Lets try and sum up the last couple of months living in
London.
Oxford was pretty crazy, it was also very lovely but
yes quite random. It’s the quickest bus ride up there where you slowly get out
of the busiling city of London out into what I consider the real England-
Rolling hills and Thatch-roofed houses.
When we arrive Carlie’s Dad’s cousin meets us with his
wife and son in tow to show us around town.
It was only a few hours away but I never felt more away
from London than here, this town is ridiculously old, so much history and
prestige.
Andrew showed us to all around Oxford University-
Dinning halls, libraries, court yards, churches, the shop where Howard Marks (Mr.
Nice) ran his drug business from the basement, locations where Harry potter was
filmed - the exclusivity of it all made me feel so out of place, we were paying
to get into these old beautiful buildings and kids my age and younger were living
and learning here, apart from when I was in Seattle looking at Washinton Uni
and all the frat houses this is the only
other time that I have wanted to go to uni.
We wondered around town a bit more, sat in a park and
had lunch- the weather so sublime, it was so lovely to feel the sun on my face
and have it actually heat it up for a change and then headed back to their
house to watch the union and then take a nap- the result of a boys night the
previous night where I didn’t get to sleep till 5:30am because of how loud they
were.
Andrew and Jan got a babysitter for the night and then
took us out to dinner- being wined and dined was a really nice change, I love my boys back
home but it was lovely not to talk about boobs and farts for a change. 2
bottles of wine later and we move to the
next bar and the next and the next.. Andrew and Jan leave us after the 2nd
place and let us run free for a bit.
The night ended in Carlie and I in Trinity Collegue(
the most prestigious collegue with 2 young kids that clearly thought that they
were going to get lucky) doing handstands and cartwheels on the ever so
overprotected grass, asking if we can join a houseparty and then me “borrowing”
the poor guys shirt to never return again even though he specifically asked me
not to steal it… oh and I also twisted my knee falling over in the last club
and then hurting it more with the cartwheels.We rolled in the door at 4am.
Next morning was horrible, the mix of work drinks and no
sleep on Friday night and champayne, wine, tequiela shots and double vodka’s on
Saturday night was not a good mix.
I check my phone and see if I did any damage and notice
I messaged a boy called George, do I remember this boy? Not at all, Carlie and
I have a bit of a laugh and try to put it all together but give up as we don’t remember
anything.
Breakfast, a quick trip to a museum and then 3 hours of sitting in the sun was the summary
of the Sunday.When we arrive back in London I got a message.. it was from
George! The pieces still didn’t fit. We got home about 5pm to hear the news
that Arsenal won agaisnt Tottenham – of course they won when we werent here.
So Oxford was pretty fucking fun.
The week before Oxford was a pretty exciting one, My
newphew was born- the cutest little tike in the whole entire world and then the
same day I was seeing a lovely lady from home, Alice.
We met in Camden for a few drinks before going to see
Cloud Control and Dog is Dead at the Electric Ballroom which was such a
fantastic show, its was quite cool to think back and know that I would never
have expected to be watching Cloud Control- a small mountains band playing in
London- where I live with my new London friends and an old friend from home.
Surreal.
Once the show ended we went to continue the drinking at
the Lock Tavern and then the last stop being Joe’s. I love Joes. Nick took me
there once and it is this tiny bar where they play 50 and 60’s all night, the
lights are dim and the guests are dressed to impress. Alice, Emily and I did
the only thing there is to do at Joe’s- Dance.
It is nights like this that make me love London, to randomly
catch up with a friend from home, pay £2 and dance.
Saturday night gets a little hectic as they always seem
to do with our house.
All we were supposed to be doing was going to the pub
to watch 19- Twenty, an musician from back home. What it turns into is 3
bottles of wine between 2, running around the pub, knocking over drinks,
passing out on the couches, heading home to interupt the neighbours having sex,
hitting a bong and waking up still drunk.
Good times.
The week prior to that I went and saw the Black Keys-
AMAZING.
We got there early enough to see the support, Band of
Skulls who were really good- I might add that the weather was ridiculously cold
outside and this I will expand on later.
The Black Keys come on an it was such a good show, for
only 2 guys they know how to give a good time. Before the show had offically
ended they had played everything that I wanted to hear except my favorite song.
They come back for their encore, drop the biggest disco
ball you have ever seen and proceed to play everlasting light. It looked like a
80’s disco in there. It was my highlight… besides feeling so magical after the
performance we walk outside and there is a think layer of snow… it was like a
dream, we didn’t know it was coming and it was cold enough but I didn’t think
it would be this much.
It was just one of those things that just never happens.
I smile just thinking of it.
Still so much to write!!!
The weekend it snowed. Saturday the 4th of February.
The day we didn’t think was going to come.
The boys had a FOOTBALL DAY that day and we won like
7-1 or something ridiculous so they were in good spirits- drinking from 11am
will also do that to you and us girls plus Matt went on a cultural day, Tate
Museum, National Portrait Gallery and the National gallery.
I quite like doing the cultural thing but I don’t really
know if 300 year old paintings are up my alley, I enjoy the more modern art and
photography but either way it was a good day.
Heading home I literally thought I couldn’t be colder,
it was so fucking cold and I could never explain to someone who hasn’t experienced
it themselves. I felt as if I was running around in the snow naked but colder.
Anyway we head home and the boys are all happy and
drunk from the win. Bridget gets a message from Claudia- one of the girls we
were with earlier, it is snowing at Oxford Circus.
Oxford Circus is only a 15 minute tube ride away. The snow
is coming.
We wait and wait, constantly looking out the window.
To do a massive recap as the night from there on in was
amazing and exaclty want I wanted.
It snowed, we took pictures, we waited for it to snow
more and took more pictures, the boys ran out in their underwear, we started a
snow ball fight with some kids on the block- they were very vicsious and I think Chico lost that battle, we met the
neighbours across the road- had a fight with them, invited them around for
drinks, decided we needed to dismatle Steve’s Skateboard and use it as a
snowboard, snowboarded outside!!
It made the last 2 months of discusting weather and
cold nights worth it, it was a long lead up and I really did think I wouldn’t get
to experience snow in London but it was fantasic.
The week before that consisted of a gig seeing Lianne
le Havis at the Social with Matt and his lovely cousins- Lianne was phenomanal,
I could literally wrap her up and give her all to my friends as a present as
she was the most adorable performer I have ever seen. And that voice. Pure heaven
Weekend PROIR to that was very bizaare and got way out
of control.
Carlie and I wanted to have a calm Saturday so we went
to check out the Portabello Markets in Notthing Hill.
We picked up some amazing Brie and bread, saw a Banksy
that I use to have picture on my wall back home!!! And had lovely day not being
hungover and seeing the sights of london and making plans to go there in the summer time.
Chico’s bday had been on Australia day and he didn’t really
to do anything to insane so we thought
we would have some drinks in Finsbury Park, I suggested we go the bowling alley
for a few games and a couple of drinks then we could move on.. nice and easy.
We rock up to this place and get searched on the way
in, not something that happens at your average bowling alley, we continue to
walk down a silent hallway till we get to the end where there is people
everywhere.. we have stumbled on Finsbury Park’s hot spot. Young, hot and
trendy people everywhere. We pay for our games and almost immediatley agree
this is not going to be a quite night.
We have a hefty wait so we all gets some drinks and
settle in.
We are all still shocked at how many people are here
but eventually we get a lane.
By this time we were drunk and began to be those people
that should be kicked out but arent, running around like crazy, using very excplict
names on the board and generally running a muck.
I lost- both games.
Once the games are over we stumble back and decide that
we should drink somewhere else, we chose a bar that I have been wanting to try
since we moved here, there are no seats, the boys get one drink and we meet
them back home where we have another bottle of wine to take the total to 3 for
the night.
I don’t really remember much from that point and that doesn’t
sound very wild but we continued to run around like crazy people, tackling each
other and hitting one another.
Shit just escaltes with us. Always.
That was our first night out together as The Shady
Bunch, with no other people just the 6 of us and it was so needed.
