Thursday 27 October - Sophie's first gig!

There was much excitement about today as Sophie and two of her friends were off to Islington to see Charlie Simpson. We all had a very strict timetable to adhere to, to make sure the whole afternoon and evening was a great success!

I went off to work as normal and as it was pouring with rain, we were very, very busy. Keith dropped Sophie, Susie and Elise off at the Mandarin Buffet to have their lunch ("we can stuff ourselves") and then brought Mikey into work as he was going home with mum and dad. At the height of the lunchtime rush, our new chiller cabinet was delivered. Well, of course it would be, wouldn't it? I mean 8am in the morning would have been far too easy!

I left the madhouse at 1.30pm and went to pick up the girls, fill up with diesel and then go home to have a shower. I wanted to leave at 3pm to make sure we had plenty of time to get to London and park the car.

Despite the rain and the traffic we had a marvellous journey down to Islington and arrived at 5pm. Parking was a breeze as there were loads of spaces so we had two hours on our hands and although there was already a queue forming outside the O2 Academy, we decided to take the girls over the road to The York pub to have a drink.

The place was packed out with people having a drink on their way home from work and the noise level was tremendous! We found a seat by the window and the girls amused themselves by taking lots of photos of each other while Keith and I enjoyed a drink.

At 6.30pm we strolled across the road and the girls joined the queue which hadn't grown much while we were away. We left them to it and had a bit of banter with a ticket tout who helpfully told us what time the concert would end. He wanted me to buy his ticket and I was very tempted!


After leaving the girls Keith and I walked up to the Vue cinema and bought tickets to see the film "Drive" starring Ryan Gosling. It fitted in nicely with our plan to then go and have something to eat before collecting the girls.


The film was great, if a little violent, but with the 18 rating we both expected that. The plot was a little complicated - Ryan Gosling plays a stunt driver who moonlights as a get-away driver and gets into a bit of trouble - and I would recommend seeing it when it comes out on DVD!

After the film we walked the short distance to a Wetherspoons pub and had a quick meal before collecting the girls from the O2 Academy downstairs. The whole N1 centre is a great place with lots of shops, restaurants and bars and the perfect venue if your young ones are at a concert!

It was almost 11pm by the time the girls eventually emerged, on a real high after seeing their hero! We walked the short distance to the car park and then we were on our way home, the car full of girly chatter about their evening! We'd all had a wonderful evening and I'm looking forward to the next time Sophie wants to go and see one of her bands at the O2!

The Gorgeous Girlies!