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Try to pretend you don't want one of these tweed caps.

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

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Recent Entries:: Sans Soleil
More Beers with the Young Frenchman
A Night Out with a Young Frenchman
Sangria
John Goes to the Opera (and hates it!)
Entertaining Dignitaries
May Bank Holiday
Chie's Birthday
Smithfields Karaoke
Quiet Friday
Andy
Work Night Out
Japan vs Scotland Whisky Tasting
Kym's
Lazy Sunday
Rob and Kate and Spamalot
Entertaining Again
Belgian Beer
Wednesday
Planning an Operation

Sans Soleil: [Sunday 11th May]
Had a fairly quiet day and a deliberate break from any kind of alcohol (although I'd had no hangover to speak of the last couple of days). Spent the morning messing around with the computer, and then in the afternoon we went out to do a spot of shopping. Although we didn't really buy anything - had a late lunch at Ed's Easy Diner and that was about it.

In the evening back at the flat we watched Sans Soleil, a very "arty" film from the 1980s which we'd had recommended to as it has lots of footage of Japan. The Japanese footage was very interesting, but I really couldn't work out what the hell was going on in the narrative of the film itself. Still, I suppose it's OK sometimes to just like the way something looks without actually "getting it".

Weekly New Year's Resolution Update:

1) Doing stuff in London. Pretty good - went to the opera (and hated it!) on Tuesday, plus spent big chunks of the weekend eating and drinking out in town.

2) Seeing old friends. Well no-one this week, but the original goal was twice a month I did do quite well on this front last week.

3) Exercise bike. Now I bet you're expecting to read that I put this off again aren't you? Well no! Remembering that the consultant had told me to just carry on with life as usual - including exercise, I did two short bursts this week. For the stats nerds among you, I did ten minutes in each session (I didn't want to overdo it to start with), the first one I did 4.3km and burnt 86.1 calories, the second I did 4.7km and burnt 94.3 calories.
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More Beers with the Young Frenchman: [Saturday 10th May]
Somehow towards the end of last night me and my colleague had decided it would be a good idea to meet up for lunch and a few more beers this afternoon. I'm not quite sure how we arrived at that - I think he had nothing in particular to do, and neither did I given that Chie had planned to meet up with some friends.

So we met up at Covent Garden just before 1, as I had a hankering to go my favourite Mexican restaurant - Cafe Pacifico. I had the Quesada Grande which was even better than I remember it - and washed it down with, somewhat to my embarassment, a strawberry daiquiri (as the old saying goes - when in Papalotla de Xicohténcatl, do as the, err, people who live there do).

Following that we had a nice laid back afternoon meandering between pubs with no particular agenda - including the Portherhouse, the Lamb and Flag and finally the Pontefract Castle.

I headed back home in time for dinner, Chie had made an eclectic sort of Japanese meal with rice, miso soup, a Japanese omelette, some home made inari sushi and a few other bits and pieces.
[2 comments]
A Night Out with a Young Frenchman: [Friday 9th May]
Went along to the usual end-of-the-week beer and pizza, and at the end of it once everyone else had just gone home it was just me and the young French guy who works on my team, both of us with nothing really better to do. Chie was out for the evening at her Hiroshimakenjinkai, and my diminutive Parisian comrade seemed keen to go for another couple of drinks.

So the two of us ventured out from the office. The immediate area around where we work isn't exactly overflowing with great pubs, so we eventually found ourselves wandering all the way into the city centre. Our first stop was The Ship and Shovell, which is becoming a bit of a favourite of mine. It was very lively here, with merrimakers thronging the alley way between the two halves of this nice little pub.

We then decided we were both hungry, and so I hit upon the idea of taking my Gallic friend to have okonomiyaki - not surprisingly his first time to try this less well known of Japanese cuisines. So off we went to Abeno Too, which was jolly nice as always. As always in Japanese restaurants of late I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to practice my Japanese on the staff.

Given that we'd left the office quite late, and spent a fair while walking into the centre, by the time we'd finished dinner it was gone 11. However I was determined not to be beaten by the usual imposed end-of-the-evening due to the fact that (despite the change in the licensing laws) most pubs still close at 11. So we went in search of a pub that was still open, and given that we were right in the centre of London this proved to be actually relatively straightforward. Alas I don't recall the name of the establishment, but it was a perfectly decent normal sort of a pub, and I thoroughly approved.
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Sangria: [Thursday 8th May]
There are only so many summery drinks one can enjoy out in the open air. Having already had Pimm's and champagne recently, and not being particularly in a gin and tonic sort of mood, I decided tonight to have a go at making sangria.

It was a very rough approximation - basically some red wine, ginger ale, orange juice, ice, a spoonful of sugar and some slices of lime. Sounds a bit odd but it was actually quite nice.

We enjoyed the finished product out in the gardens, which was very pleasant indeed.

For dinner we had some fresh pasta I'd picked up in Waitrose the other day (mushroom ravioli). I'd forgotten how good their fresh pasta is. Lovely.
[4 comments]
John Goes to the Opera (and hates it!): [Wednesday 7th May]
Neither Chie nor me had ever been to the opera before, and although I didn't have any specific interest it was one of those things I felt like I ought to do at some point. It just so happened that Chie's boss had got tickets for tonight but wasn't able to make it, so passed the tickets on to me and Chie.

So, we went to see Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House.

...and I absolutely hated it!

I went in with an open mind, but it just completely failed to be engaging - there was no real narrative to speak of, no attempt at characterisation, and I didn't even find the music particularly appealing either. It was just thoroughly tedious. I was desperate to leave from about 10 minutes in, but unfortunately we were on a extremely narrow row with at least 5 people either side and there was no way I could get out.

So I was very grateful when the interval finally arrived. Initially both Chie and I decided to just head back home and not bother hanging around for the second act, but then Chie changed her mind and decided to go back and sit it out. I however was quite resolute, and just headed back home.
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Entertaining Dignitaries: [Tuesday 6th May]
(oops - owing to a confusion over which day was which, I initially posted the entry about my opera visit here)

The engineering director (I think that is the right title for him) for the project I work on was visiting London this week, and as is often the way the job of planning the evening out fell to me.

It didn't actually require much thought in the end - the weight of opinion in the group seemed to be that we should start off at the pub nearest the office, and then later on there was just the little matter of finding somewhere to have dinner for the few of us that were still left. Having taken this guy to a tapas place last time he was in London, this time I used up my other interesting suggestion for somewhere to eat in the area around the office, and we went to the Lebanese restaurant I'd been to a couple of times before.
[4 comments]
May Bank Holiday: [Monday 5th May]
A much appreciated day off work today. Chie and I had decided we were going to have a picnic in the gardens of the square where we live.

So the first duty of the day was to get some shopping in. We decided to go to (what I believe to be) the poshest Waitrose in the country - the one in Belgravia. It's the one where the home delivery forms have a space for you to put in the name of your maid or butler. We walked on the way there, and as it was a nice warm day it made for a pleasant walk. I dropped by my office on the way to pick up the charger for my phone, and found my manager was there. Given that he's in American, and this is the first May Bank Holiday he has spent in the UK, I couldn't help but wonder if he just hadn't realised today was a public holiday.

Given that we had shopping bags to carry we got a taxi on the way back from Waitrose, which owing to bank holiday traffic ended up costing ten quid. I felt really quite guilty about this actually and have vowed not to do that sort of thing in future unless it is absolutely necessary.

Anyway, on getting back I knocked together some sandwiches, Chie threw together some Pimm's, and we headed down to the gardens where we spent a very pleasant hour or so picnicking, reading, and enjoying the very pleasant weather.

In the evening I made Indian food for dinner. I'd got Chie one of those tiffin boxes for her birthday, which we'd used for our picnic earlier on, and were keen to milk the novelty as far as possible and use for dinner tonight. Even though we stayed in the flat for dinner, so the tiffin was only really useful for carrying the food from the kitchen to the dining table.
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Chie's Birthday: [Sunday 4th May]
Today was Chie's birthday. I got up early again this morning and whilst Chie was still dozing I busied myself with wrapping presents, tidying up the flat, and making breakfast. We then had a long drawn out breakfast whilst Chie opened her presents and cards.

In the afternoon we headed over towards Knightsbridge. We went by way of South Kensington, and stopped off en route to visit the V&A. We had a very pleasant wander around there, taking in the room of plaster casts, and the Raphael cartoons, the Japanese room, and the little courtyard garden in the middle.

The main event of the day was afternoon tea - as it was Chie's birthday we decided we ought to push the boat out a bit, and go to the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge - Chie had heard very good things about the afternoon tea there. Luckily they weren't particularly busy today (maybe because it was a three day weekend?) so we were able to wander straight in without a reservation. It's the first time I've been to this hotel, and it is all rather grand inside. Afternoon tea is served in a little room at the back, which looks out over Hyde Park.

It was all rather exquisite - we started with a glass of champagne, and then the food was served on a traditional three tier stand, although they brought the scones separately so they were nice and warm. Everything was done to perfection - Chie raved about the crab sandwiches (which of course I couldn't comment on), and the scones were some of the best I've ever had, served with some extremely good clotted cream and a selection of very flavoursome jams. The teas were very good too - I had a very fragrant vanilla tea, and Chie had a very fruity mango tea which she liked a lot (I wasn't so keen myself...). All in all it was quite fabulous - the food was great, the service was faultless and the setting was very nice too - probably the best afternoon tea I've had in London.

We did end up rather stuffed though, and had to have a good constitutional around Hyde Park to try and walk it off a bit. We walked through the park back to South Kensington, and from there got the bus back to the flat.

We spent the rest of the day having a relaxing time back at the flat - I prepared us a very light Japanese supper (basically just rice, miso soup and a couple of side dishes), which we didn't feel up to eating until almost ten.

So, being as it's Sunday, it's time for the usual Weekly New Year's Resolution Status

1) Doing stuff in London. Bags of it! The whisky tasting on Tuesday, the karaoke on Saturday, and the museum / afternoon tea / park today.

2) Meeting old friends. Another resounding success here - Chie's old work friends plus Andy on Thursday, and then Gav, Leon, Stew et al yesterday.

3) Exercise bike. OK well a bit of a let down here. The consultant said on Monday this week that I should just do everything as normal - including exercise - but still I have been a bit hesitant to get on the bike in case I do myself an injustice. Plus it has been a very busy week satisfying the other two resolutions! Nonetheless, those are starting to sound like excuses, and so next week I must do better - at least some gentle cycling to start off with.
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Smithfields Karaoke: [Saturday 3rd May]
My friends Gav, Leon and Stew had decided they fancied a trip into London this weekend, and so earlier in the week we'd made plans to meet up, have a spot of lunch, and then spend the afternoon embarrassing ourselves at karaoke.

The plan was to meet up at 12, however unusually for me on a weekend I had a fairly busy morning ahead of that. I was long overdue for a hair cut, and decided I couldn't face seeing my friends (who are always very well turned out) with the shameful mess that was adorning my noggin. So I got up and left the flat just before 9 in search of a place in the local area where I could get a cut. I settled on the second place I came across that was open, having decided against the first place based on it being full of senior citizens. My hair was cut by a very animated Lebanese chap, with whom I got into a somewhat heated debate about politics. It was sad in a way, the conversation started by me asking him if he had voted in the mayoral elections, and it turned out he felt very disenfranchised by politics, and yet at the same time had all sorts of issues (taxes, crime, etc) he was deeply concerned about. Still, he did seem to appreciate the opportunity to get it all off his chest. I got the impression most of the conversations he had in there were of the usual somewhat banal "where are you going on your holidays?" variety, and he seemed to be brimming with gratitude about being able to have a dialogue with some substance for once.

After that I popped back to the flat before then heading into the centre to do some shopping for Chie's birthday, and heading on from there over to Smithfields where we were planning to meet Gav etc.

Gav had recently been to the new Karaoke Box place in Smithfields, and had been rather impressed by it, so that was chosen as the venue for the singing bit. As for lunch, Yukari-san had taken a look around on the web for places to eat nearby and came across Smith's of Smithfield, a sort of gastropub type place, which judging by the other clientèle was targeted very squarely at our sort of demographic. I quite liked it actually - the food was simple but tasty canteen type food - the sort one feels compelled to refer to with a words like "good honest grub" as opposed to anything with any kind of pretention to it, and pleasingly it was also priced accordingly. I had a vegetable and bean stew, and whilst it eventually got a little boring, it was certainly hearty and quite satisfying, and only cost about 5 quid.

It was generally agreed that the chips were very good.

So, after we were all sufficiently fed, we headed on to the main event - the karaoke. The new Karaoke Box place certainly was very swish inside, and quite different to the more authentically grotty one on Frith Street. There were however some technical difficulties - apparently the Japanese songs and English songs are on two different machines and it didn't seem possible to find a room where they could get both machines working. So we ended up with two rooms, which initially seemed a bit of a shame as it split our group up, but I suppose in hindsight this worked out quite well. Chie and Yukari-san didn't have to be bored listening to the rest of us sing English songs they'd never even heard of before, and effectively we were singing two songs at a time - so getting double our money's worth! We all made sure to pop backwards and forwards between the two rooms now and again, and so retained the social aspect of it all.

So that was jolly nice. We had the rooms booked from 3 until 6, but owing to the initial technical difficulties we had about a half hour extension on the end, and by the time we'd entirely finished up it was getting on for 7.

Before they all headed back to Canterbury it was suggested that we should go for one last quick drink and I was given the job of finding us a pub. Smithfields is just a stone's throw from Chancery Lane, and my favourite bit of London for pubs, so this task was one I took on with relish. Being a Saturday Ye Old Mitre was closed, and so we headed over to the Cittie of Yorke, which seemed to go down rather well - the fabulous back bar appeared to be much appreciated by all, to the extent that the one quick drink turned into two, and we were there a good hour and a half.

We said our goodbyes on the tube somewhere or other, Leon, Yukari, Gav and Stew headed off to get the train to Canterbury, and Chie and I headed back to the flat. A smashing day out.
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Quiet Friday: [Friday 2nd May]
Having been out every night this week so far, tonight I thought I probably could do with a bit of a break, although I did at least go along to the usual end-of-the-week beer and pizza thing at the office for a bit.

Chie was however out for the evening - with some people from her office - so I had a few much needed quiet hours at home by myself, wiling away the time watching telly (mostly recorded episodes of Jeeves and Wooster).
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Andy: [Thursday 1st May]
Chie's friend Masako-san (who also used to work at the place Chie used to work at in Maidenhead) was visiting the UK this week, and tonight she was going to be in London to meet her friend Andy. I'd met Andy a couple of times before (a few years back now) and found him to be utterly hilarious, so Chie had managed to get us invited along for the evening as well. Even better a couple of Chie's other former colleagues - Mika-san and Akino-san (plus her boyfriend Tim) had also decided to tag along, so all in all it made for a fun crowd.

As a slight down side the venue chosen for the evening was Belgo Noord in Camden - having been to the sister restaurant in Covent Garden just a few days before (and realised I didn't actually like the food there) it wouldn't have been my first choice, but I suppose anything is better than wandering around fruitlessly trying to find a place that will please everyone (and has a table for 8 without a booking). It wasn't too bad in the end - I decided to just stick to beer and chips and not order one of the disappointing and overpriced mains at all. Although I later realised this was a bit stupid, as we just split the bill up equally and I ended up paying the same amount anyway. Ho, hum.

Still, quibbles about the food aside, the company was very pleasant indeed, Andy was highly entertaining as always, and it was a nice night out.
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Work Night Out: [Wednesday 30th April]
For no particular reason other than getting to know each other a bit better, it had been proposed that several of the teams who work in the same bit of my office should go out for a few drinks together. I was pleased to see that my team in particular showed particular enthusiasm for this, and a number of us went along. We even managed to avoid talking about work for fairly large chunks of the evening.

After a while my stomach was starting to rumble, and I'm no longer that keen on the bad habit of drinking on an empty stomach. So I managed to persuade some of my team members to go and have some tapas, which was nice.

Other than that not much to report, but this seems like a promising sign that people at work are becoming a bit more sociable.
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Japan vs Scotland Whisky Tasting: [Tuesday 29th April]
Over at the Nonjatta blog, fellow Japanese whisky enthusiast Chris Bunting had posted an article about a "Japan vs Scotland" whisky tasting being held in London today. Luckily I had noticed it just in time to mail the organiser - a chap called Eddie Ludlow from a company called The Whisky Lounge - and reserved myself a place.

The tasting was held at The Hide Bar in Bermondsey, in a room at the back where they apparently hold all sorts of different tastings - from wine to absinthe. Tonight though the focus was entirely on whisky, and it took the format of a "blind" tasting of three Scottish and three Japanese malts. I've never really been to a tasting like this before - previous tastings I've been to have been much less structured - basically there are a few malts to try and then you're pretty much left up to your own devices. This one however was very much a group activity, we all sampled each malt in turn, Eddie did a bit of a presentation about each one, and then we were encouraged to collectively discuss and rate each of them. I attempted to take the whole thing rather seriously, even taking notes as I went along. For prosperity I shall recount my notes here.

1) Colour: pale gold. Nose: pear drops, vanilla sponge, icing sugar. Palate: salt, umami, anko, hint of spice. Finish: gentle, wall balanced. Score: 7/10. I think I correctly guessed this was Japanese, although had no idea what distillery - it turned out to be Hakushu.

2) Colour: slightly darker than the previous one, slight reddish tinge. Nose: raisins(?) bourbon notes. Palate: bubblegum, konnyaku, yuba. Finish: hint of spice. Score: 6.5/10. Whilst I guessed this was Scottish, I had no idea of the distillery, and was very surprised to find out it was Old Pulteney - particularly a surprise as I had given it quite a low score, and had previously thought I quite liked this malt.

3) Colour: more sherried than the previous one. Nose: sherry, varnish (?), very woody notes. Palate: pot pourri, tiny hint of liquorice, Unicum (?), spice, pepper, Shaoshing. Score: 7/10. When it came to guessing which country, I got this completely wrong, thinking it was a Scottish malt. It was in fact a Yoichi 15 year old.

4) Colour: yellowish gold. Nose: PEAT! Heather, hint of smoke. Palate: copper, chewy, umami (beef and onion crisps!). Score: 8/10. No surprises here - this was obviously an Ardbeg - in particular the 1990 Airigh nam Beist.

5) Colour: dark gold. Nose: fruit cake, sherry, black cherries. Palate: gutsy, bran flakes? Score: 7.5/10. Having cheated and seen the line-up before coming along I already knew there was a Dalmore on the list, and guessed that this was it. Specifically it was a Dalmore King Alexander III.

6) Colour dark gold. Nose: fruit, caramel, bananas(?). Palate: orange peel, burnt sugar, molasses, spice, stewed apples, nutmeg. Score: 8/10. Again, having seen the line-up I knew that there was a Karuizawa 1971 on there, so I can't pretend I guessed the distillery, but was at least able to pick it out from the other six. I've only had Karuizawa a couple of times before, but all the examples I've tried have tended to be very dark and there's been a consistent molasses theme there.

Obviously everyone else gave slightly different scores, and I'm not sure that an outright winner was declared, but the two which generally seemed to cause most excitement were the Ardbeg and the Karuizawa. I suppose it's hard to fairly compare like for like - the Ardbeg obviously stood out as the only heavily peated malt there, and Islay lovers like me would always tend to err on the side of rating that above all the others. The Karuizawa was clearly something very special - I don't think I've ever had a Japanese malt at that kind of age before - but it certainly wasn't something I would want more than one glass of in an evening (and not just because of the price!).

It was a very mixed crowd, from some people who are not particularly regular whisky drinkers and just wandered along on a whim, through long term Scotch fans who had never really tried Japanese malts before, to all round experts like the famous Sukhinder Singh, proprietor of The Whisky Exchange. Actually meeting Sukhinder was something of a highlight of the evening for me - we had a brief chat towards the end. I'd seen his name crop up in a number of articles on whisky, and I believe he was a friend of the late great Michael Jackson.

It was a bit of a shame that there were no Japanese people attending - I'd hoped I might get a chance to practice a bit of the old Nihongo. In fact with the exception of Eddie and Sukhinder I got the impression most of the attendees were newcomers to Japanese malts, and of the few people I asked it seems no-one had been to visit any Japanese distilleries. Still, I suppose that was part of the point of the event - in a sense there would be no point preaching to the converted!

Anyway, it made for a very interesting evening.
[2 comments]
Kym's: [Monday 28th April]
I left work "early" today (just after 5) so I could pop along to the hospital for a consultation about my hernia. The consultant looked over the results of the scan, got me to cough a few times, prodded by stomach a bit, and then we sat down for a chat. Like the chap who had done the scan, and my GP before that, he thought there probably was a small hernia there, but didn't think it was at all serious for the time being. He actually said my recent discomfort could be down to some kind of muscle strain instead (so the hernia may have been like that for some time, unnoticed), and his advice was to just wait and see - basically to give it a few weeks and see if it got any worse. In the meantime I should just carry on with life as normal.

So I guess that was good in a way, although I was left a little bit confused. On the one hand I'd been told it wouldn't get better by itself, whilst on the other hand I'd been told to just ignore it for the time being... but obviously he was the expert and I certainly wasn't desperate to have an operation ASAP if his advice was to the contrary.

There was some indecision over dinner this evening. When I was growing up, to make life easier Mum would often assign particular meals to days of the week, and so if we had Chinese food it always tended to be on a Monday. Presumably because of this, still to this day I often find myself fancying Chinese food on a Monday.

We both felt too lazy to cook so we did the usual perusal of the myriad of takeaway menus that get shoved through our letter box (competition locally is fierce, it seems), but nothing really grabbed me. So instead I decided we ought to eat out, and try out one of the Chinese restaurants we'd spotted near where we live.

There are two of these next door to each other (in an area where there are no other Chinese restaurants for miles around - go figure). The first didn't have a particularly inspiring menu, but the second - Kym's - had, to my surprise, a really extensive and interesting vegetarian section on the menu. I'm not sure why I'd never noticed that before.

So we hurried in and enjoyed a really interesting and varied vegetarian feast, mostly of "mock meats" of which I am actually quite fond. This commenced with mock vegetarian duck pancakes, and then we followed with a mock beef sizzling platter, some mock battered prawns with sweet and sour sauce, and a tofu and vegetable in black bean sauce noodle dish. All very good indeed, and accompanied with a warm bottle Shaoshing (good god there seems to be no wikipedia page for that!) - that Chinese rice wine that tastes a bit like Marmite.

I was very impressed, and it certainly cheered up an otherwise rather dreary Monday.
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Lazy Sunday: [Sunday 27th April]
Rob and Kate were hung around at the flat until around lunchtime, allowing us to continue our chat from the previous evening, which inevitably it seems ended up on the subject of house prices etc. It seems nigh on impossible to engage in any conversation of late which doesn't wind up in that area.

Anyway, we said our goodbyes some time around 1. Chie spent the afternoon and early evening visiting friends in Maidenhead, so I had some time to myself which I wiled away with the usual brainless mixture of TV and fairly aimless tinkering on the computer.

Chie came back from Maidenhead in time for supper, and we had some Marks and Spencer lazy roast potatoes which I had bought yesterday on a whim. I am slightly embarassed to admit they were very nice indeed.

So, as it is the end of another week, here's the usual New Year's Resolution status summary:

1) Doing stuff in London - very good - Spamalot, plus the two nights out with people from work in the week.

2) Seeing old friends - a big tick in this box too thanks to yesterday's Spamalot excurison with Rob and Kate.

3) Exercise bike. Not so good here - still temporarily on hold whilst I await advice from the consultant on my hernia (will be going for a consultation tomorrow).
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Rob and Kate and Spamalot: [Saturday 26th April]
Some time ago it had occurred to me how great it would be to go and see Spamalot again, but this time with my good friend and fellow Monty Python OQD* sufferer Dr. Robert Iain William Ecky Ecky Ecky Furtang Furtang Olé Biscuit Barrel Lang and his lovely wife Kate. As always with these things it took a while to arrange - it was a couple of months before I even got around to bringing the subject up with Rob, and then we had to find a date that was mutually acceptable with our busy social calendars etc. Anyway, all that planning finally came to fruition, and today was the day.

Rob and Kate came to our flat first for a quick spot of lunch, and a very brief but nonetheless extremely pleasant glass of Pimm's in the garden - the first of the season! We then jumped on the number 24 bus which took us into the West end. It's a jolly nice run.

So, Spamalot. I definitely enjoyed it a lot more second time round - quite a lot of the cast had changed since the previous time, including the addition of the bloke who used to play Jim Robinson in Neighbours as King Arthur, which was wonderfully surreal all by itself. I got the impression this cast hadn't been doing it for quite as long as the previous bunch, and they seemed to be enjoying it a lot more. It was of course also great to have a fellow Python nerd there with me, and I found Rob's frequent outbursts of laughter quite infectious (and wonderfully reminiscent of attending lectures together at university).

I suppose it was also helped by having had a couple of drinks first - the Pimm's before we left, and then a couple of fabulously overpriced theatre drinks during the performance - I hadn't realised last time that you could actually take drinks from the bar into the theatre.

After the show we headed over for a post-show drink at the Lamb and Flag, where we also met up with Chie (who hadn't been keen on the idea of seeing Spamalot for a second time). We then headed over to Yoshino for some sushi, before then heading back to the flat where the four of us wiled away the rest of the evening chatting over a few more glasses of Pimm's.

All round a thoroughly lovely day out.

* Obsessive Quoting Disorder.
[1 comment]
Entertaining Again: [Friday 25th April]
Following last night's none too successful attempt to entertain our visiting colleague I decided tonight I should give it another go. On a previous visit he'd made to London I'd tried to take him along to the whisky society, as he'd confessed to being something of a Scotch fan. Unfortunately on that occasion it had been closed for refurbishment so we never made it. Thus the plan for this evening was a simple one - to go back there and try again - but on the way we'd need to find somewhere to have dinner.

This did initially cause some concern, but thankfully we were a much smaller group than the previous day (just the three of us), and I decided just to head over to Holborn and take my chances. High Holborn itself is a bit barren in terms of eateries, but having been tipped off about a Chinese place (or something like that) on Red Lion Street I thought I'd take an exploratory wander down there... and so I stumbled upon Edokko a little Japanese restaurant that turned out to be a surprise hit. Perhaps best of all for me was that the staff spoke to me entirely in Japanese - I asked for a table for three in Japanese, and at the point where restaurant staff would normally revert to English, they just continued on in Japanese as though there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was a little on the dear side I suppose - the other two guys had the assorted sashimi set which was somewhere in the region of £25, but I suppose that's just what you have to pay for authenticity.

After that we hastened on to the whisky society, where we enjoyed a selection of fine drams in the pleasant surrounds of the members' rooms. I'd like to think this went down rather well with my guests for the evening.
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Belgian Beer: [Thursday 24th April]
One of my colleagues from the US was visiting our office this week, so as is the custom we had a bit of a team outing in the evening. This sort of events can often be a cause of frustration - it's very hard to get any kind of exact numbers of how many people are coming and to get those people to actually agree on a time, so you often can't book a table, and it is fiendishly hard to find anywhere in central London that you can just turn up at with 10 people and expect to be seated. Our visitor was a particular fan of Belgo Centraal - the Belgian restaurant near Covent Garden. Unfortunately it appears so are about half a million other visitors. It was getting on for 10 by the time we actually got a table (having waited round the corner at the Porter House for a bit), and clearly it was getting near the end of a long night for the staff, as they got most of our orders wrong.

Although I've been to Belgo a few times now, it has only really just occurred to me that I don't really like the food there very much - the vegetarian options always seem very much like an after thought. Maybe I'll just stick to beer and frites next time.

When we're over visiting out colleagues in the US it always seems so effortless for them to find a good place to eat which I find quite frustrating, when by comparison we're right in the centre of a big city with thousands of places to eat, and I always find myself either struggling to think of anywhere, or not being able to get in anywhere half decent. Oh well.

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Wednesday: [Wednesday 23rd April]
Pretty uneventful day at the office.

Chie cooked dinner tonight, had a middle eastern-ish meal, with grilled halloumi etc.
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Planning an Operation: [Tuesday 22nd April]
Had a call from my doctor's surgery confirming the results from the scan yesterday. They seemed to think it would only require a simple operation, hopefully just day surgery, and hopefully it would only take a few days to recover afterwards. So they told me I now have to decide when I want to have it operated on - it's not something which will get better by itself, but equally they gave the impression it is probably not urgent in the short term.

It's a bizarre thing when you think about it really, as far as I can tell there's no reason to delay having it sorted out other than the fact it might not fit conveniently into one's social calendar:

April 26th: Dinner at L'Atelier Guillaume with Gerard and Clarissa.
April 27th: La Traviata with Eleanor and Algernon.
April 28th: Afternoon tea with Lady Pottering-Welks and the Bishop of Cheam.
April 29th: Have bowels stitched back together.

In the evening I managed to get back home before Chie for once (although probably only because she went for a quick drink with some people from her office), and so I cooked dinner. I made gnocchi in a cheese, garlic and spinach sauce.

Watched telly for the remainder of the evening.
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