31/10/2010 - Halloween wasn't as expected...

Subject	Halloween wasn't as expected...
PostedDate	10/31/2010
	Tonight it  really is  Halloween.  As I walk to the station it's very quiet and I don't see a soul - quite a contrast to last night when all the amateur drinkers were out in their inappropriate fancy dress covering London's pavements in puke. As it's Sunday those lightweights seem to be staying at home. I arrive at Tommy Flynn's in Camden to find I've just missed the Hyenas - I'd have tried to get down earlier if I'd known they were playing. Fortunately, I am in time to see Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons This band are made for Halloween, and tonight they've put in some extra effort for the occasion.  I'm not quite sure what the bass player's Viking headgear is all about though? However, the band's singer certainly grabs everyone's attention with her appearance. Yes, those of us who have seen the band in London a few times this year have been wondering when that catsuit might make an appearance? And of course Halloween is the purrfect (sorry - I couldn't resist!) occasion for this sort of feline ferocity! It's not just the image though - this band's songs like 'Trouble With The Devil' and 'Wolfman Sideburns' could be custom built for Halloween.  Meeeow! This is definitely one black cat you wouldn't mind crossing your path - but maybe not on a dark night? In fact, this Pussycat's path took her from the stage onto the top of the bar during the last song, but I was a bit too close to the action to be able to get any pictures! I figured that any band that was going to follow Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons tonight was going to be a bit of an anti-climax, so I headed for the ultimate Halloween watering hole - the Intrepid Fox.  I arrived to find it much quieter than I expected on this of all nights - it looked like a band had been playing earlier as a drum kit was still being packed up. A bit of an anti-climax after last night which wasn't even actually Halloween. I stayed for a couple of Newcastle Browns and headed off into the night in time to catch the last train. Everything seemed to be going OK on the way home and I found myself at Finsbury Park with a few minutes to spare before catching the train. I didn't give it much thought when my train (or so I thought) arrived slightly early and I got on. Then I realised it was going faster than usual and didn't stop at the next couple of stations... Oh shit. I resigned myself to the probability of being stuck on this train until Potters Bar and then a six or seven mile walk back as there would be no more trains or buses that late.  Then things took another turn as I realised the train was actually going via Hertford - much further than Potters Bar! Fortunately it stopped at Palmers Green and I got off. Closer than Potters Bar but still a good few miles from home... I walked past where the old village stocks were and after about ten minutes got to the N91 bus route. I looked at the timetable and found the night bus didn't start until nearly an hour's time. Great. My nice scenic walk continued past Southgate Green and eventually I got to Southgate tube station where I hoped I would just be in time to catch the last train. I missed the last train by about two minutes.  Only about three miles from home now. A look at the bus timetable showed that there was now less than 20 minutes until the first N91. So I waited. It didn't turn up.  After being in Southgate for about 45 minutes a bus eventually turned up - I could have walked home in that time if only I'd known. And of course the walk after getting off the bus is longer than the walk I'd have had from the station if only I'd waited another 5 minutes at Finsbury Park and got on the right train in the first place. So a moment's stupidity (I wasn't even very drunk) meant I ended up walking miles and getting home well over an hour later - and I didn't even see any ghosts on my walk!  Another night I'd been looking foward to turned into a big anti-climax - although I enjoyed the part at Tommy Flynn's.  Nearly two hours just to get home from Soho last night as well - why don't I just stay home and veg out watching shit TV like 'normal' people?