I finally brought my 43-year-old MG Midget to London last night. The weather forecast had been terrible and I wasn’t looking forward to the journey with my ineffective windscreen wipers, one of which doesn’t even touch the screen if there is so much as a sideways breeze. The Met office had predicted torrential rain and gale force winds, however, using the traditional method of looking out of the window, I noticed that the sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the air was perfectly still. Using my iPhone to check the current state of the weather in London I noticed that this was exactly the same there. I decided to abandon my plans for Sunday night and Monday morning and head straight for London taking advantage of the peaceful roads late at night.
Significantly bluer than Newcastle's Blue Carpet.
It wasn’t an easy decision to abandon my plans for Sunday as it was the official reopening of the Rupali restaurant in Newcastle, made famous by its late legendary founder Abdul Latif, better known as Lord of Harpole. He was a true giant in Newcastle culture of the last 30 years, setting up his restaurant in the Bigg market in the late 70s and becoming an icon of the good-humoured side of Newcastle’s character. Mr Latif was an absolute gentleman, and a good friend to all of us at Viz, for many years personally delivering takeaway curries to our offices when we were up against deadlines. He was a true eccentric, never frightened of self publicity and he worked every hour his God sent him, not only as the restauranteur who entered the Guinness book of records for the longest takeaway delivery (Newcastle upon Tyne to Australia) and the producer of the world’s hottest curry (Curry Hell Challenge) but many of the hours he spent working went to charity and local politics. A real man of the people, it was a very sad day for the city, and especially for his family, when he died at only 52.
The late, great, Abdul Latif Lord Harpole
All of this considered, I couldn’t avoid the event altogether, that would just be too rude to the man’s memory. I called in en route to London had a nice chat with Mr Latif’s son Rukon and other members of the family, friends and staff. Rukon has done a wonderful job of updating the restaurant with clean simple lines, whilst retaining an Indian feel. The atmosphere was great, and of course it was only sad that Lord Harpole himself couldn’t be there to see it.
I shall be calling in when I return to the Northeast for my Live Theatre show on 10 December to see if the food lives up to the decor and atmosphere. I’m quite sure it will.
Back to the journey home…Having had four new tyres fitted on the car I thought it would be prevalent to check the knock-off hubs on the wire wheels before setting off (these secure the wheels to the car) so I gave them all a good whack with a house brick, gaffer taped up the join between the windscreen and the hood (in heavy rain, once this seal is broken it ‘rains’ inside the car directly into your lap)… and off I set. The joys of classic motoring. Nice journey it was too, none of the wheels fell off, nothing caught fire, and I didn’t encounter a spot of rain the entire journey. 10 minutes after parking up in London the heavens opened. Perhaps Lord Harpole was watching over me. Long may you rest in peace, Lord of the Ring Stings.