Take Your Sistas Out Tonight

It's hot outside today - everyone in my office is commenting on it. These comments range from "Oh what a beautiful day!" to "Mother&%!$?*, what's wrong with the air conditioning?" Poms. They're only happy if they can complain about the weather. My only complaint is my lack of sunglasses. I lost my pair from Cape Town (I seem to have entered another 'pick me and I'll lose anything' phase), and the replacement pair I bought from H&M a couple of weeks ago just don't make the grade. I thought they looked a little funny when I put them on, but since I have as much luck buying sunglasses as I do with finding the right size jeans or getting visas issued, I convinced myself they were ok. You know, just to relieve the pressure and actually walk out the shop with some sunnies, instead of nothing but a sulky lip. Anyway, turns out they sit skew on my face. Surprise surprise. I was safely ensconced in my illusion of decent sunnies, until I put them on for Shoes and Scarf to see and got skeefed out like I was the only black person in Vryburg. I'm now super self conscious about my skew eyes (I know most people have one eye higher than the other, but I swear mine are so bad I've taken to leaning slightly to the right when I talk to people), and only wear the damn sunnies when the squinting results in tears.

So, last weekend. It was a good 'un. Friday night Scarf and I went down to Gilgamesh in Camden to see the Hoosiers. Gilgamesh. How can a place with a name like that fail to be cool? I would have gone just to have a photo taken at the front door (ok, I didn't actually do that, but only because my camera is broken). The gig itself was ok. The band has a couple of songs with funky beats, but I won't be downloading their album anytime soon. Also, even though we got free drinks tokens, the vodka tasted like the barmen had added a splash of petrol to it - it was completely undrinkable. For my second drink I tried gin, but it appeared those pesky barmen had an excess supply of petrol, and it too went unfinished. Ok, so apparently the Booze Fairy was forcably dragging us onto the wagon. Kicking and screaming, I might add. But she got us there nevertheless. We left almost immediately after the set finished, and got a fairly early night.

Saturday I met TheArtyOne, Mello and TheArtyOne's new addition to our group, WestEndGirl, in Leicester Square for West End Live. This little festivity included all the usual gems that come with free entertainment, such as face painting, food stalls and goodie bags of food samples and, more bizarrely, a spray called Foot Silk, which apparently reduces friction when wearing tight shoes. Then there was the main attraction - 15 minute performances from most of the major West End shows. It's a brilliant marketing idea, which aims at getting bums on seats for what is traditionally a winter activity in London. We Will Rock You drew the most cheers from the audience, while Dirty Dancing was the most disappointing. As I've seen both shows, I can safely say that DD was a pathetic representation of the production itself, which, if you love the movie, can't fail to thrill you. A new show that none of us had heard of and are now going to see is Into The Hoods, which twists fairy tales into modern stories and tells them through hip-hop dancing. Also, I heard nothing but immense praise for Billy Elliot, a show I had previously not considered seeing and which is now in my top 5 must-sees.

After a morning of soaking up West End culture, we went for lunch in Chinatown at a little place called the Laughing Buddha (the second most popular name for Chinese restaurants; the first being anything related to dragons). Then it was off to Covent Garden for a spot of shopping, which for me included a Little Black Dress from Jane Norman. I justifed this by rationalising that I actually don't have a decent LBD to wear out. The fact that I have no events in the near future for which I need an LBD is irrelevant. No woman should be caught without one. And anyway, it was half price!!!!

Then it was off to the the University of London to see Feeder, who were playing the venue as part of Xfm's all day breakfast show (nearly 24 hours of back to back bands in various venues around London, all presented by the seriously mad Alex Zane, who of course managed this on coffee and red bull alone *cough cough*). Feeder was absolutely brilliant. I liked their stuff before the gig, now I am a full-blown fan. After the Hoosiers, it was a treat to see how a band could really rock a small gig when they have the passion for it. Overall it really was a perfect chicks day out, marred only by the lack of cocktails and dancing to finish it off.

The rest of the weekend was chilled out. I watched my future husband Kimi Raikonnen limp to a second place finish at the French Grand Prix, and while the others watched Italy play Spain on Sunday night (footie on a Sunday night - now they're taking the piss), I watched The Other Boleyn girl, which I adored. It's like Braveheart but with oestrogen.

Then we come to this week. Tomorrow, I may or may not be working at Oval cricket ground through my promotions company... I'm currently a reserve, so I only find out when I get there at 7am tomorrow morning. Luckily, I get paid a third of my daily rate just for coming in, so I score even if I don't work. Thursday night I'm going to see Def Leppard at Wembley Arena - a whole post will be dedicated to this on Thursday, as my love (read mad obsession) for them cannot be expressed in one line. Friday I'm off to Wimbledon for the day, courtesy of TheArtyOne and her mate at work who gets free tickets. I'm thinking strawberries, champagne and a great big straw hat. Which I don't have. Saturday is another day out with TheArtyOne at the British National Gymnastics Championships in Guildford. This will be the first time I've seen live gymnastics since the days I used to do it, so I'm very excited. Sunday the Awesome Foursome is off see Linkin Park, Jay-Z and guests playing the Revolution Tour at Milton Keynes Bowl. I'm exhausted just writing all that - how much more once I've lived through it? What a cracker of a week. I'll update whenever I can.