West Ham Ward Surgery Doorstep

This evening I went on a ward doorstep Councillor surgery with my colleague, Cllr John Whitworth. We were joined by our GLA  Assembly member Unmesh Desai. 

Pretty positive response for Labour. We had 49 contacts (using Labour doorstep app). 

Afterwards we went to the Black Lion pub for a "debrief" and by coincidence met up with Newham Council Cabinet members. Afterwards, some of us went for a mixed grill shared between 2 and some Gurkha beers at @aromasfoods. Yum. 

Post lockdown beer & curry

Last night I met up with 3 friends who I have not seen since pre lockdown March 2020. We were celebrating David Boyles birthday with Trevor Dean and Montrose Matty. We were all UNISON reps in Tower Hamlets Housing department back in the day. 

It was great to meet up with comrades in person and have a few beers in a local pub, then to go to Aromas Restaurant in Forest Gate for a slap up meal. During the course of the evening we obviously put the world to rights. 

We could have legally met up earlier but we had decided to be cautious and wait until all of us had been fully vaccinated and that things seem somewhat settled. 

Ironically both Trevor and I received the 1st AZ vaccine in March that was made in India, that the EU has not yet declared to be an accepted vaccine in order to travel to Europe and avoid self isolation. 

Hopefully this will be sorted out soon.

This was to me a very welcome sign that things are getting back to "normal" but no one really knows exactly what will happen next with Covid and we do need to be prepared for the unexpected. 

(Photo of Aromas mixed grill which is a main course but also an excellent starter when shared between 2 very greedy people. Our table had 2 mixed grills as starters between the 4 of us)

Happy Birthday Trev

 

Yesterday was the birthday of my Tower Hamlets Housing UNISON colleague, Trevor Dean. Normally we would have gone out for drinks and a curry at Aromas to celebrate. Instead we will have a virtual curry next month on Montrose Matty's birthday which takes place on 15 January to celebrate both. 

Dave Boyle and I will send the curry to both of the birthday boys via internet and we will meet up on zoom. 

You cannot stop Eastenders (new and old) celebrating birthdays with a beer and a curry! 

A meal out at Aromas (at long last)

Last night Gill and I went for a meal out in our favourite local restaurant. "Aromas" in Forest Gate, (opposite the station). This was our first meal out since lock down. It was a little surreal but the food and service was as usual excellent (we have enjoyed delivery foods from Aromas but the mixed grill special has to be served fresh and sizzling). 

There was a "signing in" process where we had to give our contact details, hand sanitiser was available, tables had been removed to provide adequate social distance and staff wore face masks, 

By coincidence my Labour Party comrade and long lost Welsh cousin, Stuart Walker, was also there with his wife Suzannah and family friend Alicia. Stuart is somewhat shy and retiring but always entertaining. 

Aromas is a family business. The father cooks and runs the kitchen with his daughter and sons. It must have been very tough for them during the past few months. They also have ambitious plans to extend the restaurant to the rear. 

Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that they do nothing that could mean such businesses have to close in the event of a future Covid-19 spike. 

I am really pleased that on route to Aromas that the pavement had been extended along Woodgrange Road so that we could safely avoid people queuing at the fast food outlets.