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.)
Life is starting to feel normal once again, my parents are out of my hair (haha), uni is beginning to get slightly tough and I'm just sort of, living in London I guess. When I say uni is getting slightly tough I'm kidding, I have the same amount of assignments for this whole year than I do for one semester at home. No complaints!
So anyway, a brief sum up of my life:
I tore my quad last week when I fell over at the Sports Initiations party. For some reason there was popcorn on the floor and I had drunk my only enemy, white wine.
Related story, I went to the Sports Initiations party. It was like a proper uni party, when I walked in to the girls house we went before I was handed a pair of knickers and a singlet, and that and the tights I was wearing was my outfit for the night..... Our theme was circus so we also had our faces painted and I was the 'strong woman' so carried an inflatable weight all night. Until I lost it. I also lost my top hat, but I managed to keep my oversized sequin bow tie, which is lucky because I've worn it several times since. It was a really good night in the end, everyone else was dressed ridiculously as well, so I blended in.
I've been keeping ties with Australia by listening to Like a Version religiously, I think I've listened to the Bamboo's version of Frank Ocean's Lost eighteen times a day since it came out. I've added the video at the end of this post in case you haven't heard it.
Special shout out to Joni was is a living legend. On Friday when I couldn't walk she came over (takes an hour on the tube), went to the shops for some frozen peas, took me to the doctor (I used her as a walking frame), sat in the waiting room with me for an hour, took me home, did my food shopping, then cooked me dinner. And that is why I love her.
So that me just about summed up. We're going to see Paranormal Activity 4 tonight to celebrate Halloween! Also, I've added some writing here I had to do for uni- I'm doing a unit called Creative Non-Fiction and this week we're doing travel writing, so I wrote a piece from my holiday. Read on!
Love Annie
Before you read this, you have to promise you won’t judge.
As the old saying goes, walk a mile in their shoes etc. Although in my case, my
shoes had just spent seven hours on a ferry after a sleepless night flying from
Krakow to Athens. So to those reading who have done exactly that, judge away, I
probably deserve it. To everyone else, keep me in your prayers.
I had hit the two-week mark of my three-month trip
travelling around Europe and I was yet to see sun. As the ferry began gliding
through the pale blue waters of the Aegean Sea, and the sun began making my
pale winter skin prickle, I couldn’t help but get excited. It was time to
change out of our jeans, and we were crisping our skin on the deck of the boat
before long. Greek men with large bellies surrounded us, as did the type of
young, tanned, beautiful women that only exist in Europe. My first mishap of
the day occurred on that ferry, when I confidently walked into the bathroom. When told by someone’s
startled Grandpa that I was in the men’s, I assured him the toilets on this
boat were unisex, and that he should he desire proof he should cast his eye to
the door which shows a unisex cartoon human! Alas, on further reflection, it
was definitely a man. I did a sheepish, could-have-happened-to-anyone giggle
and got out of there, into the woman’s, where the walls were covered in
flowers. Ah.
It turns out that incident would be the most exciting of the
whole seven hour ride. It's actually physically impossible to sleep on a deck chair, in case you were wondering.
So, I suppose you could understand our sheer delight when the
ferry docked. Ios! Beautiful, sunny, white sand beaches Ios! The Greece people
still go to! (Sorry Athens). We made our way through the crowd of signs, accommodation
owners who were desperate for those extra €13 a night from travellers will full wallets.
“No thanks, we’ve already booked!” we said with our noses in the air. Being
quite cocky really. We approached the man holding the “Far Out Beach Club”
sign, and told him we’d be staying there and asked where we should go. He told
us to follow that group of girls around the corner and hop on the Far Out Beach
Club bus. Sounds easy enough. We followed the girls, loaded
our luggage and got onto the bus. We had to wait for about ten minutes for the
driver, and in that time two things happened. First, Claire announced her
opinion that no-one should wear fedoras. Ever. I saw the girl in front of me surreptitiously
take hers off. Turns out Claire had seen someone outside the bus wearing one and
hadn’t noticed the two large fedoras taking up space in front of her eyes.
The second incident was much more important. I noticed something, “Hey that bus
over there says Far Out Beach Club”. “Oh it does too”. “What does ours say”.
“Er, nothing I don’t think”.
Good. Fine. No signs anything was about to go wrong.
Our driver arrived, a sprightly young Kiwi lad named Josh
who warmly welcomed us to the island. Judging by his sunburn I think the island
had warmly welcomed him too, but he was nice and gave us some good tips on
where to eat, which is always appreciated. After a harrowing bus ride, we
arrived in the village, which is definitely a land locked area of Ios. The
beach was, apparently, a half an hour walk away. Far Out Beach Club is a funny
name for a place half an hour away from the beach, but we figured oh well,
we’re in Europe now, everything here is cra-zay.
So I got my backpack on my back (just for a visual it
weighed more than eight rhinos) and walked up and up and up through the tiny
cobbled streets of the village, on a constant incline. We finally reached a
bubbly, vivacious American lady, who was welcoming us to Francescos! We had a
free drink on arrival and everyone at Francescos hopes we enjoy our stay! Yes.
Our stay at Francescos...
I slunk back into the shadows, as did Claire. We looked at
each other. We both knew this would happen at some point of the trip, it just
seemed a bit early and our backpacks a bit to heavy for it to be right now. I
heard someone calling to us, “come closer gals, what are your names, we’ve
gotta get you to your rooms!”.
Ah. Okay. Claire you take this one.
“Ahem, well you see, we think we may have accidently come to
the wrong place…”
“What? Are you not staying here”.
“Um, we’re at Far Out Beach Club”.
“What? Why did you get on the Francesco’s bus then”.
A very poignant and relevant question. I answered as
professionally and academically as I could.
“We do stupid stuff sometimes. Plus, um, we’re girls..?”
Feminist I am not, as it turns out.
Claire began explaining further to Kiwi Josh when I saw it.
The wisp of a tale. I heard the light padding of its feet.
A cat.
Our first Greek cat. We had decided to keep a cat count
throughout our trip. London hadn’t produced much, Krakow a few, but I knew
Greece was the place we’d really get our numbers up.
“….and we were told to follow the girls…”
“CLAIRE A CAT!”
She stopped midsentence, as anyone would, to look at the
cat. We high-fived with glee, declared this cat sighting number one, then
turned back to the group. The two girls with fedoras didn’t seem so offended
about Claire’s earlier remark now they realised we were insane.
We got to Far Out Beach Club in the end. We hitched a ride
with the manager, a British ex-pat called Geoff, in his Land Rover, the first
ever built I think. I was told not to wear my seatbelt as it made him feel
weird. “Just hold on girls!”.
To make us feel better, he told us of the group of guys who
had booked at Far Out Beach Club but had gotten the ferry to Chios. Instead of
Ios.
We took pride in knowing we were at least on the right
island.
