I knew I missed London but I don't think it hit me how much I missed it until I was on the train back to Devon at 8pm last night.
I arrived in the beautiful capital at 10:30 pm on Friday night after a busy day of appointments and work, hopped off the train with the most useless of wheelie cases we own wearing my standard uniform of highly impractical shoes and headed towards the tube. I checked how much I had left on my oyster and made my way towards Farringdon to find Sarah's workplace. My parents, particularly my Dad, had made it clear that whilst they were happy for me to go away and felt that it was something that I needed to do, they were worried about me. Part of me understands this but at the same time, London is one of the places I feel safest. Walking down the streets late on a Friday night, making my way towards the restaurant where Sarah works, I never once felt vulnerable in any way. The restaurant was an energetic place despite being at the stage where the bar was closing. The staff were all so lovely and Sarah introduced me to each of them as and when she could. They all made sure that I was happy and that I had a drink which is always appreciated after a long day and a long train journey! Once all packed up for the night, Sarah and I walked to her apartment. She has managed to find a great set-up which is a step up from University accomodation but is not as expensive as a central London flat. She has a room and en-suite with a shared kitchen in a modern and secure building. A long catch up and gossip later and we slept like logs until much later than I've done in a long while- we both clearly needed it!
I'm a breakfast person. I NEED my breakfast and get seriously grumpy if I don't get it. I don't care what time of day I wake up, the first meal of the day has to be breakfast. On our little sailing weekend a few weekends back, we discovered that Cafe's in small Cornish towns don't serve breakfast after 10:30/11am. London- a different ball game altogether! We found a great place where we could get a good breakfast and a much needed cup of tea until 2pm. Not only that, the place also had a bar/club out of which people were still stumbling out whilst others inside were still going and probably intending to keep doing so until Sunday. Once fully awake, Sarah and I took a walk around the area which has an amazing selection of boutiques and vintage shops- I can see Cherry Cherry fitting in so perfectly! If only I could afford to do so... ahhh we can but dream... Not long after, Lois arrived and was in need of food so back we went to the cafe for a catch up and gossip! Lois is in the process of setting up an online vintage shop- massively exciting and writes a fab blog which you can find
here! There was definitely not enough time in the day to talk about everything so I'll just have to head back soon... what a shame!
Later that evening, I donned my new shoes :) and made my way to Leicester Square to meet Ben. Now as much as I love the buzz of London, Leicester Square was heaving! I've never seen it like that before except when there's an event going on. A quick trip to the theatre ticket booth later and we had ourselves a pair of decently priced tickets to see 'Jersey Boys'. After more food and more gossip, we made our way to the theatre. Although it's not a show that's been at the top of my list, I would totally recommend it to anyone! I know I'm probably not the best person to recommmend any show as I usually get so involved that I think most are amazing but this really was a great show. The guy playing Frankie Valli had the most incredible voice I have ever heard and the ballads were particularly captivating. The one irritating thing that you will almost inevitably find with a show like this is that the majority of the audience will know the songs and there will always be someone who feels the urge to sing along slightly out of tune and slightly out of time. On Saturday night, that person was sitting behind me. I won't say that I didn't sing along at all as that would be a lie but I did limit myself and at least I know that when I sing it is in tune and is in time! After a stroll towards Covent Garden with Ben reminding me to post the bills that I'd been carrying around, we went our seperate ways.
Sunday morning I met Sarah at Kings Cross to return her key and in typical Sarah style she had left her railcard at her boyfriends place and was waiting for her train home... It was retrieved in the nick of time as is also Sarah's style! I spent the morning around Oxford Circus trying to get stock only to discover that whilst the rest of London is open on a Sunday, wholesalers are not. Lesson learned. After a mooch around Carnaby street I made my way towards Charing Cross to meet a slightly worse for wear Bex for lunch. We ended up in Covent Garden in a pub that I remember as being much less pricey and much more relaxed last time I went there. Another lesson learned. Food was good though and the cure magician kinda made it worth it. Once Bex had made a move back home, I made my way back towards Trafalgar Square and took advantage of one of the free things to do in London- The National Gallery. Not only is it free entry but the cloakroom is also free so I was relieved of my wheelie case for a while! I do enjoy looking at art but I've discovered that I'm quite picky about what I find worth looking at. A lot of what is in the National isn't what I like. There is quite a lot of religious art and whilst I think something like the Cistine Chapel is incredible, many of these are quite garish and full on. I was quite excited to find that they were doing a renaissance art exhibition but was disappointed to find that this particular exhibition would cost me a whole £10! At least wondering around allowed me some time to recover from pulling the suitcase everywhere and I could just be and recover.
I finished my day by heading back up Regent Street to Carnaby Street where I once found a great little cafe that was a bit like an american diner and served the most fantastic pancakes. I'd been craving them all day so found the cafe, which was still serving the pancakes but had changed the decor. It's now a hawaian themed place called 'Kua 'Aina'. I have to say that whilst I can see how it fits in with the area more now, I much prefered it as it was before. It just felt a bit grottier before and as strange as that sounds, it was just a bit more comfortable. That being said, the food was just as good and the staff are really friendly so I'll almost certainly go back again! By this time it was 5pm and I made my way to Paddington. Although my train wasn't until 8, I was happy to sit with my book and just relax.
There are so so many things I love about London; the fact that I feel so safe there, that whatever you wear, people don't stare and people are on the whole well dressed. I think this is part of what makes me feel so comfortable and safe. I like to dress up and make an effort with what I wear but in Plymouth and Devon in general this draws attention in a way that isn't always appreciative and is more often sleazy. In London however, I can happily wear what I want and know that I'm an not going to be the best or worst dressed person on the street. I may get a few looks but these are more likely to be admiring glances than the leers I get at home. When it comes to how other people dress, in Plymouth usually 90% of people look like they can't be bothered and don't care how they look, whereas in London it's 90% that do care how they look and pull off whatever look they might be going for.
Despite how much I love London though, I know that for the time being, there is no chance of me moving away from home. The situation as it is means that the support I get from my parents, both financially and emotionally is the most important thing for me at the moment so moving out and moving the shop will have to wait until things are more stable.
Xx
