There’s only one thing better than blogging friends

And that’s meeting them in real life and realising that they are as nice as they appear online. There’s always a worry isn’t there? That you get on really well when talking through blogs or Twitter, but when you actually meet face to face and, you know, talk to each other you realise you can’t stand the person. Or their name is really Dave and not Sophie.

So it was that I joined the South West blogging crew for dinner at Namaskar Lounge in Bristol last Friday. A very fine group of bloggers it has to be said lead by our ring leader Jenny without whom we would probably still be discussing possible dates via Facebook. Also in attendance were  Purple Mum, Knitty Mummy, Circus Queen, Medicated Follower of Fashion and Lewis from BabberBlog who I’d been looking forward to meeting in particular. Not least because he has an even bigger obsession with bikes than I do, plus it’s always good to talk to other relatively new dads.

Being a blogger can be a lonely existence sometimes, if you don’t have close friends that also blog there really is no one to talk to about it. To share tips and tricks with or ask advice. It then feels quite weird being able to talk freely about stats and reviews or quite simply to gossip about the going on’s on Twitter of which there seems to have been quite a bit recently.

Last time I was in Bristol I don’t think Namaskar Lounge existed, I’ve a feeling there used to be a Bar Med or some such sticky filthy place. Now it is a very attractive looking restaurant and certainly a different experience to eating an Indian take away at home! With lots of glass and space it was a breath of fresh air compared to many UK restaurants which are just stuffy.

I of course plumped for my favourite Biryani, I did at least have lamb though for change. There is something so satisfying about having one dish with the rice and meat all in together having been cooked nice and slowly. Love it. Coupled with a garlic naan and I was a happy boy, long time since I’ve been out on a Friday night doing that. The food was pretty excellent as well and I was ever so slightly jealous of the massive onion bhaji’s that Knitty Mummy ordered.

So it was that I headed for home to rescue the lady of the manor from a teething baby with a very full stomach, suitably content after an evening of adult conversation about life and blogging. Looking forward to the next meetup now, although not sure about the potential for some karaoke.

The restaurant were kind enough to give us discounted food for the evening, but no payment was received and all opinions expressed here are my own crazy thoughts.