Well. Since I last wrote, I
have been mainly eating Sunday dinners at other people’s houses and becoming
gradually more addicted to peanut butter kit kat chunkies. I’m now, you’ll be
pleased to hear, back at my kitchen table listening to Fleetwood Mac and ready
to bring you another barrage of events and chatter.
Been to a couple of good
pubs recently. I STILL have not been to the Crown and Anchor on Brixton Road
yet and I am hankering for a visit. Hopefully this week.
At the end of April I
visited the Betsey Trotwood after a
work away day in Farringdon, and aside from being the current winner of my
ongoing personal competition for best pub name, it was a very friendly
establishment with a pleasing selection of ales. Towards the end of the
evening, one of the bar staff won my eternal affection by letting me have the
pint she’d mistakenly poured for me (Kronenberg instead of Early Bird Spring
Hop ale… don’t know how that happened). Good atmosphere and there seemed to be
some kind of gig going on downstairs. Couldn’t go in to check it out as I was
engaged in a hilarious speculative game of ‘who IS that man in the beanie hat’,
but I’d happily go back to the Betsey.
The Wenlock and Essex in Angel was also
another happy surprise. The name brought up images of the Olympic mascot
enjoying a pint with the cast of TOWIE, but it’s a really pleasing pub. I loved
the lighting in particular, little multi-coloured bulbs over the bar and all
around the roof, which was a bit theatre-pubby. I also heard rumours of a
light-up dancefloor a la the BeeGees, but didn’t manage to find it (I didn’t
really look very hard). There was also a slightly disturbing cabinet of
curiosities downstairs, which showcased a fair amount of taxidermied creatures
and an unusual odour. I enjoyed a Camden Pale Ale and ‘skin-on chips’ (they’re
everywhere these days, what you gotta do for a plain old skinless chip, eh) and
a game of ‘Why?’ with the pictures on the wall behind us (sexually ambiguous
children perched on spaniels, etc).
I also have to tell you
about the Blacksmith
and the Toffeemaker, also in Angel, which I love purely for the fact that
they sell massive and amazing scotch eggs. A scotch egg and a pint! There is no
greater happiness. I plan to return soon to sample their range of British gins.
I don’t even really like gin but I wish I did, so I’m on a mission to find at
least one brand that doesn’t make me dizzy.
 |
| Beefeater + Rosie + Jim = England |
I also hit a small real ale
stand at the canal cavalcade in Little Venice last week, where I enjoyed a pint
of Lazy Days ale and a large sausage whilst watching the genuinely brilliant Ukebox Jury play some
inspired tunes. I may have caused a small disturbance when they announced they
were about to play ‘Runaway’ by Del Shannon, as it’s one of my favourite 60s
tunes (my friend Helen will back me up on this), but I think the crowd realised
it was a gasp of appreciation rather than horror. Further highlights of the
cavalcade were queuing for candy floss on a stick with a million children and
being more excited than any of them; seeing Rosie and Jim in a tiny boat
guarded by a crazy chain-smoking old man dressed as a Beefeater; and just like,
seeing all the boats.
I also returned to the
Udderbelly garden (told you I would) to celebrate the birthdays of my lovely
friends Emz (with whom I plan to retire to Greece in our old age to run a goat
farm) and Charles (of @cakespeareuk fame). And I had a look at the Brixton windmill bank holiday parade, where I was especially impressed by the presence of an enormous whale attached to a recycling truck and a dinosaur. So good. Other than that, my main activity
recently has been buying absolutely loads of union flag bunting from Poundland
with my flatmate and sticking it up all over our flat. Reasoning being a) it looks
pretty, b) it will do for Eurovision, Jubilee AND the Olympics, and c) who
doesn’t love 9 metres of bunting for a pound.
Upcoming May events include:
-
Mystery Jets at Brixton
Academy
-
EUROVISION
-
Miike Snow also at Brixton
Yay.
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