Other 30th birthday stuff

My 30th birthday celebrations didn't centre entirely around buying records. I managed to fit in some other cool stuff too while I was in London...

Breakfast at Ed's Diner

I'll be honest with you, waking up as a 30-year-old sucked. Completely. But I discovered the fastest way to cheer yourself up on a milestone birthday is by consuming a large amount of sugar for breakfast. That's the only reason I'm smiling in the photo below, because I'm off my face.

The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast:

Pancakes, sausages and strawberries with maple syrup.

Washed down with a peanut butter milkshake.

Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom

Ed's Diner
I love 50's shit

Trocadero Arcade 

In between a bit of record buying there was time to visit the Trocadero arcade, which used to be awesome, but isn't so much these days as they got rid of a load of games. Still, I did find some to keep me entertained. 

There's always time to fight some
zombie pirates on your birthday...

... And enjoy a bit of Whack-a-Shark

Although my reactions are obviously a lot 

slower now I'm an old bastard

Hard Rock Cafe

I'm partial to a bit of gawping where rock memorabilia is concerned, so Hard Rock Cafe was the obvious choice for tea.

Here's a little fact for you. Hard Rock London was actually the one that started the whole chain, after Eric Clapton gave them a guitar in order to reserve a place at the bar. And it's still there today.

My giant slab of a cheese burger was amazing, as were the onion rings that were big enough to wear as bangles on my scrawny lady wrists. Oh and I highly recommend the mojitos as a way of numbing the pain of becoming a 30-something.

This was the best cheese burger I've ever had.

Thanks to my best friend Steven for pointing out my photobombing boobs

View from the table: Cool shit that you want to take home but aren't allowed to.

The drumkit you can just see on the left was John Bonham's

 of Led Zeppelin and the black coat belonged to Queen's 

Brian May. Not sure who the bald guy belonged to.

The walls of the place are jam packed with stuff, so there's a lot to take in. The only problem is that you can only really look at what you can see from your seat as the tables are crammed in so tightly it's hard to have a wander round and look at everything. But I guess that just gives me an excuse to go back sometime to see the rest.

Post-burger: Approximately 14lbs heavier and
about to burst out of my jeans at any second

We Will Rock You 

I have a little confession to make. I've never been that keen on musicals. Apart from Grease, which I will happily watch anytime due to its killer songs, awesome dresses and hot looking John Travolta, I have always struggled to sit through musicals. I promise you I have tried. I even watched a bit of Moulin Rouge once, but that probably ranks among the dullest 30 minutes of my life. Either that or the bit of Dirty Dancing I watched once. They were equally as shit, so it's a close tie.

Anyway, as this musical is based entirely around Queen songs I thought there was a chance I might like it. And it's written by Ben Elton, so I was confident it would have some good laughs. But if it did end up being shit I figured I could just sit in the theatre doing this...




We Will Rock You is basically a piss take of manufactured music and is set on iPlanet, where everyone dresses the same and thinks the same, and where all music sounds the same. I've spent my entire life feeling trapped in that world, so I could instantly relate.

The story follows a group of rebels who are trying to bring back real bands and proper music. It's very cleverly written with little references to Queen lyrics everywhere and lots of laughs. And of course, lots of singing! But it worked and I absolutely loved it. I may not be a complete convert to musicals, but if the soundtrack kicks ass then I'll happily give it a go.

Famous people I share my birthday with

• Justin Bieber (I know, but it gets worse...)
• Nick Griffin (Urgh, told yer)
• Kesha (a singer apparently)
• Dafydd Ieuan (drummer with the Super Furry Animals)

Other stuff that shares my birthday

Ok, so according to the weird world of Wiki, 1st March is also...

• National Pig Day in America (errrr to celebrate pigs, I guess?)
• Self-Injury Awareness Day
• Beer Day in Iceland (the date prohibition ended in 1989)

Verdict: Awesome birthday fun