An evening in London

I was back at work today as normal but Sophie offered to drive me in. I had to plan ahead for this afternoon and our trip down to London as we were going straight from work, so I took a change of clothes and some make-up!

The shift passed uneventfully, thank goodness, but Stella is still off so I did as many of the box office returns as I could, to lessen the load for Sara tomorrow. At 2pm I rushed to the loos and changed my work top and then dashed out to the car park where Keith, Sophie and Mike were waiting.

The weather had turned cloudy and drizzly and we made good time down to London, stopping just once to make sure I still had the tickets for the gig in my bag! Sophie and Mike were going to see a rapper called Aries at the O2 Academy in Islington, while Keith and I had planned on seeing the film 1917.

When we reached the outskirts of London we turned the maps on and made very good time to our parking space in Islington. We were an hour early so after getting a rough idea of where the driveway was, we managed to park on the street and I sent a text to the owner asking if it was OK for us to use it a bit earlier than agreed.

I didn't get any response so after waiting a while we drove back to the row of houses but none of us could see a number! We did the circuit again and I asked if Sophie and Mike could walk the short distance to the house and guide me in, which they did. I texted again but never did get any reply which was a bit annoying, to be honest!

I was still slightly worried about leaving the car there but we made sure it was the right house so what else could we do? By now it was raining so we walked the short distance to the Brewhouse and Kitchen, a large pub which had its own brewery at the back of the building and where we enjoyed a couple of drinks. It was quiet when we entered but it soon became a lot busier when people finished work!

We'd booked a table at Bella Italia for 5.30pm and wanted to use the Gourmet Society card that Keith had (for the first time since he'd got it!|) as it gave us 25% off the total bill. It wasn't far but I was amazed at how busy the streets were! We just can't get used to the frantic pace of life in our capital!

Bella Italia is based in the same complex as the O2 Academy and the cinema and we could see youngsters already queuing for the gig. Most of them looked about 12 which alarmed Sophie slightly!

We had a delicious meal in Bella Italia and I have to say the food was a lot better than in the pub we went to yesterday for my birthday. We enjoyed a sharing starter of garlic flatbreads followed by half a chicken for Keith, a chicken burger for me, spaghetti bolognese for Sophie and a pizza for Mike. With drinks, the bill came to £66 (25% discount) which we  thought was very good value.

Our film was starting at 7pm but I hadn't booked because I wanted to use my Nectar points. We said goodbye to the kids who joined the very long queue downstairs, and went up to Vue. We received a shock when the woman serving us said there were no seats together for the 7pm showing and nothing for Knives Out either, which was our second choice. Faced with the prospect of killing three hours we chose the 8pm showing and with some time on our hands made our way over to the pub opposite, saying hello to a frozen and wet Mike and Sophie on the way!

The pub was packed to the gunnels with not a seat to be had and was my idea of hell on earth. We pushed our way to the bar and Keith bought himself a pint while I stood there in a glum mood. I would really rather have been at home! I stuck it out for a while before persuading Keith to stand outside by the door as it was quieter and cooler. One of the security men then struck up a conversation with us about his university course so that kept us occupied for a bit!

Thankfully, the time came for us to go to the cinema and we dashed across the road in the pouring rain. We had booked seats on row C, so very near the front, and we sat and watched as the theatre filled up. The actual film didn't start until 8.30pm and although it was very harrowing, the cinematography was tremendous. The opening scenes reminded me very much of They Shall Not Grow Old, the digitally re-mastered footage of WW1 as it almost seemed like it was shot in 3D. Whether it was because we were sat very near, but it felt like we were in the trenches with the men.

The film tells the story of two soldiers sent deep into enemy territory to take a message to another regiment and prevent them from being caught out in a German trap. One of the men has a personal interest in going as his brother was fighting for the regiment involved. I would say the first half of the film was one long continuous shot, which was remarkable.

Keith said it was the best film he'd ever seen so we were very glad we saw it. Sophie and Mike were waiting for us downstairs and we quickly made our way back to the car, which was fine and hadn't been clamped or towed away! By now it was pouring and we set my Google map to take us to Greenwich, where Mike was staying with Abbie until after his birthday. However, the map threw a bit of a wobbler so we turned Sophie's directions on and after a couple of wrong turns and a drive through the Rotherhithe tunnel, we made it to Abbie's student flat and said goodbye to Mike.

The journey home, although dark and wet, was uneventful and we arrived home at just after 1am. The three of us were shattered!