A tiny side street in view of St Paul's - the location of last year's Occupy protests. An unassuming doorway leads down to a be-mirrored cocktail bar, filled with comfy couches and, amazingly for London, really lovely friendly staff.
Not that we're all hippies, or anything, but my guess is it's probably quite rare for Islington Greenpeacers to find themselves in such swish surroundings as we did the night of that pub quiz. I'm sure I could get used to that sort of thing.
Having bespoke cocktails definitely helps too. On this occasion they had taken our name literally and created a Greenpeas cocktail. Yes, it really was green and yes, it really did have peas in it. A strong citrus element, some kind of spirit and impressively, a sprig of fresh lavender added to the overall experience. I admit my face may have betrayed a teensy shade of passing concern before tasting, but it provided a surprisingly palatable succession of flavours on the tongue. Sip slowly, but I'd recommend trying it.
The space was full of familiar faces and many new people who'd come to see what all the fuss was about. A couple of us went around the tables, demonstrating how to slot together the little paper pods. This was slightly more challenging after a couple of Greenpeas, but the guests didn't appear to mind.
The paper pods were just for show, as we were there to raise funds for the big pod, the survival pod which wil enable activists to make a much bigger difference for a much longer time. A pod is the difference between an action lasting for a matter of brief hours or several weeks. It can attach to a ship or an oil rig and keep two activists alive, in perhaps freezing temperatures, stopping greater harm being done to the environment and able to broadcast their situation to all who will listen.
So back to the pub quiz which included some awesome prizes such as tickets to a West End show, a bottle of gin, books, chocolates, exclusive Rainbow Warrior beer and a selection of original Greenpeace T shirts
I'd like to think Islington stepped up to the occasion. Well OK we could have ended better but we started out with a whoop, easing off somewhat after a few fiercely debated answers and leaving us in a 4th place finish. Not dazzling but not too shabby as there was stiff competition among the 13 teams. The winning team were called Finest Quizine. Salutes to them.
Overall we raised about £250 for the new survival pod. If you have not yet donated and you'd like to be part of this, you can still do your bit at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/
Huge thanks to Leila and Sam for organising it all brilliantly, to all who took part in the quiz, to the masterful MC and everyone who helped and thanks also to the arctic gods for finally letting me be the polar bear. Rrrrrrrrrrrgh.
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