42. Day Out Saving the World / 50. Calendar

42.  Day Out Saving the World / 50.  Calendar

Choosing a theme for a calendar is a difficult prospect and it's taken slightly longer than anticipated to agree on a theme so the 2015 calendar is now a 2016 calendar...  In the end we found the answer hidden on our own to-do list - a superhero day out!

The plan was simple: dress up as superheroes and run around London finding things to save and climb and stuff, taking photos for the calendar as we went.

Having acquired costumes (from the Party Store in Clapham Junction - definitely recommend trying before you buy as the pre-made costumes seem to only fit the lady on the front of the packet and no other humans), borrowed a decent camera from Paula from the gym and bribed Alex into being the photographer, everything was ready to go until my hangover from Louise and Lori's Christmas party threatened to ruin everything.  It was a hangover worse than even the one I had from my work Christmas party; I could barely open my eyes and the idea of climbing anywhere past the sofa seemed completely unachievable.

But suddenly...

Anett uttered the immortal words guaranteed to force me to man up in any given situation:

"This is our last chance to do this"

So I made an epic Spanish tortilla and two rounds of very strong coffee and we started face painting and pulled on our tights.  Despite the availability of a photographer and a decent camera, we still had to spend a couple of minutes taking super-selfies before we left the flat.

Ready to save London

We'd made a list in advance of a few different photo ideas and locations but we started close to home at the ping pong table around the corner.  It has to be said that some ideas translated better into photos than others; the 'super-slamming rubbish into a bin' concept did not execute quite as well as anticipated!

As we mounted the bins, Anett wished her costume came with gloves too.

It's fair to say that our antics (not just the far from impressive bin climbing stunt) drew some attention and there are probably a few confused tourists out there still wondering what it was all about.  At the cinema, people found it hard to believe that we were just there to see a film...  The truth of the matter is that we just hadn't had time to go home and get changed!  Fortunately Victoria didn't mind having some slightly unconventional film/dinner buddies and even took a couple more photos for us.

Uh oh!  Looks like a chick flick!

Superhero day out / calendar list trumps!

Originality: 5/5 - safe to say we were the only people out doing this
Cost: 4/5 - just the outfits and a travelcard
Fun factor: 5/5 - hilarious AND helped clear the hangover

Anett's busily editing the photos so the finished calendar will be ready for 2016 - let us know (and give us money) if you want a copy!

12. Christmas party - bake gingerbread

12.  Christmas party - bake gingerbread

It's at this point in the blog that I should reveal that Anett and I wrote the to-do list before we decided to make it into a blog, and so some of the things on the list lend themselves better to a full blog post than others.  Clearly I have very little to say about the making of the gingerbread itself, but here's an account of our 'Wifey Christmas Date Day'.

It all started a little more hungover than intended as I'd been at my work Christmas do the night before.  I blame the free cocktails that were also 2-for-1 for everything.  After a slow and painful start, we headed out to Clapham Junction to buy outfits for our 2016 calendar (details coming after we've taken the photos!) and then hit Asda and Lidl for decorations and food supplies.

In a bid to reflect all our various heritages and traditions, we planned to mull cider, bake gingerbread and Norwegian cookies, eat Mexican food, drink eggnog and ponce around in Santa hats and Christmas jumpers watching Christmas films, listening to Christmas songs, and decorating the tree.  Later we were off to a Christmas party in Peckham.

The tree was a £12.50 bargain from Argos and at 6ft tall, the quality was definitely not premium.  Upon getting it home, we quickly realised that 6 baubles and a star were not enough decoration.  Fortunately Asda had the answer in the form of 12 more baubles and some lights and the tree (while still a budget effort) looks very respectably Christmassy now.

A few extra baubles and some lights - transformed!

The tree on the day we got it

After lunch and a bit of Christmas music I was starting to feel better so we got on with the mulled cider and eggnog prep.  In the end we didn't quite get to the Norwegian cookies but between us we knocked together some yummy cactus tacos and some super tasty gingerbread.  The mulled cider was dangerously tasty and we nailed two saucepans of the stuff in a very short time.  Fortunately the eggnog's creaminess and super sweetness slowed us down as we contemplated how much better things would be if Hugh Grant really was prime minister, and whether there ever was a time where turtlenecks really were that prevalent.

Mmmm Mexican food (ate the other one before taking the picture)

After the obligatory Love Actually viewing, we headed off in our Santa hats to catch the bus to Peckham.  It seems our hats made us very approachable and we made a few friends at the bus stop!  Fortunately we also left said friends at the bus stop.  We finished off the day at Victoria's flat in Peckham, drinking sloe gin and eating pigs in blankets and gingerbread until approximately 3am.  A Christmas party double-ender!

So many kinds of writing icing!

Gingerbread recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096
Eggnog: http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/best-eggnog-recipe/#hDJ3YuDEkfAbVMAr.97

Christmas party /  gingerbread making list trumps!

Originality: 1/5 (not very original at all but we did combine a few national traditions)
Cost: 5/5 (let's consider again how much of a bargain £12.50 for a 6 foot tree is)
Fun factor: 5/5 - probably in the top 10 days of this year

26. Hint Hunt

26.  Hint Hunt

First, a promise: no spoilers!  The nice people at Hint Hunt really don't like it when you talk about Hint Hunt, so we'll keep this to the information we were given before the game started.

Hint Hunt is an 'escape the room' game - there are a few of these around but Hint Hunt has *probably* been going the longest.  The basic idea is that you are locked in a room and you have an hour to get out, before........................ they let you out - but trust us, when you're in it, getting yourself out seems like an important thing to do.

We were our usual team of three but every team is also assigned a "game master" - a benevolent individual who watches everything you do in the room and has the power to help you should they feel so inclined.  Think "Hunger Games" without having to kill each other.

Our game master told us that the success rate for Hint Hunt is about 50% and we were also surprised to learn that the record time for getting out of the room was something in the region of 54 minutes - all of a sudden this sounded like a real challenge!

After an hour of ransacking, clue solving, crazed shouting at both each other and the message screen from the game master ("WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!") we made it out with a very respectable 1:37 on the clock.

Hint Hunt list trumps!

Originality: 4/5 (OK there are a few of these around now but it's generally accepted that Hint Hunt were there first)

Cost: 5/5 (My lovely work colleagues from Mount Vernon Cancer Centre bought the ticket for my birthday - but it really is good value for money)

Fun factor: 5/5 - definitely raising the bar for the rest of the to-do list

http://hinthunt.co.uk/

2. Candlelight Club

2. Candlelight Club

First, a couple of updates: we actually have covered loads of the to-do list but got too busy doing stuff (mostly inventing and promoting the now international weekly festival that is Tequila Friday) to update the blog!  Expect a gentle trickle of half-remembered, half-made up anecdotes and reviews over the next however long it takes.  Also it's not 2014 anymore but let's face it, that's not important.  What's important is more wifey fun times and tequila.

So the Candlelight Club: it's a 1920s themed monthly event with a secret central London location, lit entirely by candlelight.  Anett and Lotti had been once before and actually the secret venue was the same both times (can't remember where) so it came recommended (not sure the Candlelight Club felt the same way about Lotti) and we chose their Halloween event so we could put in a good costume effort, with Lotti on makeup duty as usual.  

We dressed as three ex-wives who had been viciously murdered by one treacherous individual who we won't mention again.  But he was there with us and he took some good photos so thanks for that.

Upon arrival, we popped upstairs to put our coats in the cloakroom and found that there was a tarot card reader hanging out.  Lotti was keen for a reading; Anett and I were keen for a drink.  After two drinks (pricey but strong and tasty), we had worked out which barman was making the strongest cocktails.  After three we had run out of money!  The live band were dressed in theme and worked the crowd well.

Anett was still recovering from a beach ultimate-related concussion and we were all in end of the month mode so it's fair to say that we kept this night fairly tame - there also weren't many single people there which limited our potential to mingle.  We lasted until the end of the night when the lights were unceremoniously turned on and headed back to Clapham favourite the Clapham North for a little more dancing before bed.

Candlelight club list trumps!

Cost: 3/5 (good for a treat, would be better if there was one drink included with the ticket price)

Originality: 4/5 

Fun factor: 4/5 (closed at midnight which felt a bit early)

http://www.thecandlelightclub.com/

7. Harry Potter Movie Marathon

7.  Harry Potter Movie Marathon

starring...

Anett as Harry

Phil as Hermione

Lotti as Dumbledore

Carla as Hagrid/Snape

Carly as Malfoy

Tino as He Who Shall Not be Named

Spike as Dobby/Ron

On paper this one sounded pretty simple: just watch all 8 Harry Potter films over the course of a weekend.  Job done, right?  Not in our house!  What followed was a full weekend of Harry Potter themed activities, fancy dress, drinking games, too much sugar and of course 19 hours of sitting on the sofa.  Oh and we did a lot of knitting.  A lot.

As all good bank holiday weekends do, it started with an early morning shopping trip in the rain.  Thanks England.  As a further complication, it turns out that shops in Clapham don't open until at least 9:30 on a Saturday morning.  Still eventually we stocked up on all the essentials and only started the marathon an hour late.  Carla and Carly had arrived with two tiny dogs in two tiny costumes so it was time for the rest of us to get into costume too.

Doggy Dobby and Doggy Voldemort

Hermione

Harry

Of course no Harry Potter outfit is complete without a good scarf in house colours, so Anett and Carly had to teach Carla and I how to knit while Lotti quietly got on with her Dumbledore scarf (alas she did not take on my suggestion that she knit herself a beard).  I'll not dwell on the result of mine and Carla's knit-off but I will say this: size matters.

Sunday's section was much more even

Given that we started at 11am with the Hogwarts kids aged about 10 years old, it seemed appropriate to kick off with some HP-style snacks.  We had Every Flavour Beans, jelly Scabbers, homemade chocolate frogs and some rather dubious house-themed snacks (cheesy puffs for Hufflepuff, cherries for Gryffindor, eggs for Ravenclaw and jelly snakes for Slytherin).

Once we hit film number 3 though it was time to hit the Polyjuice potion, get out the sorting hat and play the world's most complicated drinking game.  It was a 4-player game with different rules for each person.

We complicated it further with another rule: every time there was polyjuice potion in the film, we all drank a shot of polyjuice potion (a concoction containing various quantities of vodka, apple juice, green food colouring and anything else we could think of to chuck in), put our rules into the sorting hat and drew out a new set.  We also added in a couple of rules, resulting in almost constant shouting of 'SEXUAL TENSION!' throughout the last 4 films.

Around 2am we finished film number 5 and decided we needed a sleep break.  We intended to restart viewing at 6am.  We actually woke up at 8am.  Saturday's rain had cleared and the outside world was looking like an increasingly attractive option.  We were starting to worry about DVT.  The only possible solution was to get through the last 3 films as quickly as we could (still about 7 hours) and so we pushed on, pausing only to make a video that has to be viewed to be understood...

Finally, video made, Voldemort defeated, scarves knitted and Harry Ron and Hermione all grown up and much better at acting than 19 hours earlier, it was all over.  We were all by this point completely desperate to get out into the sunshine and run off some of the excess sugar so that's exactly what happened.  

Harry Potter Movie Marathon list trumps!

Cost: 4/5 (Only £25 for all 8 films from Amazon, but we did get carried away buying sweets and wool and stuff)

Originality: 4/5 (OK we're definitely not the first people to do this but dogs in costume, knitting, drinking games AND a video is a pretty unique combination)

Fun Factor:  4/5 (Games were fun, video was fun, films were classic but let's face it, after 19 hours of sitting watching TV and knitting we all had cabin fever)

16. Rooftop Cinema

16.  Rooftop Cinema

One of the nicest things about London is the fantastic range of activities on offer - and there are a range of great options for cinema.  Unfortunately one of London's major drawbacks is unpredictable weather and the clever people running all of these lovely outdoor activities would never make any money if they cancelled every time it rained a little.  Or a LOT.  

Guess how rooftop cinema went down?

Yep, you guessed it.

In true British spirit, we showed up despite the weather - desperately hoping there would be some shelter, heaters, maybe even hot drinks...  We got blankets and ponchos.  The seats had been kept reasonably dry at least but up on the rooftop there was very little respite from the wind and rain - we huddled for warmth.

Fortunately, there were cocktails.  Unfortunately, they were a bit summery and all contained ice!  Anett says this is the only time in her life she has ever cried into tequila and I believe her.

The film on offer was Casablanca - a total classic that we could definitely just have watched at home.  The weather did not ease up but by the time we were walking back to the tube we were so cold and shivery we were a bit delirious so at least we had a laugh!  Like true Brits, we left with a sense of achievement from having gritted it out and will almost certainly try again another "summer".  Fuck it, let's just book for February.

Knitting on the tube home like proper grannies

Rooftop Cinema List Trumps!
Originality: 3/5
Cost: 3/5 (all weather, no refunds policy really screwed us)
Fun factor: 1/5 (but to be fair, would have scored much higher in better weather - but this is London)

40. Eating Competition

40.  Eating Competition

with guest challenger Scott and leftover clearer Lotti

The discussion about which eating challenge to do was an incredibly long and sometimes heated one.  I tried long and hard to get Anett to agree to a two foot sausage roll but she was having none of it!

Anett: Can't we just go out and buy a bucket of chicken each and time how long it takes to eat it?
Phil:  No because I don't like meat on the bone and there is no free t-shirt at stake.

In the end we settled on the Infamous Beast Burger Challenge at the Clapham North, mainly because it was near us and we didn't have to sign any waivers.  We'd not seen the burger in question but knew it would contain a chicken breast and pulled pork as well as a regular beef burger, and 'its own weight in hand cut chips'.  Oh and it had to be eaten within a time limit of 12 minutes.  How hard could that be?

We adopted fairly different preparation strategies: Anett ate a decent breakfast and an early lunch and then fasted; Scott only ate apples for most of the day; I had a pub lunch and a fair few biscuits over the course of the afternoon.  All of us were united in one thing though: by dinner time, we were all starving!

HUNGRY!

As the food came down in the lift, we all craned our necks to see whether the waitress would manage to carry all three burgers in.  She could not carry all three burgers.  Uh oh!

The Infamous Beasts

The waitress told us that only one girl had ever attempted the challenge before and she had failed miserably.  All of the serving staff seemed to remember the one guy who had completed the challenge.  If we cleared our plates in the 12 minutes (they weren't too fussed about the salad garnish) we would join that guy on the wall of fame and earn ourselves a free drink.  High stakes!  

Man vs Food

We were told that the best tactic was to get through the chips first and then attack the burger, but when the timer started none of us could resist the urge to go straight for the meat.  Scott recoiled in horror when he realised that there was not only a tomato, but also a mushroom in the burger!  There was also a bonus slice of bacon and melted cheese in there.

The Beast close up

The pulled pork was succulent, the beef cooked perfectly.  The chicken breast nearly killed me and turned out to be hiding a gherkin, aargh!

At 6 minutes gone, it was clear that Anett was never getting through her mammoth pile of chips.  Scott and I were still in it but he was starting to struggle.

At 9 minutes Scott looked tired.  I was our only hope and still going strong.

The 11th minute crept up on me much faster than expected and I was frantically shoving as much of the bun as I could in my mouth when the time was over.  Gutted.

Time over!  Our finished plates (clockwise from top left: Phil, Anett, Scott)

The waitress declared me the winner and while I didn't make the hall of fame, she did get me a free drink which helped to soothe my wounded pride.  I'd made a promise to myself to finish even if it took longer than the time so took my time on the remaining 5 chips.  Lotti swept up Anett's leftovers and still couldn't get anywhere close to the finish.  Scott continued to stare at the mushroom.

Victory drink (sort of)

GIN!

Leftovers proving too much for Lotti

The closest we came to a clear plate

Eating competition list trumps!

Cost: 4/5 (£20 for literally all you can eat is pretty good value)

Originality: 3/5 (people do this all the time but not many of them are size 8 women)

Fun factor: 3/5 (entertaining, delicious for about 5 minutes, painful for the remaining 7 and some serious food baby repercussions were suffered by all)