i grabbed some water on the way, because at 11am it was already grossly hot, and took the back streets to avoid the tourist and the sun. despite my slow walk from charing cross, i was the first to arrive at our agreed meeting point; top shop oxford circus. i stood in the shade on the opposite side of the street and stood people-watching until i saw a face i recognised...
you know, it reall is hard to believe kim and i have only physically met three other times, because it feels like i've known her forever. we stood and gossiped for about twenty minutes while we waited for kirsty to arrive; worried she may have been lost, i gave her a quick call to see where she was but... that accent! thankfully kim spotted her curly mop of hair from across the road, because i couldn't decipher what she was saying! we ran over and gave her the biggest hugs we could bare in that heat, then stood and pointed at her while she tried to speak to us in her broad scottish accent. it was too much! we needed coffee.
after an iced coffee and an hour-long gossip session, we headed back out into the heat and plodded along oxford street, popping in and out of shops as we chatted. soon enough, hunger found us. rather than the usual pit-stop at banana tree, we headed down wardour street and ended up sitting under the air-con, sipping on iced hibiscus water at wahaca... om nom nom! i do love me some mexican fare.
i had the pork pibil tacos and the chicken tostada, and a citrus fizz cooler to wash it all down. none of that was easy to eat, and as always, i dug in and didn't care. mexican food is not sexy food. right girls?! yes well, we worked lunch off while trawling the sale rails in the motherland (primark)(massive primark) before deciding a drink was in order. it was nearing 4pm at this time, and we had put in a few solid hours avoiding the sun; why not add a few more in the yates in leicester square? a couple jugs of cocktails and a round of cider in the pub later, we were on the train home...
we had a party to attend!
the morning after the night before, we (them, and in turn...me) woke up surprisingly early. like, too early for a sunday. even after a tea, it was too early to do anything constructive, so, we watched another movie. i couldn't believe the girls hadn't seen pitch perfect - so i insisted we watch that then and there. and then we ate our weight in left over food. we then felt lumpy and hot, and decided we should get out of the house. stat.
we showered and dressed and headed into london... with 400,000 other people. worst mistake! trying to navigate our way through the southbank on the hottest day of the year was a rookie error. we took solace in some whippy ice-cream then headed into the udderbelly grounds for shade, but realised that was probably just as bad. a final decision was made to head across the river to a park near the tube, where we knew there was shade and we could sit the eff down. kim regaled us with tales of her ornithophobia while we lazed on the grass and listened to the brass band playing ray charles and classics and the... austin powers theme tune. not long later, we parted ways amid a flurry of hugs and promises to visit each other again soon. kirsty headed back to her friend in wimbledon, while kim began the journey back to norwich...which ended just as murray won the final point - she was fuming!
we all certainly slept much easier that night; the weight of hostessing off my mind, and shattered from all of the entertaining over the last two days. it was so great to have the girls over, and i really am looking forward to seeing the both of them again soon. kirsty says the next sleepover is at hers in edinburgh... i can't wait for that!
