Tag: John White

Middlesex v Essex T20 At Lord’s With John White & Family, 13 June 2010

I remembered that we had done the Lord’s T20 thing with John and family a couple of times, but it wasn’t until I found diary/e-mail references to this Sunday afternoon gig that I realised that there were several years between visits.

I had written up the 2007 visit under assumed names for MTWD – see this Ogblog piece for the text of that masterpiece.

I recall that, in many ways, the 2010 outing was more successful. None of the Friday afternoon/evening stress – this was a Sunday afternoon outing in good weather.

I think the girls had genuinely enjoyed the Lord’s visit in 2007 so had been really looking forward to this afternoon visit and they weren’t disappointed.

John was possibly a little disappointed by the result – another “close but no cigar” match for Essex. Here is a link to the scorecard.

I seem to recall the weather smiling on us that first half of June, which made the unseasonable cold snap the following weekend all the more surprising…but that’s another Ogblog story all together – click here for that.

Dinner At Yauatcha With John White, 1 June 2010

This was a successful choice, by all recollections and accounts.

It was my turn to choose and I plugged for Yauatcha.

Janie and I had tried a light tea-time/early evening meal, I think on this occasion…

Wedding Day At The Cro-Magnons by Wajdi Mouawad, Soho Theatre, 14 April 2008

…but John and I went for the full tilt dinner.

The place did not disappoint.

I’d suggest that the dining at cousin restaurant Hakkasan is slightly finer, but the relaxed atmosphere of Yauatcha was ideal for a catch up and chat with John.

John’s e-mail later that week:

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed our dinner on Tuesday evening. Thanks.  The challenge is now on to find something for out next get together…

That e-mail also signalled our impending family get together at Lord’s, which was only just over a week later.

It also flagged the idea of going to the Thaxted Festival, which we didn’t implement that year or indeed any year since. One to think about for a future year, I’d suggest.

Advanced question for students of this page…

…well, for John, really…

…do you recall what we ate at Yauatcha? I must admit I don’t; I simply recall a very good meal and enjoyable catch up.

Dinner With John White At Bam Bou, 29 March 2010

No wonder I sounded a bit stressy in communications earlier that month – not only was I running some gargantuan projects at that time I was also up against The Price of Fish draft deadline ahead of sloping off to China.

Earlier on the afternoon we were due to meet…John to me:

I have booked Bam Bou a Vietnamese restaurant for 7 through top table – and am still awaiting confirmation.  When and if I do I will confirm to you.

Me to John:

 

John

Thanks.  Been there several times.  It is excellent.

Assuming that is confirmed can we please meet there – I am up against deadlines this week as you might well imagine, not least the book to finish today and tomorrow!!

Best

Ian

John to me:

Booked for 7 pm.  See you there.  Bring the book!

I’m not sure I did that, but I might have taken a small chunk or two with me.

Bam Bou was an excellent restaurant then and I recall having a fine meal with John on that occasion.

John might remember what we ate.

Sadly, departed. Bam Bou I mean. Not John. Nor the book, The Price of Fish – that is still available at Amazon and all good book outlets:

 

Keele In The City, Tiger Tiger, 11 March 2010

I was supposed to go to this event with John White, but it seems he blew me out about a week before (story of my life this, John).

But then, a “quite by chance” encounter with Bobbie Scully (at the Van Gogh we think) rescued my evening. My correspondence with John Easom on 6 March confirms. I wrote:

> I believe you placed John S White on the guest list as well.  Sadly, he is unable to chaperone me that evening, so his name need no longer appear on the list.

> However, I ran into Bobbie Scully unexpectedly last night (what a small place London is) and she has volunteered to take John’s place, as long as it isn’t too late to add her name to this list.  She is also 1984 and might be on your lists as Barbara Scully.

Best wishes and see you Thursday

Why I thought I needed chaperoning for anything I have no idea, but Bobbie certainly did join me that evening at Tiger Tiger I recall.

I remember chatting with quite a few people, not least Mark Thomas, sharing reminiscence of my headline piece when he was elected President of the Union (to be Ogblogged in the fullness of time).

I also met John Easom for the first time that evening, I am pretty sure.

It was quite noisy, though, so I seem to recall Bobbie and I not hanging around too long and heading off in search of a quieter place to eat and have a chin-wag. I think we might have ventured to a Chinese Restaurant for that purpose. We were in that part of town.

Bobbie might remember better than I do…

…or perhaps not.

Dinner at E&O, Without John and Mandy, 9 January 2010, With John and Mandy, 6 February 2010

My dairy reads:

9 January, John & Mandy?

…then…

6 February, John & Mandy? 8:30

The e-mails disambiguate. John to me on 11 January:

Sorry we didn’t make it on Saturday, probably the sensible thing not to travel but I was a bit miffed when the 6 inches of snow never turned up. Anyway 6th of Feb is fine by us.  Same arrangements?

Me to John, same day:

Great. Janie and I decided to go to E&O anyway and enjoyed the meal so much we’d be very happy to go there again 6 Feb if it took your fancy.  Otherwise we could go somewhere else if you two have a special request. Let me know asap so I can get a booking sorted.

E&O is a superb Asian-fusion restaurant – still around at the time of writing (2017) – click here.

I first came across E&O a few years earlier than 2010; I recall having a lunchtime businessy meal there with Michael and Jeremy. This seemed a good location for a little lunchtime over-indulgence, as my doctor’s surgery is just a short crawl across the road. Not so useful location-wise on a Saturday evening. But I digress.

I remember both of those early 2010 evening meals reasonably well, although to some extent they merge into one in my mind.

I recall bumping into the then ubiquitous Richard Russell and his family at a nearby table, but I think that was the January visit when I was with Janie only, but perhaps it was the gang of four February evening.

I can’t remember exactly what we ate – perhaps John can. It is an especially good place to go with a small group (e.g. four) so you can share and taste lots of different dishes – I remember thinking that when Janie and I went as just a pair.

I’m pretty sure John and Mandy didn’t stay that time – I’m guessing the kids were being baby-sat but perhaps the girls were staying with aunts or grandparents.

I’m hoping John will chime in with some more recollections about the evening, if he has them.

Dinner With John White At Ba Shan, 2 November 2009

An e-mail from me to John earlier that day:

I’ve booked us a table at Ba Shan – 24 Romilly Street – for 19:30.  Probably a good idea to get there early if anything.  I’ll come over your way c18:30 and call you on your mobile once I emerge from TCR tube station – if we walk towards each other I suspect we’ll meet each other!

Ba Shan. Aka Bashan. Hunanese food. Here is the Bashan website.

I seem to recall really liking the food, although not to the extent that I would prefer it to its sibling Barshu.

It is well-regarded on TripAdvisor – click here.

A selection of small dishes I seem to recall. Perhaps we over-ordered. Me to John the next day:

Just a quick thank you message for last night – great to see you and a very good meal, for which I am suffering as expected this morning.  Thank goodness no clients until lunchtime!

John might recall more details.

Dinner With John White At The Pearl But Total E-Mail Silence, 19 November 2008

Nothing in the e-mail trail about this. Nothing at all. Not setting it up. Not cancelling it.

The e-mail trail stops with John apologising that he will have to miss my Gresham Lecture a couple of weeks before this date…

Commercial Ethics: Process or Outcome?, Gresham Lecture, Barnard’s Inn Hall, 6 November 2008

…but I know that John came to the lecture because I even wrote him into the script and handed him a bootleg CD as he dashed off to his unavoidable engagement that night.

So I guess we must have spent some time talking to each other on the telephone during those weeks. I remember talking on the telephone. That’s what we used to do to arrange things before e-mail and messaging and things.

Anyway, it was my trusty payments log that helped me solve this one, as I spent a suspiciously John & Ian dinner sum at The Pearl on the very night recorded in my diary.

Pearl At Renaissance Chancery Court – click here for a link.

Here is a review from a year or so before we went.

Review scraped to here just in case – after all, the place is long gone now.

I remember a good but pricey meal. The company, needless to say, was excellent. John must have chosen the place because I paid.

Do you remember anything else about it, John?

Commercial Ethics: Process or Outcome?, Gresham Lecture, Barnard’s Inn Hall, 6 November 2008

This was my first Gresham Lecture and by gosh the preparation felt like hard but very interesting work.

A lot of the material from this one ended up in The Price Of Fish.

Here is a link to the lecture – you can watch it, listen to the audio, read the text, download the text, look at the slides, download the slides…

Here’s the YouTube of it so you can watch from here instead (but for the resources as well, you need to click the above link):

More observant followers of this lecture (e.g. John White) noticed that I strung some lines from songs and stuff through the slides. I made up an iTunes playlist for the lecture – back then, iTunes playlists felt like fun things to try.  Here it is: 

We held a traditional Z/Yen-Gresham reception in the Headmaster’s Study after the lecture. Doubtless someone pointed out my resemblance to the Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare in that room – someone always did. As I explained on Facebook to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death:

After the reception, Michael Mainelli escorted an honoured few of us to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for one of his traditional post lecture meals. Not sure exactly who attended but I do recall Michael, Elisabeth, Kim, Micky, Charlie, Me, Janie and a few others.

Dinner With John White at Hereford Road, Preceded and Followed by a spot of cricket at Lord’s, 3 September 2008, plus a snippet on 4 September 2008

Wednesday 3 September 2008

One of the regular/irregular meet ups between me and John White. John had not yet been to Lord’s to see proper (i.e. red ball, white clothing) cricket, nor had he yet done the pavilion thing.

As it was my turn to choose the eating venue, I hatched a plan for the meal to be at Hereford Road (which I was sure would be to John’s taste) and for both of us to finish work early for a change, starting our late afternoon at Lord’s. My e-mail to John a couple of days before:

We’re meeting early at Lord’s if you are still on for that – I have 4:30/4:45 in my diary.  I have booked Hereford Road for dinner – excellent restaurant between Lord’s and my place – owned and cheffed by the former chef from St John.

So John joined me at Lord’s for an hour or so of cricket and the informal tour of the pavilion, then the restaurant, both of which he seems to have enjoyed – John’s subsequent e-mail words:

As always a lovely evening.  It was very kind of you to let me into Lord’s.  Although nobody is really that interested I have been endlessly describing the various bars, characters and atmosphere of the place.  I don’t know if you won?  Orient managed a 2-0 win away at Walsall on Saturday if you’re interested.

The restaurant got and still gets good reviews:

As for the cricket, I did return the next day…

Thursday 4 September 2008

…but again only for the last couple of hours, primarily as a convivial meeting place with Steve Tasker to go through some UNISON business; probably thinking through project budgets for 2009. I’m sure we got to see a bit of cricket and enjoy a beer at the end of the day as well.

As for the Friday and the remainder of the match – I wrote that up at length at the time for both MTWD and King Cricket – all linked up and explained through the following Ogblog piece – click here. Rain-affected draw for those uninterested in clicking through to read the slapstick exploits of Ged and Charley “The Gent” Malloy, yet interested in an ancient match result.

Dinner At John and Mandy’s House In Saffron Walden, 5 April 2008

All the diary says is…

6:00 John and Mandy

…with their Saffron Walden telephone number. Nothing on the e-mail about it.

So I think this must have been the occasion we went to their house in Saffron Walden for dinner, probably the first time, without arranging to stay anywhere.

I think Janie volunteered to drive home but afterwards said that she was through with night driving on unfamiliar country roads – don’t blame her – so we have always made an overnighter of it since.

On arrival, I seem to recall that we got a guided tour of the estate, several elements of which I seem to recall were still up for debate at that time – e.g. where would John locate his drum kit and where would Mandy locate her professional practice room.

This was a very enjoyable family meal with the girls there as well (perhaps Lydia only joined us later in the evening, or perhaps I am now confusing two such evenings). For sure John cooked a blinder (he always does), I suspect it was loosely based on Indian cuisine but not too hot and spicy as he knows that Janie only enjoys spices if the food is not too hot.

John might remember the exact details of the meal; if so, with a bit of luck, he might be persuaded to chime in with a comment to flesh out the delicious details.