We love you, Martin

Last Tuesday I shamelessly bunked off rapper practice, and scooted down the Central Line to Bethnal Green working men's club. I'm not sure I've ever been to a working men's club before, and yet it managed to be somehow familiar. Small, faintly ramshackle, smelling very faintly of damp, and run by a right old motley crew of people.

Upstairs, there was a remarkably opulent red velvet heart backing the stage, and little tables dotted around. I went to the bar. Panic! No handpumps! No, wait, it's OK, there's three distinctive-lookingg grey cardboard boxes on the end of the bar that clearly contain barrels. Armed with a pint, and surprised by the number of people I kept falling over that I knew, I went back to the table. markbanang and sesquipedality[*] came and joined us and we waited expectantly.

( The Indelicates + The Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra @ Bethnal Green WMC )

[*] I think. I'm getting surprisingly rusty on LJ handles these days.

It seems rebellious to vote conservative now

Things from the internet:

1. A government e-petition to "Make wrongly describing a casserole with a pastry lid as a pie a criminal offence." (Thanks to Will for the tip-off.)

I'm torn; clearly this is a cause after my own heart, but I feel slightly bad about wasting Government time. On the other hand, as onebyone pointed out, the "review" stage has already happened and the petition is unlikely to get to the required 100K, so all the time that's going to be wasted already has been. I also take slight issue with the petitioner's rather hardline approach to genuine top-crust-only pies.

2. Someone's made me a to-do list! 25 Pubs You Must Drink In.

6 down, 19 to go. Though for clarity I'd like to confirm that the Birch Hall Inn is not in Whitby, it's in Beck Hole. It took me a minute or two to work it out, because I've never heard its name (in fact, I've never heard anyone call it anything other than "the pub in Beck Hole".

(I've drunk in The Spaniards Inn, the pub in Beck Hole, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, The Eagle and Child, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, and The Dove.)

The Jerusalem Tavern, Clerkenwell, is unknown to me and pretty convenient for a post-work drink, though, if anyone fancies joining me.