Strada Various

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It’s that time again when us Trainers (‘the 5ive’, because there’s 7 of us – don’t ask!) all assemble for our regular catch-up.

Venue of choice tonight was Strada in Great Queens Street, close to Holborn Tube. 

Before the get-together I met up with Angela outside the London Palladium beforehand (Scooby-Doo? Boy, this place has gone down a bit!) as she’d found out about a FREE wine-tasting event courtesy of Mr Tesco, just down the road in Wardour Street.

I’m in!

Like many, I tend to associate Tesco with wonky trolley wheels and supermarkets, so this was almost surreal. It was a pop-up type venue, with security guards on the outside and reception staff beautified within an inch of their life. We got there around 5.15 and the place was already packed. After a short wait, we were led down (an almost vertical staircase) to immaculate seating area with four wines laid-out ready for our tasting-pleasure.

It was even more surreal when I remembered that it wasn’t just a Wine-Bar, Tesco was also presenting an invite-only wine-tasting evening run by two of their wine-buyers (I still found it difficult to believe this was a supermarket-driven affair). But what an affair! We were educated and entertained in equal measure and the whole thing was 101% professionally presented -we even got to (try and) take notes. In just thirty minutes, we were better informed about the wines-of-choice – and slightly p***** too. A perfect combo then.

And in a flash, it was over! and as Angela and I attempted to climb the (what now seemed even more vertical) staircase, we then jumped on a bus and headed for the restaurant – what a great start to the evening!!

We were slightly down on numbers this time around – just June, Antoinette, Angela and me, but it didn’t matter and we were soon catching-up with everyone’s news. The food and service were excellent – and the Waiter did well to cope with our (now legendary and regular) confusion at the end trying to sort out who-was-paying-what! For a group of so-called communication experts, it’s always a giggle seeing how crap we are at sorting out this simple task!

Time flew as it always does, and I left around 8.45 to give me enough time to get to St Pancras International  and my timed train at 9.30. On arrival at St Pancras, it looked like there must have been a cancellation before mine – the waiting area was packed! and the train staff gave up managing the crowd when the platforms were announced – and simply opened all the barriers.

Luckily, I got a seat, and the hour-long journey soon passed. By 10.45 I was indoors catching-up with the latest Olympic results (aren’t we doing well!!)

It’s been another great evening with ‘the gang’, but I’m still trying to get my head round the whole Tesco Wine Tasting Evening!