Firetop

Valentine’s Day – a day of love, romance and kissing… lots of kissing if London is anything to go by; come early evening the Tube was jammed with couples kissing on platforms and in carriages… not snogging, just repeatedly kissing each other and whispering sweet nothings – all quite nauseating. Suzie_Q and I were off to the Royal Opera House to see the opening night of Madama Butterfly – a Christmas present I bought my wife… to be received on Valentine’s Day – see what I did? Genius This was our first outing to the opera… and I can also safely say it will be our last. (more…)

As I type this evening there’s a new addition to my left hand - a wedding ring blessed by god and placed there by my new wife Suellen. Yesterday’s church ceremony went perfectly, the reception was great, hundreds of friends and family showed up, my speech seemed to be well received… and my usual rendition of Engelbert Humperdinck went down a storm. It’s true what they say about your wedding day being the best of your life - it exceeded both of our expectations by a mile. (more…)

As we sadly come to the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays, I thought I would post some secretly filmed footage of a family argument taking place over a game of Trivial Pursuit (90s edition). In scenes I suspect were repeated all across the country at this time of year, a row broke out over the answer to ’What is a glass of Red Wine a day good for?’ - the official answer ‘The Heart’… the answer given ‘Heart Disease’. As the answer didn’t match what was on the card a row broke out, see the video footage on the links below. They’re taken from my phone so not the best quality but they made it onto youtube anyway. (more…)

Last Thursday evening it was time to see if my party planning skills matched up to the task of organising the company Christmas do at Guanabara in London (Holborn). With over 300 attendees eating one of six different set menus over two sittings, plus multiple pre-paid drink vouchers to use for the rest of the evening, the administration alone was a major headache! However, the management at Guanabara were exceptionally efficient which made all the difference. I admit to being slightly concerned regarding the unquestioning attitude of the Guanabara staff during the preparations, but as my Brazilian colleague explained “only you British panic over small detailsâ€?… and I think we were pretty well prepared ourselves anyway. (more…)

So other than telling Suzie_Q to meet us at the ‘Pig and Whistle’ (don’t know where I got that from) last night’s Thanksgiving celebration for an American colleague went smoothly. The Whistle and Flute in Putney did their usual Thanksgiving meal of turkey, beans, mash and yams with mini-marshmallows, and pumpkin pie for dessert. In addition they showed the NFL on the TVs and gave us a quiz to name the 43 presidents of America to win a bottle of house wine. Luckily, despite only naming 28 presidents (we didn’t cheat with WAP this year), I realised on the way home that the final bill was unexpectedly low… they forgot to charge us for two bottles of Pinot Grigio saving us £30! A welcome Thanksgiving present, and due entirely to their inefficient waiting staff I suspect.

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After a few hours spent in Waxy’s Little Sister my fellow drinkers and I moved on to O’Neill’s on the opposite side of Wardour street. Gaining entrance (beneath a large and confusing Ladbrokes sign) proved bizarre. As we all trooped in one of the doorman stopped the last three of us and said “you can’t go inâ€?. “Why notâ€? came our obvious reply, “You ain’t with them, I’ve seen you three hanging around here for ten minutesâ€?… I think my response of “OK sure no problem, let me just call the ten people who just went in and we’ll all leaveâ€? seemed to prove a point as doorman number two said “Go on inâ€? to which I laughed. “This ain’t no laughing matter sonny this is serious businessâ€? said the original looney doorman. I’m not sure what he’d been smoking, perhaps his wife had given him a beating before he left for work and he needed to reassert his ‘authority’. (more…)

On Saturday evening Suzie_Q and I went out for drinks in London to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The chosen venue was Waxy’s Little Sister on Wardour Street in Soho. This is a small bar opposite Waxy O’Connor’s (a much larger bar of the same chain in which we later tried to get a drink… but gave up due to the sheer weight of people inside). Waxy’s Little Sister isn’t particularly large, but upstairs they do at least have a comfy seating area which we invaded and occupied. I don’t remember there being any music played in the bar, conversation was easy. If anything musical should have been played I’d have recommended whale songs; the ceiling décor reminded me very much of Weymouth Sea Life Centre. (more…)

On Friday I went for lunch with a colleague to Canal 125 on Caledonian Road, it’s another bar/restaurant I’ve been frequenting for a number of years - since it was known as Babushka’s. Usually I go there for the amazing starter dish - chicken ‘bang bang’ - which comes with cucumber and peanut chilli sauce, unfortunately it has been discontinued which was disappointing; the waitress said it wasn’t very popular (which I find surprising). However, the butternut squash soup I had instead was a nice alternative, the lamb shank with parsnip mash and crisps was cooked to perfection and delicious. (more…)

Last night I attended the Autumn Reception of the ‘Academic and Professional Division’ of the Publishers Association (there’s a mouthful!). The evening featured a guest appearance from the Shadow Minister for Higher Education – Boris Johnson. Boris was his usual cheeky self but this time not commending parents on feeding junk food to their children through playground fences. I felt very much that he had modelled himself on TV detective ‘Columbo’ – portraying himself as a man who isn’t really with it, blundering his way through a speech as required… but beneath it all being completely switched on. In his speech to the fifty or so of us present at the Royal Society, Boris made one thing completely clear – he isn’t scared of Google despite what some academics in the room had discussed with him prior to his visit to the lectern. (more…)

I’ve dined at Smithy’s in Leeke Street, more than twenty times in the past six years, consequently it really deserves an entry on this blog. I found the perfect excuse yesterday when my colleagues and I went there for lunch to celebrate the arrival of two of our American counterparts. Smithy’s has both a main bar area for those requiring a liquid lunch, and a separate restaurant area for those with rumbling stomachs. They have a fairly decent menu, with various offerings such as pork medallions, chilli prawns, pumpkin soup etc. However, you just can’t beat their burger and chips; as one of my fellow diners commented yesterday ‘I think that’s the best burger and chips I ever had’. What makes the dish so much better at Smithy’s is the presence of ‘fat chips’ and home made burgers – none of your factory cut potatoes or meat here. On a Monday it’s unlikely you’ll need to make a reservation, but it’s a definite requirement for those visiting on a Thursday or Friday. (more…)