Flogged in Notting Hill

Int. A bar in West London, Notting Hill. Saturday night, and it just happened to be Rod and his partner BK's going away. Rod, an old mate of Liam's, had been in London for four or so years and was leaving on the following Tuesday. Liam and I had agreed to a 'quiet one' given I was about as jetlagged as one could be (having not slept much my first night), but of course this just wasn't going to happen.

After the first couple of pints Liam decided to show me a few of the different beers: we started with a Fruli, a strawberry Belgian beer, which was very drinkable, and though it seemed a bit girlie, there seemed to be no shame in a bloke drinking it. Then we had some banana, vanilla and something-else, which they had on tap, another belgian - more straightforward but with a hint of the other flavours. Fanfuckintastic.

When midnight came around, Rod suggested we go to a nearby club. Again, can't remember the name, but it was (I found out later) pretty much the true West London experience, a funky, fairly small basement beneath a cocktail lounge, filled with heaps of happening mofos, nymerous 'trustafarians' (apparently the term for rastafarians with a trust fund) and other types who could probably afford it more than me, but who also had more street cred than me. The place was R&B/Hip-Hop with a dash of Old-skool for good measure, and it pretty much went off. Liam and I both agreed it was better not to have had a quiet one after all.

(I might add that on this, my second night in London, I also had my first, real 'it's a small world' moment... not jawdropping, but authentic nevertheless. So, was chatting with an expat named Davey and he asked if I liked cricket; I mentioned I played in a comp back at home, and when he found out it was the Brisbane Bands Comp (hey all you Apes) - well, there were celebrations all round. It turns out he played in the same comp about 7 years ago, and is the brother of a guy named Liam, one of the absolute guns of the comp (I know him more by reputation). So there you go.)