Gerald Howat, Obituary

Largely responsible for my love of cricket, the man who taught me to play the game, got me on the MCC membership list and fantastic eccentric, Gerald Howat has sadly passed away recently.

His obituary was in the Independent this week.

Restaurant Review: Le Querce

After a hot tip on Brockley Central I decided to visit Le Querce with friends last night. It is a small family owned Italian restaurant located in Brockley Rise.

The place had a great atmosphere and was packed out on a Saturday night. Just like in Brugge we were quite a noisy table with joking and laughing, but I don't think anyone cared. All of the food is refreshingly home made which we all loved.

We had a variety of starters. I had the polenta cake (served with blue cheese and tomato sauce), Jo and Debs had roasted aubergines and Ed had the all time classic tomato and mozzarella salad.

For the main courses we all had one of the different home made pastas or gnocchies. My friends raved about their food. I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta and mint in a butter and sage sauce. Despite being an Italian classic something really clashed on my palate and, sadly, I wasn't a fan at all. I couldn't pin point the taste that I disliked in the dish. Not sure if it was just not to my taste or there was something wrong with the cooking.

Home made gelati turned the evening around and was a fabulous desert. Ed was a big fan of his cheesecake. There was lots of interesting variety on the menu and definitely want to go back to try out some of the other dishes.

Complete blog abuse, but if you were the cute girl on the table of three there last night and stumble upon the blog please drop me a line. Being completely feeble matters of the heart I was too shy to come across and say hello!

Missing glasses

I left my glasses in the office yesterday. I now have the unenviable choice of a weekend of blindness or going into the office on a Saturday........

High crime Brockley?

When I got home this evening there was a Police van parked outside my flat. Speaking to my neighbours, two people on scooters had broken into their car parked outside, stolen from inside it and driven off again.

Recently I've been getting carried away with the news of all of the developments in Brockley. Like the new deli, French food shop, cafes, new flats and shops. I've been kept up to date by the excellent Brockley Central.

A couple of years before I moved into Brockley, my friend Rob lived here. Seven years ago the latest development was more likely to be a new police witness appeal board.

Brockley has come a long way over the past few years and this was the first time that I have witnessed a crime during my time in Brockley. Tonight I was reminded it is an area up and coming with a bit of a distance to go.

When your friends are tipped on Iain Dale's Blog

I was somewhat gob smacked when I logged onto Iain Dale's blog for my daily read and the top article starts Olly Kendall has a good pice on the LibDem leadership (sic). Surely not the Olly Kendall I went to uni with? So I clicked the link, and to my surprise it was. Regardless of whether you are a Lib Dem, or even have an interest in the upcoming leadership election, it is a well written article. Good to see friend doing well.

UPDATE: Olly Kendall was invited onto 18 Doughty Street last night. I, of course, had written a gushing comment on Iain Dale's blog which was read out. A evening of trying to download the show on my not so fast broadband connection awaits!

Bike Review

I know that you have all been waiting with baited breath for my bike review, so here we go........

Three years ago when I first starting cycling to work, I took my rusty old bike into Cycle Surgery near Liverpool Street. They did an absolutely amazing job at keeping the bike running, practically rebuilding it in a morning, and all for a sensible price. They did the simple things like set up the breaks so that you didn't go over the handle bars when doing an emergency stop. And the more advanced things like cleaning all of the bearings so that the bike ran smoothly and free wheeled down hill faster than many a newer bike. None of which has been consistently done in a service since, even if it does all sound obvious.

I know that you can't judge a service fairly after only using it once, but Cycle Surgery will always be the standard by which I judge other bike shops. Why did I stop using them? Because I moved job to Canary Wharf and they don't have a shop in the depths of East London.

So what of Evans? The staff were friendly and helpful and the service was good, but it didn't reach the Cycle Surgery benchmark! When I picked up the bike one of the handle bar grips was loose, the mud guard rubbed on the wheel and despite asking the gears to be checked after my test ride the chain slips in low gears when I go up hill. I am sure that all the issues will be fixed with a smile at my complimentary service, but I would rather they didn't happen in the first place!

And of the bike? I'm really enjoying it so far. Seems well built and robust. Hopefully it will last as long as the old rust bucket!

Weekend in Brugge

Just back from a fantastic weekend in Brugge with my uni friends (pictured above). When I bought my car back in April one of the first things I did was book a cheap ticket for the Eurotunnel and the random weekend in the future I chose was this one.

We arrived on Saturday lunchtime. Ignoring the signs for the car park I drove straight past a road block and into the middle of the market square; on market day. We finally escaped and made it to a car park next to the station.

We spent a very pleasant afternoon walking round the beautiful city of Brugge. Moving between bars to sample different Belgian beers. The city has some fantastic architecture and its' reputation as the Venice of the North is deserved. Even if the waiters do seem to have a strange sense of humour!

For dinner we went to a little restaurant near the hotel. We were talking and joking and looked round to realise that everyone in the restaurant was staring at us and giving us dirty looks. We were a bit more lively than their usual clientele who seemed to be mainly 50+ married couples not talking to each other and staring blankly into space.

The young waiter recommended a local beer hall for some after dinner drinks. I'm not quite sure if he had a rebellious streak or just wanted his quiet staid restaurant back! Regardless, the beer hall was fabulous. There were 200 hundred different beers to try in a great atmosphere.

If you are thinking of a weekend in Brugge I would thoroughly recommend it. If you are thinking of staying at the Hotel Graaf Van Vlaanderen, don't.

I have put some photos of the weekend here.

How green is your home?

I was feeling a little chilly last night, so decided to put the heating on. This is the first time since the beginning of April that I have used the central heating. It might explain why the gas bill for my last quarter was £18.67!

Do I live in a well insulated home and the rest of you have had the heating on for ages? Or should I put a jumper on and stop complaining?

Off to Belguim for the weekend with some uni friends. Looking forward to it!