Restaurant birthdays

One of these days I'll actually get my act together and not have to spend hours and hours tidying and dusting and hoovering furniture-arranging in a bit of a mad rush to get ready for hosting the Music Group session. That said, I did quite well this morning and was ready and waiting with an hour and a half to spare.

A quick drink and chat afterwards in the local, back home to do the wash-up, and then over to carl's place. We'd agreed that we'd go out for a bite to eat, partly because I was feeling on a bit of a high after finishing the job yesterday on schedule. We tried to book for Bistro One in Foxrock, but after await of five minutes while annoying music played through the telephone I was told they couldn't say yay or nay because they'd mislaid the reservations book. True to their word, they phoned back later, told me they were chock-a-block and hope to see us some other time.

Rather than phone around, we decided to take a chance on The Bay restaurant over Walter's pub near the People's Park. We'd enjoyed the food the last time we'd been there, but this time I insisted that we wouldn't stay if the place was as quiet as it had been then. It wasn't, so we stayed. Our starters were excellent, and our main courses were acceptable. Annoying, though, was the fact that the details for the Set Menu on the board outside didn't apply, because the set menu had been changed for 'the Christmas period'. Even more annoying was the fact that the Christmas menu didn't even quote a price. Still, it was okay, and we'd probably go back again. Certainly, the starters were excellent.

It most definitely wasn't a quiet as it had been the last time, with two reasonably large groups and several smaller ones ensconced when we arrived. First one and then the other of the large groups got the birthday treatment, with candle-lit cake brought to the table and Happy Birthday sung. All a bit embarrassing, really.

Back in Carl's Kino we watched Get Low. I hadn't heard of it, but it gripped me within minutes and I ended up very impressed. Robert Duvall turns in a virtuoso performance.