Categories
Miscellaneous

Afternoon tea

Photo by Yukino Miyazawa

Last Saturday afternoon, my parents and I had an Afternoon Tea in the stylish Oscar Bar & Restaurant, in Charlotte Street Hotel. For nearly two hours, we tried, in vain, to eat all the sandwiches, scones, cakes, macaroons, cupcakes, biscuits, and the other mini piles of sugar that laid before us. Oh, and we drank some tea.

We left so full we didn’t eat anything else until the following day, and the number of food we left on the cake stand was still enough for another three people to have quite a sumptuous repast.

The service was impeccable, as I expected from this place, and even though it wasn’t cheap, the setting and the quality (and amount) of the food could have justified an even higher price. I also fell in love with their Wedgwood tea set.

Categories
Going out

Mamma Mia!

Photo by BePak

Last Friday I finally saw a West End musical. My parents and I took our seats in the front row of the Prince of Wales Theatre at around 8pm and sat through a highly entertaining 3 hours. I’m glad I won’t be leaving London without experiencing one of its iconic productions. Although I wished I had seen maybe one or two more, Mamma Mia! was probably the one I was most curious about.

Categories
Food Streets

Alexandra Palace Farmers’ Market

Wood Green from Alexandra Palace
Photo by Surreykraut

I live in Crouch End. If I had to pick, I’d say my favourite part of the week is going to the Farmers’ Market in Alexandra Palace on Sunday mornings to grab some delicious treats from the little Portuguese stall. They’re incredibly overpriced compared to what you’d actually pay in Portugal, but I’d pay ten times as much for the pleasure. During the ten-minute walk from my apartment to the park and back, I get to see the beautiful park and the beautiful North London streets I love. It’s just perfect.

Categories
Streets

Croydon

Photo by Kevin Steinhardt

A few weeks ago, life brought me to Croydon, far away in the south of London.

I stayed for one night in a hotel (Jurys Inn), as there was a conference in town. Sadly, there was no time to have a proper look around the village, but from the little I saw, walking from both East Croydon and West Croydon stations to the hotel and to the conference venue (Fairfield Halls), it seemed like a not so bad place to live. It particularly pleased me that the pub (The Spread Eagle) we ended up in had sourdough burger. Maybe somewhere to go back to…

Categories
Food Going out Streets

Cask

Cask, Pimlico, SW1
Photo by Ewan Munro

Last Friday, after work, some of us headed to the Cask, one of Pimlico’s locals. Alas, I’m not sure how much of a pub I can evaluate when I only had a glass of tap water and crisps. Apparently the Cask has the best and most unsual beers. The interior looked like somewhere I wouldn’t have minded spending a few hours over a nice pub meal. Maybe some other time.

Categories
Living Travel

Cockfosters

Photo by me

I have lived at three different addresses since I moved to London. In all three occasions, the nearest Underground station was on the Piccadilly line, each time a little further north than the previous. Three years later, I finally went to the northernmost end of the line.

It seemed like a lovely place, Cockfosters and its surroundings (I could see it since the trains run overground from Southgate). The station is nice too, still keeping a vintage feel. Here’s a quote from “What’s in a name?”, by Cyril M. Harris, a book I have about the names of London’s Underground stations:

“It is suggested that this [a house] was the residence of the chief forester (or cock forester), hence this rather unusual name which, until the arrival of the tube, was sometimes spelt as two words. Prior to the station’s opening the name of Trent Park was considered, but it opened as Cockfosters on 31 July 1933.”

Categories
Going out Streets

Lazarides Gallery

Boxi in London, Details
Photo by urbanartcore.eu

Last weekend I saw the Time Of The Signs exhibition at the Lazarides Gallery in Rathbone Place. Truth be told, we stumbled across the gallery on our way to Charlotte Street Hotel for some cocktails (I had tea), but I had never been there before, so it counts as something new. It was an exhibition by the hyperrealist painter, Boxi—a nice addition to a good day out.

Categories
Going out Living Streets

Things I never did

Photo by René Ehrhardt

London is a beautiful and exciting city.

Earlier on this blog I mentioned how one of the best things about London is knowing you can do all these wonderful things, if you want to, while most of the evenings are spent indoors and most of the weekends are spent close to home.

I feel I need to get to know London better, to enjoy it a little bit more. From today on I will attempt at doing as many new things as possible. Life has the habit of getting in the way, so I won’t commit to a specific number or a specific frequency. Keeping this challenge until December is as much a commitment as I am willing to make.

Suggestions are welcome. It can be something from going to the end of the Piccadilly line to visiting Buckingham Palace, anything can count as new.

Categories
Mood Travel

Victoria Line

Photo by Barbara Piancastelli

One word: nightmare.

You may be really early for work. It doesn’t matter. It will always find a way of making you late: a faulty train, problems on the tracks, signal failure, person under the train, you name it.

I have always tried to face the Tube with a smile, but trust me when I say this line will challenge you any chance it gets.

Some of the things I’ll do: read the newspaper or a magazine, listen to music or an audiobook, read a book, write a post in my notebook (such as this one), play a game on my phone. And smile. Even if it’s just to yourself. There are so many worse things in life.

Categories
Weather

Summer

Photo by me

For the first time since I moved to London, I miss the summer. The really hot kind. I miss the scent it brings with it. I miss warm summer evenings. I miss my summer dresses. I miss not having to wear a coat. I miss sleeping with the windows open.

When it gets to this point, I usually start missing the winter.