Weekend Learning's

Illustration; Bri Emery

Gosh. I have not done a Weekend Learning’s for so long. Where to start? At the beginning. This is what I learned;

• I live in a semi-detached, ground-floor, newly refurbished (so new it was finished two weeks after I moved in) house. It is complicated! I am still learning her ways. It reminds me of this quote to one of my favourite movies, Under The Tuscan Sun.
  "Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself so it can introduce itself to you." - Frances Mayer.
• Maybe I hope too much, maybe I dream too much, but at least I won’t give up until I’ve tried, and I won’t regret anything.
• Did you know that all the swans in London are owned by the Queen? Well since back in the day they are a protected species so the Royals look after them. I like it. Hurt them and get fined! Wish South Africa would do this for the Rhino’s. 
• “The best smell in the world is that man that you love.” - Jennifer Aniston. Oh how I miss the little things the most.
• I live in London. Just incase you forgot! Which means sometimes I will catch a bus somewhere and go past Marble Arch or Selfridges or Big Ben or any of these amazing landmarks! This weekend, the bus I caught took me past Harrods. Their window dressing is out of this world. Every time I realise I am about to go past there I get excited, open my eyes a little wider to see a little more (like a little kid) and gawk with my mouth open at the incredible display of the Harrods windows. This particular weekend I think I heard myself gasp out loud - they are magical! 
• “It takes both sides to build a bridge.” - Fredrik Nael
• My little sister is getting married! Yay! So I spend a lot of time looking into wedding stuff, did you know there is a bouquet glossary? Like a Pompander, is a flower covered ball tied with a ribbon for a flower girl? And a Nosegay is a compact cluster of flowers wrapped tightly and cut to one uniform length? And that is only two of them… I know. 
• I recently started a migraine eating plan to try and figure out what foods are triggering my migraines. I am a chronic sufferer. This means if I am not medicated, I can get 15 migraines a month… debilitating. So I am basically a vegan at the moment who cannot eat some select fruits and veg and nuts to add to it. But I feel great! Can you believe? I did have one migraine last week though… one is better than four… I’ll keep you updated.

Hope you have a Harrods window kind of week!

Xoxo

PS. Be grateful. Eat more vegetables. Love others. 

So many friends I thought would build haven't,
Friends I thought wouldn't have surprised me,
thank you.

Leave a Comment Frances Mayer, Fredrik Nael, Harrods, health, Jennifer Aniston, London, London Diaries, migraine, quote, quotes, SAFA in London, Stephs Wedding, swans, vegan, Wedding, weekend

London Diaries

How I felt... a lot.

Six months in London. What can I say? 

Well I can say that last month I was so convinced it was six months I tried to convince myself and my boyfriend it was until I actually said to him… “So I got here in March, so one month, twoooo, three, four… five… Oh...” It felt like six. It has felt like forever. But it has also felt like I left yesterday. It feels like yesterday I was trying to fit my life into 23kg’s of bag. Yes that’s all I could bring. It also felt like yesterday where I lived happily on my own and drove a car and NEVER took public transport for fear of death. 

It also feels like yesterday that I had my first night in London. I got lost on my way home. In the dark. No GPS. Naturally I feared getting stabbed or mugged (The South Africa Hangover I like to think of it as)… till I saw a girl, alone, sauntering down (what I thought) was a dark alley, iPod, cell phone and headphones blaring looking at me like I was insane… or escaped from Africa… which I kind of did… Now I walk home at night with not a care in the world. Can you imagine? I have to admit, living in a safe, first world country, swinging from train to sidewalk like a wisp in the night is a wonderful thing. 

I always dreamt of living in London, since I was a little girl. There is an electricity in this place that no other city spills. The old and the new. The creativity. The architecture that is juxtaposed by the nature, I love it! You can never be bored! OH a hedgehog! 

There are always a hundred things to do at any single moment. There are these sites and magazines which come out and tell you what you can explore, not monthly, not weekly, daily! And each one is different. You can walk down the street and find an artist selling his soul all for a penny and a pound. 

My favourite singer in Oxford Circus (I work here!! Wow hey?) is a man who sits with his legs crossed on the street and sings the same haunting song into an orange street cone which he rests on the sidewalk in front of him. What rubbish!? You say? His song is strangely melodic and he is very dirty and his song is very pure and I can hear him from five blocks away and the sound soothes my soul. I love his consistently, I love his brand! I truly will hang around him listening to his mad echo because compared to all the guitars and soapboxes littering London, this street cone songster, stole my heart. And this my darlings, is London. To be continued…

xoxo

PS. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” - Samuel Johnson.

I am yet to see a fox, have heard one... scary.

Leave a Comment immigrate, immigration, London, London Diaries, move, new beginning, new life, Oxford Circus, quote, SAFA in London, South African hangover, take chances