We’ve had our first Indian meal since we landed. Michele’s mum, being a mum, insisted that we get a lift down the “fucking massive hill” (q.v.) to Manayunk rather than us risk life and limb on the cheap, convenient, safe, bus service. As it was raining hard and the hill we would have to descend was really quite massive (in the “fucking ” sense) we agree and got dropped off in the lovely Main Street.
First stop was a lovely little (in the sense of “big”) bar which thought it was Irish, called “Paddy O’Mally’s” or something equally insulting. But it turned out to be quite nice. Of course there was American Football on the many widescreen TVs and plenty of that pastiche Irish folk coming out of the speakers, but the barman managed to pour a couple of quite acceptable pints of Guinness and Michele’s “Mer-*low*” was quite good too. It turned out the barman had spent time in London, which explains his pouring skills, but the atmosphere was nice and allowed us to relax in preparation for our impending curry.
And what a curry it was. Everything was different to our expectations, but it was superb. In the spirit of scientific discovery I ordered a Vindaloo: the reasoning was that outside of India, it was pretty much a wildcard and that in the UK it just refers to anything that will cause anal bloodshed the next morning. When the lovely waitress asked “Mild, medium or hot” I knew I was onto a winner and asked for the latter.
To cut a long but pleasant story short, it was superb. Not oily, not too salty, full of flavour, and my Vindaloo was milder than the mildest I’ve ever had in the UK. It was however the best I’ve eaten in a while. OK, it was expensive for Philly but it really seems to have been prepared with love and for that I’m grateful.
Reassured that good Indian food was on offer in the area we caught what is now our second favourite bus route home – the 35. Like its number it comes second to the legendary London 36 route (but only when, in the old days, the 36 was run using Routemasters.)
The 35 is the official and satisfactory solution to ascending the “fucking massive hill” of Manayunk. Its sole purpose seems to be to carry us to and from suitable drinking/eating establishments in Manayunk. Nice one SEPTA.

BTW – I received a lovely message from “Stuart” who didn’t leave us his email address. Thank you for getting in touch Stuart, and good luck with the move. We both think that you should get in touch so that if there was anything we could do to help (like be reassuring) then we could do so – even though neither of us have any real idea about SF – good luck anyway people.

Had a good day today – check flickr.