Last week Thursday evening we had planned to meet up with Noel and Megan for dinner, and with nothing really planned beforehand we decided last minute to try Yia Mas down in Wandsworth. Noel has his car, so picked Uns and myself up from Putney Station and drive us down towards Wandsworth. However, either they were closed this particular Saturday or they're no longer in business :( Lights off and all shut down inside. We're hoping it's just a family holiday or one night off.

So instead we turned back towards Putney and thought we'd try one along Upper Richmond Road as an alternative. After looking at a few and not being overly convinced, we tried a new pizza place where Chakalaka and Putney Pies used to be, called Pucci Pizza Vino. It's fairly new to Putney, and was originally established back in 1976 over in the States I think. There really isn't much information on Pucci's anywhere online, so who knows what the real story is :)

We all had a really good night in there, with the place being 100% Italian, from the staff, the music, the speed of the service and even to the point we felt the only ones I've there not part of the family or the mafia. I'd certainly go back, could imagine it being brilliant atmosphere there on a Friday or Saturday night.

On Friday, we had tickets to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum in South Ken. The museum, as are a few of the others as well, are putting on these Afterhours Lates where they stay open until 22.30 on the last Friday of every month. It made sense to try tie in the exhibition together with the later opening of the museum to check out what it was all about.

Since we had some time before our start time, we thought we'd try grab something to eat inside the V&A, which unfortunately turned out to be a fairly average burger. After food, it was over to the Natural History Museum, which was in full swing with a live band and plenty of people having a glass of wine or three. It's somewhat strange to see that inside a museum, usually it's mostly silent other than a few kids running around, but I like the concept of Afterhours Lates.

It was very much like last year's exhibition, just a lot busier. I'm not sure if it was busier because it was a Friday evening and people were taking their time, or just that we had an early slot last year and got in before the rush. Other than having to queue a bit longer, it was still good to see all the photos and read up on the camera specs stories behind the pictures. After sometime inside the exhibition, we took a wonder through the museum, and stood upstairs watching over the crowd and the live band. Since I was still on my Dry January, I decided against a glass of wine or beer, if they even served beer. Managed to avoid the temptation! :)

On Saturday, it was Australia Day, and we organised with Noel and Megan to meet up in Nottinghill at Granger and Co. for lunch, which was opened by chef Bill Granger, from Sydney. Both Noel and Megan knew his name quite well from living in Sydney and wanted to try The walk from Nottinghill Station to the restaurant passed by Portobello Road market which I hadn't been to in years! A bit busy in my opinion, might save a visit to there to another day, and a lot earlier in the morning! The food at Granger and Co. was really tasty, as was the starter and the dessert. We certainly didn't hold back when ordering!

After eating, Megan was determined to have a snakebite at the Walkabout, so off we headed over to SheBu Walkie, which bought back some good memories from a good few years ago. It was packed to the rafters inside there, but then again when isn't that place full up?

There really wasn't any way I'd be able to manage a night at the old Walkabout without a snakebite or two, and since it had basically been a full month I gave in... unfortunately. We at least weren't as messy as the majority of people inside there, some who had clearly been celebrating Australia Day since the morning. We didn't stay long, and decided to make our way down to Fulham and to The Larrick, where Fish, Ally, Diego and others were at. I think they had been down at The Larrick since about lunch time so were all in good form when we got there!

It's been a good seven years since I was last at The Church, back when it was still in Kentish Town I'm sure, and couldn't imagine myself going back anytime soon. Well... until yesterday that was. John at work had decided to book tickets for The Church, but went for the booth option which can accommodate 10 of us. So after initially saying no, I decide to go along with it and join the rest of them there. We started off meeting up at Jack's at the Junction for an early morning fry up, before making our way to The Grand The Church just before midday to meet up with everyone who wasn't in time for breakfast.

I'm pretty glad we had the booth, made a huge difference not needing to fight with the crowd or struggle to get to the bar. For a club that's only open a few hours during the day, everyone certainly knows how to take it to the max. Things got rather messy quite quickly - so glad to see that even at a new venue, some things at The Church never do change!

Once it was over and we had queued for ages for our costs, we made our way across the road to the Slug and Lettuce for a couple of rums there. The others all had today booked off work, except me, so when the talk of heading out (again) to the SheBu Walkabout came about, I decided it was time to call it a night and head home. Via What-A-Chicken. For a second night in a row. Good times indeed :)