London Lite, Edna and the Tale of one pint too many and the return of the Night Bus Home (Again!)

The London Lite, essential free reading that is thrust into your hands as you enter a Tube station on any given day. It's full of such useful information as what Posh Spice was wearing when she threw a ball to open a baseball match in the US, or what she wore to the Fashion Awards (not much but a corset,heels and nickers) and what an amazing push up bra she has (it's called a boob job). Oh ..it also has some news and weather squeezed in between all the pix of Posh and the occasional C list Big Brother celebrity who has made a racially inappropriate comment, been kicked out of the house and is now hated and hounded by the press and the entire nation at large. (If you really care what happens to them you can follow their sob story in Heat magazine, another quality publication).

I ensure that I get my FREE copy each day on my way to the Tube at Wimbledon. Makes the Tube bearable, and passes the time quickly.

Forgot to mention last week that I went to the Simon Webb Concert at Hammersmith Apollo with Beth, Squizzy and Lara. Simon Webb used to be in the boy band BLUE, so I was expecting more of the same, but we were all pleasantly surprised. the guy can sing and man can he dance! It was a great night. The Hammersmith Apollo as a venue is great, it's a big old theatre with crappy seats and looks a bit run down, but every seat has a great view (sounds a bit like a 747-300 doesn't it?)

Beth, Squizzy and I at the Simon Webb Concert

So when I haven't been working as I mentioned earlier in my previous post, I have been catching up with friends. I had lunch with my girlfriend Cissi in Soho the other day. I met Cissi years and years ago, when I was much younger and used to go to TRADE when I was in London and not much else. We would meet at the bottom of the stairs at Turnmills nightclub every second Sunday when I was in London. Obviously TRADE no longer exists, and when you stop clubbing as much as we used to people go by the by, but not Cissi. I have visited her in her home town of Stockholm, Sweden and she has also made the visit 'Down Under' to visit me. So it was great to see each other after so much time and catch up. Cissi will be joining me on my Ibiza stint late on in August, along with Wayne and Susie.

Cissi!

Friday after work I caught up with my younger Cousin Dave and his girlfriend, Heather. We met at Ember Bar in Farringdon for a few rounds before going to their place for dinner. Dave and Heather had already had a more than a few by the time I turned up (late as usual) and as it was a Friday arvo the place was in full swing. We proceeded to get pleasantly smashed which made the train ride to their place very interesting. I had to front up to work the next morning at 9 am and man did I feel it!

Heather and Dave

Later in the night...

So I guess you are all wondering....'Who is Edna?' Well on a Sunday afternoon, at Vauxhall Tavern there is this famous Drag act. It's based on Dame Edna. But there's no lip syncing to show tunes here boys and girls, no this is sing along , stand up comedy, live performance at it's funniest and best. I was in absolute hysterics!

Edna

Everything was in bad taste but it was so funny. She didn't pick on audience members and make fun of them, or any bitchy crap like that. It was witty satire and took digs at everything from gay marriage to Grease to current affairs. She was unreal!! She got the entire audience to sing along at one point...I even ended up singing along to Elaine Paige's 'I know Him So Well', and the scary thing was that I didn't know the words until they were coming out of my mouth (Must have been all those years Mum played it over and over on the LP player..along with Dolly Parton, ABBA and Juio Iglesius)

I went along with friends of mine who now live in London, Andrew and Marcus and friends of theirs that were visiting. I proceeded to drink pints of ale, which went down rather nicely after the Sunday shift at Balans (now that's another whole tale in itself..think a Jo Burg trip but in a restaurant and instead of 15 hours, everything happens in 3!! It was manic!)

Andrew and Marcus

So as I mentioned, I was happily downing pints of beer like the locals (man can these British lads drink!) and after a hectic day at work, and averaging not more than 5 hours sleep a night since I have been here...well I'll let a picture paint a thousand words huh?

No caption necessary!!

Another round was on offer, as as I stood there (actually swayed there) , I thought 'Yeah there's time...I'll just get the last Tube home huh?'.

I've learned the hard way that the Underground on a Sunday closes at 11.30pm. So it was back to my familiar friend, the Night Bus. I'm getting quite adept working out how to get where, usually sometime between midnight and the hours of 5am... But the ride takes anywhere from an hour, to 3 hours. Try staying awake for that!!

Did I mention that I had to start work a 9am at Balans? .... only to turn up in a state in the morning, to have Max tell me that the shifts had been changed and that I was working that night instead.

Hope you get a laugh outta that, I didn't.