SHOPPING: East Midlands Designer Outlet

 

The last day of our week off, and despite feeling tired and achy from our day in London, nevertheless we decided to make the effort to do something rather than just sitting around being tired. So we scooted back up the M1 to the 'East Midlands Designer Outlet' where I hoped to find a) some replacements for my worn out black Skechers trainers, and b) some Lindt Nuxors (since the supermarkets only sell them at Christmas). 

Pleasingly I managed to secure both these items, and while the Nuxors were disgustingly overpriced at £8 for a tiny box, I did get my trainers for about £20 less then expected - so all in all it was a good day!

In addition I got a new dark blue shirt from M&S, though I wasn't 100% sold on the squares... but at least it didn't have white buttons like the last one and it fits me now so it was a slam dunk at £24. 

I also found a (long overdue) replacement for my very thin raincoat at Mountain Warehouse, which I never really went in before because I'm sure last time I went in there (admittedly many years ago) they didn't seem to have anything for less than £400. 

Rose got the usual nail files, books, a top from Crew Clothing and two nice thick hoodies from SuperDry, which she was appalled by the price of (even though they were discounted).

DAY OUT: London

Our day in London began at the Design Museum, where we visited an exhibition about the legendary 'Blitz Club' (birthplace of the 'New Romantic' movement in the early 1980s). It took about an hour to get there from Euston (as expected, with a line change and a walk through Holland Park) and we arrived about 15m before our time slot. They didn't seem bothered and we were allowed to go in straight away, indeed I think most places are pretty flexible about these 'time slot' bookings, especially if they aren't sold out.

It was quite a good exhibition, with a selection of clothes and photographs from the club alongside some background information about fashion/music magazines of the day like 'i-D', 'Viz' (not that VIZ!) and others. There was also a selection of vinyl sleeves and a large screen playing 'Fade to Grey' (Visage), 'The Freeze' (Spandau Ballet), 'Ashes to Ashes' (David Bowie) and 'Vienna' (Ultravox) in rotation.

In a different room there was a semi-animated performance of 'To Cut a Long Story Short' (also by Spandau Ballet - apparently the only band that ever played at the club) and in others all sorts of memorabilia (flyers, invitations, posters) alongside information about the influences that fed into the 'Blitz Kids' creations (Kraftwerk, European Cinema, Punk, etc).

Leaving the museum we took a short walk to Edwardes Square and the Scarsdale Tavern. After two really nice meals out already this week we weren't expecting anything particularly stunning, but the burger and chips were surprisingly nice (even the rolls, which looked a bit dull, but tasted great!).

I would have loved to sample their sticky toffee pudding, but mindful of a lot of walking still to be done, I gave it a miss. Great service here too, and nice loos. Definitely worth a visit if going to the Design Museum.

Finding ourselves with a bit of spare time on our hands, we decided to catch the tube on Earl's Court Rd and look in at Harrods. We hadn't been there in a little while and we had a brief look around at the jewellery, watches and handbags before getting back on the tube and heading to the Elipso VR Experience we had booked..

Our VR experiences have been a bit mixed; often good, but occasionally marred by malfunctioning headsets. This one though was pretty good. Again we got here earlier than planned (we tried to waste some time by looking for the Amy Winehouse statue in Camden Market, but still got there fifteen minutes early - not that it mattered). 

This one was pretty good, telling the story of the Roman Colosseum, from the perspective of a young boy and gladiator who took part in the games. It certainly conveyed the scale of the arena and the VR was quite effective, though as usual it was a bit tiring on the eyes after a while.

There is also a 'Titanic' VR experience which might be worth going back for... 

DAY OUT: Nottingham

 

Last year we had a splendid day out in Nottingham where we did an escape room, visited a museum (of sorts), had a cocktail and finished off with a meal at Marco Pierre Whites Steakhouse. So we decided to do it again (but miss out the shit museum and the shit cocktail).

Truth be told, originally we were supposed to be going to London. But we decided that perhaps St Patrick's Day wasn't the best day to visit London, since that meant every pub we might want to visit would be full of arseholes getting drunk and being annoying. 

So we decided it would be better to swap London to Thursday and go to Nottingham instead, where hopefully the drunk students would be concentrated in the town centre pubs and away from the Crowne Plaza bar and MPWs! 

But first we went to our escape room, this time at 'Escapologic' (a new one for us) where we did the room called 'Curio'. On their website it said the room involved 'motion' and the only thing I could think that could mean was that the room turned around. But, I mean... how ridiculous would that be? 

Well, turns out... not that ridiculous after all. Because as soon as we entered the room and saw it was (almost) round, it was obvious that that was exactly what was going to happen. It was pretty damned cool actually (though it did make me feel slightly nauseous) because every time the room moved and you opened the door you would come out into a different space - genius!

After we 'escaped' (with a couple of minutes to spare) we asked about it and our Games Master 'Kieran' told us that when they took over the basement carpark they found it had a turntable built into the floor and they just had to use it for a room. We will definitely go back to 'Escapologic', it was one of the best escape rooms we've done.

After that we walked back through the town (where St Patrick's Day revellers spilled across the pavements) and back to the Crowne Plaza. We had a drink in the bar and then got changed and headed over to the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse.

Last time we visited we both had steak and chips and I had a sticky toffee pudding (I think Rose had ice cream or sorbet). This time sticky toffee was off the menu, but they had brought back the Hell's Kitchen Blueberry Cheesecake - which was something I had in a MPW in Oxford many years ago and longed to experience again. 

Truth be told, they did do a blueberry cheesecake in the meantime, but it was a baked cheesecake and it was nothing like as good. This one was just like the one I had in Oxford (albeit smaller, which was a good thing because the first one was absolutely HUGE).

For mains I had chicken and leek pie and Rose had fillet steak, both were very nice and just like the night before the chips were great too. 

The service was impeccable too, the staff in there are so nice and personable. So good in fact that I didn't even mind that I accidentally tipped them twice (having not the seen the £11 service charge on the bill).

MEAL OUT: The Bull's Head (Clipston)

 A combined 'Mother's Day/Sally's birthday' meal out with the Mums... and a return to The Bull's Head in Clipston (somewhere we haven't been for a very long time - certainly before we started this blog, so pre 2014!).

Meal was very nice, we had scampi and chips (excellent PROPER chips) and we shared a bit of blackcurrant and lemon cheesecake for afters which was spot on. The Mums liked it too and being just up the road from them made a lot more sense than trolling over to the Langtons honestly.

The only slight hiccup was that both Mums wanted sausage and mash, but they only had three sausages left, so they had one and a half each (which turned out to be plenty).