King's Cross Two Step

Had a funny encounter today.  It occurred in the large space in King's Cross tube station, you know, the bit at the top of the escalators from the Northern Line where you have to cross over the over-crowded area to get to the met/circle etc lines? Well anyway, like I said, it's ridiculously crowded, but experienced London commuters somehow manage to criss cross each other in all directions seamlessly and at a furious pace (I'm sure some kind of simile should be inserted here, but I can't think of it...). Well, not all commuters.  A well-dressed gentleman and I, coming from opposite sides of the chasm, seemed to be on a crash course for each other, and instead of expertly manoeuvering around each other and carrying on our separate ways, we engaged in some kind of awkward, dithering series of side steps and body jerks, which went on far longer than it should.  We were like two awkward teenagers at their first disco - not daring to look one another in the eye while our bodies wiggled close together but not quite touching (...knew I'd get a simile in there somewhere).  Anyway, finally we disentangled ourselves from each other's personal spaces, acknowledged the ridiculousness of the situation with a quick catching of the eye, and carried on with the rest of our journey.  It's funny - all those people, and that's pretty much the extent of human interaction that you can expect...a shy little dance on the station floor...

All Things London That I Like:

Walking along the South Bank

Flying my kite in Kenwood

Sitting by the water in St Katherine's Dock

Yoghurt raisins in Baker St tube station

Cheap theatre tickets

The never-ending novelty of my Oyter card

My garden

The trop d'oeil in Gabriel's Wharf

The lady's voice on the Tube announcements

Tunnels at London Bridge

My sister's house

Cold sunny days

Hot sunny days

Jeremy London

Camden stables market

The heater in the indoor area at West Finchley tube stn

Discovering new places

Free parking

The London Eye

Outdoor ice rinks

St Christopher's Place

Secret Gardens

Coming Soon: All Things London That I Dislike...

Bento Bonkers

Right, that's it.  I'm sorry, but I can't go another minute without talking about Bento.  It's the Japanese restaurant I went to for the first time recently, and quite frankly I haven't stopped thinking about it.  At first I thought it was because I was happy to have found somewhere new to eat, and that I was there with good friends whom I hadn't seen for a while, and that I was excited to tell other people about this cool new place...but now I think it might be something more.  I think it may be an obsession.  You see, I haven't quite been able to stop fantasising and salivating about the succulent flavours and exciting dishes.  And although I've raved about it to everyone that I've seen and spoken to, I'm still not satisfied.  And the friends who I went there with, well, they're great and everything, but not that great. And it's been two weeks now.  Or more precisely, 2 weeks, 2 days and 3 and a half hours.  But hey, who's counting?  I think the only thing to do is return to the scene, have a meal and realise that this obsession is all in my head - that no chicken can be that tasty, or vegetable that pleasing, or rice that fluffy...can it? But what if it can? What if going again only heightens the obsession? What if it drives me mad and I can't sleep? Or work? Or, god forbid, eat?

Stuff For Free

Nothing is sweeter than when you get it for free.  So you can imagine my sheer joy and delight when I found myself with lots of free tickets for a preview screening of the new Working Title rom com flick Definitely Maybe this week.  I invited a bunch of my mates along (all girls - surprisingly the boys weren't too keen...) and we had a merry old time at the Odeon West End watching Ryan Reynolds getting jiggy with Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz and that pregnant lass off Scrubs.  It's out in Feb and I'd really recommend it - Working Title are the people behind Bridget Jones and Love Actually, and while their latest offering doesn't quite match up to its predecessors, it's definitely worth a look...maybe.

Pubtastic

Discovered a good new pub on saturday night (well, new to me anyway).   The Old Red Lion Theatre pub in Islington.  It's a cosy place - comfy sofas, big tables, friendly staff, old-fashioned furnishings.  The 50 seated theatre is upstairs and I didn't check it out because I was cornered on the sofa all night by various drunkard attendees of my friends, but I understand it's just lovely.  

The only drawback to the place was an over-friendly Rottweiler who took a particular fancy to me, but I don't believe she's a permanent fixture of the place, so if you're also a 20-something curly brunette with an aversion to the canine, you should be ok...

Hanks for the memories

I met Tom Hanks last night.

That's it really - I just wanted to brag that I met Tom Hanks.

(I managed to score some tickets to the Charlie Wilson's War premiere.  Red carpet glitz? - Good.  Political flick? - Good.  Hanks throwing popcorn in my face? - Still good, after all, he's Tom Hanks.  And it was an accident.)

Lunchtime trauma

It's the age old question - why is it that the comfy chairs are in Pret, but the better sandwiches in Eat?? Why must I be forced to choose between eating a sub-standard, over-priced tuna baguette sitting on a plush mini sofa, and munching on a tasty, spilling-from-the-edges sandwich on a cold, hard, backless stool?  And what's more is that Pret and Eat are next door to each other, making the tantalising chairs or the sumptuous sandwiches (depending on which lesser of two evils I've chosen that day) just an outstretched arm's length away.  The drudgery of 9 to 5 is harsh enough, without having this anguish thrown in my face everyday.  That's it - tomorrow I'm making a stand.  Either I buy an Eat sandwich and brazenly sit down with it in Pret's luxurious surroundings, or I drag a Pret recliner through the street and enjoy it in amongst Eat's otherwise stringent furniture.  Hmmm, how to decide...    

Pressure of entertaining

I had my old uni mates come to stay this week. We had two days in London, and as the only Londoner the pressure was all on me to work out how to spend our time.  Now London's not exactly short on things to do and places to go, but when you're all students/unemployed bums, it's a bit of a challenge to be entertained on a budget.

As it turned out, we had an awesome time - wandering around Borough food market, flying kites in Kenwood, hot chocolates in cheap little cafes that aren't Starbucks, and, the best bit, ice skating at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park courtesy of Oyster 2 for 1 deals.  Seriously, I think the Oyster deals are my new favourite thing (since I discovered Dairy Milk Shortcake that is) - it's great to be able to do loads of cool stuff in London on the cheap.  Plus you get to say "the world is our oyster" a lot, which, worryingly, never fails to amuse me.