The Getz Files

Trip # 2 to London was this weekend, as la mama was still there, staying with de schwester before returning to SA on Thursday.

Took the train in - more expensive, but about as quick and sooo much more relaxing, arriving at Waterloo shortly after 8 ready to rock. Hamish was in town, having beaten a hasty departure to London after receiving a death threat in Afghanistan. Told some interesting stories about Afghanistan, especially their friendliness and generosity. Reinforcing this, I read a letter to The Observer about an incident Dervla Murphy wrote about. When she was walking from Ireland to India (why? because it's there, I suppose), she stopped one day in Afghanistan for a little afternoon nap. When she woke up, she discovered that somebody had built a shelter over her head to protect her from the sun.

In one pub, we had a few pints of Santa's Little Helper, then a nice bar by Exmouth Market called The Easton, with a refreshingly honest bartender. I asked for a whisky sour, and he said they don't do cocktails. Why? "I can't be bothered, mate."

Next day was Family Day, going to see cousins Con and Susie and new baby Orla Marna out in the country. Rediscovered the joy of driving in London, but it was lovely once out there. Con and Susie used to live in a little village in Surrey called Shere, so we went there. Shere is highly pretty, and has a whole bunch of buildings that are 500 years old, all Tudor half-timber and tiny doors. Quite extraordinary, though needless to say if you lived there you'd probably consider it quite normal.

In the evening, we had a yen to go dancing (except, inexplicably, for my mother). Al and I started at Jazz Bar, which was really full and then thought we'd take a quick little trot down Kingsland Rd to Herbal. Well, it isn't quick at all! So, here's a piece of advice: don't try to walk from Jazz Bar to Herbal. But Herbal was cool, with good house music and pleasant-looking people. (As Hamish says, it's a rare dance club in that it welcomes heavy drinking.) Herbal was our choice for a night of "intermediate dancing", ie, ending at 3 rather than 6 or thereabouts. Worked perfectly.

And I got some slap chips with lost of salt and vinegar on the way home. A good time was had by one.