London, Paris and First Book

December is upon us, and how it's already whizzing by. I've got a particularly busy couple of weeks coming up so thought I'd drop in now while I have the chance and make a note of some of my recent London exploits...

• The Guardian Public Services Awards at Old Billingsgate. Wow, what a venue. The place looked stunning and it was a great event with loads of worthy winners. I shared a table with a group of student volunteers from York and Hull, who went on to win the Citizenship and Volunteering Award (I knew in advance that they had won so had to keep my mouth zipped). 
• Here I should be writing about an amazing bloggers' trip to Brussels I went on courtesy of Eurostar's Little break, Big difference campaign. I was unbelievably excited about it, but then I got an evil bug and couldn't go. I hear through the blogosphere that it was lots of fun, and Sian from Domestic Sluttery brought me back some posh chocolates, which was very sweet. Literally.
• The December London Bloggers Meetup, sponsored by Symantec, was on Tuesday. Sian (see above) spoke at the event and provided us with some really useful blogging tips, and supplied us with yummy cakes.
• The Guardian First Book Award ceremony was the following night. I felt privileged to meet the winner, Petina Gappah; a Zimbabwean writer who won the Award with her amazing short story collection, 'An Elegy for Easterley'. I'm in the middle of reading this now, and each story that I've read so far is incredibly moving, but laced with an underlying layer of humour and modest self-awareness. The judging panel described her writing style as 'deceptively simple' and I would definitely agree with this.

Speaking of short stories, my very own attempt at writing one will be 'critiqued' on Monday, and I'm cacking myself! As I've mentioned before, I attend a Writing Salon at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden, and this month it's my turn to have my writing scrutinised. Writing this blog is one thing, as it's for me more than anyone else and I'm not really bothered about what people think of my storytelling 'skills'. But with fiction it's different. Although my short story is based on me and a real experience, the way I tell the story is so crucial to the impact that I want it to have on the reader, that if I've written it badly it simply won't work. I may report back next week on the reaction it got. Or I may not, depending on how emotionally scarred I am from the experience...

Ooh, and today I received a rather exciting e-mail from the people at we are social. They're the ones who invited me to the aforementioned day trip to Brussels, and now they are offering me the chance to win un séjour à Paris (surely extra points for the French, eh?! Unless the French is wrong, in which case - ignore that). All I have to do is to write about what my dream weekend in Paris would be like if I had €1,000 to spend. Well, to be honest, my *dream* weekend in Paris would involve me being whisked away to the French capital by a decent chap who'd make me laugh a lot and forget my stresses as we wandered around random streets stumbling across little bars and getting nicely merry. But since that isn't likely to happen any time soon, I would have to say that I would absolutely love to take my Mum to the city and spoil her rotten. She's been an absolute legend this year and I would take her to a posh tea room, perhaps somewhere like here, then buy her something sparkly and try and squeeze in a show.

London on the cheap: Striking a Chord

I'll always possess a Bristolian soul, but having a few days off in London has reminded me how much I love this city. When I first moved here in 2007 I was concerned that everything would be so expensive that I would never have two pennies to rub together (interestingly, if you do rub two pennies together between your thumb and forefinger, it looks a bit like three pennies), but that really couldn't be any further from the truth. Sure, if you want to go out to expensive restaurants every night and shop on Bond Street then you can, but if you look in the right places there are so many things to do here for free.

Take the last few days, for example. On Tuesday the London Bloggers Meetup was a completely free event. Granted, not everyone is interested in blogging and online networking type things, but it really is such a nice crowd of people. Then on Thursday evening the play I went to was through the brilliant Audience Club. You pay £50 a year for membership to the club (I purchased my membership jointly with a friend, so a bargainous £25 each), and it entitles you to go along to fringe and West End shows and concerts all over the capital for two quid a pop. Over the years I've been to see Bon Jovi, an amazing ventriloquism show, comedy acts and tons of plays - from West End hits to back-room-of-a-pub dramas. I'd implore everyone in London to sign up, or buy membership for a theatre lover as an ace Christmas present (oh, and if you do, mention me as they'll whack on another couple of free months to my membership...!).

This weekend was another freebie special. On Saturday I went along to an incredible art installation in the Kingsway Tram Tunnel. The installation was a piece called 'Chord' by the artist Conrad Shawcross, and although you had to pre-book, it was free admission. The art itself is a rather funky piece of engineering brilliance, which is somehow automatically winding a multi-coloured piece of rope along a track. Sounds weird, and that's because it kind of is; in a good way, though. I do like these strange arty things, especially tunnel-based ones. For a more eloquent description of what it all means, here's the official site. Or take a look at the cool photos on Londonist (mine came out pretty rubbish as it was too dark, plus we weren't really allowed).

Although the art itself was impressive, personally I was more in awe of the tunnel itself. The subway - which is mainly used for storage by Camden Council these days - was last used for trams in 1952. More recently, the tunnel has been used for a number of films (Hidden City, The Avengers, Bhowani Junction and The Escapist), and some of the props from these films still remain, such as the rather spooky fake underground map, which I did manage to successfully snap:

I would absolutely love to visit some old, abandoned tube stations in London if possible, so if anyone hears of such an opportunity, please do let me know, as I find it fascinating.

The final freebie came in the form of some wonderful fireworks on Blackheath on Saturday night. Firework displays always astound me, and this one ticked all the boxes, those boxes being: a) availability of mulled wine b) duration of display c) fireworks I had never seen before (my favourite new one resembled a broccoli floret) and d) a suitably awe-inspiring and climactic finale.

So there you have it; proof that life in London can be easy on your wallet. I had intended to go to a free cinema screening this morning as well, but after weighing it up I opted for the lie-in. I do have to go back to work tomorrow, after all. 

Remember remember, the November LBM-ber (or...something)

I arrived back in London yesterday fully refreshed after a few days in Bristol. I would have stayed perhaps a day longer, were in not for the November edition of the London Bloggers Meetup last night. 'What the heck,' I thought, 'It would be nice to actually go along to one of these events without the little sensible voice in my head telling me that I should really stop drinking these lovely free beverages because I have work the next day.'

So I timed my journey east in order to arrive in the capital for LBM at Doggett's Coat and Badge. It was nice getting there early for a change, as I was able to chat with brand new attendees who I wouldn't normally get to say hello to, as I usually turn up when the room is brimming with people I already know. So I got chatting to Pascale, a make-up artist, which excited me greatly as I definitely need some advice to help me look all 'rock chick' for my upcoming gig.

I also met Zubyre, and had a good discussion with Peter about the future of photojournalism (speaking of which, there's a fascinating nine-day press photography series starting in the Guardian this Saturday *removes PR hat*). I then got chatting to Dafydd from Cite, who'd travelled down from Leicester with a colleague (didn't catch her name but she was very nice) especially for the event.

Because I'd had maybe one or two more drinks than I normally would, I then proceeded to have a strange conversation with Tom (of Tired of London, Tired of Life fame) about my wardrobe. Sorry about that. But it is the nicest wardrobe in the world. Fact.

The ever-glamorous Sian and Alex arrived - laden with freebies from a fashion event - just as an interesting presentation by Marco Saric began. Then the legendary Gary turned up, fresh from recording the latest Two Footed Tackle podcast. It was good to catch up with him, as he hasn't been able to make the last few events. He's a busy chap.

As ever, it was lovely to see and chat with Shell (who has been doing a marvellous 'for how many days can I wear the same dress?' experiment on her fashion blog), Matt (Churchill), Chris (Witness To The Beard's number one fan), Melinda (aka Miss Geeky), Tom (Flashboy), Kate, Lolly, Darika and Alex L. I also briefly met Chris (of the Tiki variety - who won a telly on the night courtesy of the event's sponsor, Paramount), as well as a number of others who I failed to exchange cards with (including a cycling blogger who - it turns out - I'd already been in touch with about Guardian stuff).

Huge thanks to Andy who organised the event, and I'm looking forward to December's already.

gIRL about town

Weeks don't get much busier than this. Well, not for me, anyway. I have calculated that I spent about 15 hours of it networking and mingling with people I don't know all that well, and this is why:

Monday
I went to my first ever Writing Salon at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden. I'm not a member of the club, but a friend of mine kindly took me along. The format of the evening was to discuss two pieces of creative writing, but what I stupidly failed to realise is that the authors of the pieces were members of the group and sat around the table! Fortunately I cottoned on pretty quickly, and had only positive things to say anyway, but it looks like that if I want to continue going (fantastic surroundings, good discussion; why wouldn't I?!) then I'm going to have to submit my own short story for the group to critique. Scary stuff, but I like challenging myself to do new things, so watch this space for my fictional debut.

Tuesday
The London Bloggers Meet-ups seem to get bigger (and sweatier!) every month, and September's gathering was no exception. This time we hung out in the basement bar at Ember in Farringdon, and the event was sponsored by eBay who told us all about their new Daily Deals feature. I ended up being the lucky winner of a netbook, which was the main prize of eBay's raffle. I will put my hands up and admit now that I won another netbook a couple of months ago, so my brother is going to have the new one and donate a nice chunk of cash to St Peter's Hospice, so thanks eBay! Here's a marvellous write-up of the event - and some amazingly geeky graphs - from fellow blogger (and Witness To The Beard fan) Chris Gilmour.

Wednesday
I attended the beautiful RSA building just off the Strand for the judging lunch of the Guardian Public Services Awards 2009. These awards do a fantastic job of rewarding people and services that might not normally receive such recognition, and it was a privilege to learn about the fantastic work so many people are doing around the country as the judges were debating who should make the shortlist (which will be announced at the end of this month).

Thursday
TWESTIVAL. Having met some Twitter people 'IRL' the previous weekend, luckily I didn't have to turn up to this gathering of the London Twitterati on my lonesome. But once I got there, it was incredible how many people I bumped into; people I already knew in person, but many who I'd only ever interacted with on Twitter. For those who don't know, Twestifals are charity events for Twitterers which take place all over the world, so they can meet up in person and raise lots of £££s. I met loads of new people and fully took advantage of free drinks, and a good night was had by all.

Friday
It was the infamous office beauty sale, where the squillions of free samples that get sent to the editorial department get sold to us minions for a tiny fraction of their high street value, with all money raised going to charity. I'd heard rumours that getting to the good stuff involves the use of elbows and excessive shoving, but I can quite happily report that I actually found it quite civilised. Or maybe that's because I was the first in the queue....Anyway, I was extremely happy with my purchases as I managed to get about £300 worth of stuff for about a tenth of the price! Just realised that my fun week also resulted in about £100 going to various charities - bonus!

Saturday
I commissioned a piece of art last weekend and I collected it today. It's by John Lynch, who you can find in Greenwich Market every weekend. Look how lovely it is (poor quality photo but best I can do for now):


And finally...a shameless plug
My next gig with Witness To the Beard is on Friday 25th September in Stockwell. PLEASE COME!

Parmageddon

Much has already been said about the media coverage of swine flu, panic mongering and the notion of 'the boy who cried wolf', so I'm sure there's nothing I can really add to the debate. However, what I have contributed is the marvellous pun above, relating to ham and the end of the world. Bad Science legend Ben Goldacre is certainly a fan, so I must thank him for circulating my pun-ditry to a wider audience.

In truth, I am a tad worried about a potential pandemic, but at the end of the day there's not really much I can do about it except wait and see how it plays out.

It's been a busy old week. The 'battle of the media' pub quiz at the Groucho Club (in aid of International Alert) was good fun on Monday. Other than getting confused between Rebecca Romero and Victoria Pendleton, I think I justified my place on the Guardian team...although mainly as a result of my extensive knowledge of Take That.

Tuesday I went along to the April edition of the London Bloggers Meetup. It was a good'un, sponsored by Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, who told us all about their latest interactive campaign and treated us to canapes, a couple of free drinks and a pretty target pin badge which is now adorning my (ridiculously massive) handbag. Loads of new people were there too, and I had the pleasure of meeting Laura from BitchBuzz, Meaghan from Spoonfed, Steve from LearnAsOne (very interesting social media / charity expedition project), Rachel Clarke, Tom from Tired of London, Tired of Life and Alex Lefley, as well as the usual suspects.

Just noticed that I've got a sore throat. Hmmmmm....

Shrove boozeday

Pancakes pancakes pancakes. I love them. Can't make them to save my life, but nom nom nom. So, imagine my delight when I found out that Ed's Diner in Soho was giving away free pancakes yesterday, courtesy of The Kindness Offensive!

Luckily for me I got there shortly after the giveaway started at 8am (there were massive queues later), so I got a seat at the counter and was even filmed whilst filling my gob with syrupy yumminess. Sadly the person interviewing me didn't quite understand any of my Masterchef references when I described the quality of the food, but never mind.

I also got a free coffee, which was possibly a mistake since I only normally drink coffee about once every six months when I have a life-or-death requirement for it, and because I was feeling quite perky yesterday anyway, the caffeine in my bloodstream meant that I was talking at about a million miles an hour - AND VERY LOUDLY - all morning.

After a couple of post-work drinkies and a very pleasant, girly dinner with Shell, I went to the February London Bloggers Meetup event at Verve Bar in Covent Garden. This time it was sponsored by Bacardi, promoting their new range of 100 Calorie Bacardi Breezers. And very tasty they were too. So even though the day started off with lots of pancake-related calories, at least I sort of made up for it later on.....yeah right.

Blogtailing

Crikey, I haven't written this blog for ages. Tooooo busy! But simply have to sing the praises of the latest London Bloggers Meetup, which took place last night at Diageo plc, home of Smirnoff. It was free cocktails (and food, because it's ALL about 'responsible drinking' these days....), plus a personalised 'blogtail' - as I like to call them - for each blogger according to what they write about. Being a fan of puns (check out www.punlimited.co.uk) I was served a lemon and lime twist, because I like playing with (or 'twisting') my words. Clever. Plus we then got a free bottle of vodka at the end of the night. Not bad, eh?

Great to meet some more cool bloggers too, here's a brief roundup (sorry if I've forgotten anyone or don't have your urls):

Niamh (blogs about food)
Tom Phillips (blogs for Metro, likes robots)
Jaz
MissGeeky (loads of ace tips)
Cristiano (more tips)
Andy (organiser extraordinaire)
Rax (co-organiser extraordinaire)
Peter Marshall (photography exhibition coming up soon)
Lolly (great to catch up again)
Melanie (I think she got the best personalised cocktail)
Zoe
Gary (my friend from 'real life'!)
Chris (who still thinks my band should be called 'Hunter Wing')
Lewis

Blogs and booze

Tuesday afternoon. Not much planned, so decide to head over to the Southbank for a couple of sunny drinks with work buddies, mentioning it to my mate Gary who works near there to see if he fancies it. But he has plans - he is attending the London Bloggers Summer Meet Up party.

"You blog - you should come!". So indeed I did. After hastily creating some rather crude business cards I was ready to 'network'.

It was pretty darn cool, and not only because of the free drinks generously supplied by the kind people at Stella Artois. There were a varied array of people there who blog about all sorts of things - events, travel, music...and even one guy who does rather creative things with post-it notes...

Here are some blogs of the people there:

The Londoneer * Peter * Arseniy * Julius * Lolly * Mario * Christiano * Barbara * Anthony Fresh Plastic * Andy Bargery * Willem * Chris * Sandrine * Annie Mole

A bientot!