Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork

[venta]

When I moved to London, I had this vague and woolly idea that I had lots of friends in London, and that visiting them would be easy. It turns out, it isn't. I knew bits of London could be quite a long way from other bits of London, but hadn't quite appreciated the extent to which this is true.

There's also the problem of working it out. Some bits are unpredictably far away. Closeish in distance, but an awkward tube ride. Some bits are unpredictably close. Bloody miles in distance, but an unexpectedly convenient bus just happens to link them. Sometimes public transport is a pig, but it's a dead easy drive for those with cars.

There's also the difference of what various people consider "too far". Some people think an hour's travel is fair game for London. Some think that's a ridiculous distance on a school night.

This has caused the following problem: I'd like to invite people round for dinner more often, but I always worry that journeying to my house might be too much of a chore. If I could be confident that people would say "God, no, you live in the Styx[*]" that would be fine. But people can be fettered by too much politeness. Accordingly, I have a survey to see whether you'd like to be invited for dinner.

I am not a fabulous cook. I think I'm an all right cook, but then I read posts on here where people write about how they were so knackered when they got home from work they just couldn't be bothered to do more than whip up a roast peacock mousse with carrot ganache and candied walnut shavings. Occasionally people post photos, and I think good heavens, I am a culinary Neanderthal. But I've not killed anyone yet.

So... if I'm having a cooking frenzy, would you consider an invitation to dinner a good thing? I now live in Ealing, about ten minutes walk from Ealing Broadway. It's just off the A40, so not actually too hideous from somewhere like Oxford if you have a car. My cooking frenzies are unpredictable, so this is a general question rather than a party I'm planning next week.

[Poll #1619415]

[*] I've never written that phrase down before. Is it Styx like the river? Or is it actually Sticks?

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's 'sticks' rather than 'Styx', and that it somehow implies rural or semi-rural backwater. But I'm not sure why or how.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's pretty much how I've always thought of it. But then I realised that I didn't know why or how, and I got cold feet and was scared of the people who might say "Duh, it's spelled Styx, you moron."

[j4.livejournal.com]

Is it Styx like the river? Or is it actually Sticks?

It's "sticks" (though I prefer your version!), it's an American idiom and a bit of cursory googling suggests that a) it's something to do with baseball, and b) I can't be bothered to do more than cursory googling because I am lazy. :)

It's just off the A40, so not actually too hideous from somewhere like Oxford if you have a car.

Looks fairly easy from Oxford without a car! Train to Paddington (1hr), tube journey with only 7 stops & one change (~30 min? unless that's a particularly horrible slow bit of tube for reasons that only Londoners would understand...).

Um, I'm not trying to invite myself for dinner here, BTW, just burbling about trains. :-}

[venta.livejournal.com]

Train to Paddington, train to Ealing Broadway (8 minutes, no stops). Very slightly more expensive than the tube, but way quicker. Or, actually, train direct from Oxford to Ealing Broadway, which I guess takes forever (50 minutes Ealing->Reading, and I can't remember how long the stopping train takes Reading->Oxford).

You were implicitly invited to dinner by the entire post :)

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Google Maps says you're half an hour from my workplace and an hour from my home, which is doable but would mean removing myself from your premises fairly early (no bad thing, probably).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I would love to join you for dinner, but sadly not really practical from here.

I am a culinary Neanderthal

As long as you serve mammoth portions…

*fx:rimshot*

[venta.livejournal.com]

As long as you serve mammoth portions…

Y'know, sometimes I might be glad you're not close enough to visit easily ;)

[shrydar.livejournal.com]

As others have pointed out, the usual expression is sticks (a fair description of most Australian bushland), however I'm far more entertained by the notion that people might accuse you of living on the border of the Underworld.

Of course, living at the back of beyond myself I'm hardly in a position to throw stones, so I'll just mix my metaphors instead.

I'm as likely to make a school night as I am Sunday lunch, but sadly it's unlikely to be practicable this year. I'll refrain from calling you an insensitive clod, as (despite my geographic remove) the sentiment is still appreciated.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, despite your geographic remove, you've made the effort to come for dinner at least once since we moved in :)

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

Finding a free evening,school or otherwise, (or even one that both me and queenortart are both free for is never easy, but Ealing Broadway is distinctly public-transportable.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I realise finding people in travelling distance is only a first step :) But a useful first step, or our nearest walkable neighbours are going to get sick of the sight of us!

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

I find I make odd assumptions that, whilst I'm generally prepared to travel hours on public transport to see people, I can't imagine they would possibly ever do so for me, especially now I'm tucked away in the depths of SE London . . .

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel pretty much the same.

I was staggered a while back that a couple we know were willing to travel from Bermondsey to Ealing for dinner, despite the fact we'd been quite happy to do the reverse journey to their house :)

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

Visiting from work would be trivial. However, I live south of the River - 45 mins car drive, stoopid by public transport. So there are issues of kid wrangling (and they have school nowadays) if I persuade cuthbertcross to come too, but stoopidly long way home by public transport (1.5-2 hours depending on timing of connections) if not. So t'would be feasible but logistically challenging.

[mejoff.livejournal.com]

Your Flist is wrong, it's styx, it is the edge of the underworld and the most remote of places, a total ball-ache to get to. It certainly didn't originate in America or from baseball.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=out%20in%20the%20styx

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'd be happier with UD if it cited its source for that (not saying it's wrong, just I'd like to see some sort of back-up for user-edited stuff like that). Will check Brewer when I get home.

I certainly think Styx is a better phrase than sticks, so will probably stick with it even if the rest of the world disagrees with me :)

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I'm about an hour from Central London, so Ealing is sometimes twice that - weekends are therefore a better bet, at least if you'd want me to go home at the end [grin].

If you're a culinary Neanderthal, lass, I'm a culinary amoeba, so no worries!

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Surely as long as there aren't children or dogs or being on call or some other enormous logistical disaster waiting to happen involved, travelling for about an hour is doable if somebody will give you dinner when you get there? If somebody gives me one of the London jobs I've applied for (please please please) I will end up living along the Paddington railway line at some point and would definitely say an honest yes please if invited.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd travel for an hour for dinner but some people like to get to bed (what I consider to be) ridiculously early (possibly due to them having to get up ridiculously early). Or maybe they just don't like me and were being polite blaming transport :)

To be fair, I think it's usually the journey home again after is the problem. I don't mind catching the tube by myself at night but I know people who prefer not to do that. Also if you do manage to miss the last one by mistake, that can turn into a proper pain.

Fingers crossed for the London jobs...

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I spent most of the 1970s-90s visiting my grandparents in Ealing, from Oxford, so I not only know how easy it is to get to, I find it oddly nostalgic to do so now. (I also remember when the Oxford Tube stopped at Perivale and Park Royal on the A40, which were feasible distances for walking to my uncle's and grandparents', respectively. Hillingdon requires transport of some kind, boo.) And then my brother and SIL lived at Northfields for another two years, more recently.

I'm now intrigued as to which bit you actually live in, as lots of the bits I know can be reasonably described as '10 mins from Ealing Broadway'...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Due north of the station, basically; Montpelier area. Lots of trees. Which seems nice until you realise you have to park your car under one of them, and they're full of bastard birds :)

maybe we should get to know eachother first?

[bondagewoodelf.livejournal.com]

unique, .. etc etc ...

Well, I am just following your LJ because you are apparently a friend of many people in my f-list. I thought that even if I took the travel time to show up for something like this, it might be a bit weird because we never actually met in person, or even interacted on LJ itself (IIRC). But anyway, thanks for the very friendly invite ;-)

Re: maybe we should get to know eachother first?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, LJ (and online communities in general) do throw up problems like that :)

I've also noticed increasingly recently that there are some people I knew in the past that I now only interact with on LJ. If I think of "them" I now think of their online personae (or, at least, the way I regard them online) rather than their real-life selves. Which I find quite odd.

Hello, anyway. How d'ye do?

[killalla]

I'm reaching that stage of my job when I'm more likely to be going into London for meetings relatively often (once or twice a week), and I was hoping to see if friends might want to meet up centrally for lunch, dinner, coffee, etc. So, perhaps we could arrange to meet - it would be great to see you and catch up.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yay, that would be nice! I mostly work in Reading so lunchtime things are out, but with relatively little effort can divert my homeward commute through Paddington and make it to a reasonably central location for a dinnertime sort of plan.

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

*nonchalently wanders over to defend the peacocks wot live at the local university*

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I find people odd with distance in the UK. I do lots of traveling and don't think much at jumping in the car for an hour or two. Heck i often classified the Subculture in Leeds as my local despite being 130miles from my house, though i'd usualy stay over and drink when visiting there.

However its not been unknown for me to drop in to London for an evening. Its an hour and a half or there abouts depending on various bits. No one is truely safe from my brand of mayhem =;-)

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

At the moment I'm an hour from you on the tube to Ealing Broadway, or (allegedly) 35 minutes by car - going round the north circular. When I move house, I could be as little as 20 minutes drive from you.

I'm up for it. Car would likely be better so long as traffic is not monstrous.

If car, I'd be appreciative (if drinking but also cos an hour on the tube alone and late at night is no fun) an option to possibly stay over? I can bring my own sleeping bag and inflatable mattress and be out of your hair quietly and early the next morning before you've even got out of bed.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Is the moving house now on the horizon, or is it just a distant "when" when the planets are correctly aligned? (Sorry if that's an annoying question. I know you requested people not to badger you with house-related queries, but I've not been keeping up with LJ very well of late and may have missed headline news).

We have a spare bed which can be dug out on request so yes, stopping overnight always an option for people who are just a little too distant for convenient homeward travel.

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

I am working in London again and Oxford to Ealing is not tricky so something could probably be arranged...
I'll be especially keen the evenings before some git has arranged an early morning meeting if that was a spare room I saw mentioned above ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

There is indeed a spare room. You're welcome to invite yourself to it if early morning meetings are being arranged. I'll even try and cause some dinner to make it look like it was deliberate :)

Styx

[zotz]

I think it means you live around here somewhere - possibly down near the famously undrinkable Water of Leith.

See also The Bridge.

[metame.livejournal.com]

Can probably make it, though A's schoolnights are pretty early these days.

Also: Same question to you...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yup, I'm certainly up for jaunting to Oxford. I practically demand it once you have a new abode to show off :)

[uitlander]

Since moving, you're now the 'wrong side' of London for me. But 'twould be nice to see you at some point.

[owdbetts.livejournal.com]

Which 'side' of London do you favour, then? (How many sides does London have?)

-roy

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

I'll travel wherever my Oyster card can take me, but only on Monday to Thursday nights, as I'm back to Merseyside to see my family at the weekend.
Monday is not favoured, as I have to get up at stupid o'clock and am tired by suppertime.

Styx? I thought you might be referring to those to whome the Thames is perceived as an impenetrable barrier. "Nah, mate, that's sarf of the river".

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

I'd love to come over for dinner sometime when I'm in London, but I'm not sure when that'll next be.

[owdbetts.livejournal.com]

Didn't know you were in London, although I'm sure I must have spoken to you at a Whitby or two since you moved so maybe I knew and just forgot :-)

I'm currently plotting a move to London at the moment—sounds like everyone is moving to London these days :-)

-roy

[john-the-hat.livejournal.com]

I *do* like you, and love going out for dinner, in fact we've just got back from a dinner at friends, which was lovely, but I don't think you're an insensitive clod, so it was "its just not practical", but I'd like to point out that it just means "its not practical from Birmingham" and none of the other options you put!