The joy of Curry and Canary Wharf - 25/09/2006

Grudge match in Contender on Monday night with K9 and Walter Wright going at it. It was a dirty, messy fight and Walter decided he wanted to brawl with K9 rather than stick with his silky smooth style. I didn't like his brash arrogance and I think it was a foolish of him to try to tear it up with K9. K9 is the underdog but his lumbering style did little to impress and overall it was a disappointing fight.

My brother was working next door on Wednesday and after he'd done he came to join me where I work. As we were still in the glow of our birthdays I suggested we try out Wagamamas as I'd wanted him to experience it. We decided to hit the one in Canary Wharf and headed over there, which after parking up proved to me how easy and trouble free it still was to visit. I hadn't realised that my bro had never been so once we left the confines of the shops and headed out into the main building area his excitement was contagious. To be fair I love sharing new things with people and Canary Wharf has this amazing quality about it. Heading down into the main piazza in South Quay outside the entrance to the station and looking back up at the Tower is awe inspiring. Everything is just so clean and tidy with the 'lovely' people walking around and enough polished marble and recessed lighting to satisfy anyone. It was a mild evening and drinking in the atmosphere of this place was just intoxicating. I just love how each building tries to unashamadely outdo the other in either the size of mostly unused vast foyers or the number of visible atriums it has.

There is so much attention to detail and the use of lighting and glass in the design and layout of buildings and leaves you with nothing more to do than just stand with your mouth open and hands on your hips. Even the station is great. Take the escalator down and this huge cavern just opens up. It's like what you imagine a huge station in America might be like. We moved through the marbled corridors that criss cross underneath the area to come out in what was another plaza area. This seemed to be the restuarant area with a bevy of cool places to eat. We took a short escalator up to the glass fronted Wagamamas and got shown to a table. Even though it was around 8.20ish it was still buzzing in there with plenty of people having come from work. It always makes me wonder at what point it is that you get to when going out for dinner becomes purely functional and a means to take onboard nourishment rather than having a nice meal out.

Either way I still take real pleasure in the treat of eating out, no matter what or where it is and tonight was no exception. I played it safe and had what I enjoyed before which was still yummy. My bro enjoyed the starters but thought the main (he had the same as me which was the breaded chicken with rice and a curry sauce) a little bland. I went for the ginger cheesecake for dessert which was mucho nice and had that pleasant bite of ginger. You know the kind that initially makes you think that is enough but then you feel compelled to have another piece. We left and decided to wander around the wharf a little more marvelling at the architecture and just taking in the general atmosphere. It's funny that we were so impressed with it's design and cleanliness that I think if we'd spotted any rubbish we would have probably picked it up and placed it in a bin. The place has just such a great feel to it. Without the hustle and bustle of people rushing around it has this calm air of excellence which is palpable. I would love to take a girl to see it because it would be nice to show someone something so cool, it would give them the chance to see me genuinely excited about something and it would also allow me to see that if it didn't impress them they probably weren't the kind of person I'd be interested in.

We walked over to the river to see the restuarants on the front and the location of the four seasons hotel. It's right on the bend of the Thames so rather cleverly you have a view of the City infront of you, some might say representing the old and Canary Wharf behind you representing the new. The hotel even has a pool as part of it's gym complex which is in this glass walled building overlooking the Thames. You can imagine how iconic a view it is if you wanted to film a movie set in London. Also makes you wonder what kind of money and lifestyle you would live if you happened to be the one on the inside doing your lengths with such a great view as your backdrop.

Needed to work late on Friday night and gave bro a bit of a runaround as I'd said we would do something. Felt bad and picked him up en route, hitting the vid store to pick up Silent Hill on DVD before going to an Indian takeway. We hadn't had a curry for ages. The best one we know is a few miles away and it always had the perception that it would be hideously expensive. It wasn't and we sorted ourselves out with poppadoms, naan's, tikka massala and bombay potatoes. Man, it was good. We both like food as you know and I'd forgotten the pleasures of tearing off a lump of warn naan, dunking it in massala sauce and popping it in my mouth. We retired to the comfort of the sofa to commence the film but despite having some 'far out' images and a twisting plot we found it a little slow and coupled with the weariness of the week I had to stop it half way through and hit the sack.

You'll all be delighted to know that I put some quality hours back into the sleepbank on Saturday. Bro wasn't working so after finishing off Silent Hill, which to be fair didn't get any better, bar this crazy scene with these faceless buxom knife wielding nurses, we played some more of the Xbox game I'd got him for his birthday. I don't know if it's down to the violent nature of the game and/or it's difficulty level but the level of obscenities that left our mouths whilst chopping, slashing, impaling and decapitating roman soldiers was so high that it became almost comical. Highlights included "Eat dick, you monkey piece of shit", "motherfucker, I'll fuck you up", "I'm going to cut your arse off and feed it to you" and "Don't cry wolf me with you old bastard or I'll kill you myself".

That night bro and I went out with my two female cousins in Beckenham. One of my cousins is back from Korea and it was great to go out with them both. I wasn't sure how the night would turn out as both had confessed to not enjoying getting blaggered or dancing. I needn't have worried as they were both great fun. We had some drinks outside, I was on the red bulls as I was driving, and we were having a damn good laugh. There were plenty of honeys out as well in Beckenham and I confess that our eyes must have done a little wandering. We moved inside and over to a corner where we continued to have some drinks. The bar was lively and towards the end we managed to grab a few dances on the dance floor with them, which pleased me. We blasted up to the Tea hut as we were hungry and one of my cousins hadn't been there. I wanted to complete the night in style and what better way than with some quarterpounder egg burgers and a cup of tea. It was nice to be out with them and see a different side to the one I see at Christmas and Easter. I know I'm just as much to blame for not seeing more of them but I really enjoyed it and I hope they got to see me in a different light as well.

Accomplished very little on Sunday. Watched the MotoGP, played some Xbox and cooked a great spag bol. Talk soon.