It was my birthday the other Friday the tenth of December. As you get older in life some people tend not to celebrate birthdays that much and even try to ignore and forget them. I am very much of the philosophy that each one should be suitably marked. Achieving another year on the planet is no small feat so you really should reward yourself for your effort I feel. I only tend to have a party on what I consider landmark birthdays and as my next one of those is not for a few years yet this time I enjoyed a weekend in London.

I think as far as I can remember since I have been an adult at least, I have taken control and planned exactly what I was doing for my special day, be that a party, a weekend away or just a night out. This time however it was slightly different. My girlfriend Lynda is a good organiser of things and she told me around six months ago that she had booked us both something to do on the evening of my birthday in London and that I should keep it free. A couple of months later she admitted that she had also arranged another surprise for me on the Saturday evening.

With two events planned over two nights it made sense to stay in London for the whole weekend. Together we booked a very nice hotel to stay in for a couple of nights. That took a lot of thought as we were trying to get the location right, which she was attempting to suggest without giving the game away about what we were doing of course. We settled on The Great Scotland Yard Hotel just off Whitehall. I managed to organise to work from London on the Friday and after I had finished I walked across town to meet Lynda who had already checked into the hotel. As soon as you went in and met the staff you could instantly tell that it was a well run establishment.

I collected my key from reception and then went to the room to see Lynda. At this point I still had no idea what we were doing but I knew we had to leave in about ten minutes, so I had a quick cup of tea and opened some cards before it was time to quickly get changed and head out. She obviously had to lead the way as I did not know where we were going. Then all of a sudden we were standing in the queue at The Garrick Theatre waiting to go in and see The Drifters Girl. It stars the brilliant Beverly Knight and as you have probably guessed it is the story of the Drifters. I gigged with the group on my birthday in 2007. Just to clarify I was not singing it was a dinner and dance at a huge venue in Yeovil. I was the DJ and they were the Cabaret. They were great and it was amazing to watch them from the side of the stage.

I am a fan of their music. They have released some great and very memorable songs. We had good seats near the front of the stalls and Lynda had the foresight to pre-order some drinks so it was not long before I was enjoying a red wine. I ordered us some interval drinks to because well it was my birthday. The show was fantastic, the whole cast were wonderful and most of them had to play multiple roles, that they did perfectly and very cleverly. Beverly Knight was excellent she has such a sensational voice and her American accent was perfect. It is a very slick and well put together show. By the encore we were all on our feet singing and dancing along to the songs. Lynda had done very well with the first surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

After the show we went across the road to the Cork & Bottle Wine Bar in Leicester Square. It is a little downstairs place where we decided to go for a bit more wine and some late night food. They had a few gluten free options and I ended up with a carrot and peanut curry with rice, which was very nice. We stayed in there until closing time and then made our way back to the hotel. The bar there was already closed and that may not have been a bad thing as we had a full day ahead of us the next day, so it steered us to bed. Due to me being at work it had been quite a long yet enjoyable day. Plus it was my birthday weekend so there was another surprise waiting for me on the Saturday evening.

We had breakfast included in our stay so made sure we got up to enjoy that. As you would expect from the quality of the hotel we were in it was very nice. I had the omelette which was great. Not wanting to waste the day we got organised and went for a walk along the South Bank. There just happened to be a small Christmas Market there, it would have been rude not to have a Mulled Wine while we were there so we did. We then decided we needed some more food so we went to Prezzo as they do a very good gluten free menu. I had some garlic bread and pasta as I was aware we had an afternoon and evening of drinking lined up so thought it best to line the stomach properly. After lunch we returned to the hotel to relax and get changed before the evening entertainment.

The toilet in the room was a bit more advanced shall we say than anything I had ever experienced. I do not want to be too graphic but when you have done what you need to do there is a control panel that offers jets of water followed by a drier option. Therefore it is a good way of reducing paper use in this situation. I had never tried anything like that before but now having experienced it for myself I really want one. It makes everything simpler and yet more exciting. We got dressed up and went to enjoy a drink in the classy hotel bar. We had two things planned for the evening one that I knew about and my second birthday surprise present from Lynda. The first place we were going to was a cocktail bar that she had wanted to go to for a while. That we actually managed to book at table at for this night the last time we were out in London together.

It is a place called Cahoots in Soho. We walked there in the rain which was not ideal but on arrival they showed us to the table we had booked in the underground section. It is designed like a tube station and you sit in little carriage compartments. It is all very nicely done and is set in the 1940’s just after the end of the war. They have a comprehensive list of cocktails many of which are unique to the place. It is very dimly lit and the menu is in a newspaper. My eyesight is not great so I was finding it hard to read it for a laugh Lynda passed me the candle on the table, which I took and titled slightly. I had not realised it was full of wax and managed to drip it all over my black trousers which made them look shall we say a bit suspicious in a certain light, until I managed to fix them a little in the toilet.

The drinks have all sorts of different names while I was there I had a Vera Lynn, a Judy Garland and a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts. The first one came in a glass that was a replica of the singers head. The drinks were great and not normally what I would have ordered ingredients wise but sometimes it is good to try some new things and push the boundaries. Lynda had three cocktails as well including their own version of an Old Fashioned that she really liked and as she is a bit of a connoisseur of that drink that is high praise indeed. I still did not know where we were off to next, although I did know it included us eating at some point. It was back towards the hotel, was all I knew so Lynda led the way once again and we found ourselves in The Strand outside one of the big impressive hotels there.

She had booked us into a very nice restaurant called Indigo. The reason she was taking me there was it only serves gluten and dairy free food. Therefore for the first time since I have been diagnosed as a coeliac I could go in to somewhere that not only could I choose anything off the menu to eat but also somewhere that there would be absolutely no chance of cross contamination. It was such a cool and classy place that had a nice and relaxed vibe to it. I instantly loved it in there and that was before I had seen the wine list or even the menu. It was such a lovely and sweet place for her to book so I could relax, choose whatever I wanted to and enjoy my food.

We of course ordered some wine first which for the record was very good. They then brought us a gluten free roll with diary free bacon sprinkles butter. That combination was sensational and already a great start to the meal. Next up I had the belly pork starter which was fantastic. Not only was the food great but it was like Master Chef “style” presentation to. Lynda had the crab for her starter. My main course was Halibut with crushed potatoes and crab sauce, which again was melt in your mouth good. She had the fish and very chunky chips. Then for pudding I had the most amazing chocolate mousse I think I have ever tasted it was just ridiculous. There was one more surprise when they came out with a piece of chocolate cake with happy birthday written on it and a candle for me to blow out, which I thought was a really nice touch.

I had a wonderful time there and will definitely be going back there again. It is a fine dining place and of course their prices reflect that but I would say the food was worth every penny. If you are coeliac or gluten or dairy free I would recommend you go there as a special treat for a big occasion. If you have no dietary requirements I would still go the food and whole experience you have there is brilliant. It was honestly the perfect place for me to eat out for my birthday. It may well become my go to place when I want to mark a special occasion or just fancy eating at possibly one of the safest places I know for my medical condition.

We then went back to the hotel with full and content stomachs and had a couple more drinks in the bar including some Champagne to toast the occasion. We went to go to bed at a reasonable time but when we got to our room none of our key cards would work. I went to the reception and a security guard came back with me to use the master key but that still did not open it. He then had to radio down for another member of the team who came and stuck a screwdriver in a certain area before producing a conventional key and managing to get us into the room. In the end it took us half an hour longer to get in the room than it should of. Modern technology is great when it works and very annoying when it does not.

On the Sunday we got up and had breakfast. I had the omelette again well if it is not broke do not fix it. We then checked out leaving our bags being looked after by the hotel to spend the afternoon mooching around. We had a look around the Christmas Market in Trafalgar Square, before having a stroll around Convent Garden where the better tree of those two places is located. We then went to have a drink in my favourite pub in London Waxy O’Connor’s just off Leicester Square. I have been going there for years, normally I would have a pint of Guinness but now I am gluten free that is no longer an option so I just had to make do with a pint of cider. I was pleased that I could introduce Lynda to the place for the first time though.

Then as we had obviously not eaten enough food during the weekend we went for a late dinner at another gluten free friendly place Cote Brasserie. I still managed to put away their Toulouse Confit and Crème Caramel for pudding washed down by a glass of red wine. We then decided to go for a walk down The Mall and back through St James Park before having one final drink then calling a close to the weekend. I had a brilliant time and was delighted with both of my birthday surprises. That does really put the pressure on me now though as it is Lynda’s big day in March and it is only fair that I organise something as impressive and clever as what she did, wish me luck!

There is literally never a dull moment with my football team Tottenham Hotspur. A Covid outbreak among the players and the coaching staff led to a couple of our games being postponed. This may mean as we refused to play in effect we could be removed from the Europa Conference. I am totally fine with that as I have said before despite the fact we were in it I could never really see the point of it. We lost a few Premier League games but that was agreed and other clubs have been granted that right earlier in the season anyway for the same reason. It is a shame though as we were just starting to get in to a rhythm and put a few wins together. But the health of the players and their families is more important than anything else of course. I look forward to seeing what happens when we return to action. Come of you Spurs!

Christmas Day is only a week away. I have nearly finished all my present shopping which is pretty good for me. I am just going to have a quiet day with my parents on the actual day. Then on Boxing Day I am planning to go and see Tottenham play Crystal Palace before disappearing for a few days to a hotel with Lynda to relax and build ourselves up for New Year’s Eve. It should be fun we are staying at a bit of a quirky hotel. which I will tell you more about next time we speak. Whatever you are doing have a great Christmas, eat, drink and be merry!

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Happy Christmas! Cheers Neil.