The Vauxhall Experience

This is Part 2 of the exclusive London night life saga, and just like last year's edition, it was a quite brilliant evening full of music, celebrities and reflection. It was the 2nd birthday party of  RUComingOut, the website I donated my coming out story to back in January 2013. Last year's party was in Soho and I was terribly nervous leading up to it, but it turned into an absolutely memorable evening. This time around, it was less nerves, but the same level of excitement, and it didn't disappoint!

Myself and the wonderful Tara, my +1 for this year, caught the train to St.Pancras and then on to Vauxhall when we found out we didn't quite know where we were going. Last year, my old phone had a useful GPS app, but my new phone has no such technological device, so we were stumped. A taxi seemed the only logical option until I walked past a familiar looking face. We looked at each other in that way that suggests we've seen each other before, but couldn't think where from....

"HEY SIMON!" ... "Hey Tom! How are you?" Phew. I had found someone! I felt instantly overdressed as he was wearing a shirt and jeans and I was all dressed up in my jet black shirt and red bow tie, (remember... Bow ties are cool!) but it barely mattered. We still ended up a little lost, but found our way to The Eagle on Kennington Lane and walked in. It was already quite busy, a far cry from being fashionably early this time last year, and we instantly separated and started mingling. Unlike last year, I saw a few familiar faces, including the founder of the website, Wayne, who was as charming and cheerful as ever! In an environment such as this, mingling is easy. Everyone in the room was like me, sometimes feeling on the outside of the group or different in some way at some part of their lives, and walking up and talking to them was pretty easy. I met a lot of people last Thursday night, including Mr. Dan Gillespie-Sells from the band, The Feeling and legendary LGBT hostess, Sandra London. I also had a chat with Chris Steed, who is one of the gay chaps from the bizarrely brilliant show on Channel 4, 'Gogglebox'. There were many acts on the stage at the front of the venue, including a quite brilliant acoustic set from The Feeling's lead singer and Radio 1 DJ, Adele Roberts. But it was simply great to walk around and talk to other people like me, in a brand new venue. Having a few drinks along the way. What can be better?

It was a quite marvellous evening, and after the events of recent times, a welcome break. In 9 days time, myself and 15 team mates embark on a pre-season cricket tour of Cardiff. I cannot put into words how excited I am. A smile breaks across my face every time I think about it.

Until then, its back to looking forward to the main season and fighting the recent battles.