We went to see

We went to see Aladdin at the Theatre Royal the other night after I’d won tickets. It had been many years since my last panto experience, and many more years since Richard’s last visit, but it was a fun night. 7 year old girls really, really love Chico – the one behind us was screaming “What time is it?” at the top of her (very shrill) voice. We thought Toyah was great, although I hadn’t realised quite how short she is. I was surprised at how long the panto lasted, we started off at around 6pm, and didn’t get out until 8.45pm – that seems to be a long time for small children to sit still for, but the majority of them were really well behaved and seemed to be loving it.

Bom-Bane’s

water table
Belgian beer
More Belgian beer

We caught up with some friends the other evening at Bom-Bane’s cafe in Kemp Town. Emma had spotted a review of it in The Kemptown Rag and the Argus review made it sound so intriguing we just had to try it. We had the 27 chimes table, and had the Christmas set menu – smoked salmon blinis for starters, then beef wellington and finishing with either Christmas pudding or Christmas waffles. They have a great Belgian beer collection – the Blanche de Bruxelles was great, but the Mort Subite was just too sour for me. A great evening catching up with friends in a really unusual but lovely cafe.

27 chimes table

We went to the

electromagnetic fields slide

We went to the cafe scientifique at its new venue on Tuesday after the terraces made it homeless. An interesting talk “Power lines to mobile phones: hot air or hazard?” by Alan Preece of the Bristol Oncology Centre”. Beer was drunk, questions were asked, issues were raised. There seems to be proof that mobile phones heat up areas of the brain, but in research that speeded up responses, rather than causing any interference. Not sure I want my brain heated up, so I’m in the market for a hands free kit for my phone. The new venue worked out ok, a bit cosier than the terraces, and not as “cool” but nice and a good atmosphere.

Another busy evening last

Another busy evening last Tuesday, with both a Cafe Scientifique and a Sussex Geek Dinner to go to. We headed off to Cafe Sci and listened to Jim Skea of the UK Energy Research Centre talking about UK energy policy – what’s science got to do with it? We stayed for the talk, but moved on before the questions and answers as unfortunately this talk was very similar to one we’d heard earlier in the year.

The Sussex Geek Dinner was held in the Black Horse again, and despite a slight mix up with the food (new owners, insufficient details on Simon’s booking) the venue was good. Simon hosted well, despite his sniffles and a good crowd showed up. It was good to catch up with some familiar faces, as well as to meet some new ones. As long as Simon keeps organising them in Brighton, I’ll probably keep turning up.

Now to get on and organise a Brighton Bloggers meetup for January…