The other day, as I was sorting through my photos I realised that I never posted about our second attempt at the Monopoly Pub Crawl. The aim of the Monopoly pub crawl is to have a drink in pubs that are on the streets, avenues, roads and stations on the Monopoly Board. Sensibly enough, you're only supposed to drink half pints at each pub but with 22 properties and 4 stations on the board it still makes the crawl a big challenge.

Andrew and I first attempted the Monopoly Pub Crawl in November 2006, only a few months after we moved to London (I actually blogged about it in my first year of NaBloPoMo). It was a event to say goodbye to Tash (I can't believe you've been home that long Tash!). This time round our Monopoly Pub Crawl attempt was to celebrate my birthday and as a touristy thing for visiting Bel and Dan to do. Notice how I use the word attempt. Both times we've only done half of the crawl. The first attempt, we did the second half and on the most recent attempt we did the first half (plus a couple of extras).

As the event organiser, I decided the crawl should have a fancy dress element (of course!). I asked people to dress up using the Monopoly Board as inspiration. And, people who love to dress up (and people married to people who love to dress up) were happy (encouraged) to play along.


We had Natalie as Chance, Ali as Angel Islington, Gemma as a gaolbird and Bel and Dan as Mr Moneybags. Andrew dressed up as the Policeman (Do Not Pass Go! Do Not Collect $200) and I dressed up as Second Prize in a Beauty Contest (one of the Chance cards). Thanks for making an effort guys!

Some Monopoly Pub Crawl tips:

• Start the day with a good breakfast. We started out at Borough Market this year. I had a very yummy breakfast wrap. It was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and tomato wrapped in Lebanese bread. It.... was... good. I'm still dreaming about it (must make it at home one time.)
  
  
• Print out several copies of the route. As the crawl progresses, make sure that the the most sober person is leading the way (this obviously may change through the course of the day.)
  
  
• Skip Old Kent Road. It's out in the sticks and not very exciting.
  
  
• Try and stick to the same drink the whole way through. This means, you have to pick a drink which you think you can consume 13 pints of. I picked Cider this time. Girly drinks are too sweet, Beer is too filling.
  
  
• As the day progresses you might want to order a pint of water with your half pint of alcohol.
  
  
• Know when to quit. The day is supposed to be fun. When it's evident that people have had a little too much fun it's probably time to head home. Several pubs at the end of the crawl have asked to be removed from the published Monopoly Pub Crawl route. I can imagine that these pubs have probably seen some very messy nights serving pub crawlers.
  
  

We started at pub no 2. at around 11am and finished at pub no. 14 at 10pm. That's a solid 11 hours drinking in 13 different pubs. Ugh! So, over the course of 2 days (2 years apart) we've managed to finish the Monopoly Pub Crawl (except Old Kent Rd of course. Skip it!) Do I get a t-shirt?


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Part 2: Ta-ta Tash

Finally, I can write about this! Our second farewell event for Miss Tash was the Monopoly Pub Crawl. The aim of the pub crawl is to have a drink in pubs that are on the streets, avenues, roads and stations on the Monopoly Board (the British version of course). There are 26 streets and stations on the board. Even when obeying the instructions to only drink half pints, this is a tall order.

Tash has very fond (albeit a little hazy) memories of her two previous attempts at the Monopoly Pub Crawl. As the crawl traverses many famous streets in London; she thought it would be the perfect way to say goodbye to the city. (She also was helping me try to complete one of my 43things goals.)

The crawl started at 12pm at the halfway mark of the route, Lord Moon of the Mall (Whitehall). Tash and I were the initial starters and we started in style with a half-pint accompanied by bangers and mash. Over the next 9 hours, we visited 11 pubs (one pub on the route no longer exists), and along the way we were joined by many of Tash's friends. Some of them even managed to stick around until the very end (Yay me, Andrew, Nat and Scott! and Tash of course!). We also ran into at least three other groups completing the same pub crawl. Obviously the pubs get a fair bit of business from this event. Five and a half pints is a big night for me and by the end of the evening I was falling asleep on Andrew's shoulder. It was only 9pm but it felt like it was 2am.

The reason I'm only writing about this now, a week and half later, is because of the time it took to put together my pub crawl report. Ta-da, read about our adventures on the Monopoly Pub Crawl here. It's my Monopoly Pub Crawl site. (Place your mouse over a property with a photo to see a review.) This site will be updated on our next attempt. We have to start at the beginning and see how far we get. Thanks for showing me the ropes Teshie! We'll do the next one in your honour.