Cool Summer

Aaaaah, sunshine! I feel like I've just let out a breath that I've been holding for the whole of winter. I'm talking not about this gorgeously grey Monday morning, but Saturday, where we celebrated the first day of summer with a braai in Wimbledon Park. The sky was blue, the sun was warm, the miniscule disposable braai was burning the chicken to a crisp and everyone was in tank tops and shorts, displaying luminous white pins that blinded those unfortunate enough not to be wearing sunglasses. If you saw at our group photo on facebook, you'd never guess we lived in London. Finally, the crushing sense of claustrophobia I have been feeling over the past few weeks has lifted. In its place is relief. Relief that summer seems to be determinedly on its way; relief that we can spend time outdoors instead of in front of the tv; relief at having been paid..... it's endless, really!

On Friday night Shoes and I decided to take advantage of the extra commission I got this month and go out for dinner. We chose a little spot in Richmond called the Naked Turtle. It is a cute, quaint little jazz bar featuring a jazz pianist and singing waitresses. Luckily they didn't sing when they brought your food (can you say highly annoying), but took breaks from serving to sit at the piano and belt out a number or two. It had a very relaxed vibe, and in fact in reminded us very much of Obz (to non-saffas: Observatory - an area in Cape Town known for its eclectic, semi-hippie vibe and cheap drinking spots). I had impala for mains. Impala at a jazz bar in London. How frikkin weird is that?!?!?!

The evening was lovely, but it didn't start off that way. We left home at 7pm to make our reservation for 8. Through a series of events involving missing bus routes, vastly inaccurate directions (thanks Mr Station Guard, don't ever consider a career as a tour guide) and our own self-delusion that the place was "just around the next corner", we ended up travelling for 2 hours to get to a place that was only about 50 minutes away. Add to that the fact that we walked for at least an hour of that time, and you can just imagine the mood I was in when we got to the restaurant. I was seconds away from giving up and going home, and if the station has been closer to me at the time than the venue, I may very well have done so. In the end, we were seated and I ordered an extra strong cocktail, which took the edge off. By the time we got to post dinner shots (tequila for me and jagermeister for Shoes), the tedious mission had been reduced to just a mild inconvenience. We hotly debated the Information Age and where it is going all the way home. Shoes thinks people will never stop advancing technogically and that this will have no long term effect - in other words, we will continue to become more and more reliant on ever more complex machines, but we will be happy with this lifestyle choice. I think that slowly but surely people are going to pull away from the extremes of technology and embrace simplicity - not to the extent of the Amish, but I see a movement opposing excessive technology.

When we got home, we found Eyes, Scarf and OJ all in a rather advanced state of inebriation in the lounge. Sensing a party vibe, someone cranked up the tunes and at 12:30pm we started an impromptu celebration - of what, we're not really sure, but it involved shots of whiskey (for the guys anyway) and music to rival our Noisy Neighbours' best efforts. I desperately hope they were trying to sleep at that point. The night ended with the guys doing The Freedom Dance around the kitchen. This is an entirely made up dance, consisting of flinging one's legs out from side to side whilst waving one's arms wildly around. It was inspired by our conversation about the beautiful simplicity of the Xhosa language. I believe at one point Eyes had us all convinced that a motorbike is Iratatata in Xhosa. I don't know if this is true, but it was very funny at the time. We went through our limited Xhosa vocabulary with terrible pronunciation but admirable enthusiasm.

Freak alert! Headline of the day - prepare to be grossed out:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=145028&in_page_id=64

Pure Shores

Last night Scarf and I went to O2 Arena in Greenwich to see Steel Magnolias. In an effort to market the arena as the new place to be in SE London, they are having all sorts of events, both free and not so much. By day they have kids activities (the little brats are all on holiday here at the mo) and by night they have live music, cocktail evenings and classic films. Wednesday and Sunday nights are free movie nights. It was actually really awesome - not just the movie, but where you watch it.

They've created a beach in the centre of the building by bringing in truck loads of sand to spread over the floor, building fake palm trees complete with decorative lights and setting up deck chairs, so you can enjoy a bit of the seaside in grimy, rainy old LDN. They've hung a big screen on the wall, and voila! you have your very own "Movies at the Beach!" It reminded me a little of a drive-in. The only real similarity is that there is a big screen and it's sort of outdoors (not really, but it feels like it because it's at the beach!), but still, it took me back to a time where you listened to the fliek through tinny speakers mounted on your side mirrors and vendors came up to your windows hawking popcorn and coke. Ag please Daddy, won't you take us the drrrrrive-in.........

You can actually bring your own food and booze as well, so we're going to go again and take the guys with us next time, and have a little picnic on the beach. Check out the before and after pics.

I have finally got a new phone. Just got it now on my lunch break. My gorgeous and sleek pink Samsung U600. I just can't get any trendier. And you know, I went into Carphone Warehouse with the intention of merely checking out my options (was planning on buying the phone only after consulting the Phone God, ie Shoes), and came out with the phone and all mod cons, having paid NOTHING up front - take that, stupid online mobile contract people!!!! Ok, so I didn't get a free gift either, but I didn't have to deal with a Stupid People Situation and I didn't have to lie on my application form - the consultant did it for me! Tres stoked! I was a rather typical chick though, I have to admit..... I only went down to the Strand to pick up the photos I'd had printed for my scrapbook. Along the way, I realised I was going to be passing SheActive, and that it was high time I get a decent sports bra - the twins are slowly but surely succumbing to gravity and need a little extra help. Ok, so maybe I lied when I said I was passing SheActive - I had to make a detour of about 7 streets. I went in and bought a brand new extra super ultimate boobs-in-concrete Shock Absorber bra - because only the balls should bounce! Thanks Anna Kournikova. And then I just popped in to Carphone Warehouse to see what my options were..... and the rest is shopping history. That is how the most satisfying and successful shopping trips are done, after all. Ladies, take note. You're reading the blog of a professional here. The fact that I meant to pick up photos which were already paid for and came away having spent a total of £480, if you include all my future contract payments, is irrelevant, really. I mean, it's not like it was an impulse buy or anything. Both items are necessities! You can't class necessities as impulse buys. Therefore boyfriends are not allowed to shout about shopping trips which result in necessities. I'll let you know later if this theory actually works.

I'm feeling a little sick today. I had chinese rice stir fry for lunch - beans, bambooey type stuff, carrots and prawns, with a bit of last night's fish thrown in for good measure - could that be why, I wonder. Reading it back actually makes my stomach turn. Maybe I shouldn't be so inventive when throwing random foods together.

Looking forward to a weekend of doing nothing, except watching Grey's and playing with my new phone. Just gotta get through Neutrino and OJ's Farewell To Our House party tomorrow night - they're being evicted. This is the house where twice they have been threatened with knives to their throats by their more than slightly pyschotic neighbours, who have major objections to trance music. Ok then, loud trance music. Sometimes in the early hours of morning. And yes, more frequently than is polite. Basically, they deserved a stern telling off, or even a warning from the cops, but the neighbours' vigilante justice is taking it a mite too far. Speaking of which, we nearly had a riot on our hands last night when our African friends living on the opposite side of our block turned their music up to full volume at 11:15pm. The usually unsociable residents of Building 50 gathered as one under said offenders' balcony and took turns cussing them out as loud as they could. Our friend emerged on his balcony and stared blankly down at them. Is it un-pc to say he looked like a monkey in a zoo? It's great, in that particular flat we have a bunch of Nigerians with no social skills, and next door to them we have a family of chavs who may or may not have social skills, but who openly spurn them anyway. Between them they have fewer manners than women at the Christmas Sales. The result is a competition with various events, including: Who has the loudest music, Whose parties go on the longest, Who can get into the most violent and offensive screaming match on their balcony and Who's screaming match has the worst language, and finally Who is most likely to cause Building mutiny, resulting in our vigilante justice. Jury's still out on that one.