So as I may have mentioned previously, last Friday was Mrs H3’s 30th birthday. The weekend got off to a good start for her on Thursday with a birthday party held by her work colleagues, which began at work and continued into the pub where I understand copious quantities of Sambuca cocktails were consumed. I would like to point out that I wasn’t at this celebration as it was expected to be just a few quick drinks after work. However, it went on ‘til well past midnight…dirty stop outs!
On the big day itself, Mrs H3 and I went to the O2 where we first visited the new British Music Exhibition at the Bubble. This is a fascinating journey through the history of British music from 1945 to the present day and includes music, videos, costumes (including Adam Ant’s King’s of the Wild Frontier suit and David Bowie’s Pierrot costume from the Ashes to Ashes video) and much more besides. Highlight of the trip for us had to be the dance room where we learnt to disco dance and (oh I really hate to admit this) do the dance for the birdy’s song which we could then watch back on video afterwards. Unfortunately we didn’t get to learn a musical instrument or record a song as the places were already taken and we didn’t want to hang around for too long waiting. The exhibition has an interactive ticket which you can use to log various points and then look up further details on a special account on the internet afterwards (and yes it does apparently put the dances and any other activities you’ve taken part in on there too) and also includes three free ITunes downloads. I thought this was an excellent exhibition and well worth a visit.
Lunch followed at Zizzi’s where the astute waitress spotted the flashing and giant 30 badges that Mrs H3 was sporting and deduced it was her birthday. Generously she gave us a free glass of Prosecco each to celebrate with our meal, which consisted of their scrummy cheese & balsamic onion garlic bread followed by pizza.
And so it was time to visit the other exhibition currently at the Bubble – Body Worlds & the Mirror of Time. Mrs H3 and I visited the original Body Worlds at Brick Lane back in 2003 and were interested to see the new exhibition. To be honest, although it was much better value than last year’s Tutankhamun, and a damn sight more interesting too, it was pretty similar to the previous show, and with less exhibits. I think we felt that once you’ve seen one plastinated body you’ve seen them all really, whatever strange positions they’ve been put into – although this exhibition does feature (and I really hope I’m not giving anything away here) a giraffe – and bloody huge it is too! As ever there was a section on conception, pregnancy and child birth which I had to skip as I’m far too squeamish about that sort of thing, but other than that we did spend time taking in the whole thing which took about an hour and a half to complete. If you didn’t get to the original Body Worlds exhibition I would definitely recommend it, although it doesn’t feature the plastinated body split into a series of lengthways slides which was for me at least, one of the highlights of the original.
And so we came to the evening when we joined Mrs H3’s parents, her brother and his girlfriend for an evening at an entertainment venue called Madisons in Biggin Hill. This is one of those places that features a set menu which is served whilst the bar staff entertain the customers with a few songs and dancing on the bar and serves cocktails, bottled beers and other expensive drinks. The meal was not overly ambitious, the starters were pate, prawn cocktail, bruschetta and parma ham and melon; the main course a choice of salmon, chicken or lamb shank all served with (lumpy) mashed potatoes and a dessert of either apple and rhubarb crumble and custard or vanilla ice cream. The entertainment was okay though with the undoubted highlight being at the end when they set fire to the bar and a fire eater performed. During the evening Mrs H3 was called to the stage, along with the other people celebrating their birthdays and was presented with a birthday cake that I had bought for her – a small sponge cake featuring a photo of the Hoff (who else). Home once more we finished the champagne that we’d opened earlier in the evening and chatted until the wee small hours before finally heading off for bed.
The following day saw me at work as usual, feeling somewhat tired from the previous late night and early morning (I have so much trouble sleeping in new places). This was followed by the less than inspiring England friendly match and then a meal at the pub followed by a few drinks. We had originally intended to dress up and go to Maidstone for the evening, but everyone who had told us they were going backed out at the last moment and after a few drinks we decided we couldn’t be bothered to go. Instead we stayed at the pub with Dan, Bobby and Martin and had a few more drinks before acquiring more champagne and heading home. Obviously old age (and the late night the day before) was catching up with us, along with the clocks going forward and by the time we’d watched Peter Doherty on Jonathan Ross it was gone 3am.
Sunday began with a visit to the local café for breakfast, and for me the chance to relax for a few hours as I didn’t have to work. Mrs H3 headed home for a birthday party with her family, which I attended later in the day before we headed out for the Peter Doherty concert at the Troxy. The evening was completed in style with a kebab at Lewisham’s finest kebab house. I arrived home just after 2am feeling completely knackered and very glad that I wasn’t working the following day.
The fun hadn’t finished for Mrs H3 though. Keen to continue the celebrations she and her work colleagues went to the theatre to see the musical Le Cage Aux Folles on Tuesday evening whilst I flew out to Spain to see my parents, with whom my sister and my nephew Freddie who is now 3 months old were staying for a much needed few days of R&R.
On the big day itself, Mrs H3 and I went to the O2 where we first visited the new British Music Exhibition at the Bubble. This is a fascinating journey through the history of British music from 1945 to the present day and includes music, videos, costumes (including Adam Ant’s King’s of the Wild Frontier suit and David Bowie’s Pierrot costume from the Ashes to Ashes video) and much more besides. Highlight of the trip for us had to be the dance room where we learnt to disco dance and (oh I really hate to admit this) do the dance for the birdy’s song which we could then watch back on video afterwards. Unfortunately we didn’t get to learn a musical instrument or record a song as the places were already taken and we didn’t want to hang around for too long waiting. The exhibition has an interactive ticket which you can use to log various points and then look up further details on a special account on the internet afterwards (and yes it does apparently put the dances and any other activities you’ve taken part in on there too) and also includes three free ITunes downloads. I thought this was an excellent exhibition and well worth a visit.
Lunch followed at Zizzi’s where the astute waitress spotted the flashing and giant 30 badges that Mrs H3 was sporting and deduced it was her birthday. Generously she gave us a free glass of Prosecco each to celebrate with our meal, which consisted of their scrummy cheese & balsamic onion garlic bread followed by pizza.
And so it was time to visit the other exhibition currently at the Bubble – Body Worlds & the Mirror of Time. Mrs H3 and I visited the original Body Worlds at Brick Lane back in 2003 and were interested to see the new exhibition. To be honest, although it was much better value than last year’s Tutankhamun, and a damn sight more interesting too, it was pretty similar to the previous show, and with less exhibits. I think we felt that once you’ve seen one plastinated body you’ve seen them all really, whatever strange positions they’ve been put into – although this exhibition does feature (and I really hope I’m not giving anything away here) a giraffe – and bloody huge it is too! As ever there was a section on conception, pregnancy and child birth which I had to skip as I’m far too squeamish about that sort of thing, but other than that we did spend time taking in the whole thing which took about an hour and a half to complete. If you didn’t get to the original Body Worlds exhibition I would definitely recommend it, although it doesn’t feature the plastinated body split into a series of lengthways slides which was for me at least, one of the highlights of the original.
And so we came to the evening when we joined Mrs H3’s parents, her brother and his girlfriend for an evening at an entertainment venue called Madisons in Biggin Hill. This is one of those places that features a set menu which is served whilst the bar staff entertain the customers with a few songs and dancing on the bar and serves cocktails, bottled beers and other expensive drinks. The meal was not overly ambitious, the starters were pate, prawn cocktail, bruschetta and parma ham and melon; the main course a choice of salmon, chicken or lamb shank all served with (lumpy) mashed potatoes and a dessert of either apple and rhubarb crumble and custard or vanilla ice cream. The entertainment was okay though with the undoubted highlight being at the end when they set fire to the bar and a fire eater performed. During the evening Mrs H3 was called to the stage, along with the other people celebrating their birthdays and was presented with a birthday cake that I had bought for her – a small sponge cake featuring a photo of the Hoff (who else). Home once more we finished the champagne that we’d opened earlier in the evening and chatted until the wee small hours before finally heading off for bed.
The following day saw me at work as usual, feeling somewhat tired from the previous late night and early morning (I have so much trouble sleeping in new places). This was followed by the less than inspiring England friendly match and then a meal at the pub followed by a few drinks. We had originally intended to dress up and go to Maidstone for the evening, but everyone who had told us they were going backed out at the last moment and after a few drinks we decided we couldn’t be bothered to go. Instead we stayed at the pub with Dan, Bobby and Martin and had a few more drinks before acquiring more champagne and heading home. Obviously old age (and the late night the day before) was catching up with us, along with the clocks going forward and by the time we’d watched Peter Doherty on Jonathan Ross it was gone 3am.
Sunday began with a visit to the local café for breakfast, and for me the chance to relax for a few hours as I didn’t have to work. Mrs H3 headed home for a birthday party with her family, which I attended later in the day before we headed out for the Peter Doherty concert at the Troxy. The evening was completed in style with a kebab at Lewisham’s finest kebab house. I arrived home just after 2am feeling completely knackered and very glad that I wasn’t working the following day.
The fun hadn’t finished for Mrs H3 though. Keen to continue the celebrations she and her work colleagues went to the theatre to see the musical Le Cage Aux Folles on Tuesday evening whilst I flew out to Spain to see my parents, with whom my sister and my nephew Freddie who is now 3 months old were staying for a much needed few days of R&R.
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