Category Archives: Going Out

The Church – The First Anniversary

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I hadn’t even realised it until Pauline pointed it out to me but our visit to The Church today was actually the anniversary of our first visit. Not sure if she had arranged it to be that way, if not then the timing was pretty coincidental. We also dragged along a few other people for today’s visit including James, Caz, Leah, Amelia, Dee, Sam, Stu and another friend of Leah’s who’s name escapes me for the moment. All of us Aussies, naturally, except for James who was our token English person. I had tried to invite other English people from work but none of them were brave enough to venture on to the hallowed grounds of The Church. šŸ˜‰

Entry into the Church was something like Ā£7 but Amelia somehow managed to get us into The Church for free. I reckon the guy selling drinks cards in the line took a shining too her! This was a good deal as then that money was put towards the Ā£7.50 drink cards they pre-sell you in the line prior to entry (though of course drink cards are also available inside.)

Once inside it all seemed fairly mellow at first. Not as many people drunk and disorderly early on as last year as I recall though there were some energetic dancers in particular a bunch of Kiwis just behind us. There was also some strange push-up thing happening with a bunch of some particularly younger guys nearby. Not sure what that was about – James mentioned something about a drinking game based on saying a particular word. Whatever it was funny anyway.

The camera people were on their game pretty much labelling everything and everyone on sight on the big screens. None of my photos turned out but they were really getting in some nasty labels. For some reason, and probably egged on by one girl going topless (bra included apparently) early on, whoever was on camera was obsessed with getting girls to show their wares. Like seriously obsessed. It was funny at first especially when the girl would try to run away from the camera, which of course simply followed her, but it got old fairly quickly after that. Thankfully I was in a t-shirt so no cleavage to entice the camera people with. Our bags, as usual, proved a hazard to those breaking into our dance circle. I know they just wanted to get across to the other side but still – respect the bag and coats!

Before long the entertainment started with a bit of a teaser with the first “dancer”. Female in this case and I saw tease as she mostly danced and writhed around on stage and though getting most of her kit off stopped at taking everything off once she got to her bra and undies.

We thought that was it so Pauline thought it would be funny to try and continue the theme as she kept on trying to pull our tops up. Caz and I weren’t quick enough to avoid her little hands but somehow Leah managed. Thankfully soon after that the entertainment continued with first a male “dancer” and then the same female “dancer” from before. This time it was all the way and because of both Caz and Leah’s agression we ended up right near the stage for a full frontal view so to speak.

Thankfully the entertainment wasn’t as disgusting as last year and the dancers were actually quite fit this time around. I don’t know how they feel up there on stage – I felt almost embarrassed for them. Still, I guess its a job and fairly harmless at that if you don’t mind showing the world your business.

After that it was more dancing and, for everyone else, drinking. Leah and Caz pushed their way up on to stage when things were wrapping up. Traditionally the girls on stage will take their tops off but I think the crowd were pretty conservative today so no such action on that front to the disappointment of the males in the crowd I’m sure.

Finally, after getting kicked out of The Church, we headed over to the Shebu Walkie which is apparently the traditional thing to do. I was a bit over it by that stage though, and as much as it may sound so mature of me, I had to go home and do my Sunday chores so didn’t stay long at the walkie. However, I stayed long enough to witness these two guys, one of whom was there with his girlfriend, who were absolutely hammered enough to do this for the camera:

Fun times!!

Fright Night – Halloween

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Well, I’ve been up for about an hour now and its very clear to me that partying until the early hours of the morning (3.30am by the time I got to bed to be exact) just doesn’t agree with this old body of mine anymore. I’ve got a pounding heading from the small amount of alcohol I drank last night (two very strong vodka, bitters and lemonades), I’m still slightly deaf from the music at the club, my voice is as rough as anything and well, I’m ready to get back into bed for the rest of the day! ha ha.

Leah had a friend, also from Aus but currently living in Dublin, come to stay with her this weekend so she thought we should hit the town on H-night. I’ve always wanted to do something for Halloween but it never seems like I’ve got anyone interested in dressing up with me or I’m never organised enough to sort something out for the night.

Both Leah and I ordered some costumes online at the last minute, from separate websites, as getting to a costume store was going to be difficult but unfortunately neither of our costumes arrived despite the both of us paying for priority postage. I should have looked like the pic on the left (well not so sexy and most definitely with fatter thighs and chunkier legs) but instead of my going as a Vixen Vamp I just went as ordinary me. šŸ™ Still, we were all set for a night out so a lack of costume wasn’t going to stop us.

We all got ready at Leah’s house with a few drinks and Leah knocked up some pizzas and munchies for us to snack on. Lauren was the only one of us whose costume actually turned up and though she was reluctant to be the only one out of the four of us wearing a costume we finally convinced her that everyone but us would be dressed up and that we’d be the odd ones out!

To get into the spirit of things though we all had a go with her witchy hat:

We were having so much fun at Leah’s house that it wasn’t until nearly 11.00 that we actually left to head out to a club! Getting on the tube I was so jealous of all the people in their supercool costumes – it seemed that most people were sticking to the Halloween theme of Michael-Jackson-Thriller-Esque zombie looks and we got Lauren to pose with a few of the punters. The guy in the end picture was particularly scary:

We finally decided that we were up for yet another cheeesy night out so we headed to Inferno’s in Clapham. The last time I was here was a party bus back in 2006 so its been a while since I’ve visited this notorious venue. There are two floors for dancing with the ground floor dance floor having a stage for live performers. We started upstairs but though it was relatively busy it didn’t have the atmosphere that the ground floor and its stage had.

Back downstairs Caroline got us as close to the stage as possible so we could check out Signature (from Britain’s Got Talent) doing their MJ impersonation.

I couldn’t believe how pushy people were being just to get a view of the stage! It was crazy. We stayed out on the dancefloor for a few hours (and my feet are still killing this morning by the way! )The music wasn’t too bad playing a mix of older cheesy tunes and current top 50 hits. Unfortunately the DJ seemed to repeat a few particularly anthemy type songs which was the only annoying aspect. The rest of the time he did a pretty good job on their remixes.

One minor drawback to going out on Halloween though … you just don’t know what’s lurking under all those costumes – hard to tell if someone is hot or not! šŸ˜‰

Great night out!h

Strawberry Moons

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After our dinner at Busaba Pauline thought it would be a good idea to check out some cheesy music at Strawberry Moons. Known for its sleazy drunken people after work people I was expecting it to be messy. But it actually wasn’t so bad. Surprisingly we had a really good time – music was good, people were generally in good spirits and actually a lot of people were out boogeying on the dance floor. And, not as many sleazy guys as I was expecting …

… though Caroline was not without her fair share of attention! LOL

As with all things cheese there is a stage including a pole for those drunk enough to get up and show their wares. And indeed people did get up though one lad was more adventurous than the others. He went completely bucko – very small flash of it right at the end of the clip if you really want to see it!

Clinique: Make up by the Make-Up Artists for the Celebs

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Clinique have been running a promotion in the last couple of days for a ā€œfreeā€ make-up consultation at their concession in Harvey Nichols. They also suggest you can have a consultation with Amanda Grossman, make-up artist to the stars and lead make-up artist on Britainā€™s Next Top Model, though what they donā€™t tell you that there is a Ā£10 ā€œbooking feeā€ which is then redeemable against, naturally, Clinique products. (Note that a couple of weeks ago the same promotion was running at Harrods only the ā€œbooking feeā€ in that case was Ā£15. I presume also redeemable against products.)

Both Caro and I decided it would be a nice way to spend the end of a Saturday before heading out for dinner. I must say that I wouldnā€™t have trusted the Clinique sales staff or technicians at all to handle my make-up. They seemed a little crazed and a little harried and unconcerning and actually a little fake. Amanda Grossman, on the other hand, seemed very genuine and down to earth. Considering she had probably had some very similar conversations for the last two days at least 30-40 times she was quite chatty during our make-up consultation.

Amandaā€™s clients have apparently included Cat Deeley, Kylie and Denis Van Outen. Though I didnā€™t know that until I came home and googled her. During my consultation I did want to ask what it was like working with celebrities but I didnā€™t really know that much about her so didnā€™t want to feel ignorant when I was talking with her. I did find out, however, that is a London girl through and through and that she visited Oz for about a year when she was younger and that she was quite a traveller and hippie.

As I donā€™t really wear much make-up I asked that she do me something simple and low maintenance. Oh, before this our faces were cleansed by the Clinque technicians. This seemed a rather excessive exercise when at least three products were used to cleanse my face and another two to moisturise. Overkill much! But back to the make-up. Amanda started with a tinted moisturiser (that she suggests should be coupled with your normal moisturiser as on its own is not actually sufficient to moisturise on its own.) Then started layering on what felt like heaps of foundation. Next it was some liquid eye liner, then mascara, blush on the ā€œappleā€ of my cheeks and finally painted on lip gloss and that was it. Surprisingly she didnā€™t try to do any eye-shadow. She says for her less is more which is a theory I ascribe to if not necessarily in relation to food and toys at least to my make-up!

No before and afters but here we are as the finished products:

Clinique do a little make-up face for you (on paper) so you know all the products that Amanda uses during the consultation. All the better to convince you to buy their products I guess. They also gave us a few samples of their product to play around with at home.

I was quite pleased with my make-up except perhaps for my mascara, which seemed a little overdone and later when it dried quite spidery, and maybe my foundation was a bit thicker than I would have preferred. Everything else worked fairly well I thought and Iā€™m especially looking forward to experimenting with my liquid eye liner. I also ended up walking away with the blush though sometimes I think putting that much blush on my cheeks makes me feel like Pikachu with his rosy cheeks!

Dodgems and Bowling

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Tagging along with the trainees from work once again we hit the Dodgem Cars and Bowling Lanes at the Trocadero in Picadilly Circus for a night out. The last time I went out on a dodgem car I had some young Spanish kids really gunning for me … tonight the only difference was that the kids were English!

Jenny and I decided to get in a car together which I think was much more fun because it basically gave us two rides. I didn’t time how long we were driving for but it felt like it was over just like that. Great fun.

I took the above video footage whilst Jenny was tearing around but for some reason it seems much more gentle than it actually was!

We then moved on to the bowling. I love bowling at the Trocadero – all tacky glow in the dark and ultra violet lighting and tonight they were playing some decent music. Of course the cool shoes are the bomb as well.

With fourteen of us playing over two lanes it took a surprisingly long time to get through our frames. I think it took over two hours to play two games each. As usual lots of ribbing during the game. Pauline even resorted to kicking me in the butt and screaming with laughter to distract me. ha ha. She didn’t really need to though – I could bottle it myself. In the first game I basically only had to take down a few pins to win over James C but ended up throwing down two gutter balls! The second game was a funny mix of strikes (three!) and spares (two!) and gutter balls. Strangely my best bowls were when I nearly fell over.

George IV

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It was a beautiful day today and as it was only us girls (Jenny, Rita and I) left in the office we decided to make a trip up to Chiswick to find somewhere for lunch. As we couldn’t decide we ended up in the George IV.

Many of the pubs in Chiswick have gone down the route of the gastro so its nice to walk into a pub like the George IV and still get a .. well a pub! We should have been adventurous and gone for a table in the beer garden but opted for a seat near the window instead. I was happy with this as then I could stare all I like at the cute English bulldog that was near the bar.

Such a sucker for a cute stocky dog!

Food is very reasonably priced at this pub and great portions and good taste. No microwave meals here methinks. My only complaint – getting charged Ā£1.50 for a pint of tap water and squash. Could have walked across the road and picked up a whole bottle of squash for that price!

Sunday Meal at Caro’s and Nate’s

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Caro and Nate had me over for a Sunday meal today – and we couldn’t have picked a better Sunday to have a home-cooked meal and while away the afternoon with a DVD. I love going over to their house (even if its all the way in Zone 3 – ha ha) because Caro always cooks the perfect meal. Today is a was some really nice sausages with a gorgeous potato dish and amazing gravy. Once again she delivered. She even followed it up with a nicely baked chocolate cake. Mmmm …

Afterwards we settled down in front of their gigantic tv to watch Doomsday. I wasn’t expecting to be very impressed with the movie even though it features Rhona Mitra, who used to model as Lara Croft, and Bob Hoskins. But the movie was a pleasant surprise – it didn’t take itself too seriously and as a result had some really hilarious moments. Its a bit Resident Evil, a bit 28 Days Later, a whole lot of action. Good simple fun.

Visiting the Newlyweds

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Three and a half months ago James C and I visited Akhlaq’s pad in Watford and this is what we found:

Now Batool has moved in and Akhlaq’s fridge is like any anywhere in London – stocked to the brim! LOL

On this visit Batool cooked up a nice lunch for me. It was so delicious I had two servings!! Probably could have eaten more but didn’t want to eat them out of house and home. Mmmm …

We also watched one of their wedding videos. Lots of footage was captured of things going on at their first reception that I didn’t even realise had happened so it wasn’t boring at all. Flicked through their wedding albums as well – thankfully I didn’t need to wear glovs to see them! LOL

Then, seeing as how it was such a nice day, we went to our favourite Watford haunt Top Golf! First time Batool has played golf apparently and though Akhlaq did kind of try to instruct her she seemed to have a natural talent for it.

Night at the Empire

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D arranged for a few of us to hit the Empire tonight. Although the others didn’t want dinner D and I were a little peckish so we headed to FuLushou for a bit of a snack. The last time I came to the Empire I said I would try the dessert at FuLushou but I forgot and instead when for a Pad Thai! Oops. It was still delicious however and surprisingly spicy.

The Empire was fairly buzzing tonight. They’d changed the casino a bit since the last time we came here, switching the tables around but mainly the difference being that table minimums at the blackjack tables going from Ā£5 to Ā£10. As a result I ended up doing what I don’t normally do – playing roulette. If there’s a sure way to lose money its on the roulette table. However, having said that I still had a lot of fun even if I lost my money! I hooked up with this young cute boy and we were doing lots of cringe-worthy things like hi-fiving when we won, betting on each others numbers etc.! Had a great time.

Girl’s Night Out at Belowzero

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Nimet and Pauline arranged for a girl’s night out at Belowzero. No we didn’t go into the funky (and over-priced) ice bar but we did dine in the Belowzero restaurant. Surrounded by pictures of the Northern Lights the restaurant’s food is similarly Scandinavian themed with dishes on the menu including reindeer though in the main the dishes are European.

We had a summer menu on offer tonight so no reindeer but it was very good. I was impressed with the service with our waiter being quite friendly. He was darn good lookin’ too! LOL