We've gone on holiday by mistake!

It's been a pretty crazy week really.  I'm embracing being back in London by going to as many things as possible, as often as possible!  Winter will be here before we know it and I'll go into hibernation but right now, the sun is shining and there are things to be done.

Monday means Society Film Club night.  This week was Withnail and I.  I'd forgotten how hilariously funny the film was and how pretty Paul McGann was.  It's the sign of a good, timeless film, when you can honestly say you love every single character in it. 

I love "spur of the moment" goings on and Thursday night turned into one of them.  Carnaby Street had a special 20% discount night going on, with all the shops, bars etc. staying open late, djs playing and free drinks aplenty.  Eddie Piller & Johnny Owen were playing a few tunes in the Pretty Green shop so we grabbed our freebies and consumed them on the beanbags opposite.  An hour in Carnaby Street and we managed to obtain 2 glasses of yummy strawberry & lime swedish cider, a cocktail in Banana Republic, a mini ice-cream and some canapes.  We could have stayed all night, staggering home full of free booze at midnight but the lure of champagne at the Covent Garden Pretty Green store was too much to turn down.  We arrived to the sight of tons of Liam Gallagher fans waiting for him to turn up.  Thanks to Mr P, we got on the guestlist and avoided any queuing.  A funny old night - great tunes, constantly topped up glasses of champagne, more snacks and a goodie bag.  Everyone I know will be more than aware of the fact I never have been a fan of Mr Gallagher but he was pleasant to his fans, took time for photos & autographs and seemed genuinely quite nice, I'm happy to report.  So....all in all....I spent £2 and had a great time.  Thursday night SUCCESS!

Managed to get out the house in super-quick time this morning and made it to The Affordable Vintage Fair in Bethnal Green before most people had got out of bed and nabbed all the good stuff.  It was the first vintage fair in a while where I actually saw 60s folk.  I normally wonder why they're not there.  I found the coat of my dreams and it fitted.  I sort of hope it wasn't sold so I can reconsider getting it at payday!  I found a few things that I liked but nothing that was so spectacular I wanted to get it (apart from the coat of course).  My new rule is "don't buy anything that doesn't fit perfectly or you love" and I'm sticking to it.

A quick stroll round the Primrose Hill Fair finished off the weekend.  Regent's Park Road was full of the most amazing food stalls.....from Jamaican to Polish to Moroccan.  It was a hard decision but I went for the Polish Lunch Box (roast potatoes, polish sausage, cabbage salad and gherkins).  Yum!  It was so windy today that I was lucky my gherkins didn't blow away or get entangled in Gwen Stefani's hair - that sort of thing.  Well done stall-holders, your food kicked arse today!

Bye for now frock fans x

A quiet weekend....

Today's post will be short & sweet.  A girl can't be expected to update you all with tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll every week now can she?  (or any week come to that).

Yesterday my Mum visited with my Aunt & her hubby who live in the States.  I'd promised to give them a tour of Crouch End's many bakeries - for their benefit you understand, not mine.  Dunns turned out to be a firm favourite....with us and about a trillion other people who were in there too.  Apparently it's just been National Donut Week.  If I'd have known, I'd had taken full advantage of it obviously.  Dunns were selling donuts for charity so I did my bit...hopefully I've saved a small child somewhere.  I couldn't persuade visiting folk to go to Banners so lunch was at Pizza Bella which was, well, ok I guess.  Cheap and cheerful but nothing spectacular.  Perhaps I've been spoilt lately.

I'd been meaning to do some of the Parkland Walk for a few weeks now but other goings on have got in the way so visitors were a perfect excuse to do it yesterday.  You can access the old railway track next to my house and we walked along to Highgate.  It's a lovely place - very peaceful - and not a sign of drunks or junkies.  If I were a drunk or a junkie, I'd head straight for the railway track!  Although we didn't spot any, it seems there are a lot of fox cubs around at the moment, which explains the strange noises I've been hearing in the middle of the night.  I actually thought there might be monkeys in Crouch End!  I like the thought of little cubs playing in the road outside my house so next time I hear them, maybe I'll try and take some photos.  We went to the gorgeous little Queens Wood cafe' in Highgate after our walk.....I'm not sure they make much money but I love it there.....it's proper faerie land!!!!!!

And today....amongst other things, a large Pimms at The Clissold, before we got evicted as a private function was about to take place.  We imagined Ray Davies in there, wearing one of the Clissold embroidered blankets.......more likely someone's birthday party.

Enjoy what's left of your Sunday folks x

Dentistry Hell

When a new dentist tells you that you need a tooth taken out by surgery, 5 teeth re-filled, and a crown, totalling £1,000, what do you do?  a) Believe them and cough up the dosh, or b) Get a second opinion?

A kindly work colleague gave me a Quality Street Easter Egg the other day.  The said egg had a toffee in it which took half my filling out when I noshed upon it.  Having already given my old kindly dentist in Brighton the heave ho when I moved, what was I to do?  Google told me about some so called NHS dentists in my vicinity so off I went, only to be told I needed all the above work doing.  Now as I only thought I needed a bit of a filling sorted out, this came as a huge, expensive shock to me.  I'd only been for a check up six months ago so where did all this necessary work come from?  I won't name the dentist concerned as I'm not sure of libel laws but I felt they were trying to rip me off and it seems they were.  Someone call Watchdog and now!  I went back to my old dentist, grovelling of course, and was told that infact none of the said work needed doing at all....except my filling.  The motto of this story kids is if you feel you're being conned, get second opinion.  My treatment ended up costing £65, not the £1,000 quoted. 

After the pain and expense of having 3 titanium pins drilled into my jaw to keep my tooth in, I needed to have an easy weekend.  I don't think I did too bad however....still no staying in eating prawn balls....not really.  Saturday consisted of a Pop Up Vintage Shop in the Railway Tavern, which I've mentioned before.  There were a fair few nice pieces there but as always, were either too big or too small.  As my new rule is never to buy anything that doesn't fit exactly, I didn't buy a thing.  Lunch this time round was at Hot Pepper Jelly.  I'd read about this little place on Twitter and it lives up to it's recommendations - a good, cheap menu.  I'd recommend the Mexican Breakfast Enchiladas with Grilled Halloumi.  We headed off to a so called "Vintage Tea Party" at The Boogaloo in Highgate next.  I don't think a few cupcakes on a stand constitute a tea party but there were a few nice vintage things outside.  Always worth a look I think.  We finished off in Highgate Village for a couple of well-needed glasses of Pimms & Lemonade & a cake stop.  What was with the weather yesterday?  Hideously hot and sticky.  Maybe it wasn't the weather, maybe it was me.

Back to my new favourite place, Primrose Hill, today....for lunch once again at Trojka and a bit of celebrity spotting over a large glass of Rose'.  Paps were everywhere today.  They missed us of course.  They also missed a very pregnant Kate Hudson whilst spending too much time concentrating on Gwen Stefani.  I feel sorry for these people who can't even leave their house for a cup of coffee without being smothered by fat, sweaty paparazzi.  Their poor little kids must be absolutely terrified by the attention and not have a clue what's going on.  Rather them than me.

Another weekend done.  Ciao darlings.

Royals and me

Dear nation.  We put on a good party on Friday, don't you think?

On Friday 29 April 2011, the world watched as two royal folk got wed.  I've never seen a wedding invoke such feeling - both good & bad - on Facebook.  As this is my blog and these are my views, that's what you're getting.  Don't rain on my parade - I had a great day!

We'd hoped to go to the Leonard St Street Party in Shoreditch but arriving to the sight of probably a few hundred people queuing several times round the block, we went for Plan B instead and ended up in the Old Blue Last where we watched the wedding vows on a plasma tv and downed a bottle of Prosecco.

The sun shone on Friday and it was so lovely to see the whole of London smiling.  At the end of the day, everyone loves a bit of romance don't they?  I loved the fact the married couple left in an old Aston Martin with "Just Wed" on the number-plate and I loved the smile on the bride's face.  How anyone could get angry about the day is beyond me.  I'm glad I was in London for the wedding.  It might not not have felt the same anywhere else.

After Prosecco - lunch in Fika, the swedish cafe' in Brick Lane, lots of trying on of shoes that didn't fit me, the buying of beigals, and a quick look round the East End Photography Exhibition at Spitalfields.  I know it's good for the tourist industry and all that but I really don't like what they've done to Spitalfields.  The atmosphere seems to have gone and to be honest, I'd rather have a rummage through a pile of junk in the street in Brick Lane.  You can keep your candles and your joss sticks.

On Saturday, we did a stall at the Can't Buy Me Love vintage market which I've possibly mentioned a few times in this blog and on Facebook.  The little market is held on the last Saturday in the month, at the Boogaloo on Archway Road, Highgate.  We did our stall indoors and were luckily situated opposite my favourite cake ladies...which was handy...obviously.  I deliberately didn't buy anything as the aim of the day was to make money rather then spend it but next time, if it's there.....this hat will be mine!

Last night I went dancing....well not much dancing...but some drinking of rose' and chatting.....at Boom Shaka Lacka in Soho.  Following this, I will give you all a bit of advice readers - 2 large glasses of rose' are fine - 3 are not!

And with the smell of freshly baked Quiche wafting out my kitchen, I will be off x