London Town

So this week has been quite relaxed in a lot of senses. Instead of fretting about things, I’ve decided to just go with the flow a tad more. I spent nigh on a whole week at E’s and it was great. No pressure, no issues, come at me life.

However, like most functioning adults, my better half, E has a job and so we didn’t get to spend any real time together until the weekend, which we made the most of. on Friday we had a relaxed evening and watched Kingsman, which I thought was brilliant. Colin Firth was absolutely fantastic - seeing more of him in kickass roles would be superb. 

On Saturday we decided to take on the sculpture walk put together by The Line. It was gorgeous outside and therefore the perfect day for a short/horrendously lengthy stroll.

We started at Stratford with the plan to snake our way back into the centre of London. This plan almost worked, and we almost saw all of the statues, but it wasn’t to be! Sadly the map was pretty vague and the areas that you were meant to leave the river’s edge to seek out statues were not present at all, so we missed a few of the locations. Bummer.

However, by the time we came to the edge of the Docklands, E had it in her mind that she was going to take on the Emirates cable car. I’ve already had the displeasure of going up on one of these bad boys and it was not something I’d vowed to do again. But as I mentioned before, it was a lovely day, with next to no wind aside from the slight breeze that was just enough to cool you off when you began to feel yourself sticking to your shirt. What could go wrong?

Well, I certainly could list the things that could go wrong, but we didn’t get on in the end, (with a mental sigh of relief from me), because of the massive queue that was snaking it’s way along the water’s edge. Double bummer.

Just before we realised there was no chance of getting on the cable cars, we sat down and had a quick snack. For me it was fish and chips, which were pretty good albeit a little batter heavy. Cutting through a half inch of batter with a plastic knife isn’t something I’m going to attempt again any time soon.

So with our stomachs sort of full, we strolled back to the DLR, (my fav way to travel in London), and began the next leg of the walk.

Before we continued we dove into an exhibition focusing on the works of Christina Broom. E was previously aware of this intriguing woman but I was not, and if you aren’t I really do suggest having a read up, a look at her work, or to make your way to this exhibitions yourself as it is on until the 1st of November. Although, if you’re of a soft nature it has its harrowing aspects, reading about the young men who sacrificed their lives in the First World Ward was sobering to how fortunate we remain subsequently to the conflict and the many conflicts that followed during the twentieth century.

Upon exiting the exhibition, we once again made the wrong step onto a DLR platform and decided we were too weak in our lower regions respectively to continue. No, that wasn’t a euphemism, my better half E and I have the bodies of septuagenarians who’s skipped their cod liver oil for the last week.

Sunday was a day reserved for shopping for some bits that E needed for the gym, so we made our way to Oxford Street and scored in TK Maxx. I do love me some bargains when it comes to clothes, in fact I’m loathed to pay full price for clothes at all.

Once we got what we needed, we wandered to what I know as being the single best restaurant in London for a couple of reasons:

11.  I’m a burger fiend. It’s always my standby at a restaurant and I say that with zero guilt, and that is what this particular establishment serves, aptly named - .

22.  The service is always amazing, the guys and girls that work in this place have their heads screwed on when it comes to jovial service.

33.  It does the single best chilli-cheese fries I’ve ever tasted.

The third reason is the most important. It’s the reason I go back there and it was magical as it was the first time.

(Picture, courtesy of tripadvisor.co.uk) 

If you fancy trying the bad boys out yourself then head over to the restaurant!

On our stroll home we also happened to wander down Savile Row perchance and we walked past the ‘Kingsman’ store. This topped off seeing the film as I thought it completely fabricated.

When we got home we stuck on another film, Babe. I hadn’t seen Babe in well over ten years, maybe fifteen, so this was a great throwback.

But, the evening took a darker turn…

At approximately 1:15am I was awoken rather rudely by the sound of screaming which was preceded by a bumper bash outside out window. I went to the window and saw what I thought was two men, brandishing guns at each other. It’s safe to say I was worried, so I told E to ‘Get on the other side of the room, low’. I got on to the phone to the police double quick and let them know what was occurring.

Roll on 3:00am when I’m finally getting into bed and attempting to fall asleep.

Although it wasn’t too bad for me, because I’m still looking for a job, E was on an early and so it was a rather rude awakening for her.

The Police were fantastic though, the whole process was well handled, armed police showed up as quick as I imagine a unit of such importance and at such a distance could. Moreover the Police kept me in the loop and even followed up to let me know that no one had been prosecuted on this particular occasion and that no firearms had been found. Phew. 

Either way, yet another productive weekend, which seems to be the theme of mine and E’s time in London, which I’m also very grateful of. Maybe I'll even be moving there soon...