Pie n Mash

Beef, Bacon & Red Wine Pie

After a trip to the Emirates and a pretty awful time on the tube, sustenance was required on our recent London jaunt. We stepped out of the Mole highway at the delightful Tower Hill. With it's views of the Tower, Thames and Shard it was welcome change to the armpits of the sweaty on the life sucking Mole highway.

After a brief period chillin and catching up with messages it was decided to alter plans. Repairing to a nearby public hostelry for a libation was  a very wise and welcome decision. We chose the Minories Pub only a minutes walk away. Finding Peroni on draught was a welcome start to our respite. Comfy seating with plenty of room, no overbearing music and sport on the huge TVs meant we settled in quite quickly.

Further discussion of the day led us to decide to stop and eat, as there seemed to be a reasonable choice which included PIE. After much debate, discussion and consideration all of us went for the Beef, Bacon & Red Wine Pie pictured above. Encased in shortcrust pastry it came with buttery mash, some green stuff and a serving of gravy to cover everything with.

Some comments were noted about the dryness of the pastry in part and the fullness of the pie content but overall I think the consensus of opinion was that this pie hit the spot. The meat and gravy content was tasty, the mash wasn't school lumpy and overall we would definitely repeat the choice given the opportunity.

The Market Porter

Suitably refreshed we then headed out for a bimble across and along the River Thames stopping occasionally for some much needed refreshment  in some delightful spots, the Market Porter being a memorable one. 

Although I would definitely recommend avoiding the Brown Cow beer mmmmmm On this particular evening the  weather was very kind, almost balmy and made strolling around very enjoyable. London at night lit up looked fantastic and as a backdrop would be hard to beat.

Gooners Day

The continuing birthday celebration of Bilbo Baggins led our happy band to the Emirates stadium in North London to watch the Gooners take on the mighty blues of Everton in the 6th Round of the FA Cup.

An early kick off (12:45pm) saw us up and out promptly from the hotel on a sunny glorious day in London. This seemed to put most people in a good mood. The stadium is magnificent even if the result was not so good!!! Plenty of room and great facilities it is massive step up from some the pits we've been to in the past. 

Depite the fact that three of our party are blues and the odd one out is a red (Liverpool kind), we still had a good time, in with the Arsenal faithful. One criticism though of the ground was that they ran out of Pies which is unforgivable !!!!!

Declaration 2014

In celebration of a special birthday, a gathering of cestrians was convened in sunny London to attend the Mike Peters, "Declaration" 2014 tour. The venue was the 02 Academy Islington and the tour is supporting the just released Declaration album, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of the original release by revisiting it with new versions and ideas.

The evening consisted of two sets, with the first being a meander through the extensive back catalogue of the Alarm and Mike Peters. This is a blistering start to what promises to be a great evening. For one of the hardest working men in rock and roll, Mr Peters voice is a little ropey to start off with but quickly gets up to speed with some help from the audience. Each of the songs is punctuated with chat which is interesting, funny and not too long.  of this section my personal favourites were hearing Breathe and Across The Border.

After a short break for 10 mins the second set starts and is devoted to playing the original Declaration album track list in it's entirety.  However there is a noticeable departure in the style, arrangements and lyrics of how these songs are played. Some are as good as and some are even better than the original. I suppose that will be down to individual choice but my absolutely favourite of the new interpretations is Shout To the Devil  the backing riff  of which had been banging around in my head since I heard the new album.

The whole of evening was enhanced by the use of three mics for the vocals,  a drum, mandolin, a variety of harmonicas, loops, samples sounds (?) and ONE excellent guitar. It gave the performance a little breadth and power without having a full band. The crowd were fairly lively and it was great to see Eddie Macdonald/Gaz Top enjoying the gig as well from the side.

I have had the pleasure and good fortune to hear Mr Peters live in various disguises for nearly 30 years as the Alarm, MP & Poets, DMW, Coloursound, with BIG C, and on his own in all sorts of settings. Of his solo performances this was a stand out one. After finishing with a rousing version of Blaze Of Glory  he went off before returning to finish with some cracking encores as you can see from the set list below.

The venue was sold out but not uncomfortable and Mr Peters was in tip top form marching on to a level most could only aspire to. Thanks to Mr P and all the MPO team for an absolutely cracking night.

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