In the Club

Richard's in the club.

No it's not a veiled way of announcing we are about to become parents! Rather to tell you that my gorgeous other half is a member of the rather exclusive Paramount Club in Central London.

He's being going for a month or so now since his membership was approved but saturday evening was my first chance to be impressed and understand why he chose to pay the not insignificant membership fee to be part of the Paramount crowd.

The club is on the top three floors of Centrepoint at Tottenham Court Road. So the location is great. You arrive through a private lift and check into what looks like a sort of Sky lounge from an episode of Thunderbirds. Whenever we visit foreign cities we always take a trip up their tallest building to have a look around. we have dined at the top of the John Hancock Tower in Chicago and the CNN tower in Toronto. We have soared to the top of the Empire State and have memories of a night time trip to the top of the Twin towers, and a misty morning up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Rich managed the top of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and I have perilously gripped the seats at the top of the Burgh El Ahab in Dubai. Yet we rarely get this sort of view of our own home city.

London at night from above is a magical place. We had a dining table by the window and looked out over the East of the city. the green lagoon like roof of the British museum, the twinkling lights of Oxford Street stretching away to the west, the haze of light pollution that is Piccadilly Circus and many more jewels revealed as if for the first time. The food was bloody good too,

But then after dinner its up another floor to the viewing gallery, a dim parapet of a bar that encircles the 32nd floor. Here all London is displayed before you. We sat in two very comfy leather hairs and were served drinks by a not unattractive young Scottish waiter and looked out over the city like kings. The dark of the river curling through the middle of the glittering map. Strange strips of neon that were hard to identify, the optical illusion of the moving london Eye and the distant site of our very own Eiffel Tower - the Crystal Place TV mast which we are so familiar with from our own kitchen window.

Paramount is a special place - an idyll in the sky and suddenly the expense of joining and the reason for many visits became obvious.

It's very special - Just like Rich!