London Blitz Party

June 4th 2011

June 4^th 1940 the day that Winston Churchill gave his famous “We shall fight on the beaches”    speech. 71 years later we dress up in clothing of the era and go out for the night to drink cocktails and relive the period without the fear of bombs falling on us. This was the London blitz party (). Donning our clothes of the period after much searching to find an outfit within budget, we set off.

First we went to a cocktail bar called Callooh Callay getting the biggest cocktail they had which was served in a fishbowl supported by garden gnomes and drunk through super long straws. This got us in the party mood pretty quick. Following the cocktail with food and the most amazing bestest chips ever (they were tempura chips). We went to the party, it was surreal to see all these people dressed up and walking down the street. We certainly did get some looks.

Entering into the venue we walked down a bricked lane which was the smokers area with all people dressed up in the old clothes, it was amazing to see so many people dressed up. In fact everyone we saw was dressed up. Sure not all of them were exactly 100% 1940 but they were close enough and looked of that era in a rough kind of way. Some people went to good lengths and had full army uniforms. I am not sure this was a smart move. It was sooo hot in the venue by the end of the night, I have no idea how the men survived in their thick wool army jackets. The night was good, having some more delicious cocktails and drinking them out of metal mugs was a nice touch. After a while we went exploring as we found a map, there was a lot more to be explored. We headed over a wall via scaffolding stairs and found the mess tent and more dance areas along with bars.

The downside to the night was that the bands didn’t play much, there were DJ’s but we thought there would be more live music. In one hall there was a good band in the other the band was more of a folk band which was good for atmosphere but not so much for dancing. As the numbers grew it got harder to move around let alone dance. We left the night at that point before it was ruined with to many people running into us and the girls feet were getting sore from the heels.

We headed to get a taxi home as it would be a nightmare of busses and tubes from east London to our place at that time of night. For those interested I made sure to get a kebab while we waited for the taxi and I got it wrapped! ohh man it was good just like home but without the tabouli and way to much garlic sauce. While we waited I did get asked if I was actually in the RAF!

I had a fun night out as dressing up is always fun and brings back a little bit of the child in us all.

Jolly Good Night

Glen