Variety Is The Spice Of Life

During my first few years in London I joined a few social groups – mainly those for people with visual impairment like the London Vision communities, as well as the non-disabled group Thinking Bob. And they all helped me to settle in, make friends, try new experiences and build my confidence.

However, I got rather pulled away from that kind of thing as I formed my own social circle, had a relationship and dealt with the impacts of lockdown, as well as having to focus more on changes to my career and home life over recent years. So I haven’t been an active member of a social group for quite a while, and those I mentioned above have long since closed.

I’ve continued meeting up with my friends of course, which is always wonderful, so I still have good social interaction. And I’m also happy going out and about by myself sometimes. But there are certain things I can’t or wouldn’t do on my own, plus I want to have more variety and meet new people.

So I’ve been looking to get into more social activities again. And while there are still one or two friendly groups out there for people with sight loss, there aren’t as many as there used to be, and their understandably limited range of activities don’t really grab me a lot of the time to be honest. On top of that, I really want to meet more non-disabled people anyway, as my sight is still good enough that I can do activities with them, even if I need to ask for a little bit of help now and again.

There was one particular group I had in mind in that regard – Spice Social – who I’ve been aware of for quite a while, so recently I decided to give them a try, now that I’m in the age range they market themselves to. It’s still early days of course, and things could easily change as time goes on for all sorts of reasons, but it’s going really well so far.

For clarity, this post isn’t an advert for them, as they haven’t asked me to do it and haven’t even been aware that I’m writing it. I just wanted to fill you in on what I’ve been doing lately, as I’ve attended several events with this group over the past couple of months that I’ve enjoyed, and I have more booked in the near future. So it made sense to dedicate a post to them, and then I’ll probably talk about any future events in my monthly Favourites posts as usual.

Contents

• Joining The Group
• Pub Socials
• Regent’s Canal & Canary Wharf Walk
• Kitty Hawk Restaurant
• Uffizzi Restaurant
• Community Spirit
• Conclusion

Joining The Group

I’ve known about Spice Social since my first year in London back in 2017, because they occasionally collaborated on joint events with their sister group Thinking Bob, which I was a member of back then. The Christmas With The Stars concert and Harry Potter Studio Tour I attended as a Bob member were two such examples.

Thinking Bob was basically for people in their 20s and 30s, primarily in London, while Spice Social targets itself at those aged 40+ all over the country, so I was very much in Bob’s age bracket back then. And while Bob has been and gone, Spice has withstood the test of time, having been going for nearly 45 years, and even survived Covid in ways that many businesses didn’t, adapting with online activities and socially distanced events during lockdown.

So having turned 40 a couple of years ago, and now that the time feels right, I decided to take another look to see if Spice still existed and what they were up to. And it did look very tempting, with a lot of events on offer, all of which have a member of Spice hosting it. They’ve been promoting themselves a lot on social media for a while now, particularly Instagram and Facebook (where there’s also a dedicated page for the London group), sharing photos from past events and other information, plus there are a few older videos on Youtube too. So I exchanged a few messages with them, just for reassurance that my sight impairment wouldn’t be an issue, and then decided to sign up.

You have to pay for membership of course, so I went for the half-price £50 first year deal for new members. But there are also monthly, quarterly and annual rates that reward you with discount vouchers for events at regular intervals, which I’ll be eligible for after my first year ends, if I renew my subscription.

Most events have a booking fee as well – often just £5, or even free for their Find Out More pub socials, but for things like theatre shows, concerts, some pre-booked meals, holidays, etc it’s naturally higher. To some that might sound off-putting, on top of a subscription, but I’m happy to chip in for events that are safe and properly hosted, and I’ve found it’s been worth the money so far. If you have to pull out of an event, you get your money back minus an admin fee, or if Spice cancel the event you get it all back, and in each case you get a credit note which you can use to get money off other bookings. Those vouchers automatically show up during the checkout process, so I’ve found it very easy to use them already.

Membership also allows you to attend their events anywhere in the country. So even though I’ll mainly be going to things in London, if I go travelling I can also attend Spice events in other regions if I want to, which is really good to know. It’s very easy to look through the events on the website or their app, with lots of search options and filters. If an event is fully booked you can always add yourself to the waitlist, and you’ll be emailed when a space becomes available, which I’ve already made use of.

Once you have booked an event, you’ll then get emails nearer the time with clear details about who the host is, where to meet them and their phone number. Plus each event has its own little forum in case people want to exchange messages before they attend (e.g. to coordinate travel arrangements). So that’s all very useful.

The page for each event on the website and app also lists who’s going, but you can stop your name from appearing there by restricting your profile privacy settings on the website. Or conversely you might find your name isn’t appearing on event lists but you’d like it to, which appears to be the default setting in your profile. In any case, if you do hide your name from public view, the host will of course be given a full list of names in the days leading up to the event, so they know who to expect.

I’ve therefore booked several events to give things a go, as the best way is to just dive in and try it out. There are certain activities I’ve been avoiding such as theatre shows (because I have to go to audio described performances or at least ensure I get a seat with a close view), trips away for weekends or longer (because I want to get to know plenty of people first before I consider those) and any other events where I feel my limited vision would be too much of a hindrance. Plus I have to rule out a lot of events due to their location or date of course. But even after narrowing things down for all those reasons, there are still lots of events that I am able to do if I want to, which I’m quite impressed by. At the moment I’m booking around 3 events per month, which is a nice number. It means that even if the occasional event gets cancelled, I’ve still got other things in the calendar.

Pub Socials

For my very first Spice event back in March, I went to their free monthly social at The Champion, a pub in Wells Street near Oxford Circus, where they had a room reserved upstairs for a couple of hours before then moving downstairs. Lots of existing members attend these particular socials, but they’re also designed for newbies to come along and find out more information. There are similar events held in St Albans and Richmond every month too.

I was immediately welcomed very warmly by the lovely Event Manager of Spice London, Pam Harte. After giving me a voucher for a free drink (which every attendee at this particular social gets if they booked their spot online), she told me about the group and introduced me to various people who I got chatting to. Plus I was able to order food, so I had a lovely steak pie with mash and carrots.

A couple of days later I then went for a lunch social at Hamilton Hall, a Wetherspoon pub attached to the upper concourse of Liverpool Street station. Due to a couple of people dropping out there were only 3 of us there, but my two companions were both experienced members of Spice and were again very friendly, so it was great to chat to them. We all decided to have curries as well, so I had a very nice Chicken Tikka Masala with basmati pilau rice, garlic naan bread and poppadoms.

Both of those initial socials really helped me to feel welcome as a new member, and that’s continued during the subsequent events I’ve attended in April.

Regent’s Canal & Canary Wharf Walk

One of the most regular events on offer are walks led by a lady called Linda. These take place all over London, often at weekends but she also does some midweek strolls as well. They’re done at a moderate pace that’s easy to keep up with, and there are occasional stops to look at items of interest, use the toilet, get a drink, have lunch, etc. People can also drop out of the walk any time they wish to. So overall they cover a fair distance, but it’s manageable and flexible.

I like having nice walks around London, so it made sense to sign up for one of Linda’s walks to see what it was like and the sort of people that go on them. And it was a really nice day out in gorgeous weather. I spent the day chatting with some lovely people – including one in particular who I gave my blog link to, so hello if you’re reading this! – and again I was made to feel really welcome as part of the group. In fact, it turned out there were a few newbies amongst us, but it wasn’t obvious, as everyone just got along very well. There were about 15 of us altogether, which was a good size without being too big.

The main part of the walk covered around 7 miles, taking us from Angel station to Canary Wharf, walking along the beautiful Regent’s Canal and then part of the River Thames. Then after lunch we strolled for a couple more miles around the Canary Wharf area, with its mix of waterways, greenery and tall buildings.

Along the way we saw a couple of interesting artworks relating to sea animals that are worth pointing out. Firstly, in Regent’s Canal there’s a collection of five life-sized fibreglass model sharks that look as if they’re leaping out of the water. The artwork by Jaimie Shorten is simply called Sharks!, and was built after the concept won the 2020 Antepavilion art contest.

And then in Canary Wharf there’s a huge 11-metre tall sculpture of a blue whale made out of plastic litter found on the beaches of Hawaii, called Whale On The Wharf. It’s very impressive, and was made in response to the fact that, pound for pound, there’s more plastic in all the oceans (150 million tonnes) than there are whales!

We had plenty of opportunity to relax and have refreshments during the day as well, although you can of course bring water and snacks on the walk with you. So early on we paused at Victoria Park to use the toilets and have a drink, so I had a hot chocolate. Then when we arrived at Canary Wharf we had lunch for an hour at a Wetherspoons pub called The Ledger Building (next door to the Docklands Museum), where I had a lovely beef lasagne and chips. Alternatively, some people took the option to have lunch at the nearby Docklands Diner café instead.

At the end of the walk we then went to a Fuller’s pub called The Gun for a drink, which has a lovely view over the Thames towards The O2, and then back to The Ledger Building for one more (I had a cider in both cases, naturally). We even learnt a bit of history about The Gun, including its use by Horatio Nelson for secret liaisons with Emma Hamilton during their love affair. So that was a nice way to finish the day, with some interesting conversation over a couple of drinks.

Kitty Hawk Restaurant

The day after the Regent’s Canal walk I then met a group of 5 other people for a Sunday roast dinner at Kitty Hawk, a rooftop bar and restaurant that opened in September last year. It’s above the Page8 hotel next to Trafalgar Square, and you access it via a door to the right of the main entrance to the hotel. You’re greeted there by someone who checks your reservation and then points you to the lift, which takes you up to the 6th floor, and from there the view from the terrace is great as you can imagine.

We were dining from their Sunday Roasts menu, where just having the main course costs £22, while 2 courses are £29 and 3 courses will set you back £34. You can also add bottomless glasses of red wine for £30, or they have plenty of other things on their drinks menu, plus there’s a discretionary 12.5% service charge.

So it’s not cheap, but my goodness you get what you pay for! We were really impressed by the attentive and friendly service, the taste of the food and the size of the portions.

I started off by having lamb kofta with whipped feta, which consisted of a few sausage-like cuts of lamb on small sticks, and a cheese sauce to dip it into, which made for a tasty appetiser. And for my drink to accompany the meal I had a lovely Tropical Fizz cocktail, consisting of The Botanist gin, Noilly Prat vermouth, pineapple & fig leaf soda.

For the main course I then had the Waveney Valley pork belly and apple sauce, and it was huge. I think I expected to get slices of pork and perhaps a bit of crackling on the side, but this was more like an actual belly, as it was a big lump of meat! It was absolutely delicious as well, with really succulent meat and juicy fat, along with tasty crackling that was easy to cut through and chew on.

As with their other roasts, it came with a lovely big Yorkshire pudding, perfectly cooked duck fat roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, honey & thyme roast root vegetables and greens. There was gravy too of course, as you get some poured over the meat already, but you also get another little pot of it that you can use for the potatoes and vegetables you add to your plate, as they’re provided in separate bowls.

That pork belly was really filling and satisfying, but somehow I found room for dessert as well, with a lovely big slab of sticky toffee pudding with custard. So by the end of all that I was contentedly stuffed!

The only thing we had an issue with was paying for it all at the end, as the waitress – who I think said she was new – insisted that it all had to be paid on one card, rather than allowing each person to pay their part towards the total. We’d already pre-paid our host from Spice for the food when booking our spot on the social, by picking how many courses we were having, so we just had to chip in for our drinks. We got it sorted out in the end, as we each paid the host by cash or bank transfer, but it’s quite unusual for a restaurant to insist on paying in that way. But if the waitress was new, she might not have been fully informed, and in all other respects she gave us very good service to be fair.

So it was a really nice meal altogether, and the six of us engaged in enjoyable conversations throughout as well. I’d definitely go there again, that’s for sure, as judging by my own meal and the reactions of others to theirs, I’d be keen to try some of their other dishes.

Uffizzi Restaurant

Finally, just last night as I write this, I also went to an Italian restaurant called Uffizzi, situated on the border of Leyton and Walthamstow. This was part of an ongoing series of visits to restaurants across East London led by a lady called Jill, so it was great to meet her and the other members who were present. There were 8 of us altogether, so again it was a nice manageable number.

Unlike Kitty Hawk, there wasn’t a set price for the number of courses here, so we didn’t pre-pay in that way. Instead this was a more standard type of restaurant booking for Spice, where you just pay the £5 booking fee to sign up, then pay for your own food and drink on the day, and we were able to pay the waitress individually this time. Jill had taken a note of everyone’s orders as well though, just to ensure that the total we owed matched what was on the final bill, which is a good idea to be on the safe side.

So I had a delicious three-course meal from their menu, beginning with a plate of large pork meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce topped with melted cheese. Then I had one of my favourite types of pizza – the Hawaii, which had lovely big juicy chunks of pineapple alongside the other toppings of ham, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce.

And lastly for dessert I enjoyed a generous portion of Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sure, it’s the same dessert I’d had at Kitty Hawk, but I do like it, and this time it came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream instead of custard. Truth be told, when I was ordering I forgot I’d already had it at Kitty Hawk, otherwise I probably would have gone for something different, as there were other tempting options. But this was very nice anyway.

So it was another nice dinner with a friendly group of people. I’ll definitely try to go to more of these East London restaurant gatherings, as they’re often fairly local to me and thus easy to get to, and it’ll be a great opportunity to try a variety of places not far from me that I’ve never been to before, while also meeting new people in the process.

Community Spirit

Joining Spice was obviously a bit of a gamble, as even with the reassurances from the admin team that I exchanged messages with online, and being greeted so warmly by Pam on my first evening, I knew there was no absolute guarantee that I would fit in, or find people I could connect well with, or meet many people close to my age.

But I knew there was nothing to lose by trying it either. If it didn’t work out, then it wouldn’t matter, as I already have a healthy group of wonderful friends and connections. I’m simply trying Spice to see if it can add variety to the things I do and expand my social circle. It’s not replacing any aspects of my life.

And as it turns out, it’s been going really well so far. Everyone at the socials has been very friendly and welcoming, making me feel accepted as part of the group. And I’ve been able to engage in conversations much more easily than I used to when I first moved to London. That’s partly because I feel more assured about myself after all the experiences I’ve had here over the past 8 years, but also because the other members I’ve come across are genuinely open to conversation and take an interest in new people they haven’t met yet. Perhaps that sounds obvious for a social club – after all, that’s what people go there for – but in my experience it’s not always like that. Sometimes people form their own little groups or ‘cliques’ and stick with them, perhaps without even realising they’re doing it, but I haven’t seen that happening in Spice yet.

Naturally talk of my disability comes up sometimes, and when people have asked me about it, they’ve done it with polite curiosity. So I’m enjoying raising awareness of the conditions I have, while also showing people that it’s not a barrier. People have also made sure I’m alright to find my way home after events are over, especially for the evening ones, which I appreciate. But my sight loss isn’t the dominant topic of conversation, as I’m also able to talk about the work I do and all the things I get up to in my leisure time, and likewise I take a keen interest in the lives of those people I’m talking to.

So far, because I’m a newbie and there are a lot of members, there’s been a completely different group of people at every social I’ve been to. So as far as I’m aware I haven’t met the same person twice yet (apart from the host of the second pub social I went to, because I was introduced to her at my initial event). That’s bound to change gradually as I attend more events, as there will be certain people who do the walks or attend meals fairly regularly, for example. But it’s been great to meet a wide variety of people at my early socials. Within the 40-60 age bracket they target, I’m certainly one of the youngest in the group, but I have already met a few people who are close to my age, and I know they’re keen to attract more members in their early 40s.

It all seems to be paying dividends as well, as several people have promised to say hello if they see me at future events (as they’re more likely to recognise me than vice-versa), and I’ve even exchanged contact details with one person for possible meetups outside Spice. So I really appreciate how kind everyone’s been, and hopefully I’ll continue to make friendly connections as I go along.

Conclusion

So all in all, I’ve been really enjoying my introduction to Spice Social so far, and thank you to everyone for being so welcoming.

There are bound to be occasional events I attend that don’t work out or the odd person I meet who isn’t amazing company. And it’s always possible that the novelty might wear off or fate will throw in curveballs that disrupt my Spice activity. I might be in the group for years, or just for a few months, I just don’t know yet.

But if things do continue in the same vein as they have been – and there’s currently no reason to suspect that they won’t, fingers crossed – then it feels like this has the potential to give me a new lease of life with lovely new friends and exciting new experiences. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens in any case, and I’ll keep you posted!