The Lincoln Lounge and Chop Chop!

Bit worse for wear today, went out for a few drinks last night with some chaps from the office...it *was* going to be karaoke in Soho, but that was all booked up, then it was going to be pool at the "Elbow Room" in Islington, but then there weren't enough of us, so we ended up in the Lincoln Lounge, which is a very small, normally smoke filled and packed out (ages to get served) bar (with interesting decor) -

- just across from the office...the choice of beer has improved since my last visit (about a year ago), and thanks to the decidedly clement weather most people were standing on the pavement outside -

- so it was largely smoke-free and actually very easy to get served...! We whiled away a pleasant few hours chatting, and then (as blood sugar levels began to plunge) sought food in the form of Chinese at the perfectly named "Chop Chop!" -

- which is basically the "McDonalds" of the Chinese food world, in fact, and sorry for not taking a picture of it, but it's worse(better?) than McDonalds because you actually have to fill out a form to make your order, it looks a bit like a national lottery slip...everything has a number on the menu and you just put a tick next to what you want, and specify a quantity...so I had hot and sour soup for my starter (which was very tasty indeed, but spilt all over the saucer by the hasty waiter) -

- the others had a selection of other classic dishes, which arrived within about 90 seconds of ordering (looking pristine) -


- the nice thing was, despite the conveyor belt-style rapid service, they were still able to knock me up a sweet and sour pork (hong kong style) that wasn't on the menu (why?) for my main, and the *really* nice thing is nothing on the menu is more than about £3.90 (and the portions are extremely generous... ;)
Anyway, my last train home was at 21:55, so I had to dash from the table (before paying my bill, so I owe someone some cash), but missed my connection at East Croydon and had to sit around for 25 minutes, ran from the train when I got to Redhil to the bus stop (as there was a bus sitting there) but unfortunately it was going the wrong way, the driver said he would be back round "in ten mintues" - so I wandered around Redhill a little bit to waste some time -

- but twenty minutes later the 100 turned up, so I got on that, but the 100 stops at the hospital, so I had to walk the balance, suppose I finally got in at about half twelve... :(

Bah...