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

[hjalfi.livejournal.com]

MySociety are worked on an interesting new technique (http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/) for producing travel maps based on contouring by travel time. Unfortunately the real site (Mapumental (http://www.mysociety.org/2009/06/01/say-hello-to-mapumental/)) is still under construction, but the sample maps might be useful.

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Himself and I would love to come to dinner, the couple of questions are 'parking' and 'night which I'm not finishing work at 11pm'. We can be in Ealing by about 7.30pm traffic permitting, and provided we leave by about 10.30pm we don't turn into pumpkins on the way home.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent.
Parking is dead easy, right outside the block we live in usually. On busy days you might have to walk fifty yards :)

Are your non-hideous nights still Tuesday and Thursday, or has that changed since the move?

[condign.livejournal.com]

It's "sticks."

Also, I'd love to have dinner. We'll be in London for a week next spring, so if your cooking frenzy, my schedule, and the planets align....

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Ealing used to be under an hour away. Now however, with an infant, it seems to take that long alone to get to our front gate.

Ah well, it'll be worth it when she's turned 18 and left home.