Shots! Folkies! Frostbite! Bellydancing! Rundowns!
Tried quiz in Hammersmith on Tuesday. We won, but won no prize. Well, we won rounds of flavoured "shots", for wininng rounds. The winning team (us) has to choose from five envelopes, one of which has the big rollover prize in it. We got it wrong. Still cool in a way - it was set up to give everyone a chance (last "sudden death" round was a stroke of genius), & encourage less hardcore teams to have a go.
Thursday quiz...blah blah blah...won...blah blah blah...toast & coffee paid for...blah blah blah..
Friday evening went to a comedy evening with kittensbroadway & her family. House band playing old R n B & soul, & doing a "challenge the band" spot, which led to a surprisingly good rendition of 'No woman No Cry' in punk style. Merriman Weir (aka Matthew Holness), a parody of folkies, was funny (or at least, I thought so, having listened to way too much of what he was sending up), & Felix Dexter was polished & delivered his stuff well. I found it funnier seeing Marie, her mum & sister cracking up at his impression of a preacher in a black church than hearing the material itself. Loved his middle-class barrister embarassingly trying to keep in touch with his "roots". He later joined the band for a pretty good cover of Sam Cooke's 'Chain gang'.
Got home a bit late, as this was in North London.
Yesterday, wascally_weasel & I went over to Simon's place for a game of B-17. Simon & Betty have bought a nice flat. Simon's "crow's nest" room for music & gaming is pretty cool. We ran a short mission to Abbeville, then bombed Berlin. Simon's bomber had to abort early, then the replacement he was flying ran into a little bit of bother, too. My Motown Flying Fortress 'Bernadette' lost an engine and had to jettison its bombs to stay in formation (dropped them over Nazi Germany, at least). Iain's bomber developed a fuel tank leak, which meant another "ditch in the sea" for him.
I had no bombs, Iain's bomb sight was broken, so only Simon managed to drop any bombs on target. On our return mission we all took a bit of a pasting. My pilot Levi Stubbs was killed, and Barret Strong ("Money! That's what I want!") suffered severe frostbite when heat was lost to the starboard waist position. Only the veteran ace gunners from my earlier crew kept Bernadette going, especially after we lost the other port engine and had to limp home out of formation. Meanwhile, Iain's crew were being rescued from the North sea. Simon's spare ship made it home with the rest of the squadron, but only after taking 60% casualties.
After the game, WW & I met up with Rob & copperbird for a meal at a Persian restaurant. Good food, but the random bellydancing performance was a bit odd. Reminded me of the "exotic local colour" sequences inserted into rubbish 1960s spy thrillers. Somehow, the decor (wall mouldings, alcoves, hanging drapes) led CB & I to think of it as a scene from Prince of Persia.
This afternoon was the last indoor softball training session of the Winter at the Latchmere leisure centre. Good coaching, from the brilliant Tim Kimber - I found that the angle I was holding my glove at was making a big difference to how many catches I hold on to. I tried pitching, and was terrible (but somehow struck three batters out), and did some good work with the bat. Also managed to run Darren down & tag him out.
Now I'm watching Moulin Rouge - mmm, Nicole...
Thursday quiz...blah blah blah...won...blah blah blah...toast & coffee paid for...blah blah blah..
Friday evening went to a comedy evening with kittensbroadway & her family. House band playing old R n B & soul, & doing a "challenge the band" spot, which led to a surprisingly good rendition of 'No woman No Cry' in punk style. Merriman Weir (aka Matthew Holness), a parody of folkies, was funny (or at least, I thought so, having listened to way too much of what he was sending up), & Felix Dexter was polished & delivered his stuff well. I found it funnier seeing Marie, her mum & sister cracking up at his impression of a preacher in a black church than hearing the material itself. Loved his middle-class barrister embarassingly trying to keep in touch with his "roots". He later joined the band for a pretty good cover of Sam Cooke's 'Chain gang'.
Got home a bit late, as this was in North London.
Yesterday, wascally_weasel & I went over to Simon's place for a game of B-17. Simon & Betty have bought a nice flat. Simon's "crow's nest" room for music & gaming is pretty cool. We ran a short mission to Abbeville, then bombed Berlin. Simon's bomber had to abort early, then the replacement he was flying ran into a little bit of bother, too. My Motown Flying Fortress 'Bernadette' lost an engine and had to jettison its bombs to stay in formation (dropped them over Nazi Germany, at least). Iain's bomber developed a fuel tank leak, which meant another "ditch in the sea" for him.
I had no bombs, Iain's bomb sight was broken, so only Simon managed to drop any bombs on target. On our return mission we all took a bit of a pasting. My pilot Levi Stubbs was killed, and Barret Strong ("Money! That's what I want!") suffered severe frostbite when heat was lost to the starboard waist position. Only the veteran ace gunners from my earlier crew kept Bernadette going, especially after we lost the other port engine and had to limp home out of formation. Meanwhile, Iain's crew were being rescued from the North sea. Simon's spare ship made it home with the rest of the squadron, but only after taking 60% casualties.
After the game, WW & I met up with Rob & copperbird for a meal at a Persian restaurant. Good food, but the random bellydancing performance was a bit odd. Reminded me of the "exotic local colour" sequences inserted into rubbish 1960s spy thrillers. Somehow, the decor (wall mouldings, alcoves, hanging drapes) led CB & I to think of it as a scene from Prince of Persia.
This afternoon was the last indoor softball training session of the Winter at the Latchmere leisure centre. Good coaching, from the brilliant Tim Kimber - I found that the angle I was holding my glove at was making a big difference to how many catches I hold on to. I tried pitching, and was terrible (but somehow struck three batters out), and did some good work with the bat. Also managed to run Darren down & tag him out.
Now I'm watching Moulin Rouge - mmm, Nicole...