Got an email slightly out of the blue from old buddy Nic to myself, Ralph, and Nick, saying hey let's meet up in London on Wednesday after work. Now obviously he has been watching the same "20 years of Britpop" documentaries that we all have and it's made him look back a bit to our glory days, but all credit to him, very much appreciated. So Wednesday afternoon I took the afternoon off to head up to London to meet them. Ralph still works in London, Nic is there frequently on business, and Nick is still based there so it's only me who had to travel in specially. Very much appreciated this opportunity to catch up, though feeling slightly apprehensive about a spontaneous trip into town.
Ducked out of work at lunchtime and ended up running to the train as my morning meeting over ran slightly. Spent the journey up on the high speed catching up on back issues off Beer magazine (the CAMRA publication). It only comes out every three months, don't know how I'd got so behind or why I was breaking my back carrying these around... I had a whole afternoon ahead of me in London, not meeting the chaps until 5.30, what was I to do?
First stop obviously Kings Cross / St Pancras. Did not head straight to the pub, but had a look in the shops. Thought about buying some nice looking wine there, but did not, and had a look in the toy shop. The only things I was under instruction to buy were for thing one - a cornetto and some jelly tots. I brought these back from London once (cornetto chocolate bit only, not ice cream) so each time we mention London now that is what he wants. Could I find either in the station? No.
Walked from the station vaguely in the direction I would be meeting the chaps later, from Kings Cross through Angel towards Shoreditch. Kings Cross has changed A LOT, lots of development going on, it's barely recognisable even though I have been there relatively recently. A simple walk to Angel, stopping to get a sandwich on the way - it was going to be a long day, and because my meeting over ran I did not get time to have my lunch before leaving the office. Quite a long walk so I thought I'd treat myself with a pint in Islington at the Craft Beer shop (or something like that). But it was shut, not open until 4pm, reminds me of our first failed visit to the Hole In The Wall a few weeks ago. There's a barber shop right nearby and I'm quite overdue so I nipped in for a hair cut. That went fairly well so I treated myself with a very cheap pint right after in the Angel (Wetherspoons) and then some food in the Thai takeaway next door - it's a buffet fill-a-box for a fiver type deal that I've been in before a long time ago, a great deal.
Carried on walking from there down towards Shoreditch. That walk is not one I have done a lot, but it is somehow very very familiar, as it's just about the first place I came to when I moved to London. I came up here looking for a place to live when I got the NME job, bought a copy of loot and wandered about. The walk from Angel down that road sticks in my mind, there must have been some house share that I did not take up down that way.
Close to my destination I saw The Eagle, this is the pub in Pop Goes The Weasel so I had to go in:
Half a pound of tuppeny rice Half a pound of treacle That's the way the money goes Pop goes the weasel
Every night when I go out The monkey's on the table Take a stick and knock it off Pop goes the weasel
In and out the City Road In and out The Eagle That's the way the money goes Pop goes the weasel
2.10 for half a pint, that's the way the money goes. Still a nice pub.
Met my friends in the Princess of Shoreditch and a lovely time was had by all. Disagreements about where to eat, they all basically wanted raw meat in a slaughterhouse and I was not so keen, we tried a pizza place but there was a half hour queue so we went for a curry on Brick Lane.
The evening was over far to quickly, I hope we can do it again before another ten years passes.
Writing this on the train home. Had to take my lap top with me as I was heading out from work. Will be quite a late night, especially if I walk back from Folkestone West but at least that will be a nice bit of exercise. Did not find a cornetto but managed to get the jelly tots, and some magic stars for number two son too. Sorry lover, the wine shop was shut on the way back...
Paul Clarke's blog - I live in A small town, Kent. Wed to Clare + dad to two, I am a full-stack web engineer, + I do js / Node, some ruby, other languages ect ect. I like pubbing, running, eating, home automation and other diy jiggery-pokery, history, genealogy, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and time travel.