Red Back

The Red Back is a pub in Acton which is in west London. I believe there are several of these around the London area and you probably guest by the name that these are Australian pubs. It was a Friday night and Donna and I had already planned to meet up with Wendy again for the weekend. Mel Cramp called that afternoon and asked if Donna and I would like to meet up at the redback so we decided to kill two birds and all go to the Red back.

We first went to Wendy's flat as planned and then caught the train to Acton. From there it was a short walk in the rain to the pub.
Donna, Wendy and I arrived early and none of us had eaten. Our stomachs decided that we should try the food at the pub across the road named "The Red Lion and Pineapple". The food was good and the beer was cheap. I bought 3 pints of carling for £4.90 which was pretty good value. I had a half rack of ribs with a picture of the Silver Spur half rack in my head. It was a bit disappointing  when 5 ribs came out but they tasted ok.
The Red Back was starting to get into gear and now required a £4 entry fee. We happily paid and made our way in. The bar had a big dancing area and a live band was setting up at the front. This was the first live music we had encountered since arriving in London. I was hoping the find a large selection of beers from back home but this was not the case. I found VB, Jim beam and Cruisers but not much else.
We found a place to stand and started drinking our beer. Wendy started talking to some guys near by because she needed a light. Both were named Ben and they were from Queensland. Donna also recognised that one had a pair of Colorado shoes on. We ended up chatting with the Bens for a quite a while, it turned out they were waiting for a friend of theirs who was celebrating his birthday tonight.
Mel finally turned up! It was good to see her again as it had been a while since our paths last crossed. Mel has been working at a pub not that far from were Donna and I are staying called the Red Lion. She lives in there as well and it turns out that her brother is also working there. I knew Mel liked her bourbon so before long I switched to the Jim Beam and cokes with her. As a result I ended up extremely drunk but sometimes these things happen and nobody is to blame :) .
Wendy and Donna went crazy with the camera and were taking photos of everyone. People would walk past and want to be in them for some reason. At one point someone said "Why don't I get a photo of you two?". Here is the result. Wendy and Don both agreed that it would be a good photo if Ben hadn't jumped in the back. I experimented with taking him out but in the end I just blurred him a bit. I think it turned out well.
The band played lots of songs that we knew the words to, Wendy and I made our way to the front of the crowd, jumping up and down with the beat. Later on I remember dancing with Mel but all that is a bit cloudy. I don't remember saying goodbye to Mel (Sorry!!) but Donna tells me that I did. Once we made our way out of the bar Wendy organised a taxi to take us back to her flat. As soon as the taxi went around the first corner I started to feel ill. I made it back to Wendy's ok and managed to climb the stairs in an unorthodox manor. I made friends with the barf room and then crashed out on the spare bed. I felt bad all the next day. I have learnt not to drink so much and next time I will have the sense to stop before things get so bad. Hopefully we can meet up with Mel over Dinner or something and I will remember everything a little better.

The Red Back was a pretty fun place and I would recommend it to anyone who was looking for a big night. Its designed for people who want to Drink, Dance and sing alone to music. If you get to out of control there are a lot of bouncers with a don't argue attitude that swarm on those who would disturb the peace and quickly throw them out. If Josh lived here the bouncers would know his name, he would have lots of stories about how he was thrown out of the Red Back for no reason. Wendy got a photo with a bouncer even though he didn't want to. Nice work Wen! - written 29/12/2002