Booze, Bloggers and Blogging

My night out with The Big Smokers

Last night went out for a drink with fellow London Bloggers, and fellow Bloggie Awards finalists (they're up against me for Best UK British & Irish Blog) and fellow Guardian Award Winners (OK - they won their category - I was only Highly Commended), Rob and Euan from The Big Smoker. Fortunately they assured me that they didn't look like their pictures on their blog, which was a massive relief as I was more than a bit worried about walking into a bar and finding two guys with no faces. (check out their about section)

It's quite funny meeting people in real life that you only originally know virtually, but luckily it turned out to be good fun and as well as talking about blogging for a bit, you end up talking about most stuff Londoners do. As usual everyone has their fair share of stories of uppity tube staff "this bloke muttered that I needed more than a bit of help when I asked him to explain his cryptic tube delays sign" (Euan), - weird coincidences "saw someone reading a book on the tube by the woman that teaches me at college, so I snorted a bit, like you do" (Rob) and other tube tales.

So it still suprises me that there aren't more blogs around about tube commuting or even sites like goingunderground. Jag's bus blog is about the nearest around to mine and other tube ones I've seen tend to fall by the wayside after a while.

As I went home I walked anti clockwise round Piccadilly Circus's station instead of clockwise to get a bag of crisps and ended up walking past the Aladdin's cave chock a block full of London tourist tat.



It may have been the effects of a few bevvies with The Smokers but I'm sure the amount of bric a brac in there defies the laws of physics - a museum's worth of stuff stuffed into the space of kiosk. I can also see why it's empty most of the time, as I imagine they can hardly fit anyone else but a bored shop assistant inside. But - any tourists reading this - it's one of the best places to score tube clothing - and I don't mean the nice tube blue hats and jumpers and checked shirts and trousers that the staff wear.

And no, Ian, as far as I can see, they didn't have the boxer shorts with Arsenal on the back and Shepherd's Bush on the front. Although if anywhere's likely to have them they would.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Permalink