Being in the financial heart of London at the weekend is always a risky business in terms of drinking, since most of the pubs are shut. So we went for the safe option – and the option perhaps more in keeping with the spirit of the event – by paying a visit to the pub inside Fenchurch Street station itself: the Raven. But first we paused to admire the station frontage (well, I did – no one else seemed quite as enthusiastic).
I don't think I've ever had cause to catch a train from Fenchurch Street, which is a fairly small terminus compared to the likes of King's Cross or Victoria. So I was unfamiliar with the Raven, but you can probably imagine for yourself how un-special it is. Although quite scary, it didn't have a "chain" feel to it, and there was plenty of music. Indeed, when we walked in, I was so amused to hear Foreigner's "Cold As Ice" that I was immediately inspired to buy a bottle of Smirnoff Ice rather than a sensible pint.
Once we'd got settled around a table and stocked up on Mini-Cheddars, the inevitable happened: Queen started blasting out of the sound system, and to our amusement it was "One Vision". Naturally, during our various pointless discussions, I mentioned in passing that this was of course from the soundtrack to legendary 1980s action thriller Iron Eagle. To my utter astonishment, no one knew what I was talking about. This, for example, was the look on Simon's face:
"But... but..." I explained. "Surely you watched – or were made to watch – Iron Eagle all the time when you were a teenager?" Yet it transpired that not only did no one know that "One Vision" was from the air-punchingly over-patriotic film in question: no one had even heard of Iron Eagle. I tried feebly to outline the plot. "Er, some kid's dad is in the US Air Force and goes missing in action, so the kid gets together with Louis Gossett Jr. and they, er, steal some
And thereby, unwittingly, a new (and, in retrospect, extremely tedious) drinking game was invented, called "In the same way that..." We spent the next half-hour taking it in turns to think of two films which surely everyone had seen. But you'd be amazed. I've never seen Grease, for example (though unfortunately I have seen Grease 2 about five times). And Alan had never seen Glengarry Glen Ross (though I believe this shocking oversight has since been remedied).
Anyway, eventually someone managed to think up two which everyone had seen, so we called it day as far as cooking up drinking games was concerned. Since then, however, I have managed to force various people to sit through Iron Eagle, Iron Eagle II and the truly turgid Aces: Iron Eagle III. The one masterpiece which has to date escaped me, though, is – did you guess? – Iron Eagle IV, which I have seen in my local Blockbuster, but I'm too ashamed to take it up to the counter.
Having amused ourselves thusly, we decided that the Raven was pretty average, before going back and loitering at the bus stop for a considerable amount of time.
| Robert | 4 |
| Pad | 6.5 |
| Simon | 7.5 |
| Tim | 7 |
| Alan | 3 |
| Average | 5.6 |