London's Burning

On the downside the weekend is over and i've got the Monday blues. On the upside, the weekend was probably one of the best ever!

I took a half day on Friday, and at 18:04 we were on the train to London. (Damo, Cags, me and Jayboy). Met everyone at the Travelodge Waterloo and the evening began. We travelled to Shepherds Bush to the Sufi Persian Restaurant, it was amazing! Our journey there was not so amazing - huge weirdo rasta spouting utter gubbins at the very nice lady sat next to us on the bus saying things like "You sound like a young lady but you look like a old lady", "You have very soft hands" and "Is that your girlfriend, waheeeyyy!!" to the man opposite made for a very uncomfortable journey. Only in London, aye.

We got to the Sufi, a small but busy restaurant. Dad had to have the obligatory Salad Oliveh which wasn't quite like Shirins but we made do - it was lovely all the same! We had a selection of starters and some freshly baked flatbread, sooooo good having only eaten a bag of frazzles all day. Then we just simply had the 'Sufi for 6' Caroline with her veggie whatsit and Abby has the well done Lamb so's not to upset the baby :)I can only describe it as a massive plate of MEAT. The rice was lush, the meat was lush, all in all very lush. Adam had a quality photo with 'Adam's Café', naturally and then we made our way home. We were all soooooo tired and I was asleep within minutes on a surprisingly comfy bed. Good times!

Saturday we started our day by going to EAT. on Southbank. A quick brekkie stop, a place which i'd been to before for lunch when i'd been at IBM Southbank. I will always remember it for Kevin Walkers 'Salty Dog' crisps. Jay had as he describes 'The best chocolate milk ever' so this made his morning. We then hit the IMAX cinema to watch Tron. It was nothing short of incredible. I really really REALLY enjoyed it and so did Mum, who said several times she can't believe she enjoyed it as it's not really her sort of film. It's made me want to dress up as Tron for fancy dress with a funny disc on my back if nothing else. Although to be honest it's also made me day dream about how cool it would be to pull out some sort of stick to make it into a motorcycle of sorts. What a great way to get around!

So anyway, after Tron we went up the OXO Tower and had drinks! Bumped into Sarah Way, who isn't 'Way' anymore but I don't actually know her married name....oopsy. So we had a drink with them which was lovely. Dad was adamant the tower was moving but I literally think he's just made that up in his head. We stayed up there for around an hour and then headed over to Soho to Revolution! Free cocktails all round and then 2 for 1! It was wicked except for the girl chucking up in the loo next to me. It was 6PM lady, pull yourself together! I felt mega uncomfy walking to the Spaghetti house after that :/ Got there safely though and had another immense meal. Calamari, followed by Gamberini which sounds like a dodgy footballer however, it was actually some linguine tiger prawn goodness with chilli and garlic. Hmm Mm! We popped into the Porter House in Covent Garden just after spag house and it was the busiest place ever in the world. Never felt so claustrophobic in my life. There was a cool band playing but we left at about 11:30, the girls were tired, and let's face it I was knackered! We hadn't been back to the hotel all day so I wanted to jump in the shower when we got back. A shower, a cuddle and some TV was all I was askin', but nooooo some pyro queen had to set fire to Room 208 and do a runner aye!! I'm in a towel, wet hair and the alarm starts going off. Exactly like the alarm in AGA's student halls - not something I wished to be reminded of! Alarm was intermittent so I poked my head of wet hair out of the door to see a very sleepy lady doing the same thing 2 doors down. We were all thinking the same, "Get this alarm off and let us sleep" (Or at least watch MOTD). Little did we know there was an actual fire! Lesson learnt there, never assume it's not a fire! I suppose we should have gathered that when we realised it was 1am. I chucked on a pair of jeans, shirt and a cardi. Won't bother putting a bra on, naaa we won't be out there THAT long. ONLY A SODDING HOUR! Dad stupidly didn't put any shoes on, we got outside and the full blown fire brigade are there with hoses and fire proof jackets all ready to fight the beasty fire. Damien joked that he'd set the fire off with his monopoly Iron, he actually has the offending article in his pocket, naughty! The scene was about 100 odd people stood on Waterloo Road in dressing gowns and pajamas. Dad was complaining of hypothermia or some other issue that was never going to materialise, so they pulled over a 453 bus which was not in service so we could all sit on it for warmth and semi-comfort. After a long old wait we were finally let back in and managed to get to sleep about 2:30, apparently the alarm went off again around 4am for somebody smoking in their room? Lucky for them I was in a coma so did not get out of bed to burn their eyes out with the offending stick.

After that eventful night, we left the hotel at 10:45 on Sunday and went to 'The Table' for brunch. It was dead posh and the menu looked amazing - but sadly I think I chose the wrong thing on the menu :( Bad times. All the same is was a lovely place and I would definitely go back! Jay and I had to be back by 6 for Willingtons birthday celebrations at Frankie and Benny's and bowling but before this we all went to the Science Museum which was most interesting. My favourite section was the Human Body which had a machine which made me 'Very male' by taking a picture and tweeking certain aspects of my face - hideous! We left at 4ish and arrived home safely at 5:30 - speedy! Had a lovely sleep on the way home to recharge my batteries and off we went out at 6. F&B's was delish, Calamari (again), BBQ Ribs and a Cinnamon Waffle - tasty! I've always been a bit hit and miss at bowling but I managed to win the first game with 127 points and trail behind in 3rd on the second game with 90. My finger is feeling poorly today, I am definitely not throwing it right, owie.

So basically I love the family so much and it was a joy to be away with them all, never fail for a good time! Here's to all the other times to be had with the little babies included :)