Sunday, June 25, 2006
Summer in the City!
This might be my busiest week yet!
Saturday June 17, 2006: I’m pretty sure I saw Denzel Washington jogging in Hyde Park. I tried really hard not to stare as he is so gorgeous and his size makes him that much more noticeable. I was tempted to go up to him and say “Hi” but I resisted as no one else was bothering him. It was fairly early for Londoners so Hyde Park was not at all crowded.
I continued on my way to the Serpentine Lido which is a section of the Serpentine sectioned off for swimming. It was a fantastic clear and sunny day. There were three sets of geese with their babies. They were so cute and some of the young folks in the area would walk up to them and the mother goose would hiss like crazy. At one point one of the babies came over and sat down on the grass quite close to me. I noticed the mother watching me like a hawk but as long as I remained still and did not move towards the baby she seemed fine with it.
A bit later in the early afternoon I noticed a HUGE bomber flanked by four fighter jets overhead. There was a series of three of these sets of planes. They were so loud and flying so low. They made three circles around Hyde Park on and on the final circle, the biggest bomber flanked by 6 fighter jets let out a huge coloured trail of red, white, and blue. It was so cool. I think it had to do with the ongoing celebration of the Queen’s 80th birthday.
Steve came over in the evening and I taught him to play cribbage. We also had a DJ session of our own competing for whom could choose the next song off their iPOD. I have really love my docking station where I can use my iPOD as my stereo in my flat. We got a bit silly with some beer and went out in Notting Hill to a DJ club and danced till very late.
Sunday June 18: I slept late!!! Till almost 8 a.m. WOO HOO! I thought I would be feeling gnarly but was fine. My plan for the day was to go to the far end of Oxford St to a discount T-shirt store called Officer’s Club that one of my co-workers said was a great place for cheap tank tops. Well…it didn’t exactly turn out that way. I walked to central Notting Hill and jumped on the bus near one of the entrances to Hyde Park. The traffic was quite bad and the bus went about 3 blocks in 20 minutes. I got off and started walking. When I got to Marble Arch, the end of Oxford St. closest to me there was a large demonstration going on with so many people you could barely get through the street. I am not even sure what the subject matter was but I do believe it had to with police brutality. I decided to jump on the tube. Sat on the tube for 5 min and heard an announcement, no service east bound. At this point my chances of getting to the eastern end of Oxford St were not looking good so I jumped on the tube west bound and decided to get off at Sloane St. I came up from the tube and found myself staring at Harvey Nichols. The Queen Mother’s Drapers and each bag has the Imperial Crown on it. I went up to the restaurant at the top and had Eggs Benedict, coffee, and a bloody Mary. YUM!!! I also checked out nearly the entire store and it was beautiful. I did not get the £340 Missoni jacket but I did get a fabulous feather to wear in my hat for Ladies Day at Ascot. OK, I also came away with two pairs of shoes as well. Oops!
Monday June 19: El Nozze de Figaro at the Royal Opera House. I entered an internet lottery on their site and received a £165 ticket for £10. How cool is that? The seat was spectacular in the front row of the dress stalls. The opera was amazing! It was such a lovely production with great costumes, sets, and of course amazing voices. Wow! Of course whenever I see an opera I think of my little sister Rach and wonder which role she might be best suited to. I think my favorite voice was the young lady that played the paige, her voice was exceptional.
Tuesday and Wednesday: My yoga studio in Charing Cross had a guest teacher from Cornwall. A certified Anusara instructor with a very unique approach to class. I did many poses I haven’t done for a long time and some I have never done. That is always great. The teacher also had a unique presentation style and a warmth and friendliness that was palpable just being near her. I told her I will make it down to Cornwall to her studio one of these days.
Thursday June 22: Ladies Day at Ascot. The hats were incredible. I will have some pictures posted on my shutterfly site very soon but suffice to say the variety and colors were awesome. I did win place in the third race but won less than I bet so not such a good thing. We took a coach from London and they served us champagne and a nice lunch when we got to the races. You could see Windsor castle off in the distance and it is spectacular. The Queen wore bright green and it was speculated and bet upon the color she would wear. I read in the paper that one guy would have won a bunch of money if she had worn red.
Friday: O2 wireless festival in Hyde Park. Damian Marley and Massive Attack on the bill. Massive Attack was really cool, they went from ambient music to hard rock and roll and a bunch of things in between. Damian Marley has the longest dreads I have ever seen. The stage where he played was very crowded and I had to stay to the back a bit so as not to get claustrophobic. He played quite a few of his Dad’s songs which was very nice. Nothing like a good old Bob Marley tune to get you moving to the music.
Saturday: Annette and I have been trying to get together for a couple weeks so we set off to South London to find this big bike shop. Alas, the bike shop was closed but we ended up in a sports store to find some great surfer clothes at half price. Annette in surfer shorts, how cute is that? We had lunch at a very cute little restaurant called the Sea Cow. I had some yummy fish with lime mayo. We wandered around down south and headed back towards Kensington and ended up in L. K. Bennett, a very nice ladies store. I acted as Annette’s fashion consultant and she walked out with a great flowered skirt and about 5 tops of various bright colours to go with it. She is a very good sport about having me select what I thought would look good on her. She is going to be looking HOT in that skirt with all the nice tops and beautiful nude coloured shoes. We couldn’t resist the huge sale sign in the window of the Gap and I finally picked up some great tanks on sale. I still love the Gap.
We headed back towards my flat and stopped in Fresh and Wild, the fab natural food store near my flat. Fresh and Wild is now owned by Whole Foods based in Austin, Texas. Annette found her favourite vitamins and we headed on to the Prince Bonaparte, a gastro pub around the corner from my flat and had a delicious dinner. A fun day all around. Walking, drinking, shopping, and eating. PERFECT!!!
Sunday June 25: I am sitting here in my dining area writing the blog. I’ll be gearing up for another day of festival music with the headliner of Depeche Mode. The lead singer’s name is Dave Gahan. How about that? I wonder if we are related.
I am hoping to get some cleaning and laundry done before going out and about again.
HAPPY SUNDAY!!!
Saturday June 17, 2006: I’m pretty sure I saw Denzel Washington jogging in Hyde Park. I tried really hard not to stare as he is so gorgeous and his size makes him that much more noticeable. I was tempted to go up to him and say “Hi” but I resisted as no one else was bothering him. It was fairly early for Londoners so Hyde Park was not at all crowded.
I continued on my way to the Serpentine Lido which is a section of the Serpentine sectioned off for swimming. It was a fantastic clear and sunny day. There were three sets of geese with their babies. They were so cute and some of the young folks in the area would walk up to them and the mother goose would hiss like crazy. At one point one of the babies came over and sat down on the grass quite close to me. I noticed the mother watching me like a hawk but as long as I remained still and did not move towards the baby she seemed fine with it.
A bit later in the early afternoon I noticed a HUGE bomber flanked by four fighter jets overhead. There was a series of three of these sets of planes. They were so loud and flying so low. They made three circles around Hyde Park on and on the final circle, the biggest bomber flanked by 6 fighter jets let out a huge coloured trail of red, white, and blue. It was so cool. I think it had to do with the ongoing celebration of the Queen’s 80th birthday.
Steve came over in the evening and I taught him to play cribbage. We also had a DJ session of our own competing for whom could choose the next song off their iPOD. I have really love my docking station where I can use my iPOD as my stereo in my flat. We got a bit silly with some beer and went out in Notting Hill to a DJ club and danced till very late.
Sunday June 18: I slept late!!! Till almost 8 a.m. WOO HOO! I thought I would be feeling gnarly but was fine. My plan for the day was to go to the far end of Oxford St to a discount T-shirt store called Officer’s Club that one of my co-workers said was a great place for cheap tank tops. Well…it didn’t exactly turn out that way. I walked to central Notting Hill and jumped on the bus near one of the entrances to Hyde Park. The traffic was quite bad and the bus went about 3 blocks in 20 minutes. I got off and started walking. When I got to Marble Arch, the end of Oxford St. closest to me there was a large demonstration going on with so many people you could barely get through the street. I am not even sure what the subject matter was but I do believe it had to with police brutality. I decided to jump on the tube. Sat on the tube for 5 min and heard an announcement, no service east bound. At this point my chances of getting to the eastern end of Oxford St were not looking good so I jumped on the tube west bound and decided to get off at Sloane St. I came up from the tube and found myself staring at Harvey Nichols. The Queen Mother’s Drapers and each bag has the Imperial Crown on it. I went up to the restaurant at the top and had Eggs Benedict, coffee, and a bloody Mary. YUM!!! I also checked out nearly the entire store and it was beautiful. I did not get the £340 Missoni jacket but I did get a fabulous feather to wear in my hat for Ladies Day at Ascot. OK, I also came away with two pairs of shoes as well. Oops!
Monday June 19: El Nozze de Figaro at the Royal Opera House. I entered an internet lottery on their site and received a £165 ticket for £10. How cool is that? The seat was spectacular in the front row of the dress stalls. The opera was amazing! It was such a lovely production with great costumes, sets, and of course amazing voices. Wow! Of course whenever I see an opera I think of my little sister Rach and wonder which role she might be best suited to. I think my favorite voice was the young lady that played the paige, her voice was exceptional.
Tuesday and Wednesday: My yoga studio in Charing Cross had a guest teacher from Cornwall. A certified Anusara instructor with a very unique approach to class. I did many poses I haven’t done for a long time and some I have never done. That is always great. The teacher also had a unique presentation style and a warmth and friendliness that was palpable just being near her. I told her I will make it down to Cornwall to her studio one of these days.
Thursday June 22: Ladies Day at Ascot. The hats were incredible. I will have some pictures posted on my shutterfly site very soon but suffice to say the variety and colors were awesome. I did win place in the third race but won less than I bet so not such a good thing. We took a coach from London and they served us champagne and a nice lunch when we got to the races. You could see Windsor castle off in the distance and it is spectacular. The Queen wore bright green and it was speculated and bet upon the color she would wear. I read in the paper that one guy would have won a bunch of money if she had worn red.
Friday: O2 wireless festival in Hyde Park. Damian Marley and Massive Attack on the bill. Massive Attack was really cool, they went from ambient music to hard rock and roll and a bunch of things in between. Damian Marley has the longest dreads I have ever seen. The stage where he played was very crowded and I had to stay to the back a bit so as not to get claustrophobic. He played quite a few of his Dad’s songs which was very nice. Nothing like a good old Bob Marley tune to get you moving to the music.
Saturday: Annette and I have been trying to get together for a couple weeks so we set off to South London to find this big bike shop. Alas, the bike shop was closed but we ended up in a sports store to find some great surfer clothes at half price. Annette in surfer shorts, how cute is that? We had lunch at a very cute little restaurant called the Sea Cow. I had some yummy fish with lime mayo. We wandered around down south and headed back towards Kensington and ended up in L. K. Bennett, a very nice ladies store. I acted as Annette’s fashion consultant and she walked out with a great flowered skirt and about 5 tops of various bright colours to go with it. She is a very good sport about having me select what I thought would look good on her. She is going to be looking HOT in that skirt with all the nice tops and beautiful nude coloured shoes. We couldn’t resist the huge sale sign in the window of the Gap and I finally picked up some great tanks on sale. I still love the Gap.
We headed back towards my flat and stopped in Fresh and Wild, the fab natural food store near my flat. Fresh and Wild is now owned by Whole Foods based in Austin, Texas. Annette found her favourite vitamins and we headed on to the Prince Bonaparte, a gastro pub around the corner from my flat and had a delicious dinner. A fun day all around. Walking, drinking, shopping, and eating. PERFECT!!!
Sunday June 25: I am sitting here in my dining area writing the blog. I’ll be gearing up for another day of festival music with the headliner of Depeche Mode. The lead singer’s name is Dave Gahan. How about that? I wonder if we are related.
I am hoping to get some cleaning and laundry done before going out and about again.
HAPPY SUNDAY!!!
# posted by Joy and Blues @ 5:51 am 
