So last night I went to eat Ethiopian food in a restaurant called Merkato in Islington with the team of people with whom I freelance. We roamed full and free from the menu, as Danny and Polly have both visited Ethiopia and know what to ask for. The food was frankly more unusual than I’d expected – slightly soggy sour pancakes are layered on a big plate and then supermarket-meal sized blobs of strangely bubbly meat-related products are dolloped out upon it. To eat, simply tear off pancake piece and shovel food into mouth with it.
And yet for all the excitement of the meal itself, the best bit was that one of our party – Neil – arrived at the restaurant at precisely 20.02 on 20/2/02 – a glorious conceit of a date that I commented on loudly at the beginning of my interview to the eyebrow-raisings of my assessors and which has been talked about at length by Mr Kottke.