It's-a me-a Mario!

Good old London Underground. Why shut one line for maintenance, when you can shut two at once? The whole of West London is at a standstill because the District and Piccadilly Lines are both closed at once. That's like shutting off the M1 and the A1 at the same time, and this on a Saturday afternoon when there are 2 big football matches on in London, and, more importantly, I have to get to Wandsworth to go on a brewery tour as part of my Italian friend Simone's stag do.

He's one of those charming continentals who are passionate anglophiles (so much so that he watches Only Fools and Horses with Ceefax subtitles to glean every new idiom he can), so I think a tour of a British brewery is as much a cultural adventure as an alcoholic one.

And what a brilliant stag do it was too. The brewery was fascinating - I never thought I could get so excited about hops. I'm buying a pair of sandals and cultivating a beer gut immediately. Plus, it culminated in a tasting session, which was splendid, and set us up nicely for the obscene drinking binge that ensued. We lined our stomachs with raw fish from Yo Sushi, and then proceeded to neck cocktails like they were going out of fashion (whaddaya mean they're already out of fashion?).

To top it all, Simone spent the whole evening dressed as Super Mario, and loved it!

I have no memory of leaving the jazz bar in which we were ensconced when my drinkometer started making klaxon noises, no memory of staggering to Guanabara to hook up with the hen party and collect my missus, no memory of the taxi ride home, and no memory of attempting to pour myself a whisky when we did get home (fortunately Clare prevented me, and bundled me into bed)

I do however, have a very vivid memory of feeling poorly the whole of the next day.

Bleurgh.