Nice start to Thursday night

Just before lunch I drove over to Chunky’s. He works on the railway in and around Bradford and had offered to look after my car while I took the train to London. With typical northern generosity, his mum foisted tea, cake and biscuits on me as I waited for him. He then insisted on paying for my lunch in town before dropping me at the station.

The journey down was uneventful and a couple of hours later I stepped off the carriage and onto the platform at King’s Cross. A short tube ride later and I was at Andy’s flat where I got to meet his girlfriend (and now fiancee) for the first time. Shalene is crude, contentious, stubborn and lacking in shame. So – pretty cool, then.

I was in perfect time for dinner and we headed for the Grand Union along the road where I indulged in their “hot” Fired Earth burger loaded with chillis. It wasn’t bad at all. The cocktails I washed it down with were rather tasty also.

Next stop was the Stinging Nettle where there were only a few teams for the pub quiz. It was pretty tight with only 6 points or so between the six teams and we came in around the halfway mark. Andy and Shalene managed to get gree drinks in the tiebreaker rounds, too.

The Thursday was a lazy day. I had a slight lie in and then met Ben for lunch by the Lyric Theatre. It was a lovely day as we sat and caught up. Last time I’d met ben was for drinks one night in Melbourne a year or so ago – we originally met in Hanoi.

Helen picked me up from there in the mid-afternoon along with one of her friends. Also in the car was her friend’s 13-week old son who’d just had a cast put on his leg. I ended up baby sitting him while the two ladies had a natter and Helen tidied her flat up for her birthday party.

The party itself was a giggle even though I only knew two people there, but it’s always nice to chat to new folk.

I was walking back to Andy’s later on when I bumped into Shalene at the bus stop. I ended up joining them to go bowling… only they alley had just closed! Instead, we walked around the corner to the Tiroler Hut where we sank a couple of very large drinks while what seemed like the entire Australian population of London (bar Ben) sang very bad karaoke.

And then to Andy’s and to bed. I had an earlyish train to get back to Bradford in the morning.

A short trip, but as ever an enjoyable one. Sorry to those I didn’t get a chance to see and there are quite a few of you. Next time!