Tate Modern... And Another Bloody Outing!

View of St Pauls and the Thames from the Tate Modern

I spent Friday in London for a long planned day out with my close friend Tracy. After a quick coffee in Starbucks near Victoria we caught the bus to St Pauls and crossed over the Millennium Bridge to visit the Tate Modern. I thought I'd been there before to see some of the Turner Prize exhibits but was clearly mistaken... There was loads to see, including some cool surrealist stuff and this sinister looking chair (left) with blades for handles. We must have spent about 3 hours looking around, then had a drink up in the Members Bar overlooking the Thames which was lovely. Decided to walk to Covent Garden mid-afternoon which was slightly further away than I'd anticipated, but my internal compass steered us there eventually. Spotted the Banana Bookshop then found a nice little Italian restaurant for dinner before Tracy had to get back to Oxford.

Then things kinda spiralled. I knew James was in town and up for a couple of pints so I rang him and left a message saying I was free. Wandered off to see Paul in the Cinema Store while I waited for him to return my call, then strolled around Leicester Square for an hour. Just when I was about to give up and head off to Hammersmith to see Daniel Kitson I suddenly I got three texts and a voicemail, all of which had been sent about an hour earlier. Bloody mobiles! I managed to ascertain that James was meeting Jay Slater (film journalist/author) in a pub up by Marble Arch, so I walked all the way up there, found the pub, but couldn't see them. My mobile was still playing up, so I had to find a phonebox, and then only got James's voicemail again. Grrrr! Thankfully about 10 mins later the signal came back and I received another flurry of missed calls and texts - James had been in the wrong pub and should have been meeting in one between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road! So I then had to walk all the way back down Oxford Street... I'm not kidding, I was ready to kill for a pint after that hour walking around London! Anyway, it was good to meet up with the two guys along with Mike from EMB and a couple of directors, Alex Chandon (Cradle Of Fear) and Sean Hogan (Lie Still), a cool little gathering of like-minded horror folk. Naturally I got very drunk and then remembered I had to get back to Brighton... luckily I made it onto the midnight train having remembered to take a leak before boarding. In my inebriated state I seem to have agreed to return on Wednesday evening for a very special EMB Zombie Club night... should be fun!

And finally... happy birthday to Kelly today! Thanks for popping in for a cuppa this afternoon!