Last week I went to 3 of my friends birthday parties. (I know! What happened 9 months before the beginning of May in the late 80s ey?) A bottomless prosecco brunch (of course), a night out drinking aperol spritzes and dancing in a bar before throwing up into my jacket as my boyfriend snoozed beside me in an uber (of course), and finally a Time Run (what's that you say, I'll get to it).
Now for an honest confession more shocking than me writing on the internet how I was sick in the back of a taxi: Out of all of them, for some reason I was possibly least excited about the Time Run. The tickets were £30, and that didn't include bottomless prosecco, it was on a Thursday night (though you can go any time) and basically it just wasn't what I was used to. It was out of my comfort zone.
I live in one of the most exciting and enthralling cities in the world (lucky so and so), a city whose name is printed on t-shirts alongside Tokyo, Paris, New York, a city I pay an arm and a leg to live in (less lucky) and yet so often I end up letting my hair down in the way everyone across the UK lets their hair down - going to a pub and drinking prosecco. Now going to a pub and drinking prosecco with friends is always going to be my staple, but I want to be better at branching out once in a while, and getting out of my London rut.
When I started Loner. Lover. Friend, I wrote a post where I compared London life to having a really expensive gym membership - one with all the add ons - free towels, a steam room, someone who irons your shirts (yes there are some city gyms that do that!) And like having one of those expensive gym memberships, there is no point having it if a) you don't use it at all or b) you do use it but you just go on the treadmill, you bring your own towel, you never get anyone to iron your shirts. My point is, why the flip do I pay so much to live in a city if all I am doing is going to the pub on a Friday night? (Which also is probably more crowded and less pretty than a lot of pubs all over the country. And it routinely costs £5-£6 for a pint.) I need to take my own medicine and start using London's steam rooms and getting it to iron my shirt.
Now that might be going to an amazing restaurant, trotting down to a cat village or going to the theatre. Or it could be a weird combination of all 3 of those things, like in my little list below. (Without the cats actually, sorry for getting yours hopes up there). A lot of these nights out are pretty top secret, and don't let you take pictures, so I am afraid we'll just have to stick with Cate Blanchett's face summing up all my emotions about my time there:
1. Time run
So worth every penny in that £30, even though they didn't include even a single glass of prosecco with the ticket price. Say whaaat. Without giving too much away, Time Run was this amazing experience where in our little group of 6 (it is for groups of 3-6) we went through different time portals, finding ourselves in rooms full of clues and things to do. Basically like Crystal Maze but maybe better, and less pressured without all the mula to win. I am now looking for my next Time Run-esq thing to do, and am tempted by this one - Clue Quest, which looks pretty similar. Maybe I will just become a clue fanatic and travel the world doing all the different quests, and be in the guinness book of records for my quick clue solving times. Maybe not, but definitely am planning on taking Will and my family to one soon.
2. The Gingerline
Gingerline is sort of the original "pop up restaurant in a secret location" which is now what approx. 47% of London restaurants now are. When I headed down there for their Chamber of Flavours, it was weird and wonderful on a whole new level. It is the sort of night that is so bizarre it is tricky to talk about without sounding like you are making it up. At work the next day, colleague: how are you today Vicky, did you get up to anything last night? me: I went to this place nearby with a couple of my friends, where after getting in a coffin and being pushed through a flap, we ate our starter in a treehouse and picked it from the trees, drank cocktails in an adult sized ball pit, had dessert on a flight simulator with a drag queen air hostess, before taking a huge slide back into the bar area for some drinks. What did you do?
3. The Lost Lectures
Enchanting talks in enchanting places. I've been to a couple of Lost Lecture talks now, which are all about taking learning out of musty old lecture theatres, putting them somewhere fun, and getting a few interesting people who are experts in everything from jelly to global inequality to take it in turn to talk for 20 mins. A ticket to them makes a great present for people who like to learn (like Dads) and you come away having laughed, got all emotional and having learnt some really cool stuff. One thing that really sticks with me is learning about a parasite which may affect what the infected are afraid of. For example when mice have it, it makes them weirdly attracted to cat urine, rather than afraid of it (cos cat pee = cat nearby, not so good for mice) and they end up getting eaten, and then passing that parasite on to the cat. Weirder still, 40-50% of humans in the world are infected.
4. Immersive theatre
The first time I went to an immersive theatre experience, it was at Battersea Arts Centre, and my friend Lucy and I went to support our friend Liz, who was volunteering for the event. I got in a wardrobe, knocked on the back as I had been instructed, and then crawled through an opening into a tunnel lined with clothes before coming out the other end where there was a woman in her underwear who insisted that I dress her, and then she accessorised me. Later I got kidnapped in the back of a van, and some youths rapped at me. It was nice. And again, great water cooler conversation. That was a few years ago, and ever since Liz, Lucy and I find ourselves keeping an eye out for theatre we get to play a part in, as it is just so weird and funny. We've been to a great one by the National Theatre, and I am keen to go Punch Drunk which I've heard really good things about, and are meant to be the bees knees of immersive theatre.
PS. A crazy cool thing to do in London that is partly about all the booze.
Copyrights: Cate Blanchett via pinterest
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