What can i say about season 2019, AMAZING! I will never have a better season, EVER!
Only 16 nights out of 170 was i not full, what other business can say that, 40 plus seats every night full with great customers and great conversation.
What other business is without any gimmicks or entertainment to drawer people in, no cabaret club singers, no karaoke, no wifi, no TVs, no happy hours, no free shots, no promotions, no advertising, no PR's, just music, real brand spirits and properly made cocktails without tacky trimmings.
If you run your business right you don't have to desperately drag people in anyway you can.
The season was that busy that it did actually break me. From the end of August i was struggling with muscle tears, cramping, joint inflammation and exhaustion but i kept it together every night in the bar and collapsed during the day.
Did i enjoy it, HELL YEAH, am i glad i got time to rest now, HELL YEAH. I think another month could have killed me lol.
Now i have 5 glorious months in Cardiff with Sian and lots of travel, ice hockey and fun times.
We landed in Geneva and went straight to hotel for the night before our onward flight to London.
Watched Wales get beat by South Africa in morning and i have to say it must have been the most boring semi-final of a rugby world cup I've ever seen, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick. Box kick back and forth, it was like "Who would blink first". Wales deserved to lose, no flare or ideas at all. Where as England were immense, i did say they could edge it if the play the right game against New Zealand and they did that. England deserve to win the World Cup, slow burning through the group in second gear then ramped it up for the knockout stages, South Africa are not in their league, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon cause Wales are out, i said from beginning Wales couldn't win it.
I may not know much but i know about how to run a good bar and rugby.
Straight after the Wales game it was out of room and on to airport.
As we arrived there was a great sign, instead of "Drop off" it said "Kiss and Fly". Brilliant!
Sat in a bar outside the airport in the sun and waited for our flight to be called. We had a sneaky beer while we waited and it was very nice indeed.
Off we flew to Gatwick and as we landed the sun was setting but at least it was sunny.
Arrive in Fitzrovia, London around 6pm just in time for tea.
Now then, i had booked us in to the Charlotte Hotel but then i thought, why?
Wherever we go we spend so little time in the room what's the point in staying there.
I've never understood why people stay in 4-5 star hotels or pay over the odds for a room.
You sleep, shower and change in a room, that's it.
"Oh we like luxury and comfort", WHAT? You go away just to sit in a hotel room is that what your saying? Anyone can use the restaurant or bar in a 5 star hotel, you don't have to stay there so why pay stupid money for a room?
The Charlotte Hotel was going to cost £475 a night, then i shook myself and woke up. I got 3 nights in the same area for £278, first night in Premier Hub , Goodge Street and 2 nights in St. Giles Hotel, Tottenham Court Road.
Both those hotels had in the room a double bed, seats, tea making facilities, smart TV, a shower and a toilet, do you really need anything else? They were both very clean and comfortable, what more did we need? NOTHING!
I left all our stay in London in the hands of Sian, we can just chill, go shopping, go sightseeing, whatever, i left Sian in complete control, i trust her 100%.
So in order:-
Firstly as we landed at tea time Sian booked us in to a South Indian restaurant called Chettinad.
The smell of the food as we walked in was so good.
To start we had from left to right Gobi 65 and Mini Masala Dosa
They were sooooooooo good.
To follow we both had coconut rice (centre) and from left to right Melagu Kolli and Thengai Kolli Kullambu.
Best curry i have ever tasted, fresh, fragrant, flavoursome and lots of it.
Washed down with a bottle of Ayrum, Tempranillo-Garnacha Rosado Albali (Rose Wine), very nice indeed.
Restaurant 10/10
From there we were so tired and stuffed it was off to our room and catch up on some zzzzzzzz's ready for our full on day tomorrow.
Up and at 'em bright and early off to the London Dungeon.
At this point there are no pictures as phones weren't allowed and no cameras.
It lasted 90 Min's and was very interesting learning about the history of horrors that have happened in London from Henry the eighth till jack the ripper and then we were hung at the very end and dropped 10 metres. The stories told were interesting but the actors seemed bored and the staff who led you from place to place seemed uninterested. We were the first group in on that day at 10am, god help the others after us.
Also they need to refurb it a bit as speakers showing spoilt some of the illusions.
One more thing, the hi-vis step paint wasn't around back in the day of torture.
London Dungeon 7/10, change the actors,staff and hide the speakers.
A quick tube over to Greenwich observatory and on to a observatory show called "The sky tonight"
Again no cameras or phones allowed but it was very very interesting and loved it, shame it was quite a short show, about 45 Min's, thought it would be longer.
Greenwich Observatory 9/10, bit longer would have got a 10
This was the view as we come out of the observatory.
From there on to the Banking district and to a bar called Bounce that was underground on the site where Ping Pong was created and patented or as we know it table tennis. The game was invented years before but John Jaques patented it in 1901.
You book a table for 30 Min's at a time and there is a bar and restaurant here also, Sian had pre-ordered our food.
They have about 10 tables altogether 4 of which are famous tables. The table we played on was used in the final of the 2012 world championship.
Obviously no pics of us playing as we were both playing, HELLO?
The table I'm lent against in this pic is from the Olympics
It was a real good night. drinking, eating and playing ping pong. I used to play for the schools table tennis team in Cardiff from when i was 13 to 15 and i have to say Sian was very good with service, smashes, spins and rallies and it was only her second time playing, the first time was this summer at the Ilaria Hotel. I was very impressed.
Bounce 10/10
On to a pub close by to hotel where pints were sunk before off to bed.
Our last day in London and it was another fun packed day.
First on to our usual St. James Park to feed the Squizzles, parrots, ducks and geese. Spent a good hour or so in there and fed loads of little animals from a huge bag of monkey nuts.
Very chilly in afternoon so popped underground in to the Crypt Cafe,
Its OK, we found out that all the bodies had been moved and buried somewhere else but what a cool place.
This was the oldest head stone i could find.
Its time. I'll give you a clue:-
......slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us. DU DU DU!
The most amazing narrated musical album of all time "Jeff Waynes - War of the Worlds"
The immersive experience. WOW! EXCITED!
I used to listen to the album in the dark through headphones when i was 12, it used to scare the life out of me but it was the most amazing recording i had listened to and still is.
Now we were going to be a part of it.
From when we entered the bar it was just pure adrenalin and excitement seeing the Martian ship looming over everyone to the original artwork from the album brought to life on the walls of the bar through video screens.
You are put in groups of a maximum of 12 people to go through the whole musical/play over 2 hours in all.
It was a full mixture of live action actors, hologramic images, interaction/participation and virtual reality worlds through goggles.
If i tried to even describe it in the finest detail i still couldn't do it justice, it was the most well thought up design and execution of a play/musical i have ever seen.
Sian led us to safety from London by boat out to sea where we sailed alongside the warship "Thunderchild" who was fighting the Martian ships, then i led our group to safety to the tavern that was hidden amongst the Red Weed.
The Red Weed Tavern, the only place where "Martian Devices" (mobile phones) could be used.
Could not fault one single second of it, AWESOME!
1,000,000/10
Don't worry folks, we survived the Martian invasion, what else would you expect from two such plucky brave heroic leaders.
Then Wednesday it was time to head home to Cardiff, BOOOOOOOOOOO! Both were pretty sad to be leaving London as we did so much, had such a great time, we didn't really have time to chill and just take a walk around like we usually do.
A huge big amazing thank you to Sian for all her searching and hard work to set up all our days, absolutely brilliant.
So we now look forward to a fun packed winter. Already on our calendar is Eddie Izzard in Concert, Depeche Mode Live in Cinema, front row seats for Adam Ant live, Birmingham to see UK Foo Fighters, Vevey in Switzerland for Christmas, St. Malo in France for New Year and Dublin for Valentines Day. All that booked already and only been home 3 days lol.
We have another London trip but not finalised the dates and looking at Calgary, Canada to visit where Tin Star is filmed and to take in some ice hockey, just got to get the dates right to coincide with ice hockey games.
So that's it for this bumper update, so until the next time...
Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!
