Saturday had a trip out without the kids! Don't tell them we went to London will you they will never forgive us...
Started off with a birthday party for one of number two son's friends, in a school hall in Palmarsh. Entertainment was from Dance With Daisy which he used to do at nursery, so that was a nice flashback. After the party racing straight back to a handover then on the high speed to London. Actually changed at Stratford this time, though go the full ticket to St Pancras as it was only 15p different and we're sure to want to come back that way. This gave Clare a chance for a very quick shop in Fat Face, the shopping centre was unpleasantly hectic. This could have been pub time, so quick to Liverpool Street by new modern train line. Is this the Elizabeth Line / Crossrail?
Went to our fist pub when we eventually got to Old Street. Should have been quicker to get there but it's been a while and we just didn't figure out where we were going. The Reliance was nice, a proper pub but still a bit trendy, then to Busaba where we met Emma for a Thai meal, also very good. Then to the Dragon to meet the band who had done their soundcheck. We were in town for Istanbul Hippodrome, Dom and Trevor's band, and I was a bit apprehensive. They make mostly electronic music, but when they play live it was a lot more guitar based, so I enjoyed it. I was also apprehensive about the venue, I had only heard bad things online about it being super expensive for drinks. However after I'd had a couple then six pounds for can seemed reasonable. I guess avoiding the cocktails helped, maybe it's those that tip the prices up even further.
We saw a few other bands, as it was a multiband line-up, and none of the line-up really had anything in common with any of the others. First up was an Ed Sheerin type solo guitar singer, then a pleasant indie band with a violin from Cardiff. Then Istanbul Hippodrome, an entirely different level of sound. Then a laddish band from Glasgow, I liked the music, sounded like 60ft Dolls to me but they had real Oasis stylings. Then last was dreadful, they looked good but I guess they couldn't hear the sounds they were making. Dom and Trevor said it was hard to tell from the stage.
What do you know we did come back via St Pancras! Was probably quicker than the way we got there, short walk to Old Street then direct to Kings Cross. Got dirty junk food before getting on the train home, a nice quick journey and then an extravagant taxi ride the rest of the way home...
Paul Clarke's blog - I live in Hythe in Kent. Wed and father to two, I am a full stack web engineer, + I do js / nodejs, some ruby, python, php etc. I like pubs, parkrun, eating, home automation + other diy stuff, history, genealogy, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.