Things I Did In London

The view from the train as I waited. This is on the way to my stepmums old pub which is a really weird area of Bristol

So this weekend, I headed down to London. Originally when I planned my little trip, I hoped to go to shows and the exhibition, but except for a query from BFC 3 weeks ago (“What is your blog URL”…seriously, its all over the application. I honestly wondered if they were trying to be funny), I heard nothing about my application, so thought “Stuff it” and went anyway to see some of my favourite girls.

Thankfully, Vanessa (have you read her blog? WHY NOT GO AND READ IT NOW and then if you’re a super editor type then you should totally hire her, pay her millions of pounds and then she can buy me a pony.) was kind enough to let me stay on her sofa bed, because hotels are expensive, and I prefer to spend money on things like food.

I dropped my stuff at her house, a quick change later and we headed into the city. She had some errands to run, so I headed to Somerset House and spotted the gorgeous Jazmine straight away. Starbucks was a much needed stop, then we headed back to see if we could see any bloggers at Somerset House.

Perhaps it was the rain, but there was barely anyone about, so as soon as Sarah turned up, we headed over to Piccadilly Circus so we could gatecrash 1000Heads‘ “Holly Collins Show” and see the lovely Holly who is awesome and I wish I saw her more. (That pretty much goes for everyone I mention in this post.)

With time to kill, we um…walked faster than normal to Thirst, Sarah’s favourite London bar because the drinks are big, strong and reasonably priced. With 4 drinks on the table for £18, we had a bit of a gossip then walked (a little more wonkily) over to Covent Garden for dinner.

I had emailed and tweeted out that anyone was welcome to join us for dinner at Byron on Friday night, and we had a nice little group – Hannah has some silly photos from dinner but get 6 girls together, give them booze and food, and you get a good gossip session. (Oh, and give them an awesome waitress. Ailbhe at Covent Garden was so awesome.)

My phone died, so with Christina’s help, I hopped on a bus for the first time ever. SCARY. But cheap, and direct. Felt like I was the greatest person ever by being able to get a bus in London.

Drinks at Thirst. Its not arty, its a “I can’t be bothered to take a proper picture”

On Saturday, Vanessa and I walked from Hackney to Shoreditch (about 4 miles?) which was awesome – I rarely see London besides the obvious touristy parts, and it made me feel like I earnt breakfast at The Diner which I’ve been dying to try since seeing so many tweets from Reena. (It was OK. No Rocotillos though.)

I left Vanessa and headed back to Somerset House to see if anyone was about (that sounds really lame. But…thats how I feel about LFW as a whole. You have to ask to go to someones promotional show, ask to go to see things that will be for sale – it generally feels like you’re constantly a little kid asking for friends and to go to parties) then met Sarah and Fiona for some mexican food at a random little restaurant in Covent Garden. (Food was OK, but it was expensive and not very good service.)

Headed back to Vanessa’s, but managed to get the wrong bus (no longer felt like I knew everything about transport in London ever) and found myself in Stoke Newington. I don’t know where that is.

Vanessa took me to a random party in Shoreditch (…I think) which was fun – much better than the last time I went out anyway! I got back about half 2 and ended up talking to Alex on Skype till 3ish about storage. Oh yes. This is romance.

Sunday was much less stressy – we headed to a nearby market for this Japanese omelette type thing (SO GOOD) then I came home.

The Moomin shop in Covent Garden. AMAZING. But SO expensive!

And yes, these are all the photos I took this weekend. The curse of Sarah and I happened once again.

Thank you again (again again) Vanessa for letting me stay, and if you don’t already know how awesome she is, she is doing a swimathon for Marie Curie soon, and you should totally sponsor her.