A Night in Soho

I came back last night around 8pm and everyone was leaving to go on a tour of the eccentricities of Soho with this crazy Brazilian bartender from the hostel bar who insisted we come out with her on our day off. She was not taking no for an answer so anyone who was in the studio was required to come. We went to three bars: the first was the huge Waxy O'Connells, this awesome but unusual Irish bar with a huge fake tree inside it - it was kind of like being in some sort of Hobbit land and I left my autograph on one of its branches. The next was called Garlic & Shots and was in the basement of a Swedish restaurant. We all crawled into this little tiny dungeon-like room with a long table down the middle, it was lit by dripping candles and was very claustrophobic. Then we ended up at a very unusual place called Crobar, a gothic/metal bar that she chose because it's one of only a few that are open past 1am on a Monday night. It was an interesting experience, I think we all felt sufficiently preppy in that place! A good time was had by all although I lost track of how many times a drunk Tam spilled his drink on me, he has since offered to pay to have my wool coat dry cleaned!

By the time we left, it was a little after 2am and the tube stops running at midnight so that meant a cab (and a lot of money) or a free night bus. We stopped at a McDonalds and must have stood on Charing Cross Road for at least a half hour--long enough for me to have a complete conversation with Chris!--before the N390 appeared. I had this magical image of what night buses are like thanks to Harry Potter but alas, they're just like any other bus; no squeezing in between cars or beds rolling around like in the movie. We discovered 15 minutes after boarding that we were going the wrong way and had ended up all the way up by Euston Road and King's Cross... so at 2:40 we got off and waited another 10 minutes for a new bus going the correct direction, and arrived back at the hostel at 3:20am. We had a studio meeting at 9:30 this morning so it was a short night, but a good bonding experience. I've gotten through the spat with my roommate and actually discovered that the rest of the girls are having the same issues with her! I took a nap this afternoon and it's a good thing because the entire country of Spain has just moved in across the hall from me in the hostel and I probably won't be sleeping much tonight.