i had big plans for that first day with lauren; brunch at borough market, afternoon tea in camden, dinner in soho then the grande finale: singin' in the rain in the west end. trouble was, at the airport the day before, they lost her luggage. so, she had only one change of clothes, and only her converse sneakers. it was pouring with rain on saturday, so there was no way that would do. she's usually a size bigger than me, and lucky for her, i always buy my boots too big (to fit socks and my fat foot!). once we had sorted an appropriate outfit, called the airport to track down the luggage (somewhere in birmingham), and had a tea to wake ourselves up, we headed off.
we wandered the busy, busy, busy and rainy markets, purchasing all the necessities: chocolate brownies, fresh bread, organic jams and chutneys, and then waited in a huge line for the most amazing monmouth coffee i've ever had. after that, we popped off to camden, and explored camden lock village, then into the stables markets where i introduced lauren to the basement tea rooms, where we sat for the first time that day and had another coffee, surrounded by vintage furniture and clothes, while bing crosby sang carols for us on an old record player in the background. perfect.
in the stables we picked up the standard banksy prints, individual pieces of china for £1 a piece, and then some twee earrings and jewels from the village markets. not a bad few hours spent wandering my two favourite london markets.
with still no word from the courier about the missing luggage, we headed off to oxford street, to pick up some 'necessities' for lauren's stay (namely socks, undies and tights). we had already grabbed some (more) new sweaters in h&m's massive sale, so we headed for primark for some cheap replacements. as we were just about to get in the line there, we got the phone call to make our day: the courier was on his way to my house with the luggage!
we immediately left the shop and i called boyfriend to let him know to be home for the delivery, and we spend the next hour or so popping in and out of the shops down the east end until we gave in to hunger and hurried off to banana tree on wardour street for some absolutely delicious asian-fusion and delicious fruity cocktails. our feet were so happy to finally be sitting down, we had been on our feet for about 6 hours with only the coffee break to rest up. the food was delicious, the drinks were stroooooong. when we were done, we slowly made our way up shaftesbury avenue to the palace theatre to pick up our tickets to.....
i had no idea what to expect, having never seen the movie before, but it was really funny! it was long too, it went for over 2.5 hours, and we celebrated with bailey's hot chocolates at intermission... which actually made us really sleepy! the best part of the show was when the water turned on, and the whole front few rows got saturated from all the dancin' in the rain! we saw them pile out after the show, completely soaked to the bone... suckers!
we had such a good day out, filled with catch ups, coffees and musicals - our three favourite things! we were knackered after that, and almost fell asleep on the train home. needless to say, we slept soundly that night! lauren even more so knowing she had her luggage back safe and sound. she's gone to spend christmas with her pen pal in dover, and will be back shortly after. we've got lots planned when she's back, a day in brighton, a few cinema dates (life of pi and pitch perfect for sure) and a day out at winter wonderland to name a few. not to mention new year's eve, where we will be hanging out with carmen et al at our favourite club night feeling gloomy vs club fromage in islington. can't wait!
what are you doing for new year?
