my own private hidey-hole

i suppose the other side of the going-out-too much dilemma, is that you get to do lots of excellent things and see lots of excellent people.

there has been an awful lot of eating and drinking in the world of shewho over the past few days.

thursday was where it all began, with a quadruple booking. oh noes! decisions to be made! in the end i popped along to the hideaway for the lovely my_name_is_anna's birthday celebrations. drank some wine. chatted with some folk. agreed to attempt to play rubbish trumpet on a record, and swap trumpet tuition for drum tuition. felt very productive! marvellous.

journeyed on to the faltering fullback up in ewok village, to say hello to a temporarily southern billywhizz and people. excellent to see you nick, and wheee, surprise al and davina too, bonus!

very impressively stuck to my plan of only 4 glasses of wine all evening. 10 / 10.

***

friday was the usual quiet day at work. i had a lunch date with a colleague at the capital kebab shop. don't judge me, there's more. whilst waiting (AGES damn you m!) for him to meet me outside i befriended a middle aged parisian, who's friend was also delayed, and who repeatedly tried to take me out for posher lunch and / or drinks. bless.

but OH MY GOD. the capital kebab shop (on the cut, se1) does the most amazing mixed grill EVER. at least 6 types of meat, i think. chips (or rice). salad. pitta. you never need eat again! very tasty. very unhealthy. a treat for rare occasions. i failed to finish mine. i'm actually hungry just thinking about it. mmmmm.

it may have been a foolish day to eat out for lunch, because that evening found me back at the fullback for a tasty gin, before heading to petek to celebrate atommickbrane's birthday. more delicious food! i couldn't actually face any more meat, so plumped for a king prawn, fish and melon dish. also DELICIOUS. petek is bargainous and tasty, and they give you free booze and sweets if it's someone's birthday. lovely little place. i see what the fuss is about!

OBVIOUSLY we returned to the fullback for more drinking, finding extra people still saving the table. OBVIOUSLY the coolest thing to do is draw top rock stars on each other's bodies in marker pen. you all need to see the picture of the kiss ARM-y. you really do. they OBVIOUSLY kept singing songs throughout the evening, leading to curious looks from another table. which OBVIOUSLY led to me going over to explain / demonstrate.

"you're quite eccentric, aren't you?" said the curious chap. no dear, drunk.

"give us a kiss greg? what does that mean?" asked blinking TIM KEY pointing at my other arm. ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... oh dear.

(sod it, let's get into edinburgh practice....)
excellent drawings on arm = many.
comedians drunkenly annoyed = 2. (aforementioned key and basden. oh dear. at least i didn't say anything to superhans, right?)

tried to get home. honestly, i did.

woke up somewhere in edmonton. AGAIN.

started talking to random handsome young wasted chap at bus stop. continued talking all the way to stamford hill. bus saved possible scary incidents. i shouldn't be allowed drink.

snuck into d's expecting him to be out all night so i wouldn't look like a nightbus LOSER who couldn't get home if she tried. FAIL, he was there. whoops.

***

saturday dawned too early for my poor hungover head. whinged a bit. ordered pizza. got home, in time to set off to coventry for the big NOAH wrestling event at the skydome.

got there early enough to meet up with firemasque and darkship in the old windmill, and sample their rather peculiar lamb / mint and MAYONNAISE baguettes. ace to see j&k, obv.

the event itself was a little bit disappointing for me. none of the one-on-one matches grabbed my attention. tag-teams where better. much better. in fact, the highlight was the bumblebee team (ok, i can't remember their names but they were dressed in black and yellow) who where amazingly good. high flying stuff that makes me grin. plus extra hitting hard for bonus marks. then there was yone, who can do whatever he wants with that fantastic afro, hell yeah! and the main event, featuring misawa and kobashi (look, some names i know!) featured the most supreme chopping action i've seen in a long while.

my favourite bits of the day, mind, were seeing everyone's faces as dave morales (not that one) came into the ring, justifying my earlier comment that he was "the ugliest person in the WORLD". and trying to scam beer of the noisy gay chap behind me, and what i assume to be his boyfriend, only to be introduced to alex shane who was sitting behind them. i appear to have confessed to have followed the fwa and ipw, and he was genuinely touched, aw, bless.

it was also excellent to see kathbad, secret wrestling fan! though too brief. boo. better organising net time? (also, check out my 'wrestling' tag for more lycra shennanigans.)

***

sunday i cracked out my trumpet for a bit and attempted the marseilles. i'm not as rusty as i thought! my poor baby trumpet is though. and i realised i have NEVER named it. i think it needs a name.

WHAT SHALL I CALL MY TRUMPET, people?

anyway, sunday was lovely. absolutely lovely. you all know that. sunny with a gorgeous breeze. we went exploring the local area. finally.

met up with megan down by the anchor and hope on the river side. what an excellent, tiny, old man's pub. anywhere that has one plate of pickled onions, and one plate of cheese and crackers out as bar snacks wins with me!

we all then wandered along the side of the river to markfield park and victorian mayhem, to hang out in the sun with a bunch of chums, drink cider and sangria, and soak up the atmosphere and dub. so relaxing, so good to have local festival things going on!

the museum there is actually really interesting too. declan and i got collared by a chap who obviously runs his life around the museum and pump engine. i love old guys in tiny museums like that. he told us it's history, how it works, all sorts. actually interesting! and they've got funding to get it up and working again. i'd love to see that.

as hunger took hold, we hit the river path again, and megan took us, along with chris and ally to the ferry boat inn. i've lived in e17 for YEARS and failed to go there. not so any more! lovely beer garden, pretty pub, tasty, tasty filling food and more condiments than even i need. somehow, after drinks and pudding and losing repeatedly at uno it was closing time. whoops!

home, then OMG doctor who before falling into a hugely contented sleep.

***

i'd like more days like yesterday, please.

***

monday: booking tickets for restaurants is the new booking tickets for popular gigs. criminy!

things i watched this weekend
♥ zodiac - mediocre serial killer film based on a real life serial killer from the end of the sixties. forgettable.
♥ the hammer - midlife crisis boxing comedy. occasionally mildly amusing, mostly a bit irritating. i had a weep at the end.
♥ some of shallow hal - a million times better than i expected, but jeez my expectations were terribly low to start with.
♥ doctor who - excellent episode proving you don't need special effects and other such japery to hold the attention.

***

things i did this weekend
♥ slept a lot.
♥ loafed a lot.
♥ celebrated wardytron's birthday by picnicing in his and fille_a_paris's garden and the lovely marble hill park close by.
♥ visited tasty cheese shop of joy.
♥ got ID'd in oddbins. sweet!
♥ rode a bike for the first time since i was 11! it's true what they say. you don't forget how to ride a bike. you *do* forget how to do corners, and it's a little petrifying, especially with a moleintheground chasing after you. dare i investigate getting my own?
♥ got a little over-inebriated and weepy. sorry folks!
♥ forgot to call it a night and accidentally stayed up too late nattering with dawnage and orangerick.
♥ slept a lot more.
♥ whinged.
♥ dragged self to the open air theatre in regents part for the yearly daniel kitson and gavin osborne show. a second half of 1hr 45m???? ARGH. failed to get in until half 12 or so.
♥ it was totally worth it.

***

how i feel today
♥ headache-y.
♥ throat shredded. (i was singing again, right?)
♥ in need of LOTS more sleep.

***

(and just so i don't forget, on thursday i played some poker. not very well, if i'm honest, but then there was wine. managed 4 / 6 on the first game, and was knocked out first in the second on a very unlucky all in. wah. still, i blame the new person and scarily repeatedly demonstrated beginners luck.....)