before heading back to noozleland.

Friday Night Dave’s leaving party

Friday Night

Dave‘s leaving party at Retro Bar turned into more of a blogmeet than anything else. Wendy and Leslie had done wonders with the bar and lovely food, even going as far as to include kiwi fruit on the platters 😉 After a few tears, a few tantrums, and discussions about sweet tobacco and iced gems, I was convinced to go to Popstarz to continue the celebrations.
The club was packed but fun and Oliver [flirty straight boy] and Cathy [his girlfriend] kept us amused with their antics. Later after Tom had fallen asleep for what seemed like the tenth time we joined the queue to get our jackets. It seemed to snake around the entire club before eventually arriving at the coat check. Still it gave us time to cruise and be cruised. All this excitement was followed by a cab journey back to south London for pizza and pringles.

Saturday

After getting up late and missing Simon in the process I had a very lazy but enjoyable Saturday. I also managed to get rid of the futon and fridge that have been in my hall for a year. So I now have space for my bike, and Fabio’s bike, and Elric’s bike…
Although we had intentions of going out or going to see a film we ended up staying in and vegging. I’m not complaining though it was nice quality time.

Sunday

Got up relatively early as Nige was bringing Jack back to mine. Also we had plans to go and have Sunday lunch with Meg & Paul, Tom and Scally. A change of venue from the Ship in Hammersmith to the Curtains Up in West Ken was probably not good. The food and service left a lot to be desired so it was just as well we were gathered for the company and not the cuisine.
We then ventured into Leicester Square for Ice Cream and a jaunt in HMV. All of which was a pleasant and undemanding way to finish off the weekend.

I think the main thing I’ll miss about the pesky antipodean is the relaxed attitude to everything.

Alcohol is NOT our friend

Saturday
Spence, and Glenn along with David [yes another one] and Benjy and I had dinner in Leicester Square. The table next to us managed to set their candle on fire – yes I know they are supposed to burn but not the entire thing all at once. The waiter casually opened the door to prevent the smoke alarms from activating ina a manner that suggested it may be a common occurence. We were joined later by Scally and the lovely Bruce for coffee before heading over to Barcode for a couple of drinks. Oh and meeting Chris again too.

Sunday
Pub lunch with alcohol and smutty comments about 20 year old waiters and 18 year old bar men, with Spence, Glenn and David [yes yet another david – common as muck that name] was followed by coffee back at mine and then yet more drinks and smutty conversation at bar ABV.
I then ventured into soho to meet up with Dave, Tom, Simon and Bart. Poor Bart I think was a little overwhelmed by the banter and it only got worse from there. We started in the Friendly Society which I must say must be one of the most stupidly expensive and dark bars in London. May as well have been in a dark room for the amount we could see. Low ambient lighting I can cope with but when someone lights a cigarette and the entire bar lights up you have to wonder if they have taken subtlety to the limits. Village was a stagger [well 2 or 3 steps] away. Dave decided to enlighten Tom about some of my history – thanks. I then decided to embark on making it worse. Somethings you should never discuss whilst drunk. Like job interviews for Bass pubs 😉
Swiftly moving along Compton Street to Manto’s where Tom and I read a smutty comic in fits of giggles to be scolded repeatedly by the ever mature Mrs Davo. We also leered at some cute guy for a while before practically begging him not to leave – well we sort of did it quiet enough so he couldn’t hear and he left anyways without noticing.
All in all a very pleasant weekend with good company and way too much alcohol.

I’m sure there was something I was supposed to blog about Tom but can’t remember now – will need to ask him to remind me later 😉

spring has sprung

It is a beautifully sunny day here in London, I managed to get up early because Jack wanted out at 8ish even though I was out drinking last night for ‘friendlies’ at The Ram in Islington.
So Jack has been to the common, I have all the windows open in the flat and I am spring cleaning – I’m convinced it’s a built in compulsion to clean in spring!
Meg and Paul are moving today as well – nice day for it.
So I have had my 10 minutes to catch up on mail, update this so now I’m off to enjoy the sunshine. I’m looking forward to more sun to come too – the nights are getting lighter and it finally feels like summer is not too far away.

london tea for london people

now call me a cynic but when I went into the kitchen today to make a morning brew I was confronted with complimentary packs of ‘2 free tea bags’ from the London Cuppa Ltd. The blurb states ‘At last a tea specially selected and blended, in London for Londoners.’ So erm how does that work? When did London become the connoisseur capital for tea?

happy new year

I hope everyone had a good night last night – whatever you did and wherever you are. Let’s hope 2002 brings you all what you want.

I have decided to try and quit smoking again this year – so I thought I better make a public declartation. Although I am not going on the wagon too like I did in the summer for my marathon training.

I actually ventured into town last night to see big ben chime in the new year – something I have never done in the 12 or so years I have lived in London. I always avoided it like the plague – thought the crowds would be hellish but they weren’t that bad actually.

We had a german [patrick] and 2 kiwis [michelle and dave] which kind of steeled us into moving from the flat around 11 and going into town. Rick and david had already left for the pub!

So all in all a lovely night with less clearing up than usual for me today 🙂

wonderful weekend

what a lovely and relaxing weekend it was – steve came over from amsterdam on friday and we managed to see each other a lot considering he is trying to move flats over the next few weekends he is over in London – when I say move flats what I actually mean is giveup his flat in London in favour of a permenant base in amsterdam.

Saturday evening saw spence and his other half glen plus random chicken, with scally and his other half rick, joining steve and I for dinner before heading off to sports and shorts for a night of fun and very little debauchery – well compared to last time anyway. I was on my best behaviour with hubby in tow. jonathan had the channel 4 film crew in tow and all in all it seemed a little more subdued than usual. The cabaret was fantastic though – scally was right about ‘gaydar the musical’ it was hilarious – all I remember though is if you say your versatile you are a whore allegedly!

Steve reminisced about the lack of cabaret let alone decent cabaret in amsterdam. Hey who needs cabaret when you can have a night out at IT club with 1001 drag queens dressed as cruella de ville?

open house

This weekend some of London’s best kept secrets are open to the public. Open House allows you to go inside some of London’s most famous and archiecturally inspiring buildings. I want to go and see The Hoover Building in Perivale [now a Tesco superstore facade] or Angel/City Road tube station which is disused – and I’m sure would make a fantastic restaurant or bar.