Tuesday, 2nd May.
The Super Bowl

Some would consider it the pinnacle of American Sport, an extravaganza, a worldwide television spectacle, while the folks in Acton think it's a place where you can bowl for as long as you like and drink as much as you can for only £15.

I'd already balked at the price and ruled myself a non-starter early on in the piece. Having whipped up a delightful tagliatelle carbonara I was about to do the washing up when Simon burst into the kitchen: "Let's get radical!"

Radical indeed. We got changed into our glad rags and headed off to Acton, via Hammersmith. In Hammersmith we collected three more medical students (I have met a helluvalotof medical students recently) and answered the eternal question, how do you fit four medical students and an Australian into a Mardi Gras? Two in the front, three in the back. Apparently.

We found the Super Bowl somehow. All-you-can-drink meant that a few members of the party that had been there for a while were nicely done thank-you. I can't for the life of me remember why everyone was going bowling, but then again I say that you don't need an excuse to go bowling, you need an excuse to not go bowling.

Again, more medical students. They were all medical students. Simon and I shared a game (we have no idea who paid for us, but good on 'em!) and I bowled worse than I ever have in my life. No excuses!

Simon had an exam the next day, and there's a rumour going round that I'm a working man, so we had to leave the party early. Into the Mardi Gras, and away we went!

In hindsight, we shouldn't have attempted to take the quick way home. Three missed motorway exits later, we found ourselves in Paddington. (No sign of the bear.) So we took the scenic route home. Down Park Lane, past Hyde Park, round Marble Arch, past Harrods all lit up, and eventually back to the Dawes Road Palace.

You make your own fun.