A Bizarre Adventure in London

As both Sammi and James have birthdays in April, we decided it was about time we held a joint celebration for their birthdays. We decided on a trip to London, where we could visit some of our favourite shops and try out a different pub as well. To say the day was eventful is a bit of an understatement...

I was wearing Innocent World's Astronomical Clock for the occasion. I was really unsure how casual or dressed up I should go, and I was also having a bit of a legwear crisis. It turns out I really need to buy more ivory tights! In the end, I layered my star print tights over ivory tights to match the ivory lace on the neckline of the dress. Sadly, it turned really cold as the day went on, and we all ended up dashing in to Primark to buy some emergency tights! So I was glad I was at least able to get some photos of my starry legs before they got covered up. The shoes proved a big mistake too, and my feet were killing me by the evening. But overall, I was pleased with how my outfit looked. It just maybe wasn't the best choice for going to London.

Throughout the course of the day, we encountered a lot of strange people. Right at the start of the day we had people trying to force their way on to the train, without letting the people on the train get off. Common sense would surely mean letting people off, so that you could get on? There was also this very rude old man at Paddington who ended up attacking James with his walking stick and even now, none of us are quite sure why this situation happened. There were the usual buskers and people handing out leaflets in Leicester Square. I ended up being given this leaflet by some sort of church, which had some strange quotes about naked turtles in it. It made for interesting reading at least!

As we went for lunch, the presents and cards were doled out. Sammi seemed to really like the brown and gold Teja Jamilla tights that we got her. I didn't realise that Sammi and Shalisa had got a present for James (there was a lot of sneaky Facebook messages going on behind the scenes!) and he seemed really pleased with his gift. 

James also got us some cupcakes. I thought I had taken a photo of the cakes without the plastic on them, but clearly I hadn't. But I can confirm that the cakes looked really cute in person and they had somehow managed to survive being shoved in a bag and the massive squeeze on the train to London. I was feeling very full from our Chinese food, so I saved mine for later on.

After going shopping, we ended up at a pub called the London Stone, which I can pretty much guarantee I will never be going back to. The pub was recommended to us and to be fair, the actual pub itself is really cool. It is done up in this gothic style with loads of gargoyles and stone pillars. I wish I had gotten some more pictures of the place, but sadly it felt a bit awkward taking pictures when there were so many people in the way. We went for cocktails, as the London Stone has this Seven Deadly Sins and 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse cocktail menu. Sadly, it did not live up to our expectations. The very first cocktail we got tasted like nothing but juice. So to rectify this, we decided to order the 'Death' cocktail from the 4 horsemen menu, which had 3 different shots of rum in it. It is basically a Zombie cocktail. Alas, even this cocktail tasted super weak to us, and we are not exactly heavy drinkers.

Despite this disappointment with the cocktails, we were having a good time. Look how happy we are in this dark photo! And then it all ended on a sour note when a random guy supposedly called Ian came over and decided to try talking to us "young people" as he kept putting it. For all we know, he could have been perfectly harmless, but it was a bit creepy and he wouldn't leave us alone. He was probably only at our table for 20 minutes, but it felt like an hour. It did sadly put a bit of a dampener on our evening. We ended up legging it out of the pub as soon as we could, which meant I couldn't use the bathroom facilities and made for a very uncomfortable tube ride. So yeah... cheers, Ian!

Sammi and I didn't even get the chance to enjoy our cupcakes in the pub as planned, so we ended up eating them on the train home! They were really tasty, so that was at least a positive. I went for the red velvet cupcake, which had the most amazing frosting on it. I think these Waitrose cupcakes may be some solid competition for the Sainsbury's cupcakes that all of our group are really fond of.

I didn't buy much myself. I got a few sweets and a curry pan from the Japan centre and a new book from Treadwell's. Sammi got loads of stationary from Artbox. Whilst she was paying, I found these free postcards from Tofu Cute (who have a concession in the Artbox store in Covent Garden). They had these cut-out-and-keep characters on them. I was initially a bit amused to see that poops are apparently kawaii now, but to tell the truth, this little poop character has grown on me! Seeing as random everyday things like fried eggs are now seen as being cute, I guess a poop with a smiley face can be cute too. And yes, I did cut out the characters! The poop and tofu are in fact on the shelf right next to me, as I type this post. Whether they will stay there or not, I am not sure. It might be a bit difficult explaining to people why I have a random cardboard poop on my shelf.

So the day was a bit of a mixed bag. We seemed to get really unlucky with some of the people we met throughout the day, but I would like to think there were some good moments to the day as well. It has just made us more determined to have a better time the next time we meet up. It is a shame we were not really able to get many photos (Shalisa lugged her massive Instax camera to London for nothing) and our day would have been better if "Ian" hadn't turned up, but at least we were able to visit all the places we wanted. And I got a free cardboard poop and insightful messages about naked turtles for my troubles!