hello from london [part twenty-one]

hello friends

how are you? i am well. i have lots of news to tell so i will get straight into it.

01/ when i was organising the e k sample sale, aki asked me how much stock i was taking to the sale and i said 40 [as in £40,000]. she asked me how much i think i am going to sell and i said 15. at the last sample sale they made 10, and you know me, i wanted to make more than that. she said realistically we will probably make 8. do you know how much we made? 18! is that not great news? that is more pounds than my annual wage. e k will definitely have to keep me now! you know how i like a tidy shop? i really had to let that go at the sample sale. ladies are hungry here. you would think they do not know what a credit crunch is. they probably think it is a chocolate bar. we had a packed shop most of the first day. it took them a hour to obliterate the space. i really had to restrain myself from tidying because it would have been a waste of time. they bought up big so it was all ok.

02/ i went to see lykke li last night. she is truly amazing [in a swedish pop sensation way]. she is touring australia at the end of the year, you should see her. you know how lykke li, mgmt, and vampire weekend represent a specific time in my life from earlier this year? she covered vampire weekend's cape cod kwassa kwassa. it was so exciting! her show is full of surprises. she starts a song you think you know then she twists it and sings something else. she talks about bad boyfriends [her words] and you know everyone is on her side.

03/ you know the sex-related documentaries shown on sbs at 10pm on a friday night? i watched an english one about three severely physically disabled men who travel to spain to lose their virginity at a brothel that caters for clients with special needs. there i was outside camden town tube station waiting for two friends when a man walks past and i know i have seen him before, but where? oh yes, he is one of the disabled men from the documentary. so random! i wanted to say something to him but i could not think of anything appropriate.

04/ you know in sydney when you go out you are surrounded by kids in their teens to early twenties? it is not like that here. when i go out people are my age or older. at vampire weekend it was like that, same with lykke li, games nights at the bethnal green working men's club, the ponytail magazine launch, everywhere so far. i really like it. it feels good to mix with people who are not teenagers.

05/ warning! this next point is about a boy, stop reading now if you do not want to know about it. my square from last week is now a line between two points. it is a pretty sweet deal. sort of. the universe is totally getting me back because the boy is moving to germany in january for work. is that not cruel? double sigh. at the sample sale aki told me mark asked her if something was going on between the boy and i. she totally caught me off guard. i could not help but smile sheepishly. aki laughs and warns me not to say anything to mark because [in her words] he meddles. she said he will claim matchmaking points. we both laughed.

lots of love
olivia