Tag: Z/Yen

Three Seasonal Events In Four Days, 13 to 16 December 2016

First Of Three: Brian Eno Singsong and Party, Brian’s Studio, Tuesday 13 December 2016

The first of my “three dos in four days” was at Brian Eno’s place – I have been invited to such dos on several occasions now, often but not always at this time of year. I have known Brian from the health club (BodyWorksWest, formerly known as Lambton Place) for quarter of a century or more.

The party is combined with Brian’s a capella choir gathering, allowing neophytes and bathroom singers like me to have an occasional go.

I thought I arrived in quite good time on this occasion, but the singing was well underway when I arrived; the regulars presumably having made a punctual early start.

The songs chosen were quite relentlessly morbid at first. There is usually a fair bit of spiritual blues material, but this set seemed especially bleak, with unfortunate folk being hanged for crimes they didn’t commit and all sorts. It wasn’t too difficult to pick up on the tunes quickly enough – I suppose that’s why they choose this material for the more open sing-song, but it didn’t feel much like party music at first.

The last couple of numbers were a bit more lively – not least All I Have To Do Is Dream at the end, sung in a doo-wap style. It helped me that I was standing next to a couple of very able, presumably professional singers, upon whose rhythms and harmonies I could latch. A few people afterwards asked me if I was a professional singer, but I’m sure they must have been hearing the sound emanating from those guys, not me.

Brian said that he couldn’t hear me this time, which is a good sign; presumably therefore an improvement on last time. But perhaps he also was deceived by my co-location with the professional-sounding guys.

Anyway, as on previous occasions, I also found the rest of the party great fun, meeting and chatting with several very interesting people. I also danced a bit to some excellent party mix music, well designed for the purpose (mostly 1970’s dance, with some earlier and later stuff thrown in).

I didn’t stick around until too late – I had a scheduled client call quite early the next day – so (as on every previous occasion) I missed the blood, guts, ambulances and police cars stage of the party. Brian subsequently told me that the emergency services stage failed to occur this time, to his intense disappointment.

Second Of Three: Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner, Café Rouge Holborn, 15 December 2016

Since around the turn of the century, when fellow NewsRevue writer, Ivan Shakespeare, tragically keeled over and died while jogging, several of us have gathered a few times each year to keep in touch and reminisce about our NewsRevue days. Just before his death, Ivan e-mailed a few of us suggesting that we should regroup for that purpose, but never lived to see his idea to fruition.

Quite early in the life of this occasional gathering, it became part of our tradition to play a comedic quiz or two towards the end of the evening. I think it was John Random who initiated that idea, but several other people, occasionally contribute a quiz. Gerry Goddin latterly contributes a variant in which we all have to try to write jokes on suggested themes and Gerry allocates points (or deducts points) based on how well the jokes go down, his perception of each joke’s quality and/or Gerry’s authoritarian whim.

For the December gathering in 2002 (I’ll get around to Ogblogging it in the fullness of time no doubt) I went into a local tourist gimcrack store and bought the cheapest, tackiest piece of porcelain royal memorabilia I could find; then I emblazoned it with a legend declaring it to be the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy. Since 2002, that trophy has been played for earnestly each year. Nine different people have held the trophy over the years; I am proud to be able to state that I was the 2004 winner.

Anyway, it seems to be getting harder and harder to find a venue that operates flexibly enough for a rather haphazard bunch of former (and in some cases current) comedy writers to gather in mid December. Café Rouge Holborn has become the regular venue for the past few visits, but it seems they tried to impose a Christmas season “pre-ordering” regime on us, which was somewhat beyond the capabilities of John Random’s organising and our ability to be organised by anyone or anything.

So, half-a-dozen or so of us had pre-ordered and Café Rouge assumed that there would only be half-a-dozen of us (despite John booking the table for 10); which proved problematic once the eighth and especially ninth person showed up.

To be fair the staff tried their best in what seemed to be chaotic circumstances and did relocate us to a table for 10 quite quickly.

But poor Jonny Hurst ended up waiting for best part of an hour before any food was brought to him at all, at which point a starter and two main courses all turned up at once. I was half-hoping that Jonny would say, “do you know who I am? I’m Jonny Hurst, the chant laureate, that’s who”. Jonny might even have been forgiven for “doing a Jeremy Clarkson”…but Jonny is far too mild mannered and polite for any of that, even when he has a real hunger-on and everyone around him is tucking in.  Respect.

Eventually we played the quizzes. Colin Stutt offered a small quiz to warm us up, but the main quiz, for the trophy, was a very imaginative effort from John Random which comprised 10 maps, each of which had a location marked with a year. We had to name the movie that was made in that year set in that place.

I was pleased with my 7 out of 11 (one map had two years and therefore two movies and two points) but Mark Keegan pipped a couple of us 7-istas with 8 out of 11 to claim the trophy yet again – his fourth victory in 15 years. Respect.

Gerry Goddin ended the evening with one of his joke-fest games with some especially harsh marking  and the predictable result that Barry Grossman’s jokes pleased him more than anyone else’s – it is nearly always Barry who wins, very occasionally me.

A most enjoyable evening.

Third Of Three: Z/Yen Group Christmas Lunch at Watermen’s Hall, 16 December 2016

For the first time in Z/Yen’s 23 Christmases, we decided to do Christmas lunch rather than dinner this year.

Linda and Michael conspired to find a five course extravaganza of a lunch at Watermen’s Hall, which seemed just the ticket in the circumstances. It’s a comparatively intimate and relaxed atmosphere for a guild’s hall; but now that Z/Yen is that much smaller, our group wouldn’t completely dominate the room.

Michael pipped me an e-mail the previous weekend to ask if I would write one of the traditional Z/Yen singalong songs – normally but not absolutely always my gig.

(Previous Z/Yen Christmas events and songs will be Ogblogged in the fullness of time).

Anyway, the sight of the five course menu and the name of the Company that resides at Waterman’s Hall inspired a simple but effective song to the tune of Winter Wonderland – click here or below for a YouTube with Bing and lyrics.

But before exercising our lungs, we ate the following excellent five course meal, washed down with some fine wine and (for some, not me) port.

Z/Yen Group 2016 Christmas Lunch at Watermen’s Hall

(The Company of Watermen and Lightermen)

Menu

Torched mackerel, pickled and salt baked beetroot, horseradish crème fraiche

Smoked ham hock and chicken terrine, pickled apricots, watercress salad

Butter roasted Norfolk turkey, sage and apricot stuffing, bacon wrapped sausages, brussels sprout choucroute with chestnuts

Star anise poached pear, almond crumb, whipped clotted cream

Christmas pudding, brandy sauce

Michael kept me and Xueyi talking about GeoGnomo for a fair chunk of the meal, but otherwise we managed to steer clear of work chat.

Michael was also keen not to torture too many people with our song, but once there were only a few stragglers left (apart from we Z/Yen folk) we found a surprisingly receptive audience; indeed those Watermen and Lightermen joined in the singing with us, rounding off a fine afternoon.

♬ WATERMEN AND LIGHTERMEN AND Z/YEN ♬

( A seasonal song to the tune of ♬”Winter Wonderland” ♬)

VERSES ONE AND TWO

Mackerel torched, beetroot pickled,

Ham terrine, we’ll be tickled;

We’ll eat Christmas lunch, Z/Yen Group as a bunch;

Watch us put on weight at Watermen’s.

At the start, we’ll be perky,

By the end, stuffed like turkey;

Five courses of nosh, all terribly posh;

Watch us put on weight at Watermen’s.

MIDDLE EIGHT

After eating turkey laced with trimmings,

We’ll tuck in to star anise poached pear;

Christmas pud as well, you must be kidding,

The brandy sauce could be a warning flare.

VERSE THREE

Head for home, very slothfully,

On the trail back to Lothbury;

Let’s hope that we scoff…ing walk our waists off;

Walking all the way from Watermen’s.

(RISING/ROUSING FINALE): Let’s hope walking makes us Lightermen!

A Works Outing To The Middlesex v Surrey T20 Match At Lord’s, 21 July 2016

A Pokémon Displaying A Worrying Level Of Indifference To Cricket (with thanks to Xueyi for capturing the little fella)
A Pokémon Displaying A Worrying Level Of Indifference To Cricket At Lord’s (with thanks to Xueyi for capturing the little fella)

For several years now, it has been a Z/Yen tradition for a dozen or so of us to visit the Middlesex v Surrey T20 match at Lord’s. For several years, the tradition was also to witness Surrey thrashing Middlesex and for the assembled throng to try consoling me and Jez with “maybe next year” platitudes.

But last year, for the first time in yonks, Middlesex won the match. Better yet, this year Middlesex were sitting a bit higher in the table than Surrey ahead of the fixture, with both sides desperate for the points to help achieve knockout-stage qualification. A big game.

However, I had some difficulty persuading Xueyi to attempt watching cricket again. Her previous visit (two years ago) had left her cold in several respects; not least the chilly weather but also finding the cricket hard to fathom and finding the “M&S picnic nibbles” not quite to her taste. I suggested that I might take a trip to Chinatown and stock up with Cantonese bakery delicacies as the centrepiece of the picnic if that might persuade Xueyi to join us. She said it would.

I was working from home that day, so I chose to make my Chinatown hike reasonably early to be sure of a good stock of the day’s bakery delights. I googled to see if my old stomping ground was still top notch for this purpose and discovered that, indeed, Kowloon in Gerard Street is still highly regarded, especially for its massive cha siu baos and gai mei baos. I was introduced to that place in the late 1970’s/early 1980s when doing holiday jobs for Newman Harris in Cavendish Square; the Chinese Malaysian trainees and I used to make a lunch of those big tasty buns. It must be a good 25 years since I last went there, though.

Picture by Anthony Baby from (optional) This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Cha Siu Baos – Picture by Anthony Baby from (optional) – This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

On the way, I recalled that the place used to be cash only and made sure I had drawn enough money just in case. Indeed, the place was utterly unchanged including the hand-scribbled order ticket and the cash only payment desk. I went a bit mad buying lots of baos, plus some cha siu pastry ones and some sweet melon pastries too.

I called Xueyi to let her know that I had bought loads of food and also to ask her to let Linda know that we wouldn’t need much else for the hoards, but Xueyi clearly had other ideas, not least a fiendish plan to get some smaller delicacies from her favourite dim sum joint; Orient London. Like me, Xueyi went a bit mad getting loads of cha siu pastries (smaller than the Kowloon ones, but, frankly, much finer) and also some very juicy and delicious prawn spring rolls, which were surprisingly good cold. Also some Cantonese brisket beef slices.

Cha Sou Pastries - by Terence Ong - licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Cha Siu Pastries – by Terence Ong – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

In her fervour, Xueyi neglected to pass on my message to Linda, who went down to M&S and bought a fair selection of nibbles just in case my Chinese food idea didn’t go down well with everyone.

Anyway, to cut a long story short the Chinese delicacies went down very well with our team and there were plenty left to feed other spectators sitting near us and Linda had lots of M&S food to take home with her for the weekend.

Why were we there? Oh yes, a cricket match.

Barmy Kev came and sat near us but for some reason chose not to join us when invited. Perhaps he thought we might have designs on his bottle of wine (as if we didn’t have plenty of that too). But soon Kev realised that he had no corkscrew, so (not for the first time in my life and surely not for the last) begged the loan of a corkscrew from me and then demonstrated for about 5 minutes how very bad his screwing technique is for one so experienced as he – Kev’s MTWD write up, here, does not do his demonstrable incompetence justice. There was a big crowd cheer when he eventually withdrew the cork.

Meanwhile, Xueyi (from Nanjing, China) and Ashley (born in Jamaica but raised in the USA and therefore strangely aware of but not well versed in cricket) asked quite a lot of sensible questions about the game and then settled down to finding pokémons in the crowd, which they seemed to be able to do with little difficulty and much delight (see photo).

Marc (sitting next to me) tried to argue a social justice case for Surrey to win the match because Middlesex won last year; this was about as convincing to me as his “Brexit leave” arguments.

Linda was especially interested in the progress of our sponsored player, Ryan Higgins, as for once our sponsored player was actually playing in the fixture we attended. He took an early catch, bowled well restricting the scoring/taking a late wicket and eventually scored the winning runs in that tough run chase. Not bad. Here’s the scorecard. Even better, Ryan Higgins took five wickets the next day as Middlesex recorded back to back wins; a real breakthrough period for the promising 21 year-old. Our boy.

Regardless of whether they focus on the eating, drinking, pokémons and/or cricket, the Z/Yen team always seems to enjoy this outing. There was a record crowd for a domestic T20 cricket match in England that night 27,000+, so it seems that we’re far from the only bunch that finds these T20 evenings a fun and enticing proposition.

How I Said ‘F*** You’ To The Company When They Tried to Make Me Redundant by Rohan Candappa, Z/Yen Offices, 28 January 2016

Moncada Barracks or the old Z/Yen offices? One or the other.

Back in December, Rohan Candappa wrote to me asking if he could by any chance use the big Z/Yen meeting room on 28 January to try out his latest piece of performance writing early evening on the motley bunch of Alleyn’s alumni (I include myself in that epithet) who gather occasionally in the City for beer, curry and old times’ sake.

Strangely, Z/Yen’s big meeting room is not much used at 19:00 in the evening, so it would have seemed churlish to say no, especially when Rohan agreed to sponsor some beer and nibbles. Linda Cook, our Z/Yen practice manager, was hurriedly elected an honorary Alleyn’s alum for the evening, so the organisation of the event was practically resolved, even with John Eltham out of the country for much of January.

It felt incongruous (in a pleasant way) to have the Alleyn’s gang at the Z/Yen office for the evening. For one thing, I didn’t realise how well behaved we could be when gathered together in the right environment. There weren’t even any teachers to keep us in check.

But to Rohan’s extraordinary piece. The title basically divulges the plot. Rohan expresses in poignant terms the emotions he experienced when told that he was being made redundant. There is nothing funny about the way being made redundant makes someone feel, but the circumstances of this attempted redundancy are quite ludicrous. In the hands of Rohan Candappa, who is highly skilled at bitter-sweet humour as well as the more standard comedy variety, this sad story generated a remarkable amount of laughter. It is a very funny piece.

The humour builds once Rohan reaches the point in the story where, having had time to reflect on his seemingly hopeless situation, he decides to try and win against the odds. He initiates this twist brilliantly by telling the story of the Cuban rebels attacking the Moncada Barracks in 1953 – click here if you want to see the Wikipedia version of the story – although Rohan’s version is more pertinent to his story and far more fun.

Click here if you want to see the pictures Janie and I took of the Moncada Barracks in 2007.  Indeed feel free to hang around in Flickr looking at our Cuba pictures generally.  It’s one heck of a photogenic place.  As long as you promise to come back here afterwards and finish reading this blog piece.

Once the “fight back” part of Rohan’s story starts to unfold, the piece becomes even funnier and has terrific momentum to it. I almost felt sorry for [Insert name here] (the boss behind the attempted redundancy) and his human resources hench-woman…

…I said ALMOST felt sorry for them. Cut me some slack guys. Or say how you felt about it with your own words in the comments section. Don’t just yell at the screen.

There are precious few pieces of theatre about the workplace and even fewer good ones. With all due respect to Vaclav Havel, who wrote several absurdist pieces about work places, I have seen more than one but never got much out of those Havel plays. Indeed, the only really good play about the workplace that comes to my mind is David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross.  In an intriguing echo of Rohan’s title, btw, the film version of Glengarry Glen Ross (which is a very good movie) has the phrase “F*** You” articulated in an infeasible number of different ways for a two-syllable phrase. But I digress. My point is that the workplace is a big part of our lives but is wicked hard to turn into good drama. Rohan has succeeded in producing some very good drama indeed in this piece, which is a commendable achievement.

In short, the piece is a triumph and I really hope that Rohan progresses with it and gets it a wider audience. It is really thought-provoking as well as entertaining.

We sat in the meeting room chatting for ages after the performance; some of the group are people who have been made redundant, others of us people who have been in a position where we have dismissed staff ourselves. Everyone had experiences, thoughts and points to make. Eventually we realised that we were late for our meal and that our restaurant booking might go south unless we quickly headed south to the Rajasthan. So we migrated and continued our conversations there. A very special evening.

Z/Yen Seasonal Event, The Bottlescrue, 11 December 2015

Feature image borrowed from AllInLondon.co.uk

The Bottlescrue is no longer there, he says, writing eight years later. It is now a health club. Go figure.

A bittersweet occasion, was the Z/Yen seasonal event in 2015, as it doubled as Mary O’Callaghan’s leaving do and also coincided with my so-called semi-retirement, which was the cause of some consternation in Z/Yen at that time.

Still, we of course ate and drank and made merry. Secret Santa did his thing and some Z/Yen gimcrack no doubt did the rounds too.

I found a way of combining the seasonal lyric with the topic of Mary’s departure, which resulted in this rather charming number, thought I say so myself:

MARY’S BOLD JOB
( A Calypso sung to the tune of “Mary’s Boy Child” )

VERSE ONE
Long time ago in London Town, in a place named St Helen,
Mary joined a little firm; that firm was known as Z/Yen.
Hark now hear the Z/Yen folk sing, the notes, some right, some wrong;
But Z/Yen will try forever more, to sing a Christmas song.

VERSE TWO
Now Mary worked long and worked hard, she was no trouble in any way,
Except when Linda had to calc-ulate her statutory maternity pay;
Hark now hear the Z/Yen folk sing, the notes, some right, some wrong,
But Z/Yen will try forever more, to sing a Christmas song.

VERSE THREE
Then Z/Yen removed to Basinghall, the Ward of Cheap was full of pleasures,
But Mary found she had to learn, about some mutually distributed ledgers;
Hark now hear the Z/Yen folk sing, the notes, some right, some wrong,
But Z/Yen will try forever more, to sing a Christmas song.

VERSE FOUR
When Mary handed in her cards, the festive season was in full swing,
So every venue Mary chose, said “there’s no room at the inn”.
(Shout out: Except for this place!!)
Hark now hear the Z/Yen folk sing, the notes, some right, some wrong,
But Z/Yen will try forever more, to sing a Christmas song.

OUTRO
Hark now hear the Z/Yen folk sing, the noise can be quite scary,
But Z/Yen will sing forever more, the praises of our dear Mary.

After Z/Yen Board Meeting Lunchtime Concert, City of London Sinfonia, St Andrew Holborn, 25 March 2015

We probably should have a corporate rule that every board meeting should conclude with a lunchtime concert.

But in reality this sort of thing is a rare treat for us…but treat this was indeed.

Michael had spotted this one, no doubt through some aldermanic connection, so not only did we get to listen to the delicious music but we got to eat some of the delicious food for honoured guests afterwards and network a while.

I like Handel’s concerto grossi and we got two of them in this concert. The sandwich filling was some Arvo Pärt of the listenable variety.

It was all very pleasant indeed.

Z/Yen Team/Old Team Evening At The Jugged Hare, Chiswell Street, 18 February 2015

OK, this is me being complete rubbish.

The only e-mail communication I can find on this evening is the following note from Linda Cook to me and Michael.

Just to let you know I have organised a night out with the team/old team on 18 February if you are about.

Booked a table at Jugged Hare in Chiswell Street (at Steph’s suggestion) http://www.thejuggedhare.com from 18.15.  Expecting about 7/8 people.

Linda

It’s in my diary. I clearly remember going. I remember enjoying the evening a lot. Good size of group, got to talk with more or less everyone who turned up, nice place.

Beyond that, a blank. I need help.

Over to other Z/Yensters (current and alum) to fill in the blanks. Otherwise the blanks will remain.

Update: 

Steph e-mailed in to say:

I’ve got nothing with which to fill the blanks, I’m afraid! I just remember a very pleasant evening and tables made of wine barrels… (I think).

I also spoke with Ben about it and he said more or less the same thing as Steph.

Linda suggests a reason for our poor memories, but then adds some helpful material:

Maybe too much red wine.  Well, I can’t quite remember either…

…Ben, Richard, Ellie, Steph, Mary, you, me…Clive Hyman definitely…

…not sure if Mark, Cristiano and Sonya were there (have acceptances from them but…)

Yes, I recall having a good long chat with Richard and Ellie that evening in particular. But it was one of those evenings when you get to speak with everyone for a while. Like musical chairs but without the music.

Further updates will be gratefully received.

Z/Yen Seasonal Event At 90 Basinghall Street, 11 December 2014

On this occasion, we decided to make the Z/Yen seasonal event “a musical house party” at our offices in Basinghall Street.

We weren’t exactly flush that year and we had a lot of musical people in our midst…

…well, one or two genuinely musical people and quite a lot of people who like to have a go.

It was the year that Mike Smith had induced me to start playing the baritone ukulele.

It was a bit like the definition of jazz – i.e. the musicians were enjoying themselves more than the audience. But that was OK because almost everyone WAS the musicians. And everyone was enjoying the party.

I’m grateful that Janie took pictures to help mark this event.

The usual traditions of Secret Santa, a little giftie for everyone and of course the seasonal song were all in play.

A rare offering in the lyrics department by Michael Mainelli that year. I think we agreed that, as Mike and I were putting together a whole load of musical entertainment, a revival of Michael’s contribution to the 2011 medley would do.

The lyric is not bad at all (is it possible I tweaked it a bit?) and well suited to an event in Basinghall Street:

OH LITTLE STREET OF BASINGHALL

(Sung to the tune of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”)

Oh little street of Basinghall,
On Guildhall’s shady side;
Above old Gresham College Hall,
Z/Yen’s offices reside.

Yet on the fourth floor slaving,
Z/Yen staff work till they sink;
While past the fifth floor sliding door,
Directors eat and drink.

How noisily, how noisily,
They party with the swish;
To show off Z/Yen’s new office and,
Promote “The Price of Fish”.

But now Z/Yen’s Christmas party,
Is here so we can sell;
This gastro dome, that wondrous time,
To the tune of Jingle Bells.

Z/Yen Xmas Event – Beyond El Dorado: Power And Gold In Ancient Colombia, Shunga: Sex And Pleasure In Japanese Art, British Museum, Followed By Dinner At Sardo, 13 December 2013

Because I had been to see the Colombian Gold a few week’s earlier – click here or below…

Beyond El Dorado: Power And Gold In Ancient Colombia, British Museum, 21 November 2013

…and in any case because Janie was more interested in the Shunga exhibition – click here…

…Janie and I saw a different exhibition from the rest of the people on our pre-Christmas Dinner works outing.

Below is the trailer vid for the Shunga:

We really enjoyed this exhibition.

I sense that the Z/Yen team enjoyed El Dorado too.

Z/Yen Xmas Dinner At Sardo In Grafton Way

The whole event was themed as “Gold” in honour of the El Dorado aspect. Almost everyone wore something gold.

Sardo was a Sardinian restaurant, rather a good one, which itself had a somewhat gold look to it.

I crafted a seasonal song to go with the gold theme:

DRESSED UP IN GOLD
( Sung to the tune of “Silver and Gold” )

VERSE ONE – SILVER AND GOLD – ORIGINAL VERSION (by Johnny Marks)
Silver and gold, silver and gold
Ev’ryone wishes for silver and gold
How do you measure its worth?
Just by the pleasure it gives here on earth
Silver and gold, silver and gold
Mean so much more when we see
Silver and gold decorations
On ev’ry Christmas tree

VERSE TWO – BITCOINS AND LAND – LONG FINANCE VERSION
Bitcoins and land, bitcoins and land
Long Finance topics are bitcoins and land
How do you measure their worth?
Just by the value they gain and disburse
Hedge funds and bonds, hedge funds and bonds
Seem such a bore when you show
Bitcoins and land valuations
In each portfolio

VERSE THREE – DRESSED UP IN GOLD – Z/YEN VERSION
Dressed up in gold, dressed up in gold
Z/Yen folk this Christmas are dressed up in gold
How do you measure dress sense?
Not by this sartorial elegance
Shrouding in gold, shrouding in gold
Might cause some people offence
(If) Z/Yen folk wear such decorations
At normal Z/Yen events

Once people got their heads around it…

…the singing went rather well.

We have loads of pictures from this event, which I have uploaded to a Flickr album for ease of navigation – click here or below:

1

The Cinnamon Club, Preceded By Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant Garde, Tate Britain, 14 December 2012

This Z/Yen seasonal event was great fun and especially memorable.

Before dinner, we went to the Tate Britain to look at the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition that was all the rage that autumn.

Arthur Hughes, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Naturally this was a good excuse to encourage people to dress up for dinner…

…as if the Z/Yen crowd in those days needed much excuse to dress up.

The Cinnamon Club, in the old Westminster Library, was an excellent venue. We had the whole of the upstairs mezzanine for our dinner.

I wrote a song that year specifically for the event. Rather a good one, though I say so myself, despite (or perhaps because of) the Christmas cracker joke in the first verse.

GOOD KEEN Z/YEN TRAINEES

( Sung to the tune of “Good King Wenceslas” )

ALL: Good keen Z/Yen trainees abound

Late work, no-one leavin’

Pizza boxes strewn around

Deep pan, crisp and even

ALL: On expenses came that fare

Though the bosses cruel

Through the vents came just cold air

Saving winter fuel.

 ALL: “Please, please Michael up the heat,

This ought to concern ya

We can’t work with such cold feet

Or with hypothermia”

MICHAEL: “I am wearing just shirt-sleeves

Positively shvitzing!”

ALL: Thus was Michael’s firm decree

Not all that convincing.

IAN: “We need flesh and we need wine

We can’t get warm hither”

ALL: Thus did Ian else opine

Spoken with a shiver.

ALL: So the Z/Yen team set its sights

On this cozy venue

Dressed up as Pre-Raphaelites

Gorging through the menu.

There is a big stack of pictures from that year’s revelries, which you can see through this link and/or the picture link below.

SAM_0276

Bistro Bruno Loubert At Zetters, Preceded By “Hello” Drinks At 90 Basinghall Street, 16 December 2011

I don’t remember dancing the hokey-kokey at that year’s Z/Yen seasonal event, but the photographic record suggests that maybe I did.

We have an enormous number of photographs from that year’s event.

Prior to the meal, we had a party at our new offices, 90 Basinghall Street, which many of our partners had not previously seen. The upstairs room was well suited to hospitality.

Our private room at Bistro Bruno Loubert was a super venue for the dinner. We were quite a large group that year and the space was ideal.

The Price Of Fish had been published that year. Hence the seasonal medley focussing on the two big events of the year: the move to Basingall Street and the publication of the book. I wrote both halves of the song, although I need to nod towards Michael who had written a “St Helen’s” version of the “Oh Little Town” song some years earlier.

OH LITTLE STREET OF BASINGHALL

( Sung to the tune of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” )

Oh little street of Basinghall,

On Guildhall’s shady side;

Above old Gresham College Hall,

Z/Yen’s offices reside.

Yet on the fourth floor slaving,

Z/Yen staff work till they sink;

While past the fifth floor sliding door,

Directors eat and drink.

How noisily, how noisily,

They party with the swish;

To show off Z/Yen’s new office and,

Promote “The Price of Fish”.

But now Z/Yen’s Christmas party,

Is here so we can sell;

This gastro dome, that wondrous tome,

To the tune of Jingle Bells.

PRICE OF FISH

( Sung to the tune of “Jingle Bells” )

Price of Fish, Price of Fish, Price of Fish hooray;

Oh! What fun it is to read some pages every day;

Price of Fish, Price of Fish, Price of Fish hooray;

Oh! what fun it is to read The Price of Fish each day.

Reading Price of Fish, at a page or ten each day,

Book or Kindle form, laughing all the way;

Bells in brains will ring, making ideas bright,

What fun it is to laugh and sing The Price of Fish tonight.

Price of Fish, Price of Fish, Price of Fish hooray;

Oh! What fun it is to read some pages every day;

Price of Fish, Price of Fish, Price of Fish hooray;

Oh! what fun it is to read The Price of Fish each day.

Loads of pictures from that year’s event. Click this link or the picture link below:

ZYen Christmas Party 2011 869