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 we went to see 'unseen', a collection of previously unpublished photographs by guy bourdain.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

hello from london [part twenty-nine and a half]

hello friends

be warned, this half installment from london is about my new squeeze so if you want to keep your lunch down, do not proceed.

are you ready to have your knees melted?

last night while r was having drinks with a friend, he called and asked me to go to a gallery opening with him later that evening. he actually asked "does this opening excite you?", i said "no". so we ditched that plan and he asked if we should go for dinner and drinks instead. i said "yes". he calls back and asks me where we should go. he lets me get halfway through my suggestion of thai before he interrupts and tells me he made a booking at the bistrotheque for 9.30, he was hoping i would say yes. what a brute! i cannot believe he made a booking without asking me! but at the same time my knees melted. a man in control is so utterly appealing. also, i love the bistrotheque. did you know he is a very well dressed young man? it is such a pleasure to go out with him because i know my efforts will be returned. on wednesday night we went to see a band and we both rocked up at the tube station in macs. so film noir. sometimes i think he is my doppelganger. last night i wore a cream silk eley kishimoto blouse with an all-over horse print, black pencil skirt, seamed stockings and heels. he wore cigarette trousers, tux shirt and waistcoat. dreamboats ahoy. after dinner while we were umming and ahhing about dessert, i slid a piece of paper across the table. it is my coat check ticket. he does not know why i am passing it to him. "do you want me to get your coat?" he puzzles. "no. it is a note." he turns it over.

r
would you like to stay over tonight?

o

did you know no girl has ever written him a note or letter before? his knees melted, he told me so.

you are all thinking "be careful! remember what happened with the last one!" i know. i am trying really hard not to get excited. i really am.

love
olivia

snow snow snow! from london [part twenty-eight]

hello friends!

how are you all? having too much fun in the sun? london is putting on quite the snow show, white and powdery and pretty. want to see?


this is beck road, my street.


london fields, a winter wonderland!


look at that snowball!

instead of engaging in the usual knife fights, gangs of boys threw snowballs at random strangers. people built snowmen and snow penises [or peni depending on which school of thought you come from], they dropped snowballs down each other's jumpers, and made merry like people who do not have to go to school or work should. i did not have to go to work today, it was wonderful! snow snow snow!

this past week has been busy and stressful, you know, being peak production time and all. i racked up fifteen hours of overtime over four days. intense! but that is mostly over now. on friday night i had the best random night out with jonathon. we found a decent thai restaurant off brick lane. we both agreed we would not have such a hard time finding good thai or chinese or japanese food in sydney, those places sit pretty on almost every corner. why is good food so difficult to find here? we had a drink at my new favourite bar, the bistrotheque. i still cannot get over how cool that place is. come visit me, i will take you! it is brimming with well-put-together graphic/ industrial/ fashion designer types who most likely hail from hip european cities, like paris. who knows. they are certainly easy to look at. i would usually roll my eyes and heave a heavy sigh at such a crowd but this sort of works for me. oh no am i becoming one of them? someone slap me, quick! jonathon observed that we never see such people during the day down around hackney. true. outside there was a line of taxis waiting to take them home. where do they come from?

on saturday and sunday i attended nerdfest 2009. want to hear about it? i had a lovely afternoon with my friend bahbak at broadway market, dipping pastries and cakes into our hot drinks and trading stories. then we go to his house, sit in the kitchen and have a macbook-off. can you imagine it? two people sitting at the kitchen table with their macbooks open, facing each other, doing work. i worked on the e k online store, he worked on his dj set and photography project. nerd alert! on sunday i am still working on the online store but this time engaging in hour long skype sessions with stefan, explaining all the changes that need to be made to the store before we can go live. n e r d s ! i cannot believe a minute ago i actually thought i was cool. but are you ready for the pay off? the store went live on sunday night. visit it here! it has already made two sales yay!

i feel much better compared to last week, by the way. it is no fun to wallow. i am all over last.fm like a kid in a candy store. i love it! i have television covered too, with the bbc iplayer. oh so high brow! i like to sit in bed, hand-stitching felt faces, listening to music. do you know what i am excited about for you sydney people? take your time: olafur eliasson! ok so it is not on until december 2009, but still, i would come home just to go to it. olafur eliasson created an artificial sun in the tate modern in 2003, people still talk about it now.

ok ok just because you asked nicely, i have a story for you. today when i was slowly traversing the slippery icy streets home, trying desperately not to fall over because i had my macbook with me, a tall big man knocked my shoulder hard as he stomped by. there was no messing about with him. of course i thought he was a rude but what struck me more as i regained my footing was how strong he felt. he was all solid mass. my instant thought was "if i cut him open, he would be dense like a chocolate mud cake". is that weird? my second thought was "if i fall over now and smash my macbook, he would not care". i am still typing to you so everything is fine. 

love
o