Highlight of the Day - Free Egyptian food from a new 'street food' style place that's just opened on St Martin's Lane called Koshari Street.  I'd never had anything like it - it had pasta, rice, lentils and other beans topped with a tomato sauce.  I love lentils and beans etc., but I was thinking when I looked at it that it might be a bit flavourless, but it was really delicious.  Not sure if it was partly because it was free, because free things are always better!

Embarrassing Moment of the Day - Stayed so late at work on Thursday (2.30am!) so I could've taken Friday off, but I had a meeting at 10.30.  It wasn't that important, but I thought I'd go in for it, just to show willing and then go home.  I ran in, completely knackered and looking a state, to find the meeting had already started.  I burst in with my coat still on and had to go and sit at the table next to the person who was talking as it was the only seat left.  2 minutes later the meeting finishes.  It was 10-10.30, not 10.30-11.  I'm an idiot.

I did something very brave on Friday! I'm very proud of myself.  I did some stand-up comedy! I talked for 5 minutes at an open mic night about family holidays, caravanning in Hastings, or somewhere on a layby in the Hastings vicinity.  It went pretty well! The audience was very small, but very supportive.  It was at a night aimed at comedians who have only been going for a year or less, called Underdogs at the Blue Posts on Rupert Street in Soho.  Some of my jokes went well, some fell flat on their face, but the big problem was that I didn't ask the friend who came with me to record it, so I have no idea which ones got laughs and which ones didn't! I'm definitely going to do it again, as I had loads of fun and I met some great people - everyone was surprised it was my first time when I told them afterwards, so that was great! I just need to be a bit funnier next time - sort of a key point! I'm working on it!

That's one of my 30 things ticked off though! Go me!

Highlight of the day - Cafe Gourmand - a lovely little cafe and bistrot on Lexington Street in Soho.  It feels very French inside (I used to live in Paris, so I know innit) and it's a lovely, peaceful space in which to escape from the hustle and bustle of Soho.  The staff were really friendly (possibly the only bit that didn't remind me of Paris) and the prices were very reasonable.  I only had a coffee, but was very tempted by all the cakes.  I will definitely be going back for some mini gourmands (little cakes, just a mouthful) or their posh meat pies - I don't think I've ever seen a pie look so delicate!  I'm also quite tempted by their green cookie tea. I was kicking myself for having eaten elsewhere beforehand!

Embarrassing moment of the day - I call it the 'tube lean.'  You know, when you think you're perfectly steady and don't need to hold on and then it jolts off and you rather embarrassingly lean on the person next to you.  That's really embarrassing, right? However, you normally steady yourself and are off of them within a milisecond, mumble sorry, and go back to avoiding eye contact.  I went for a bit of a spectacular one yesterday - it was a 2-second full-frontal lean.  Quite a masterpiece.  Why I was facing this guy, I don't know.  How the tube was going at such a thrust that it lasted 2 seconds, I also don't know.  He was also a really attractive guy, which just made the whole ordeal (allbeit 2 seconds, but let's face it, 2 seconds of British awkwardness feels like a lifetime!).  I felt like the whole carriage were staring at me for the rest of my journey.  They obviously weren't.  Or were they??

So, why was yesterday so spontaneous? I had planned on doing nothing this weekend, but have been talking to friends recently about how my life revolves around lists.  I want more spontaneity damnit!  Then, I saw tickets on lastminute.com a few days ago for My Big Italian Gay Wedding at the Greenwich Theatre.  It's come from New York and the tickets were a good price, so me and a friend went on the spur of the moment.  It was really fun - loud, proud, camp and, in places, hilarious.  It was about an Italian New Yorker getting married to his boyfriend and all the hoo-ha that surrounded it.  It had a lot of visual humour, funny characters and farsical storyline.  There was a great atmosphere, with people from the crowd joining in on jokes and interacting with the actors.  Some singing, some dancing and a whole lot of camping.  A few of the jokes were very America-centric and went a bit over my head - I was hoping they might have localised it a little bit at least, just by picking things that were still American, but more relevant/famous here.  I'd be really interested to know if laughs came at different places in the UK and the US actually.  Me and my friend then went to the gay pub in Greenwich called the Prince.  I then ran down the road like a big poofta about to miss the last DLR.  I caught it.

Earlier in the day, I spontaneously met my friend to go the Southbank Food Market and had a lovely Beijing-style pork pancake from Mei Mei street food.  It did remind me of what I'd eaten when I actually went to Beijing, except that she'd added meat, which made it even better in my book.  I may have also sampled about 15 other stalls' foods! It was such a lovely day to mooch around London.  We then went over to Trafalgar Square and watched the outdoor pillow fight (see photo above).  We didn't join - we're not that spontaneous yet, one step at a time.  Then we went to Cafe Gourmand, then I splurged £50 in the River Island sale (all in the name of spontaneity of course).  Spontaneous is fun, but it's also expensive, and it also left me running (literally at time) late for everything I did.  Still, a great day all round! Maybe the start of spring? Dare I hope?

Highlight of the day - The return of Jonathan Creek! The ending was a bit weird, but, in my memory, they often were.  Alan Davies also tweeted that there are three more new episodes planned!

Embarrassing moment the day - Does anyone else feel that a different, more angry and impatient person takes them over as soon as they enter the tube system? I always feel as though I'm in a rush, even when I'm not (I more than often am, but still...).  Today, in the distance, I saw a huge crowd of tourists gathering as I was coming down the escalators.  A man had his hand in the air and was signally, tour-guide-stylee for everyone to meet there.  I immediately knew that I HAD to get past them before we entered any sort of corridor.  I JUST missed the opportunity and found myself directly behind said man, right in the midst of the slow-paced group.  He was the only person between me and huge, promising clear space of corridor, which would allow me to reach the platform at least 6 seconds sooner.  Typically British, I didn't want to be rude by asking him to move aside, I wanted to be super-polite, by standing almost on his heels, huffing, puffing and pulling faces.  He turned around a couple of times and failed to notice (the idiot! I was being so Britishly obvious) and then the third time, he realised, looked mortified and apologised, whilst moving aside.  For a brief second, I felt guilty, remembering that just because we are on the tube, does not mean that we have all become horrible, idiotic people, but are in fact all normal nice people.  I said sorry too and moved past him, only to in some catastrophically clumsy motion hit the end of the wine bottle that was in a carrier bag I was holding onto a funny bone in my knee (I believe that's the technical term).  A shock went down my leg, I let out a hugely embarrassing groan and stood clutching my knee.  I almost fell over! Needless to say, I was then getting in the way of the big tourist group, clutching my knee and my pride.  Silly tuber.

Today, I went to The Bridge Coffee House in Shoreditch.  My awful phone camera mustered up the courage to take the awful picture above.  It's a quirky little cafe, which is supposed to be in a Victorian/Dickensian style.  The decor really is something.  It's a feast for the eyes, that sort of makes them want to vomit.  It's quite dark, very kitsch and opulent and certainly old-fashioned.  The decor does look Victorian and you could spend quite a while looking at it all.  The cakes felt quite 70s in a way, but delicious nonetheless.  The music was a mix of 70s-90s - we had Nina Simone, Abba and Celine Dion.  Quite odd.  I enjoyed it and it certainly is an experience.  You wouldn't think that would all be hiding in there.  However, I'm not entirely sure I'd be in a rush to go again.

This evening, I went on another date.  This is another guy I've met on the internet, this time on OK Cupid.  OK Cupid is a website that has a straight and a gay section and, unlike most gay dating sites, is not focussed on sex and even has profiles without cocks on them...quite original! I felt that I had a lot in common with this guy from the start.  We both speak German.  We both work in marketing.  We both like language and puns and he seemed pretty intelligent, witty and good-looking.  We have the German and the marketing in common at least.  We went to Soho Joes on Dean Street, which does delicious pizza at a good price.  The staff are really nice too.  I've been before.  I suggested it, I hope it went down well with him.  I thought it was going really well.  I suggested, very casually, almost as if I didn't want to (trying to be cool, perhaps came off as freezing cold) that we move on for another drink.  He said he should get home as his flatmate was ill.  Then, I can't quite remember what I said after that, but he did a U-turn and said let's go.  I can't work out now if it's that I was being cold and he thought I didn't really want to, until he saw my reaction to him tentatively saying no, or if he didn't really want to, but said yes out of awkwardness/pity when he saw my reaction.  Anyway, we went to The John Snow pub which is really nice (if somewhat overcrowded) and we just seemed to chat and laugh all evening.  I made the very uncool mistake and texting him this evening to say that I had fun.  He hasn't replied.  I had a really good feeling about this one and am a bit concerned already now.  Hopefully he will text soon.

I don't always go on two dates in one weekend by the way! In fact, this may be a first, but it IS Easter, and I'm sure Jesus died so that gay people could meet strangers from the internet, didn't he?

UpDATE from the last one (pardon the pun, would be way funnier with the power of voice for emphasis, not capitals), I text him, he text back, I text again, nothing since.  I don't feel that bothered though, which is a sign I'm not that bothered about him.  I feel quite bothered about tonight's one though, so I'm keeping my

Highlight of the day - having some friends over for dinner, one of them bringing their beautiful, well-behaved, intelligent, friendly and generally perfect in every way 6-year-old with them.  I have NO kids in my life at the moment (in spite of constantly telling all of my friends and relatives in long-term relationships (and otherwise) that I am MORE THAN ready for them to have kids, whether they are or not), so it was so lovely to spend some time with a child in the room for a change.  I am still grinning from ear to ear today.

Embarrassing moment of the day - I was in a tiny tiny toilet (not the actual apparatus, the room) and was at the urinal closest to the real WC cubicle door.  I was standing weeing, even closer to the man in the urinal next to me than I would be normally - it's awkward enough at the best of times -  when the man in the cubicle came out and said to me "it's very pokey in here isn't it?" - Very much an accurate statement, but why did he consider a time at which my penis was unclothed and I was urinating almost cheek-to-cheek with a urinating man on the other side and everyone being able to see everyone else's business, a time suitable for polite chit-chat?  So akward!  I didn't reply. 

This post is about Saturday, as I'm catching up.  Is it Easter Saturday or is it not special enough to have a name? Today, I went to eat in the Princess Louise pub, which is a beautiful pub in Holborn with a maze-like interior and lots of little sections which reminds me of a posh Victorian train (not that I've ever been in one).  I went with the intention of eating there, but when asked if they were serving food, we were told 'not today' with no further explanation, so I'll try again for that another time.  We ate in a little Italian called Cafe Mode I think which was very reasonable. 

Anyway, after that we went to see Judas Kiss with Rupert Everett at the Duke of York's Theatre.  I wanted to go to Music and Notes Coffee Shop which is opposite on St Martin's Lane, but we ran out of time.  Duke of York theatre is truly tiny (hence aforementioned half-naked pokey toilet chit-chat).  The play was good.  It's about Oscar Wilde's life.  It didn't cover quite as much of his life as I was expecting.  It was more like four scenes which covered four snapshots of his life.  There was a LOT of nudity and quite a lot of rude jokes.  The average age of the audience was about 60 so I'm not really sure if it was what everyone was expecting.  My friend fancied the naked guy in the first half (blonde-hair-blue-eyed) and I fancied the naked guy in the second half (Italian stallion).  Attractive naked guys (and I don't mean half-naked) are really quite distracting in a play, so between us we managed to piece together what happened as we both watched one half each!   Quite appropriate watching Judas Kiss over Easter.  I'm not sure Jesus would approve of the content though!