hello from london [part thirty-two]

hello friends

how are you? i am well and happy. we have had three long weekends since easter. luxe, no? the english really like summer. it has been so hot i actually thought i was going to melt this weekend, dripping all over the pavement like a scoop of ice-cream in a cone with a flake stuck on top. i had one of those today, it was good.

i had the best day ever yesterday. this best day involved my friend bahbak, both of us riding bikes [on the road for the first time, no less], a guy bourdain exhibition at the wapping project, and a lazy wander through the surrounding 'burbs. have you been to the wapping project? let me take you, it is a diamond in the rough.

the wapping project used to be a power station but it has since been converted into a cafe/ bookstore/ gallery/ theatre space. it is amazing. we went to see 'unseen', a collection of previously unpublished photographs by guy bourdain. the room is very dark but the oversized prints are hung in back-lit frames which make shapes on the astroturf floor. the work shown carried bourdain's signature featuring high-fashion clad models [he did a lot of work for french vogue and advertising for charles jourdan] with a sense of humour [and with that comes intelligence], all well-framed. i mean, who am i to say anything about guy bourdain but w o w !


biking through the back of wapping, it is a bit ghetto and there were groups of young men about. b rode ahead of me and when i whizzed past a young dude by his car he yelled "hey sexy! i like a girl with glasses!" i giggled. i called out to b "did you hear what he said?", bahbak turned around "i knew he would say something to you!"

i finished the catcher in the rye yesterday morning in bed and started sylvia plath's the bell jar whilst lazing in clissold park today with my friend dave. i did not know both books are new-york based.

it is my birthday next saturday. we are going for drinks at the bistrotheque and then a dance at dalston superstore [the new club in town if you believe the hype]. guess who will be wearing her new bernhard willhlem dress [purchased from poepke]? me! i cannot wait to show it off. wheee! also less than three weeks before i see you. double wheee!

love
o

a long overdue hello from london [part thirty-one]

hello friends

every time i think to write to you, i feel i have nothing. i feel i have nothing now but i should say something, if only to let you know i am alive and well. the countdown is on, you know, less than four weeks before i see you. hurruh!

ok let us split this into threes. one, work. two, me. three, the boy.

so, work. a few weeks ago mark called me to the back room where we keep the printed fabric archive, online store stock, excess stock, and i sometimes keep a desk in there for when our sales agent is in.

"olivia, this room is a mess!"
"oh. sorry. i will fix it later today." [please do not hurt me!]
"just kidding!" [laugh]
"ok..."
"do you want to stay?"
"where?"
"here."
"oh. yes."
"ok."

so there you have it. e k is sponsoring me. you know how fickle fashion can be, i mean, this is true for right now but fingers crossed it will still be true in october when the "working" part of my working holiday visa is over. i am excited and happy and i hope it happens.

the other reason mark likes me, other than my ability to pay my own wage with sales from the online store, is that he considers me his walking spell check.

mark asks the room in general "how do you spell eduardo?"
he swivels around to look at me.
"umm e-d-u-a-r-d-o."
"yeah that was what i was thinking."
"sure you were."
"shut up!"

we both burst into giggles. next he is on the phone to someone calling himself a welsh wizard.

ok, me. so what do you want to know? i treated myself to a haircut. the right side of my head is cropped very short and blends into a long left side. i look a little bit eighties. rodrigo has offered to maintain the cropped side for me with a pair of clippers but i do not trust him. what else? oh yes, i am moving house. it is a little bit sad because i love where i live but i am only moving five streets away to a proper share house with two other girls. my new room is bigger and the rent is cheaper. do not fight it, just accept it. i am not sure the area is as safe but it is in shoreditch proper and there are less house rules. one of the girls is rodrigo's friend and studying film, the other girl finished her film studies and just directed a feature. excitement city! fingers crossed the flat will be the creative hub it promises to be.

now, the boy. i will not bore you with too many details. if you can date a music journalist, i highly recommend it. i try not to milk r for too many favours, but he always manages to wrangle a +1 from somewhere. we went to camden crawl [a two-day music festival in camden] and saw the yeah yeah yeahs [w o w !], the big pink [new english band, ok], and echo and the bunnymen. we went to see hot chip play a secret show in shoreditch. i liked hot chip before but, if possible, i like them even more now. their live set was amazing and there was a lot of love in the room when they started a song with the line "i want to be your one-life stand" [obvious play on the concept of one-night stand] and i turn to r and say "oh they are ridiculously romantic." and he explains two of them got married recently [not to each other]. my phone ran out of juice that night but when i charged it the next day, r had sent me a message while we were dancing to hot chip's dj set to say he thinks i am cool and is very happy to be here with me. die. we are seeing the horrors on june 6. i wonder how big i can make my hair?

r is away in san francisco on a road trip with two friends. do you know what that means? my weekends are free! i cleared three jumble sales yesterday [one in a church hall, one in a design studio, and one in a community centre]. i love going through people's junk. i came away with three books [sylvia plath, woody allen, j d salinger], three melamine plates painted with paris street scenes, a plain canvas bag [no logos, rare!], a necklace with a macaroon pendant, two japanese magazines with e k on the covers, and another painted plate i won in a raffle. treasure galore! i had afternoon tea twice in two days. this weekend has made me realise i miss my own company because i spend much of the weekends with r. if i were with him now, i would not have gone to these jumble sales or had afternoon tea adventures with the girls, things i love. there is a lesson in there somewhere.

love
o