Bright Lights

The bright lights of London - Euston Tap

It’s been another busy week as the inevitable party chaos of Christmas descends – thus time for a pythonesque list of things done.

Monday was Ruth’s birthday but she was working a long day in the hospital so I prepared instead by hitting Oxford St, bringing back a surprise (nowhere to hide presents in our flat!) and having a proper beef & ale stew waiting on the table for when she got home.

On Tuesday Dan popped up in London – fancy a beer? The Gunmakers and Euston Tap provided plenty of entertainment in the form of quality beer.

By Wednesday it was time to take Ruth out for a proper birthday dinner. Queue Queens steakhouse. It was very good though sadly not very full. Could be a symptom of limited promotion – their own website simply states ‘coming soon’ and you’ve no idea about what treats lie in store until you arrive.

Thursday saw a work xmas do where after some great food at Kym’s of Pimlico we decamped to the excellent Cask.

On Friday, Ruth was back at work.  This left me free to go check out Mason & Taylor in Shoreditch and then write about it. And then leg it to the Euston Tap / Bree Louise to catch up with another work party.

And thus that left the weekend for R&R. Well, best get onto the Sunday chores…

Snow cycling

No cycling for me during the snow!

With the recent weather, I’ve seen loads of blog posts about cycling in the snow. I did nothing of the sort – not really because of the snow but more because I was busy at Pigs Ear 2010 and the Arcade Fire gig at the O2. However, anecdotally it seems that the snow hasn’t put the borisbikers off in town. Whilst I didn’t have any gloves I wasn’t going to fight that cold wind…

Arcade Fire was quite cool. A good show with some great music but the O2 really is so impersonal and corporate I’m not sure I’d go again. Up in level 4 most people seemed to care more about getting a pint of fizzy piss mass produced lager and a hotdog that in the band. Given how steep the banking and the distance away from the stage that’s hardly surprising. I guess I need to start paying attention to new bands again and get out to the smaller venues…and it was worth setting my expectations low beforehand – having seen Arcade Fire once before I wasn’t too fussed about actually seeing the people!

Entirely gratuitous - a shot from Glastonbury 2007 whilst waiting for Arcade Fire

Lastly this week the London Assembly has produced it’s first report on the cycle hire scheme and superhighways.  Called Pedal Power, there’s some serious questions for the Mayor, as well as some general observations – cycle hire works for people as it’s inexpensive and flexible, cycle superhighways doesn’t really work for people as it’s just another bit of paint on the road. Maybe some segregation might work better? Just an idea…

Sunday Cycling Sunday

Been a very quiet weekend this weekend. Bit of shopping, bit of reading, bit of watching tele – the usual downtime activities. Once the weather brightened up this afternoon though I couldn’t stop in – so I hit the road on my bike and headed up towards Woodford, eventually reaching Buckhurst Hill (about 4¼ miles – 6.8kms) before turning back (admittedly, cheating a little by using the tube).

I hadn’t realised how much the landscape changes as you head deeper into the Epping Forest. The roads towards the north east are a constant climb – 276 feet in 3.42 miles. Only an average 1.5% grade but enough to wear me out a little.

Woodford Green

On the green at Woodford, there was a cricket match in progress.

Cricket on the green

Cricket on the green II

Back towards home I managed to spot the latest lot of duckings on Eagle Pond.

Ducklings and mummy duck! (next to the pond scum)

Though the signets seemed to have disappeared… however the crown court looks even better when the sun is shining.

Snaresbrook Crown Court/Eagle Pond

SNOWPOCALYPSE

Yes, it’s been awfully silly weather the last few weeks, so here are some photos!

What the bloody hell are you waiting for? It’s cold!

The stop might have been frozen, but the buses kept on working this time…

Eagle Pond is frozen. It usually has an ‘oasis’ of water – around which the birds congregate. Since the water is in a different place each day I don’t know why it forms where it does!

With thanks to Billy (@cowfish) for the title of this post!

Pies, Peppers and Proper Comedy

Wanstead Pie Shop – Still Not Open

Ruth and a Large Pepper

Teenage Cancer Trust Presents

Noel Fielding @ Royal Albert Hall

Not much on lately really. The pie shop in Wanstead disappointed hasn’t opened yet, but I did get to buy this enormous Red pepper in the shop. See. It really was a no-news kind of a week.

Sunday night we went to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Teenage Cancer Trust comedy gig. Pretty good. Highlights included were Sean Lock, Noel Fielding and someone called Jack (possibly Whitehall?) who I hadn’t heard of before. Horne and Corden were passable* as compares and the lovely Lauren Laverne hosted.

*They even did some comedy. It wasn’t awe inspiring but it could have been a lot worse.

Do not pass go

Yes, today was interesting! Ruth got up really early to go to the gym. About an hour later, she’d made it as far as Leytonstone – one stop down the line towards London. So sensibly, I decided I’d log on and find out about working from home…

A lunch time I took a break and walked up the village centre where I grabbed a few photos and ingredients for a nice warm cooked breakfast. Mmmm.

More photos available at http://alansrandomness.fotodock.co.uk/c1647257.html

First Snow

The view from our front room

Wanstead has had a fair dusting tonight. I’ve never experienced the tube in the snow so tomorrow might be interesting…