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Published: December 16th 2008
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Next spot quiz - name the band and album quoted in the title.
Well done to Gabs Browning for correctly identifying that Geoff Woad's 20lb head was a reference to 'Withnail and I'. Your prize - such as it is - coffee with the author, and a signed first edition of the next post, tomorrow in Reading.
Anyhow. London. Very strange to come back here after so long. By the time I woke up Dee and Hosko were out at work and I had their lovely flat to myself, so it was a slow start to say the least. I wandered into Hammersmith in search of brekkie. Was pleasantly surprised to see that my UK bank card worked - it's been sat in a drawer for 4 years - but it gave me forged 20 pound notes. At least, they weren't the 20 pound notes I remembered.
It's strange the things you miss. One of them was certainly a chain of sandwich shops called Pret a Manger, which is where I found myself for a sandwich and coffee. 'More than Mozzarella' was thankfully still in production, always a favourite. I'm amazed that Pret hasn't started Australian franchises, perhaps this is something I should investigate.
Managed to track down my cousin Richard, who sadly for him has some time on his hands now as he was made redundant from Citibank 2 weeks ago. We met for a pint and lunch. His wife also worked there, and has volunteered to go, so the 2 of them are now planning a big trip for 3 months all over the place - India, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Japan as well as South Africa where Debs' family lives. I think once the dust settles he'll be really excited to have some time on his hands to make this kind of trip, but he still seems a bit shellshocked. He's worked for them for 10 years, straight out of uni, so has never known anything else in his working life.
Next up, a good walk right into town through Shepherd's Bush, Notting Hill and along the north side of Hyde Park. All very cold and gray, a very wintery day with the leaves all long gone from the trees, but nice to be wandering the city again. I guess it took about an hour to get to the top of Park Lane and the start of Oxford Street. Oxford Street it's self looked very weird to me, very different. Lots of people, happy shoppers, but the buildings and shopfronts all looked simply different. I poked my nose into a few shops, but generally kept moving East.
At this point I realised that I'm certainly no longer a local. 2 reasons.
1. You always find the women in foreign countries more attractive than those in your home country. Hence I found myself perving at London girls far more than I used to.
2. When I'm comfortable somewhere, my wallet's in my back pocket. When I'm conscious of being a tourist in an alien and busy place, my wallet's in my front pocket. I didn't even notice at first - must be a subconscious thing - but I realised that my wallet was most definitely in my front pocket.
I bought myself a book, and a gadget that will allow me to record all my old vinyl onto MP3 files when I'm at my folks house, and wandered some more, then headed for Soho to meet Dom.
He told me to find 'The Black Gardenia' on Dean Street, and that I shouldn't be scared of the man with the tattoos. It turned out to be a tiny place with blacked out windows and a black, closed, front door. I was a bit put off by this so went to the Toucan around the corner. The Toucan is known for the best Guiness in town. Marvellous!
Dom's a friend from Schooldays, a wonderfully enthusiastic character and certainly one of my more intellectual friends. First off he embarrassed me by buying me a present. It's an autobiography by Cheeta - ie the monkey from the Tarzan films, and is I'm told a very amusing read. We set about getting ourselves good and drunk, discussed lives and loves and the difficulties of keeping in touch without actually seeing each other for so many years. We went to a very cool bar for cocktails. We went to the Marquis of Granby on Rathbone Place, which is a place a few of you know from MCI days of old (Raymond - thought of you). Dom's not in London for the rest of the week, so I won't see him again while I'm here and it was hard to say goodbye knowing it could well be another 4 years.
I managed to stumble back on the tube to Shepherd's Bush, and remember where Andy and Dee live, and got there just in time for a quick nightcap with Andy. Didn't even think about writing last night.
Today - am about to meet Steve George for lunch in Chiswick, then hopefully a walk along the Thames, a trip to the Tate Modern, and a beer with Stu, Mark and Simon if they can all tear themselves away from work.
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