The ramblings of Keane Ingram

I'm 30 today. Thus far it hasn't been a day to remember, I've been up most of the night due to the young master refusing to sleep.

On Saturday we went out for a meal to La Romantica in Rayleigh. I'd never been before but had it recommended to me by a few people, and I have to say it was really good food, the steak was perfectly done and the sauce had just the right amount of kick to it. There were quite a few of us out and I think everyone enjoyed the meal.

Afterwards we went out to the pub for a quick drink before heading to the Brush. This was to be my downfall, as I was given two shots of Aftershock to down as well as a pint. I seemed to be coping OK at this point, and we headed to the Brush.

Once inside I had the traditional Rodney and had a bit of a dance to Love Will Tear Us Apart, but not long after I headed to the toilets for what I thought was a tactical vomit. After I'd finished there was a knock on the cubicle door, and some bouncers told me I had to leave. At the time I was livid - I must have been sick in there numerous times over the years and never been told to leave before. But with hindsight I'm so glad they did!

A few of us met up outside in the Half Moon, but by this point I was really out of it and spent a while just lying on a table. Finally I managed to rouse myself and headed to the taxi rank with Will. Coincidentally the cab driver was someone who used to own the local shop near where I used to live in Rayleigh, so had a chat about various things (as much as I could manage in my unfortunate state).

I spent most of the night and the morning after being sick and generally feeling unwell. (Not looking for sympathy here). I was pretty cross about it all really - I haven't been that sick since my first term at University. It kind of spoiled the night for me because I didn't get to say goodbye to a few people, and my days of just wanting to go out and get wasted are far behind me.

I managed to get myself washed and dressed in time to go for lunch with family. We went to La Tasca in Southend, which was both very nice (the tapas) and a bit ropey (the paella - the rice wasn't cooked). They didn't charge us for the paella though. I felt a lot better once I'd stomached some food, the chorizo and patatas bravas were lovely. We'll definitely go back for the tapas again.

We're going out to see Mark Watson filming a new quiz show this evening, apparently it's loosely based on Fighting Talk so should be good.