Tonight was kind of a night out to celebrate our surviving the stress of the last few months. Sadly not all of the team could make it, however those of us who did manage to make it more than made up for their absence.

Continuing on with our current favoured Middle-Eastern-themed-eating, A and A number two had jointly chosen Mawal at Edgware Road as our destination. When we first arrived the lighting was shall we say romantic. It was not intentional however as we soon found out that electricity was at that moment in time strictly at a premium! It was slightly troubling as at first the wine was delivered unchilled, secondly my juice couldn’t be blended and finally food was served luke-warm. Service it seemed was also at a premium though strangely A number two’s more quiet hand in the air was more effective than A’s call for service. After this initial hiccup, and when we had finally filled our bellies, we settled in to enjoy the rest of the evening.

Overall it was a nice evening and a pleasant change from the usual Friday night drinks. For once it was nice not to be constantly shouting through the roar of the crowd and feeling the obligation to keep your glass full. Instead we exchanged the usual beers and spirits for a bit of wine, mint tea and shisha. Shisha was interesting for me and although now I cannot claim never to have smoked in my life I guess I can technically say I haven’t smoked the more obnoxiuos cigarettes. Shisha (also known as hookah, waterpipe, or even hubble-bubble) is basically the use of a water pipe to inhale a mixture of tobacco and some sweet substance such as apple, strawberry, melon etc. The mixture is heated using lit coals. A number two and S tried to explain how it worked to me but all I really needed to know was to take a pull through the hose. Anyway, however it works, it was an interesting experience. The night was topped off by some live entertainment by some very smartly dressed men who could have been pop stars for all we knew! Great night.