a weekend in the city

So….

Can anyone tell me the story behind that photo that was tagged of me? I know what night it is from, but I have no idea who that other person in the photo is, and I have absolutely no recollection of the photo being taken at all.

I do remember that hangover, though…

It’s actually humid today in Edinburgh. Who’d have thought it? It was even sunny yesterday – I ended up going down to the Botanical Gardens with some Budgeters, including Rubber Ducky. I should have taken a photo, seeing as there is little chance of it ever happening again, but I don’t have any batteries seeing as in a moment of magnamity I gave my batteries to Sib, forgetting I am too damn poor to buy them myself. (It’s okay, the universe will spit out some batteries at some point, karma, right?)

There is a whole heap of shit I have to do this afternoon, and I can’t forget, so I’ll write it here – find Teviot Place; finish NI number application; oh! send my parents some photos, since they claim to have forgotten what I look like; find a photo for my staff ID card….that’s actually a hard one, I don’t have any photos that are really any good, and as I mentioned before, I now don’t have any batteries for my camera.

But none of you care about that, I know you’re all dying to hear about what crazy adventures I got up to in London. (You know you are.)

ah, shit, I’ve just rubbed all of last night’s mascara all over my cheeks.

I went down on Thursday, another nine hours of bus-related fun, only this time I slept the entire way, since it was the first time I’d been up at 6.30 for about two months. I’d forgotten about peak hour, and got into London at the less than favourable time of 5.00pm, so the ride on the 82 took about ninety minutes instead of forty-six. Plus there was an accident on Temple Fortune Rd, so I ended up getting off five stops early and just walking. I got completely bowled over by the kids when I got in the door, which was unexpected, but nice. Thursday night was low-key, Kala did some amazing cooking, then it was L’s shout on the wine.

I went out with Wheelie on Friday night, for Thai (of course), and then we wandered through the city for a little while, with a detour for ice cream. (See her photos for what we actually got up to) We discovered this free live music opposite Embankment, and stopped and chilled there for a while, until it got too cold and we toddled off. Saturday, I went for Vietnamese with Ambo in Chalk Farm, where we both considered getting into prostitution except that neither of was sure how to get a foot in the door. Then I FINALLY met up with my uni friend in Kilburn – this was only about a year in the making – and we went for a couple of pints that turned into five with the help of my skills in peer pressure. I was instructed to write something about him, but I can’t remember what it was, so we’ll have to wait until he comes to Edinburgh for the Fringe to worry about that.

Let me tell you, being drunk on public transport isn’t as fun as I thought it might be. There is of course the issue of the stairs on buses, which I seem to have enough trouble with whilst sober.

Sunday, I went over to AG and Wheelie’s, to enjoy the amazing experience that was Timmy Mallet’s Mediterranean Madness Top 50, and argue about whether 0 is a number with a shandy in hand. It was actually a really nice, cruisy, Sunday afternoon, but I missed out on amazing continental food since I was supposed to be meeting a high school friend in Russell Square. I ended up being hideously late for that anyway, not least because I am still in denial about how long it takes to get anywhere in London, but also because the Russell Square tube station was closed and I can never remember how to get to Generator from Kings Cross. It was pretty much luck that I stumbled upon the right street in the end, only about forty minutes after I was supposed to be there.

It was brilliant catching up with my high school friend, though, he and I haven’t seen each other in about five years. He looks brilliant, and I’d forgotten what fun he was. He’d been to the running of the bulls, and is planning on moving up to Manchester for a year to get a real job. I’m thinking I’ll have to go via Manchester on my way back to London in September.

Devastated that I never found out what Timmy Mallet’s number one was….do you think I could google it?