Sadly, Josh hates London for a variety of reasons, but mainly because of the weather - and is extremely vocal about it.
Every 5-10 minutes there is a casual compliant from him about the wind, the rain, the fog, the grey sky, - and these complaints are generally directed at me instead at London in general, like I am solely responsible for the fact that the city has been cursed in the warmth-department.
Now I agree, and there are days I hate London too. But I think I also secretly love London in a way. The weather may be crap a majority of the time and everything is backward, and the people are totally loony bins, but it also has some very redeemable qualities. While it is certainly not my favorite place to live, I do think it is an amazing place to visit. This is Josh's second visit since I've lived here - and I'm lobbying for another before November rolls around.
So, I have made it my personal mission to get Josh to like London. I made a goal to find 10 redeeming things throughout the weekend I could point out to him being here. I figure 10 reasons is enough to prove a point that this city - is actually - well sometimes, good.
But when Josh arrived at 8am Friday morning to a downpour of rain I knew it was going to be a challenge. On top of the brewing tsunami, he also had to combat the out of control shrubbery to get inside.
There is a shrub that grows next to the little path from the road to our door. When I first moved in I thought this shrub was so charming, with its cute twisty branches and fresh green leaves. But, in the past 3 months the shrub has spiraled out of control. It's branches have grown long and pokey, and it is now practically blocking the walkway all together.
It's become a bit of a Little Shop of Horrors scenario to be honest. I feel like it's going to eat the house.
In order to get into or out of the flat, I have to fight through the branches of this enormous, man-eating plant towards the front door. This is particularly a problem when it's raining, and the shrub is wet because water flys of the leaves and all over whoever is trying to trespass.
I mentioned this to our landlord, who said "shrubbery maintenance is not his affair, we are responsible for tending to the plants." Surprisingly, as much as I would enjoy hacking the thing to pieces or shaping it into something lovely, like a bunny, I have no desire to waste my hard earned money on a hedge trimmer when it could go towards other things. Like shoes.
All the sales are on in London, and one of my favorite things about Josh is that he loves to shop. Especially shop sales. Sales only come but twice a year here, but when they come - they are good! Surprisingly, as I was chauffeured all around London Friday during work and Josh slept away his jetlag under my duvet, the sun started to peep through the clouds and by the end of the afternoon it was a nice-ish day! I get out early on Fridays during the "summer," so by 4pm we were hand in hand strolling up Kings Rd towards 3 of his favorite spots - All Saints, Reiss, and Ted Baker.
I had no intention of making purchases, but I nearly died when I walked into Ted Baker and found my Dorthy-dream shoes on sale for £45!
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| Lions and tigers and bears - Oh my!!! |
As a child, I loved the Wizard of Oz. I watched it daily, in a blue and white costume with my stuffed dog stuffed into a wicker basket, and my feet stuffed into plastic ruby slippers my mom bought me. They were the cherry on top of my outfit, my prized possession.
For reasons I will never understand, my older brother hated these ruby slippers, and one day he stole them, hid them, claimed he could not remember where he hid them. They were lost forever. My dreams of passing them onto my own little girl someday - ruined.
Ever since, I have had a red shoe complex. I tend to gravitate towards ruby-colored heels when shoe searching, but never have a seen a pair so close to the real thing as these beauties. It pained me to walk out without them, but unfortunately my discretionary income for the month had already been spent on Greece bikinis and I had to pass. It was a very sad moment for me.
Josh was lucky in the shoe department though, finding a very nice pair of boat shoes on sale which I convinced him he needed to add some variety to his Converse collection. Josh has become a bit of a compulsive shopper since he started dating me - and it's getting worse each year. He has quite the ensemble collection. If we ever had to share a closet it would be a serious battle for free hangers and empty drawers.
So, Josh finding a killer sale deal = 1 point London.
As the sun continued to shine, and we continued onto Reiss - Josh was clearly enjoying the break from the 99 degree heat he came from, and I even got him to admit that the weather was "perfect."
That makes 2 for London!
Josh's other main complaint about London is the food. So Saturday I was on a mission to show him just how wrong he is. We started off at breakfast at Joe's Kitchen, an adorable cafe my sister Amanda frequented while she lived here.
I ordered a delicious and inventive breakfast salad, while Josh decided to try the Eggs Benedict.
It came looking a bit unusual to me, so I was sort of worried about the outcome. But two bites in he looked up at me and said, "I think this is the best eggs benedict I've ever had..." then continued eating away in complete glee without even offering me a taste.
3!
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| Josh <3's Hollandaise |
I picked this restaurant because it was conveniently located by Bourogh Market, and since 1 breakfast plate could never be enough to feed Popeye the Sailor Man, we went to get him a post-breakfast snack after he had licked his plate clean.
While there are hundreds of ridiculously delicious things at Borough, everyone knows the star of the market is the Raclette stand. The giant wheels of gooey, bubbling, cheese are hypnotic, as is the accompanying smell. They pick up this enormous wheel once an inch-deep layer of cheese is ready, and tilt it so that a bubbling-stream of wonderfully stinky raclette runs down onto a pile of cooked potatoes and cornichons, and top it with fresh ground pepper. It is cheese heaven.
Josh was freaking out.
Hooray for 4!!
Josh was freaking out.
Hooray for 4!!
If you think he stopped there, then you don't know Josh.
He sampled just about everything savory, while I sampled just about everything sweet, eventually decided on an ice cream cone from The Greedy Goat for dessert. We left properly stuffed. And at number 5.
With breakfast and lunch a success, later that night I knew what to do for dinner to really make him happy - pasta.
At 10pm when we finally had an appetite again, we cozied up in the window table of a cute little authentically italian locals-only restaurant in my neighborhood with a big bowl of homemade pappardelle to share, and I think it's safe to say that Josh no longer can complain about the food in England.
We're now at 7. One awarded for food, another for atmosphere.
The one thing Josh does like about London is the many free museums. So I wisely planned a visit to both a classic and a hidden gem. We first wandered around the wonderful Tate Modern before continuing onto the Churchill War Rooms.
I'd been to the Tate before, but the Churchill War Rooms were new, and totally awesome. I am fascinated by WWII, and this museum is the actual rooms that Churchill ran the war from. Things have been preserved and recreated exactly as they were, and it is unlike anything America has to offer. A little Picasso, a little WWII, and did I mention Josh is a huge art and history buff?
9!! So nearly there!!
With one more point to go, I attempted his other weakness - hilarious television.
I recently learned about an English show called "The Inbetweeners," which is about 4 high-school aged geeky boys attempt to become cool and get girlfriends. It is SUPER english, which is why I enjoy watching it. I pick up a lot of lingo and day to day things that I find useful. It is also tearfully funny, so I gave it a shot and played him an episode while I made us warm chocolate chip cookies.
Success! He loved it. When the episode was up, he wanted more!! More Inbetweeners, and more gooey cookies.
That made 10 great things about for London!!! I'D DONE IT!!!
I even got him to admit it was a nice weekend in jolly England. Well, he didn't say jolly.
I was so pleased with myself by the end of Saturday evening! But the weekend ended the way it began - with a downpour of rain as I got Josh into a cab headed towards the train station. He's spending the week at a big magic convention in Blackpool, the worst English town of all time - so basically all my hardwork will be undone in the next couple of days.
But overall, I think I made a lot of progress.
So Cheers, London! Even you're toughest critic admitted you're not so bad afterall.
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