escalation

what was meant to be a quiet friday night ended up anything but. didn't take much convincing to get a couple of friends to my new favourite italian. in fact, one of them's italian and gave the place his stamp of approval after appetisers, so defo on to something good! knew they'd be pre-gaming at duke's (omg, crazy martinis) and they rolled round almost rip-roaringly plastered. would've been even more late if said italian who was the only other one there on time took a photo of my hangry face and sent it to the group. who i hear on good authority chugged their third (!!!) martini (doesn't sound like much but seeing how duke's is 101% martini...) and uber-ed over in double-time. 

bottles of '99 babaresco, a proper grown up wine, two huge starters and a pasta each, followed by veal milanese and tiramisu was not for the faint hearted. but the escalation was really when after shisha and bottomless moroccan mint tea, we found ourselves downstairs at momo's for more drinks, then rolled out and into boujis past two. stayed till closing because we're cool like that and then, because of my amazing foresight having parked the car in the 'hood at the very start of the evening, i drove G home. sorry to keep harping about the cheap chill that driving in london is but having only just started driving in the city after being based here for three years, it's a big deal for me. see, told you i was cool that way. even more cool is how i stopped drinking at dinner, and the boys were only too happy to finish my drinks after. as an aside, as a girlie the moment you don't drink you're on baby watch despite my protestations about being the designated driver and having the car quite fortuitously near our last stop for the night.

going out is one of those funny things that i'm constantly in two minds about. can count the number of times i've been out in london on one hand. in fact, it's thrice in three years so really nothing to crow about. lament i'm too old and boring for this sort of excitement but inevitably make a huge deal out of it each time precisely because there's not much to report from my sofa. twas a good crew, which makes all the difference, and in true form we re-grouped for lunch at broadway market this afternoon to de-brief and take the mick outta each other over various hangover cures. the jury's still out whether the hot coconut tea, warmed spiced cider or bloody mary rendered the greatest efficacy. then again, it could be any of the beef pho, vietnamese iced coffee, savoury galette, duck confit burger, wood-fired pizza, dumplings or donuts that did the trick. lack self-restraint at the best of times and did little to resist the smorgasboard of delectables. 

generally inert and inactive, i routinely refuse to leave the borough. hence italian a stone's throw from hospital, which's a stone's throw from home. determined to walk everywhere (delusional) and so far so good, unless it's raining. in which case vroom vroom. meant to spend today recovering, but having been energetic and gone to broadway i'm thinking maybe tomorrow's going to be quiet.