Advent: Dec 22nd

Woke up about 2pm, as is usual after drinking till the early hours. I had to start my Christmas shopping today as i would be working Friday and probably wouldn't have time on Christmas Eve to do any shopping. So i decided to cycle into town and peruse the wares of Reading. I quickly got bored, not after buying some things for my brother and my dad, so went to see my friend who was working at Sahara. Fast becoming a bad influence on my alcohol intake. I opted for some fruit drinks, non alcoholic as i was a little ropey from the night before but i did have a Suffering Bastard cocktail that was very sharp and dry and woke me up :)

We had planned to all go for a Christmas meal and it was looking like Whetherspoons for a cheap meal and some drinks, so a few friends came to meet me in Sahara and then we walked to Hope Tap. It was stupidly busy however so we went to meet our friends at Back of Beyond, which was also rammed. We walked around the Oracle but every eatery was jam packed or a 45 min wait so we walked around a bit more and opted for Bella Italia on Queen Victoria St.

Thankfully wasn't too busy inside so we managed to get a table no problem. I had pretty much exactly what i ordered from that takeaway the other night. Though this time was lasagna instead of Spaghetti and two glasses of nice red wine. We chatted for a bit after the very nice filling meal and then set off in our respective ways to go home.

A nice festive meal with friends. Not bad for a Thursday

Advent: Dec 17th

Today was a semi busy day, the first few hours were spent cleaning and then people came and raced. Like usual really. Wasn't particularly busy or hard but wasn't a run in the park at all. Got home and wanted something nice to eat. Got home and found cold/leftover KFC awaiting a good nuke in the Microwave. Which sounded disgusting, i mean its not the greatest at the best of times but reheated? No thanks. Nothing in the freezer or to make from so to the interwebs for food. Was going to just get a Papa Johns but decided something nicer than pizza was in order. After perusing local takeaways that deliver from Just Eat which are a few, i settled on Pico Bello an Italian down Oxford Rd. So i ordered Calamari Rings, Spicy Chicken wings, Jalapeno Poppers and a Pan fried breaded aubergine with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce baked dish served with spaghetti. What was better was they delivered alcohol too :D So a bottle of wine and Peroni was ordered too and the food was AMAZING. Really nice from a takeaway and shit tons better than reheated KFC.

The night was spent watching Jackass 3.5 which was as good or better than Jackass 3 but i saw that in the cinema and in 3D.

Advent: Dec 19th

I didn't move from my bed till 4pm. That was how bad the hangover was. Not sure why i continued to drink so late, and still drink snakebite. I love it but get THE worst hangovers from it.
Today was the day of our Christmas meal. And by ours i mean my friends. We all get together and have a nice little meal. Last year i couldn't go due to finishing work late, as it was a Saturday, and by the time i would have gotten there it would be too late.
I walked to my friends, again its good he lives close, and we walked into town. On the way this American sounding girl asked us for directions and i told her to get any one of the buses that would come past as that would take her to the station. However if i wasn't in a hungover state i would have suggested she walked with us considering we were walking pretty much there.

TGI's did a good Christmas meal deal thing. £20 for 3 courses, not too bad at all. Had Sesame chicken strips with a Jack Daniels glaze for starters, King Prawns with Jack Daniels glaze for main and some chocolate desert that knocked off a year of my life with each bite.

With the meal done and a good chat had by all we all went home, i went back to my friends and finished watching a Top 100 Toys of all time show that was on before we all went out, which was good and Lego won. Which is kinda right really considering i don't know anyone that didn't have Lego, play with Lego or try to take over the world with Lego.

It got to about 1am so i decided to leave and walked home. It was freezing on the way home, it turns out it was -11 degrees on my walk home. Ouch i know, lucky i had that scarf.

Advent: Dec 15th

Today i was meeting a friend for lunch and Christmas shopping and was looking forward to this as i hadn't seen her in about 4 or more months. So i met her around half one and we went to Las Iguanas for some Tapas and 2-4-1 cocktails, nice long chat and nice food. Being the gentleman, and i had no cash, i picked up the bill which wasn't too bad i suppose. Had a walk round for a good 6 hours, going to this shop and that shop to pick up various make up items or presents she needed for the boyfriend or mother who is coming to stay. Most of the time we just had a laugh while walking round, not really taking it too seriously. Come on its Christmas shopping, if your that anal you would have had your presents bought and wrapped by November.
She went to get her nails done so i took this opportunity to do my shopping the way its always done, walk into random shops and find something in there that appeals to both myself and the person i was buying for. It worked and i bought two items :D Also saw a few people, one of whom i used to work for and had a chat. His granddad is in the hospital so not doing too well and work are being a hard ass on him to work Boxing Day, i told him to phone in ill if they expect him to work during a hard time at home etc. No compassion at work, none.

Presents bought and nails done we proceeded to Starbucks to get some caffeine and in the Starbucks there was a beautiful girl who had an air of Kat Von D about her. When Kat Von D wasn't cut and shaped to what she is now, in other words when she was pretty.
Anyone Peppermint Mocha, not bad till you get halfway down the cup in which case it was disgusting. Bluergh. Otherwise it was good.
It was the time to get her on a train back home and on the way stopped off at a great shop in the Station that sprang up. Sells home made ice cream and treats and has old sweets too. So i picked up a few homemade mince pies, expensive (£2 each) but my god they were absolutely Delicious. Screw buying like 12 from Sainsburys for 80p, spend that little extra for those you love. They were amazing.

With my friend gone i went to a friends, played some Wii (badly, well not on my part. Yes I'm talking about you!) and had some lovely cottage pie that was cooked. Yum. Came home, watched a bit of Lethal Weapon 2, back when Mel Gibson wasn't psychotic, cracked open a bottle of wine and have pretty much sat here writing this here post.

Listening to iTunes pondering certain things. A more contemplative end to the night tonight.

Ah yes my phone, turns out it doenst charge whatsoever. So they have to send it back to Dell to get another replacement, so thats 4 weeks without a phone. Wow great service there Dell/o2.

Oh and snuggie chairs, the ones that are round and can fit two on.... They are fucking awesome, expensive, but awesome

Advent: Dec 12th

I had the inevitable hangover and as such didn't get out of bed till about midday. I awoke to steak being cooked and felt that was a good way to start the day. I took my laptop into the back room and set up there for the day. Drank copious amounts of tea and juice and just watched Big Bang Theory all day. Sad to say but that was my day on Sunday. Wasn't much else to do or say, had the opportunity to go back to my friends but i was just lethargic all day.

Sunday can be counted as a write off, or a wasted day, but i was resting :) And as such i don't have much to say.

Advent: Dec 11th

Woke up a little late today, still managed to get to work for 8:50. Enough time to get changed, get a tea and get the machines up and running. The day went like most Saturdays during peak period, roller coaster start. First theres a few people, then the shop is packed then theres a few people. Rinse and repeat for the whole day.
Didn't sell much, a few things here and there, a couple of big sales with all the trimmings. It was mainly talking to customers about presents or new cameras for themselves. Everyone left happy.
About midday the manager asks me to go speak to the Regional Manager who was upstairs, and after a chat about being late again (I had a disciplinary about being 5-10mins late for work) i was also questioned about things i have posted on here/facebook and twitter regarding work and any issues i have regarding it.
Thing is apart from this blog, where no mention to what company i work for, the rest of the social media sites are set to private. So the only people that can see it are people i work with, friends and family. The general public cannot see any remarks i make. So I'm not saying anything, but 2 + 2 =....

Nevertheless we had a brief respite where i could just wander around pondering such things before going back in. The regional manager came to such conclusions that they were suspending me from work until further notice and that i was not to talk to any employee of work and not visit any branch.

Silver lining being that i have time to shop for presents and I'll probably be able to have some sort of Christmas this year.
Bad part being I'll probably go back for a disciplinary and lose my job.

Certain members of work have been blocked from Twitter and taken off facebook so my musings can't offend them anymore, ah well only work colleagues.

So i was escorted off the premises, not like with my hands behind my back but in case i kicked off or something stupid. And with that i went to lock my bike up.
As i was doing so my mates came round the corner and i told them what happened. We walked around a bit and discussed what lead to my suspension and what would happen next. They had the 'we told you so' look and also said i should have got a new job ages ago anyway. Which is true.

We walked around for a bit and talked, then we bumped into our other friend who's flat warming it was. So we broke off, they went to get lunch and we did too. We talked about the flat warming and again about my suspension.
I got my bike and he went to pick up some other friends, i cycled to the Oakford and handed in the camera i found on Thursday.
I then cycled home and emailed a friend what happened at work and if i can appeal against the decision etc while it was fresh in my mind.

My friend came to pick me up and we went to Asda to get supplies for the nights activities. Lots of alcohol and some food from Iceland. Back to his flat where the girls proceeded to put the tree up, decorate it etc while we sat back and had a beer or two.
With the tree looking pretty damn impressive we connected it up so it would stay up and not fall over. We cracked open a few more beers and sat around listening to music and playing a ping pong game on the xbox. The girls then cooked some Rocky Road, which was amazing, and we put some food in the oven.
Finished playing ping pong when everyone came in and we watched Elf. A pretty festive film if i may say so and Zooey Deschanel is gorgeous as ever. We played a DVD interactive game of Family Fortunes, was fun but we didn't really play it properly.
We couldn't decide whether to watch Inception or something light hearted, so we watched Team America: World Police. I hadn't seen this film in ages so was just as funny, half the people left during the film and only a couple of us were left. We finished drinking and watching the film and then i got a lift home.

Got home quite early considering it was a party, though i was pretty tired after the days goings on.

So i probably shouldn't have talked about what was going on at work, but there is an element of freedom of speech i like to have. And again nothing mentioned on where i work.

I now have to wait for my disciplinary hearing and the outcome of that. Though i can see where it is heading.

Advent: Dec 10th

A bit of a hangover was had in the morning and i awoke to a text from a friend offering an all you can eat pizza buffet. I had ten minutes to shower and get ready as i was being picked up. We went to Bracknell for Pizza Hut, don't ask why as i don't know, and it was good. Though having pizza and beer for breakfast probably wasn't the healthiest option there is. Though i didn't eat a thing till about 10pm that night.


After Pizza Hut we wandered the retail park looking at this and that, got a few ideas for Christmas Presents. We went back to town and walked round while my friend was waiting to meet up with one of his friends.
Walked around, again looking for present ideas, and went with him to get a present. Then walked to where he was meeting his friend and i walked home. Was planning on going out but in the end decided not too as i was pretty tired from doing nothing all day and i was going to a flat warming the following day, needed to rest as the day at work was probably going to be really long, Saturdays during Christmas usually are.


So i decided to stay in, watch some films and go to bed early.


Another eventful day in the life of this here blogger :)

Advent: Dec 7th

December Seventh started out like normal, walk to work was quite nice. I like walks but they take too long. Work wasn't too bad, moderate amount of customers, had some fun. That was pretty much it for work, talking and selling cameras. Doesn't really get much more exciting than that really.

I managed to get my bike fixed with minimal aggression. They put the pedal back on and i managed to ride home without complications. I then went to my friends for dinner and giggled like a schoolgirl at Family Guy, 30 Rock, Better off Ted then half of The Other Guys. I then left as it was getting quite late and continued to watch the Other Guys while drinking some Sailor Jerry. A nice simple end to a nice simple day. Not much of a post really but Tuesday nothing much happened.

It doesn't get much better than a non complicated day. Hell complicated days come round way too often.

Advent: Dec 5th

I woke up pretty hungover but couldn't get back to sleep at all. Kept drifting in and out but nothing substantial. Having Radio Two and Terry Wogan didn't help much. He has a nice voice but its not half annoying.
So got up about 2ish i think and made a breakfast consisting of egg on toast and a very large mug of tea. Didn't really get up to much, played with my ipod and watched TV, caught up on missed TV shows and flittered trhough the movie channels before getting ready to go out to our work Christmas party.
I was looking forward to it as Christmas parties are usually good. Usually. Last year we had ours in Wetherspoons.... Yeah cant get much worse. It was fun as there was lots of people, but it was a Wetherspoons. We were in the company of drunks, perverts and vagrants. Also there were people not on our table.
So this year was Las Iguanas which is a brilliant venue, really nice food and on Sundays and Mondays its two-for-one cocktails. Which is amazing. Though because work really don't like their employees they not only reduced how much they were giving us for a Christmas meal they also told us we have to pay for it first then they reimburse us in our wage slips... Now i know some companies don't pay for Christmas meals but that probably would have been better.
So due to that not many people wanted to come to the meal which meant there was only a few of us, so we didn't bother doing Secret Santa either.

Started round a friends and had a few drinks, played some Wii Party too to get in a good mood and it worked, was alot of fun.
Got to the meal and sat down and i promptly got on the cocktails to get into the festive mood however it didn't really work. Either the fact i was still tired from the night before or the fact i ate alot of good food, the cocktails didn't really do much.
I'm not going to say the meal was boring, the company was OK, but maybe i was expecting too much? Having had such a good night before and wanting something similar maybe that was too much to ask? A Meal with colleagues then a night on the town. Meh hopefully my last Christmas there anyway.
So that was pretty much that. I tried to get drunk, i failed and ended up tired. The night kind of fizzled out so we all went home. I walked home with a colleague and met a former workmate outside Mr Cod. Had a chat and went home.
Chatted on Facebook and had a night cap. Pretty unadventurous for a Christmas meal, but I'm looking forward to both Christmas Eve down the Bull and Boxing Day whatever i do. Oh and yes New Years Eve too.

Advent: Dec 3rd

Well where do i begin? Today has been an awesome day for food and victory. Spose I'll start at the beginning.

Again waking late was really nice, i do like starting late, i however hate finishing late. So once again it was freezing on the cycle to work. I have a routine at the moment of slamming the back break to get my brain used to the back wheel fishtailing so when i eventually do hit ice i know how to correct myself without falling over. So far so good. The Kennet was once again frozen for about 50yards. Its getting to be a good base on seeing how cold it is.

At work there has been an ongoing battle at work in regards to having the front door open/closed. Management want it open pretty much all the time, which in most scenarios is a good thing (Open door is more inviting to the customer) but when its 0 degrees outside or snowing or freezing fog, then having the door open is stupid. We have a small electric heater and a semi functional air con unit, which when the door isn't open heats the shop up to a moderate temperature.
So it being so cold you can see your breath should ring alarm bells in the common sense receptor that most people have. Dogs and cats can work out how to open doors, I'm pretty sure the public can too.
So everytime i close the door, a supervisor closes it pretty much as soon as I've closed it. Cue a Tom and Jerry moment where we are both back and forth opening/closing. Finally i had enough after about 3 weeks of "Neil just put on the fleece we have provided" "Neil you don't know what your talking about when you say we are in breach of Health And Safety" "Stop complaining" so i contacted Reading Borough Councils Health & Safety Dept and they got back to me about 2 hours later. Spoke to a very nice guy about what is and isn't acceptable and turns out i was right all along, the store was in breach of Health And Safety guidelines about working temperature and for anyone working in retail it is:

The store temperature should not fall below 16 degrees

As stated by The Law so at least if you want to complain you have a leg to stand on. I used this card only as a last resort and it worked ok :)

So with that done one of the supervisors left with a face like thunder and promptly returned with a Thermometer (Something which you should have on the shop floor anyway) and the doors remained shut for the rest of the day. I chalk that up to not only a personal victory but also one for common sense.
We shall see if it stays that way. If not then they are breaking the law, officially ha ha

So with that i had a smile a mile wide inside. After work i had a quick dash to get home and changed and back to Reading for my friends birthday. We went for an all you can eat at Thai9. Recommend as it was gorgeous food, was really busy so we were in the karaoke room (no karioke) so had the place to ourselves. Lots of food was consumed and was back home about 11pm which wasn't too bad as it was freezing outside and we were tired after eating :)

So i cam home, decided to watch Walking Dead and have been sitting drinking Sailor Jerrys (half a bottle so far) listening to copious amounts of classical music. Its amazing how much of this i remember from childhood, either walking into assembly in primary school or just from films/TV shows or just naturally listening to Cd's/Records/Radio and having it rooted in my memory. Its something that people forget. Listening to that #1 pop track is fine but its probably just some lyricist and a drum machine. Listening to a symphony play one mans vision is mind blowing. Its not just a guitar and a drum its a whole goddamn orchestra. That to me is the epitome of genius. Well musically anyway.

I will sit here for a while longer, listening and pondering my own thoughts. Dangerous i know but its soothing.
Till December 4Th, a night on the tiles and a most regrettable a hangover that will be seldom wanted.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Not Actually mine)

A few weeks ago i had the privilege of attending my good friend Jemmas wedding. You may (if you have read this here blog) know of Jemma . We have known each other for a fair few years, we went to Australia together with my other good friend Callum. Anyway ever since i have known her she has been going out with a great bloke called Spiro. And as the title suggest one of them was Greek. This would be Spiros, or Spiro (spyro) for short.
So the day started with me meeting my old friends Richard and Callum with his girlfriend Gemma at the local working men's club where provisions were bought. We got to my friends house and waited by the marque and had a few drinks while we waited for guests. I recognised one person, a cousin of Jemmas, that i had met at previous family gatherings and that put me at ease that i would atleast know someone. The coach journey involved drinks and talking to some of the other guests that were traveling to London for the wedding.

The Greek Orthodox Temple was out of this world. It was simply stunning. The outside just looked like any church. Tall, foreboding. But inside was exquisite. Mosaics on the walls, the ceilings depicting various religious events, people. Now I'm not a religious person, i have my own views and whatnot but even i was taken aback by the sheer beauty of this place. The picture i have included doesn't even resemble what it was like to sit in there.

The ceremony started and Jemma walked in. Now she was gorgeous and Spiro was a lucky man, of which he knows. But no one knew what was going on in the church. The priest was speaking in ancient Greek, so even the Greek people couldn't catch onto what he was saying. It was a nice ceremony. No vows were said as it was all about the meaning of the ceremony, not what one party was saying to the other. The best part was when the bride and groom had to walk round the alter three times. Spiro was nearly pissing himself, Jemma was trying to hold a straight face. The best man, Tim, and his wife Dora were following and Tim was laughing. The bridesmaids had to run after because they were unsure if they had to participate.

After the ceremony they had the wedding photos outside of the church. I took along my old Prinz Flex TLR and i hope the pictures come out. The picture above was taken with it, little off centre but its a film camera, what do you expect?

The coach back was a silent one really. Not much was said as we were all tired and the air con on the coach wasn't working but we made it back and were greeted by champagne. As Spyro and Jemma were arriving we mingled with guests and family members and enjoyed the food that was brought round by the caterers. They arrived about 30Min's after us and still looked as good as they did when they were in the church. They stood around for photo opportunities and talked to the guests. After a while of drinking champagne talking we moved inside the marquee to be seated. We were on the naughty table, only because it was at the back and in the corner. Once seated and drinks poured the speeches were started. The first by Tim the best man, very funny and heart felt. The second came from the Father in law, Jemmas dad which was very nice. The third came from Spyro himself which was unplanned but nevertheless good anyway.

Food! After the "Have fun and drink" was said by Spyro the wine was pouring and we said 'cheers' and started chatting while the starters were brought out. Bread with some dips that were lovely, and olive oil. Greek salad too. The main was gorgeous; lamb with Mediterranean potatoes, roasted veg and other such tasty foods. Pudding was ice cream if i remember. Either that or i want ice cream now.
After the food had settled and more wine was drunk i went about talking to the guests from before and family members while the Greek members danced. The naughty table agreed that when the only song we know comes on we would dance, 5Min's later that song came on. It was indeed Zorbas Dance. Though the clip is 2Min's long we danced for 10Min's, too long, but the Greeks danced for AGES! A couple more dances and more alcohol was needed, unfortunately i had a headache and didn't partake in as much alcohol as Spyro would have liked.

After the Greek band left the 'disco' started so cue lots of drunken dancing from the younger generations. We danced for about another hour or so till we had to leave, was about 2am i think. Best part of the night is they supplied bacon and sausage sandwiches at the end of the night with tea/coffee too. That little touch was quite nice as they could have easily just said "Get out of the marquee".
I said my goodbyes and got the taxi back to Reading, luckily i was flat sitting for my mate so it was easier to get to. The day off the next day was even better.

All in all Greek weddings are so much fun and hopefully i will get to go to another one. I still need to give them a wedding present. Sometimes i can be a bad friend.

Twelve Days of Christmas

Probably should have updated this every year but its still interesting. Twelve Days of Christmas

Tales of a Drunkard Pt.8: Manchester Horror Outing

So for the 30th October, and my friends Birthday, we were destined to trek the way to Manchester. 195 miles, or 4 hours to put it another way, but more on that later.
Being as organisationally challenged that we are, we decided to pick up costumes on the way via Fun N Frolics in the morning. Now Sci-Fi, you'd think, is a relatively broad subject matter. WRONG. I mean yes, robots and spacemen aside, there's fuck all you can do with the minutes counting down.


Cowboy.... in space. Pirate..... in space. Roman Centurion.... Time traveller of course.

After seeing an eye patch in the pirate aisle, yes there are aisles of costumes, and settling on the idea that we all buy; An Eye patch, 70's wig and hope to get black t-shirt in Manchester, we could all go as Snake Pliskin (Escape from NY/LA). Though on the way out we saw Thunderbirds costumes. Now whats more Sci-Fi than Marionettes that fly space ships? Nothing i tell you. So three costumes purchased we had two Thunderbirds with a blue sash and one yellow sash'd one.

Costumes done and we stopped off at Tesco for breakfast treats for the journey and we made haste to Manchester. Pretty average car ride really, music, talking and the yellow car game. Many punches later we got to the service station around Birmingham somewhere, had a refuel of tea and whatnot then to Manchester.

Got to the Hotel at a reasonable time, got settled in and started drinking. We had a nice big room, flat screen telly which had Sarah Jane Adventures on. We hooked up the Ipod and just chilled.
Lee and Kat had a dodgy door in their room. It was a fire exit that opened onto someone else's room, so they switched. Me and Mark decided drinking was in order while the others got ready, so pissed about with our costumes.
The others thought it would be good to have some food before a heavy night of drinking, though i was already pretty tipsy. We walked down the road and found a little Italian restaurant. Amazing little place that was, had some Calamari and a nice pizza.
So a drink and food down, it was time for a costume change.

All suited and booted, Three Thunderbirds and a Vulcan Starfleet officer, we got the taxi into Manchester to meet the birthday boy. Now i might seem a little harsh here but the man looked like Jeremy Clarkson more than the supposed Malcom Reynolds that he was going for, but at least he made an effort and went through with the plan!

We met up with his mates from Uni and all put as much effort as us we had; Wolverine, Neo, David Bowie from Labyrinth, Faith from Mirrors Edge, Faith from Buffy, Rorschach and a Leia.. Might have missed a couple.

Went to FAB which was apt as we were thunderbirds and its a pretty cool and geeky place, lots of movie and TV memorabilia and a few classic arcade games just by the toilets. Had lots to drink and danced a few hours away before heading towards another club.

This club was pretty good, think it was called Jellys? But had lots of different rooms for different types of music, Ska, Metal, Rock, Drum and bass etc. Cheap drinks too. Quite a few people left after the FAB bar so the numbers where hardly ideal for mass outings, about 5 from Manchester and all from Reading where still there. Which was proof that we are hardcore :D

Stayed at the club for quite some time, and i couldn't dance in the Thunderbirds costume so i took that off (Had clothes on underneath before you ask) and continued the night. Stayed there after the birthday boy left and in the end was just three of us till the closing of the bar nearly. We had a conversation with some metallers out side the club and then walked to the taxi rank where i took one home. Got back at some ungodly hour, rather sober, and had to buzz the door to be let into the hotel. Luckily my roommate for the night left the door unlocked as i didn't have a key. Though between me coming in about 4am and waking up at 9am i lost my costume. I gave it to the guys who were leaving but who knows what happened. Ah well was only £20.

We spent the morning walking around the Trafford Centre, which is massive and really really nice inside. Had a burrito for breakfast. Didn't buy anything though which is good and bad in itself. Had a nice long trek back to Reading along the motorway and went through the toll road too, to speed things up.

Ultimately i had an awesome time. Met some amazing people from Manchester and the surrounding areas that i feel I'll probably never talk to again, or much anyhow. Which is a shame. Though Manchester impressed me through two clubs and a pub, so looking forward to going up again, possibly the new year.

Next stop: Stoke in Dec. Good times.

Hopefully will have my Hangover Cure samples to give it a proper road test :)

Tales of a Drunkard Pt3

Well i ventured into London last night to see my friend Jemma perform at the Troubadour and as usual was a brilliant performance from herself and Nick Bates on the Guitar. Also performing were Komla Ayewoh and my favourite of the night Caleb.

It probably didn't help my state by having two quick beers on the train to London but by the second bottle of cider i was feeling pretty drunk so calmed down a bit to enjoy the music.


With the music finished off we trundled into the night, looking for somewhere in Earls Court that was still open, and from past experiences of late night excursions into London, this part would be closed. So we hopped on the tube with thoughts of going to Camden town and a rock bar that Chris knows. Though as we sat in a drunken stupor we realised that by the time we got to Camden that everything would be shut. So we got off at Leicester Square to see what was happening. To be fair it was pretty busy at around half 11 when we got there so we walked round trying to find somewhere to drink and our eyes lit up at the fact that the Trocadero is open till 1am with a sports bar/bowling alley. So we went in and played a few arcade games (of which i beat Chris at Outrun, and NB: Guitar Hero Arcade sucks). After a few games and drinks we went walking, again in search of a bar.

Asked this woman handing out flyer's if she knew anywhere that's got good music and is open late and we were offered a 3 story strip bar, which to be fair could have had good music but we had no money for that, and it wasn't one of those nights. So we watched a street drummer for a bit and walked round Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.


We tagged along with a tour group of younger people, the guy with the brolly was leading them on a kind of club crawl, and as we didn't have the wristband we just went to another place, called Fudge. Which was pretty good. Good music and well the drinks were expensive but that's London for you. We got a couple of bottles and as we sat down they started flicking the lights (International bar language for "Hurry up and leave"). We noticed these Americans on the table opposite talking about one thing or another and they were mentioning how their countries only about 200 years old, so i kind of joined in and said that theres some buildings in this country that are older than their country. Which usually wouldn't go down well but they understood and we got chatting.

We waited outside with the other people who were Danish, and we all set off in search of a bar. Walked round trying to find somewhere and get cash out and while we were waiting to cross i noticed a bar so i walked out and over to the bar to check it out. It was a metal bar that was open till 3am and was £2 to get in. Result. Though the Danish guys didn't get in for some reason, me Chris and our new found friends Micheal and Katie-Beth settled down. Drinks in there were pretty cheap considering, 4 cans of Red Stripe came to £7, so we sat down and chatted. Music was pretty good too, if you like Metal.


After a lengthy chat they left and so did me and Chris shortly after. Chris wanted to eat something so we went in search for a Subway street vendor but found ourselves in Chinatown, so i went in and got some noodles. Which were FANTASTIC. Much better than most of the crap food drunks buy when, well, when they're drunk.

Unfortunately being around 2am the tubes stop running. So we were quite a way from Paddington and the thoughts of getting a pricey taxi or a Rickshaw ride came around, but being slightly out of pocket we decided to walk the streets of London. No idea which route Chris found on his IPhone but looking up google maps now, it seemed we walked a shit load more than we should have. But being the adventurers we were, it didn't matter at the time. We got to Paddington with about 15Min's to wait for the slow train back to Reading. Head starting to hurt and tiredness kicking in fast. We got on the train, ipod went on and i drifted away to the sultry tones of some Dubstep. Either Chris woke me or my uncanny train travelling mindset woke me the station just before Chris got off, and then again when Chris got off. I fell back asleep and woke just before Reading but fell asleep for about 5Min's. Its a good job that Reading is the last station.


Cash point, taxi, home. Got to sleep around 5am. And for the second day running missed going to help my aunt and cousins move out of their house. But in my defence i would have been of no use to anyone this morning.

All in all a pretty good night out in Londinium. Till next time we drink.

Cake in 5 minutes?

Of course, just click the picture above and follow the guide. Not sure if microwaved cakes tast that nice though.