Holly vs the world

Being her first birthday away from home, I was so glad to be there for my bestie. Moving to a different country, finding a new job and making new friends is a hell of a brave thing to do, she’s an absolute kick arse human being. So after good morning birthday hugs, unfortunately Kyles did have to go to work so I needed to find something to do to pass time until her birthday celebrations. Having been lucky enough to have visited London a few times before, I’d done all the big attractions like Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Hyde Park etc so today I was looking for something different to do. Someone along the way mentioned going to Greenwich where lives the meridian line. Coolies, I’ll do that.

But first, boring life maintenance like washing and fun life maintenance like popping to Sainsbury’s for a birthday cake. My idea was to buy a cake and decorate it beautifully so we could celebrate tonight when we get home from dinner. Probs should have been better at adulting and found an actual bakery and bought a beautiful cake befitting of the birthday girl. Instead it was a packet cheesecake, biscuit fingers and some crappy icing writing pens. It’s the effort that counts right? Anyways, heading off to Greenwich about midday, onto a bus to Brixton Station then 10 tubes, most in the wrong direction so it took me about double the time to get there. Maybe I still need more sleep.

Finally in Greenwich with insane hunger pangs I found the Greenwich Markets and a Cuban sandwich. My gosh, how have I never had one of these before? Ready to be annoying and take another food photo, I pulled out my phone and crapola. That’s a new record, only 1.5 hours from 100% to flat. Lucky I have my trusty power pack… and no iPhone cable. Seriously sucking at adulting today. So instead of enjoying the beautiful clear blue skies, I spent the next hour searching shop to shop for an iPhone lightning cable. Would have been quicker if I could have googled where to go but that wasn’t an option. So finally all charged up, food and phone, ready to explore.

But first, back to that Cuban sandwich!! Flatbread, pulled pork, ham, cheddar cheese, pickles and mustard. Oh my yum!!! I see many of these in my future. And here’s a nice pic from google to show just what I mean:

Unfortunately being a Thursday the Greenwich markets were only half arsed, most stalls were empty and the few that were open were a bit average. But, the market area itself was quaint and cute so I could imagine on a bustling weekend they would be fabulous.

Not really having a plan for the day except to find the meridian, I wandered around Greenwich and quite literally stumbled onto everything. Turn a corner and whoa, there’s a big damn ship, the Cutty Sark, a British Clipper ship, fastest and one of the last built before steam shops took over (thanks Google!). There was a museum thing underneath but to be honest, I’m all museumed out.

And just behind the Cutty, the River Thames with views of Canary Wharf and over to the London city centre. I was considering visiting Canary Wharf but Kyles said it was like Wall St, suits and ties and not a lot of fun. Unless you’re rolling in cash. Definitely not rolling.

Where to next? I look to the right and there’s the Naval Academy. That’ll work. Gorgeous buildings and lawns, lucky sailors!

What’s that other big building in the background? I’ll mosey over there. It’s the National Maritime Museum. Can’t swing a cat without hitting a beautiful old building. Not that I’m complaining, it makes being a tourist super simple. And with a phone going flat every 2 seconds, it helps to not rely on Google Maps.

I really had no desire to do museums today so I just settled for a couple of pics of the outside then wandered next door to the Queen’s House. Hmmm. No exactly what I expected, I guess it is a house not a palace, kicks the arse of my house I guess.

And then I look behind me, just more gorgeous buildings and views of the city.

It might be possible I’m taking for granted how historic and beautiful London is. I’ll probs get back to Adelaide and be disappointed not to see a beautiful old church or historic monument on every corner. Or I’ll just be happy to stare at the beach?!?

So through the beautiful sandstone archway and I spy up the hill the observatory. Someone up there knows I’m lazy AF today and is making this real easy!!

Just a note, the blue skies and sunshine in the pics does not mean that it’s warm by any means! The leggings, scarf, shirt and blazer I’m wearing to try be a bit fancy for tonight’s birthday celebrations are proving beyond inadequate. Maybe legging it up the hill will warm me up.

Think I really needed to climb Kilimanjaro, or some other mountain in a warm climate to get any sense of warmth, still freezing and starting to think museums will be the go, at least they are warm! At the top of the hill, the views across London are spectacular, distracting me from the cold momentarily, but not enough to have a real smile in selfies, instead the fake gooby smile I do when I’m uncomfortable!!

London is bloody massive, makes Adelaide seem like a little country town. No wait, it is… Into the Observatory and I made a beeline for the meridian line. Can’t say standing with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and the other in the western is on my bucket list but feel like it kinda should have been. So, patiently waiting for my moment on the line, I realised that on my touristy adventures in Greenwich today I’d already crossed the line about 10 times, but being the super tourist and having a new addiction to selfies, I waited like a tool and got a few.

I tried to feign interest in the museums and listen to the audio guide but after 30 seconds I was done. Instead I found a warm room and thawed, planning my next move… Right, Uber to the Emirates Sky Line cable car thingo, scenic ride across the river then a couple of tubes to Camden for birthday dinner. You know what they say about best laid plans! Down the hill to the road and my super awesome phone no longer has an internet connection for Uber. If I’d backed up my phone again since leaving I would have been very tempted to just throw the piece of crap in the river. Instead, I found a Costa Coffee with free WiFi and in my freezing coldness ordered a large mocha. Got this – bigger than the spaghetti bowls I have at home, and tasted like a cross between cheap chocolate and mud.

Luckily their WiFi is booming. Had a choice, try again for an Uber to the Skyline thingo, do that then 2 tubes and an hour and a half to get to dinner, arriving in Camden for our 7.30 dinner date. Or just take the tube to Camden and drink gin while I wait for the others. Gin always wins.

In Camden, a quick zip into Tesco to stash a choccie cake in my bag, kinda thought Kyles would appreciate a birthday cake at dinner, and more than just me singing to her. No one needs to hear that. I then did the google thing cos my phone liked me again, trying to find a pre-dinner drinks destination to meet Kylie. Jazz Cafe, Amy Winehouse frequented, awesome I’ll head there. Walked into a band setting up, not open yet. Some other cool sounding African themed bar, massive place and only one other person in there. Hmmm, I think Google is sick of me and purposely sending me to crapola joints. Ugh. I found the birthday girl and instead we headed to our dinner location, they do gin, it’s warm and 100m from where we were standing.

Although an hour early to The Blues Kitchen, our table was ready and as were we for all the gin!! Cheers and happy birthday Kyles!!

We were only two drinks in when Kyles buds Mel and Pete arrived. Two awesome people, Mel was from Adelaide so it was nice to not have to concentrate so hard on what someone was saying, or be paid out for my Aussie bogan accent. The dinner was beyond delicious, beef brisket with burnt ends, and after a cocktail called a Zombie I was finally warm and content, and probs a little bit tipsy!!

Being in the presence of a birthday girl, the restaurant bought out a plate of deep fried Oreos to celebrate, trumped my pissy cake so that just stayed in the hand bag. They were so good there isn’t even any photo evidence, you don’t wait for pics when deep fried Oreos are a waiting!!

Being a school night, we headed home with full bellies and a nice gin buzz. My gin buzz turned into a different kind of buzz when I got to snuggle up to Jon Snow at the tube station… I’m lucky Kylie is still my friend, my dork level was at an all time high!!

Once back at Kyles, I was excited to get my masterpiece cake out for a final celebration, unfortunately I suck and the cake ended up looking like this:

Sorry Kyles, I tried but anything food related, except eating, is just not my forte!! So instead I did what I do best, ate cake.

Thursday January 17th 2019.