And there I met some people I know, and some I don’t know, and hobnobbed with celebrities (not really), and ate and drank and walked about a lot and even went and stood in a big black box that was very very dark indeed.
The main reason I was in London was to attend a book launch, at the Groucho club. You know, the ones celebrities (and as it turns out, non-celebrities) fall out of a lot. The book in question was Girl with a One Track Mind Exposed which is a most excellent, moving and filthy read. It also marks the second time I’ve been mentioned in a book (in the Acknowledgements no less!) which was something I only found out on Monday night at the launch itself and which I’ll happily confessed I’m hugely touched and honoured by.
The party was fun and after arriving a little later than others (and spoiling their moment) much free drink and merriment was had. Obligatory name dropping follows. I didn’t talk to either Ben Miller (of Armstrong & Miller), David Mitchell (of Mitchell & Webb), Jay Rayner (of Claire Rayner’s womb), or Heather Brooke (of that whole MP expense scandal (as in she worked on it, not was involved in it) at least I think it was her).
There may have been other celebrities/people who have been on TV there but I’m terrible with names. I’m pretty bad at keeping up with people at the best of times, this is something made a lot hard when said people are bloggers, so I hope my surprise at hearing that two bloggers whom I’ve read for many years are, completely unbeknownst to me, happily married was taken as exactly that. I really wasn’t kidding, I didn’t have a clue.
There is a tale involving David Mitchell but I’ll let the perpetrator tell it. I did feel a bit sorry for the parties involved, a bit. And as usual it was good to put names to faces, although I do now wish I’d been wearing a cravat…
Tuesday and I spent the day wandering random parts of London, stopping off for a quick perusal of a large steel box in the Tate Modern. I’m still very much in the learning phase of ‘art’ and perhaps I should’ve taken mike up on his offer of spending sometime wandering the Gorky exhibition. It was via Twitter that he realised we were both there at the same time, but I didn’t want to intrude on his day too much and I was also quite enjoying wandering about on my own .. another time though, I do badly need educated on that whole ‘art’ thing (hmmm, perhaps I should stop ‘quoting’ it like that for starters).
And then to the National Film Theatre bar where I spent a quite hour nursing sore feet and a large gin and tonic, and waited for a very random group of wonderful and most excellent people who I’m still amazed can be arsed to trawl to a somewhat hard to find bar just because I’ve said I’m there. It still baffles me somewhat and I console myself be remembering that they are all there to see everyone, and that I’m more than happy to be the catalyst for such an event, rather than the main attraction (god forbid!).
All in all a good couple of days in London, which was all down to the company I kept. You guys are fantastic.
