With plenty of comfortable seating, vintage decor and the modern luxury of WiFi, Leyas is a nice place to spend the morning. I went there with my laptop and a friend, Marthe, and had a chamomile tea- served in a really heavy cup which I always think are much nicer to drink out of than bone china.
The range of sweet treats are pretty standard, croissants, muffins etc., but they also serve what the book says is the 'Best Brownie in London', something Marthe can attest to! The fridge is full of delicious, hearty salads and there are 4 or 5 different sandwiches to choose from.
Take away is available, but instead you should dine in downstairs, take a book and read, or even play one of the board games they have!
Ola! I'm sitting in the kitchen with Marthe and Sarah. To give you a visual/audio guide, Marthe is next to me watching a YouTube video on how to speak with a Scottish accent, and we are making our way through Sarah's pile of too-ripe bananas. We're planning our trips, Sarah and I have dollar signs in our eyes discussing the OS-Help loan we may get next year, I've got my favourite website Skyscanner up, and I'm looking up flights to Porto, Morocco, Berlin and maybe, just maybe, a bit of Holland! I've got piles of lists at the moments searching the best times to go, and why, and how long for, and how much it will cost and blaaaah. Over planning is what I do best. Most of my travels will be solo this year though, which is very exciting! Whenever we met someone who was travelling solo during my trip earlier this year they always had more pro's than con's for going alone. I guess I'll soon find out.
ANYWAY
Back to reality:
I had a really lovely weekend, it involved:
A trip to Camden to get a blondie from Cookies and Scream to celebrate my sisters birthday. SO DELICIOUS!
A trip to Waterstones just because. Six floors of books, I spent about 2 and a half hours there. Just browsing with Liz. I mean yeah it was a Saturday night, but whatever.
Worked. Lots. Gotta pay those bills.
On Friday night we went to the Christmas Markets at Southbank, and had a look at the World Press Photo 2012 exhibition at the Southbank Centre. The exhibition was really great, most of the photos were of sad situations, some included the shark fin trade and the rhino horn trade, but all of the photos were amazing, the best were those that managed to be beautiful while being horrible at the same time.
Friends! Sarah, Marthe, Me and Liz
(Liz lives in another flat, but she's and honorary member of B05)
Getting a tour of the house I've lived in my whole life on Skype, jealous of the sun!
??????? so many options
Waterstones. Or Wizard. Both are good
Just one of the books I really really wanted
I'll try and do some more exciting things to make the blog a bit better! I do have a really long to-do list that includes seeing the ballet, more skating, and various museum exhibitions. The next few months are quite full of plans and Christmas parties and travelling, so hold tight.
X
Song of the Week:
This is a nice tune to bob your head to, and has a good message too.
I've discovered I'm prone to mood swings / changing my mind. Well actually, I've always very indecisive (Libra ya'll), but this week my opinions on London and being here have gone from zero to hero. On Tuesday I was feeling very homesick and waaaaaaa, but only 5 days later, I'm so glad I'm here, and realise that even though its a challenge, its so much fun and such a good opportunity, and have had a really great week. Woo positive thinking yay! Here is my week:
We won netball, it was a really good game, the score 39-35 after being down the whole game!
Submitted my first assessment.
I got my first pay check after 5 months! I really enjoyed seeing "credit" in my bank account instead of "debit"!
My 5 month leaving home anniversary was on Friday. Unsure if it feels like longer or shorter? Think maybe it feels like 5 months!
Went to a gig at the 100 Club in Soho on Friday to see The Move On's. The guitarist is one of Joni's friends boyfriends, I'd never heard them before but I really enjoyed the gig, the songs were right up my alley and I thought they were excellent! PLUS I got to meet the band afterwards. If you feel like it, you can listen to some tracks on their website, my favourite is Don't Give Me Your Love. They're from Brighton, and coincidentally we're planning on spending a night down there in a few weeks. Choccywoccydoodah here I come. Was not paid for this post by the Move On's by the way. Hah.
Spent today in Brick Lane! In East London, its a very eclectic and multicultural area, full of food, trinkets, and vintage clothing! I think you could get food from anywhere in the world if you wanted too- Ethiopian anyone? I had a delicious crepe, g&d free, full of egg, ham, spinach and mushrooms, so good- see below picture. We saw a man playing three games of chess at once, and probably winning. He had quite a large crowd around him, pretty amazing stuff. We saw all sorts of characters, tried on some fur hats, and I got my sister a gift for her birthday. I also ticked off a cafe from my London Coffee Guide, Nude Espresso, only 97 to go! There was also an Aero Bar pop-up shop to promote these new Aero Mint balls. Free samples and some wind machines! Why not...
Until next time,
X
Song of the moment:
Kanye West- Family Business
I'd never listened to it before, despite it being on my iPod for years. Then it shuffled, and now I love it.
Hello dear readers.
Am writing this from my room, which I've just re-arranged, vacuumed and decorated. Instead of writing an essay, obviously. It's Reading Week this week, and I only have one class! Plenty of time to do nothing! I've started running again though, in prep for next years City to Surf, I've got a date with Laura I've got to uphold.
Anyway, I've done a few cool things since I last posted so here we go:
Went and saw a firework show at a fairground with rides in celebration of Guy Fawkes night, for those who don't know what that is I've googled it for you! (Naturally after reading that article I'm going to call him Guido Fawkes, thank you once again Wikipedia.) The fireworks were totally ace, much better than any I've seen at home, as was the dodgy MC and the James Bond music they were set to. I also went on the Gravitron twice, worth £6 anyday.
A free comedy night at the Grove in Hammersmith. It was a little bit amature, but I laughed the whole time because I laugh at anything. Our collective favourite was Vikki Stone, who does a range of songs that are rude and hilarious, my favourite is above ^^^. There is so much comedy around, ranging from free to very expensive and crap to very funny (don't be fooled though sometimes free ones are hilarious), and I plan on going to lots more.
I saw Skyfall with Marthe and Sarah, it was very very good, even more so because it was set in London and every time we saw the tube or Big Ben we'd nudge each other and giggle a little bit. Joni and I also saw Argo on Sunday evening, it was fantastic! We were on the edge of our seats waving our hands at the screen in one of the last scenes, real nail-biting stuff. And for anyone that doesn't want to see it because of Ben Affleck, Joni only realised it was him 3/4 of the way through the film, and that's because I said his name. Good beardy disguise.
Ice-skating at the Natural History Museum with Joni, Soph and Ry. Highlight of my life! Luckily my leg injury didn't prevent me from gliding about, though I didn't manage to do a spin like Joni did, but she was on the floor most of the night. There are lots of places you can do it, I think my roommates and I will go again, maybe to the Somerset House one.
Back to netball! Our team is top of the ladder! Playing for the proper uni team is such a change from my old social team, which is both good and bad! Miss tuesday nights thats for sure.
Started working! In a cafe in Hammersmith, quite far from my place but a 4 minute walk to Joni's, so I just go there before or after, use it like a hotel you know. (I've got gluten-free bread in the freezer and my own shelf in the bathroom for my [second] toothbrush etc. as I'm there so often!) Anyway, the cafe is very small and cute, I get to make coffees all morning then serve salads and sandwiches in the afternoons. So my days are now full of working, uni, netball and being a tourist. Good times.
Had my first proper night out on Saturday. It was a fun filled evening that started with us running for a bus we definitely didn't need to run for, the middle involved a whole bottle of rose and several expensive cocktails, and the end involved a taxi we caught home when we should have got the bus. Oh and there were KFC chips in there somewhere too. Sunday was filled with headaches and groaning, but Ben Affleck soothed it slightly (see above) as did a pub lunch. It was well worth the cringing bank account I had the next day, but I don't think it'll be happening again for a while!
One of Marthe's friends came to stay this weekend, she's from Utrecht in Holland just like Marthe, is was so lovely to see someone from her hometown, and one of Sarah's friends who is doing exchange in Denmark will be here this weekend, so it's a bit of a good time sandwich at Platt Halls. Obviously if anyone wants to visit me for the weekend, that would be greatly appreciated. Here are Sarah and Marthe's blogs for anyone who is interested, although you'll have to Google Translate Marthe's, the mistakes make for fun reading.
As for the rest of my week, I'm joining one of the best libraries in the world tomorrow (nerd for life), am going to a gig later this week, and plan on seeing the Hollywood Costume exhibit at the V&A museum, (I want to see Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz's ruby slippers, as I watched that film almost once a week in my youth) and maybe to Brick Lane on Sunday! In other gig news, I'm seeing the Black Keys at the start of next month, and KINGS OF LEON!!!! (in June). Hells yeah!
I've included my song of the moment, bye for now!
x
(p.s. If you're really weird and noticed the URL is "an ode from death bed" and need an explanation, that was the working title when this was written on Sunday.)
