August - Beer, Jools and Holograms

We got up to a variety of things over August. After all that Belgian Beer we decided it would be good to see what the British had on offer too. We met up with Darryl and Bevan at Earls Court for the Great British Beer Festival. Put on by the Campaign for Real Ale. Only the Brits would have a charity about making good beer. Unfortunately we went on Saturday, which was the last day so they had run out of a lot of good beer. Nonetheless there was still plenty of different Ales and Ciders for us to sample. Some really good and some really terrible. We had also never seen so many men with huge beards and big bellies altogether at the same time. Something to aspire to I guess? All up a good experience. Probably not something we need to do again but glad we did it. Shame it was indoors when it was such a beautiful day outside, but I guess with British weather you have to play it safe.

Next weekend met up with Robin and Mary and went up to Hampstead Heath again. Not for the ponds, but instead a big outdoors concert at Kenwood House, which is a big house at the top of the heath. The concert was featuring Jools Holland and his big band orchestra. Jools Holland is a staple of UK TV having had a show called "Later.." for a number of years. It is THE show to get on to if you are a big act. Good last chance to get out the old picnic blanket and have a last evening picnic before it gets too cold. We didn't know most of the songs but still had a fun time and would highly recommend it as a good night out.

The next week was Jen's birthday so Jess and the girls took her out for a surprise dinner followed by Dirty Dancing The Musical. There were moments when we thought it all wouldn't come together with missed trains and limited time before the show but it all went well, Jen was stoked except it took her a little while to appreciate the male lead not being played by Patrick Swasay. Tired after the show we headed back to the pub for a round of lemonade and the yummy birthday cake (ala Tree). Marcus was quite content to miss out on that one.

We also caught up with Pauline for dinner one last time before she left London and heads not quite back to New Zealand, but to Melbourne instead. Pauline cooked us up some tasty Teriyaki. It made us remember what a transient place London is with people coming and going all the time so need to make sure we make the most of seeing people when we can.

The next weekend was Emma's birthday and she had us all dress up for an 80s theme. So it was a trip to Primark for us (Super cheap young people clothing) to find the most hideous highlighter clothes we could. Emma, Kat, Stacey (and a surprise visit from Mel from Ireland) had gone all out dressed as Jem and Holograms, while Tim, Ben and Reuban had invested in some overalls and power packs for some serious ghostbusting. After a few drinks at theirs it was off to town for a first night out at the clubs. A few queues, some missing IDs and explanations around how tennis shoes are 80s later and we were at the Grand in Clapham. Not too different than the Grand in Wellington in terms of clientelle (but that's just showing our age....) We danced the night away and eventually jumped on an after midnight bus to get our tired little selves home.

The next night it was a few quiet drinks round at our house for Jen's birthday. Liam whipped up a storm in the kitchen and we all ate very well. It was then some drinks and a few rounds of boxing on our Wii sport (which actually features far more heavily in our lives than this blog would have you believe) and it was tired partygoers off to bed.

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