Bloomsbury Bowling Ali

On Saturday it was Ali's Birthday party, starting with drinks around at hers and Craig’s new flat. Tim and I arrived mid afternoon in order to get a sneaky peak at their new surroundings and enjoy a bowl of homemade Chilli aka “Craig Con Carne.” Whilst the boys went off to Monkey Chews for a swift few pints, me and Ali drank our way through 2 bottles of very nice, cheap wine from the off-licence below, whilst getting ready for the evening to begin.

It was arranged for everyone to meet at the flat, prior to heading to the Perseverance on Lamb Conduit’s Street. By the time we all piled into the taxi to get us there, we were definitely on the giggly side of drunk. We’d purchased snacks for the journey. I went for Frazzles. Rose went for a packet of Bombay Mix, and on Tim’s suggestion went for the packet where the food looked slightly more day-glo, it turned out to be a lot stronger than she was used to. There ensued a very funny, very long discussion over whether it was possible to buy non-spicy Bombay Mix.

At the pub we sat with a few locals, and a woman whose child was in Great Ormond Street Hospital just around the way, and had a pleasant chat until it was time to head for the Bloomsbury Bowling Alley. The club night this week was Casino Royale, the same night that they have up at the Barfly in Chalk Farm.

Big grin and a big gin from the Birthday Girl!









The big love in begins....








(Photograph by Sonia©)

With the chocolates that Pete bought looking a little worse for wear than we did, Ali decided to tackle the big box of delicious chocs.

Decisions decisions...





Hurry up dear...





This is how you do it...



Since the queue at the bar was bordering on the ridiculous, (I was there for 30 minutes trying to get served and neither person beside me had been served either.)

There was only one answer to the problem... buy in bulk. That means 2 white russians per person on every trip, with maybe an extra beer each too.

Or...


















After many hours drinking, (did we start at around 5?) we had our bowling alley booked for 1am. Playing in pairs, at this point in the evening, was always going to be messy. Drinks were spilled. Team partners forgotten. Glasses broken, and not stollen.





No one seems to remember who won, though I do remember celebrating coming a surprising second; a position won more or less by my team mate Craig with only hinderance from me.

Then before you know it, it was home time. We staggered our way from Bloomsbury to Camden, before catching buses in our relevant directions.

Just time for pole dancing on Euston Road...







And be nice to your buildings, hug a wall today.

A new way to blog!

I'm hoping this works. I'm now blogging on the move.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

It's apparently International Talk Like a Pirate Day, arrghh.

Shiver me timbers! Should you wish to talk like a Pirate, (and I don't think we should be confining this to one day a year), then you can learn more about the language here.

Lab Rats - 7th September

I went with Caroline and Adam to see the recording of a new sitcom, Lab Rats yesterday. It's written by Chris Cooper and Chris Addison, and stars the latter, along with Geoffrey McGivern, Dan Tetsell and Jo Enright, Chris's usual motley crue from his radio shows.

Seeing this first episode being recorded I have to say I'm looking forward to it appearing on tv. It had some nice set ups to jokes. I'd expect it to be looked upon as a science geek brother to the IT crowds computer geek. It's being executively directed by Armando Iannucci and is going straight to BBC2; no faffing around on BBC3 first.

I won't spoil any of the jokes, but I'll give you the set up. Lab Rats is set in a research laboratory called Arnolfini, part of St. Dunstan's college, set up to make some money for the college by carrying out research for other people. However Chris's character seems to be the only sensible one in the lab.

I'd recommend going along to see an episode being recorded, there are still tickets available for shows every Friday until the 12th October. Be aware though it takes a while for them to record each show. Our recording from the studio doors opening to the finish time was 4 hours. We were kept thoroughly entertained the whole time by the crew and the warm-up, comedian Patrick Monahan. I had to leave an hour before it finished to make sure I caught my train home, however Caz and Adam stayed to the end and got given cake by Chris for their patience.

Polyphonic Spree - Astoria 3rd September

This gig was moved from the Scala to the Astoria after I got tickets and got all excited about seeing the Spree in the relatively tiny venue in Kings Cross. Still the Astoria isn't massive, it would still feel intimate.

Unfortunately there's a tube strike starting just as we'll need to set off to get there. Meeting up with Tim at Victoria station I had visions of the chaos outside at the bus scrums. We headed towards the number 24 bus stop round the corner and within minutes were happily sat on a bus on our way to Tottenham Court Road without having had to elbow or fight our way on.

Having given ourselves plenty of time to get there, we arrived shortly after the doors opened. I'd called the ticket agents earlier in the day to try to get start and finished times so that we could work out our route home accordingly, either walking, bus or taxi to Victoria. Of course the assistant was no end of help, pointing out the doors opened at 7pm, information I was party to, it being the only time stamped on the ticket. When we got to the Astoria we were surprised to see the band times, the Spree on at 8.10, off at 10.10, with the words "Strict Curfew" underneath. This was all good for us, we'd have plenty of time to get to Victoria later on. I imagine there would be a few disappointed people arriving at 9 to find they'd missed half the set.

Inside the venue there was barely anyone around. The support act, ox.eagle.lion.man were on stage performing. They're a cross between the 80's and Interpol complete with a gold spangly jacket and deep voice. A lone girl, in full on 80's regalia, stretchy black short skirt and flouncy blouse, was dancing like a whirling dervish when her equally 80's friend turned up. Since these girls were keen to make a spectacle of themselves it was impossible to ignore them as they waved their backstage passes around like winning lottery tickets. At the time in a game of Nothing-Lookie-Likey I commented that one looked very "Peaches Geldof." Of course now having found out who ox.eagle.lion.man are I realise it was in fact one the Geldof spawn, possibly two, as the other wasn't identified at the time. Peaches has been supposedly dating Fred "o.e.l.m" Macpherson for the past few years, (when she's not on the arm of Donny "get a haircut" Tourette or Noel "Why on earth would you... Courtney Love?" Fielding of course.) The band squeezed every last possible minute and more out of their set, adding 3 songs at the end when they were told they had time left for only one, leaving the roadies shaking their heads at the side of the stage.

I didn't come to see the Spree on their last tour because I felt I had possibly run my course with them. I saw them 11 times between 2002 and 2004, and then decided it was probably best to go cold turkey. It did feel like I'd abandoned the cult. Now three years on, there's a new album, and I felt it was time to renew my membership.

As is custom at both Spree and Flaming Lips gigs the Town Crier came on to introduce the band. This time with his son, who was, we were told, in hospital with a broken neck some months before but with the positive energy from the Spree and the lads own strong will had recovered to be able to join us today. So far so very cult.

After a little audience participation of shouting "Fragile Army," (could this possibly be a form of brain washing?), the town crier left to be replaced with a red band of material pulled and stretched across the stage, obscuring the view of the stage from everyone. We then waited patiently as we could hear the band warm up and play. Then in the middle of the stage a hole began to appear in the fabric as someone cut it, it slowly taking the shape of a heart. Then out popped our leader for the evening, Mr Tim Delaughter.

The curtain was removed and 23 band members were revealed. The first things I noticed was there was no theramin player, they had an apple mac, and all the backing choir looked younger and now have proper little dance routines for every song. It took until the 3rd song for me to realise they weren't wearing their white robes. They now all had Spree issue fragile army clothing.

Every song in their set seemed like a classic, or should I say cult classic... The latest album blending into their set along with oldies like 'Soldier Girl' and the song used by Sainsbury's 'Light and Day'. We were treated to a 'campfire' version of It's The Sun.

There was a break about an hour in, as members peeled off the stage one by one, finally leaving Mr Delaughter and the harpist on stage. Sometime after they'd all left there was a commotion up in the balcony. Looking up we could see a white robed procession, as Spree members made their way through the crowds. Minutes later trombonists and violinists were heading passed us towards the stage. There was then a further hour of Spree classics with a few special treats thrown in, including one Tripping Daisy song, Sonic Bloom. There was no David Bowie this time, instead we got a rendition of Nirvana's Lithium, creating a Spree happy mosh pit. All too soon it seemed the Spree were saying goodbye to us, asking us to remember them and to buy their new album.

It felt strange leaving a gig so early, but it gave us just over an hour to skedaddle and get our last train from Victoria. By some miracle we arrived at Victoria in time to get an earlier train. Rounding off a lovely evening nicely.