Sunshine bubbles

Staying in a lavish corporate apartment most certainly has the perks of comfort, cleanliness and proximity to the city. It also comes with the drawbacks of isolation and fear of missing out. After 3 weeks of an extended stay in Tower Hill, I started to resemble neglected furniture, and decided to draw on the invite from friends in Earlsfield to stay with them for a week or so. Not that I'm complaining about the corporate accommodation, I was truly treated like queen in my Tower, and had everything a princess could possibly need, but after one too many "Al Tirolo" pizzas (Fontal cheese, porcini, portobello & closed cup mushrooms, speck ham, garlic oil, parsley) from the Pizza Express directly downstairs, I decided it was time to move onwards and outwards, before my hips did

.

Sunshine bubbles

My dear friends Robs and her finance Willis kindly had me to stay at their gorgeous place in Earslfield. We spent the first day drinking bubbly in the sun and eating breakfast in the garden, and they then left the house to me whilst they went hiking for 8 days in Cornwall. Their house is a one bedroom flat with a lounge and a Peter Rabbit style veggie garden, complete with a Farmer McGregor look-a-like living next door. The only thing I wasn't too fond of was the compost worm about 30 cm long, that reminded me of the days when our parents used to let us keep silk worms as pets and feed them mulberry leaves from the garden. I remember when I was about 11 and had a dream I have that they had all crawled out the box and up my nightie. They were promptly given away the next day, even the scarlet fat one which I had fed food colouring. 

I felt so at home and loved being able to cook for myself and be around other South Africans in the area. I even attempted a run one morning before school, which I had anticipated being 30 minutes, and ended up being about 55 due to my hopeless sense of direction. Thanks to Robs and Willis for such a great stay. Promise I watered them veggies and didn’t kill the soil worm.

Frenchie and I have been assiduously looking for a place with immediate effect, as we were both couch surfing. We managed to find a teeny-tiny-two bedroom place in the heart of Angel. Not an easy feat on such short notice. It would be tragic not to expound on a description of our humble abode...


Located in a small brick complex, you’ll find the new residence of Amy Grace and Adrien (Aah-drie-yen)-all the way from Paris. It comprises two-tiny rooms, both complete with mattresses like sinking sand. Amy’s room is adorned with green and pale pink embossed flower wall paper, which is flaking and shaking in multiple areas. The carpet is a startling combination  of sea green/ grey/ seaweed colour. (Needless to say I have bought a straw matt from IKEA to cover most of it.) Turn right out Amy's room and you’ll find our shared bathroom where one showers in the raised bath, with exposed plumbing wires beneath, forming a web of electricity which would make my dad pale. Plod down the spiralling stairs, running your hand along the strangely serrated black bar that looks like the inside of a zip, and you’ll be met by a colossal, cream plastic chair. The chair sits folded up, and hooked to the bottom of the staircase, ready to launch upwards at any moment along the crocodile tooth stairwell. On asking the agent what the meaning of such a strange contraption was, I learnt the landlady was sadly in a wheelchair, and used the stairwell-and-chair combination to get from top to bottom, and I guess from bottom to top too. 

Frenchi is however too fabulous for words. He used to work for L'Oreal and has promised me oodles of products after his trip to Paris this weekend to see his girlfriend.  We have a piece of cardboard in the kitchen on which we write unusual french and english words we come across in conversation.

Translation board

Flats like these seem to have punctuated my life, and it reminds me of my time living in an attic in France on my gap year, where the wall was a painting mural of animals and plants. I do however realise that this is all part and parcel of the experience, and that I have my entire life to live it up in the burbs. 

Breakfast club Angel

I have been to some really cool bars and restaurants in and around Angel, my favourite being the The Breakfast Club, where you can have an omelette at any hour of the day. I also find myself traipsing the markets outside my door on a Saturday afternoon picking up little treasures, such as a leather backpack I plan to use on my cycling journey to work (photo to follow soon).

Amy Grace and Priscilla

Lastly and most importantly, the Royal Wedding was utterly fabulous. I got totally caught up in the atmosphere of the day, and because I am sans television, I watched on streaming youtube with one Priscilla Daniel, and had the most delightful day in Nottinghill with her and her boyfriend after. I felt tearful when I saw Kate in that exquisite dress by McQueen and it really felt to me as though Kate and Wills were my mates that I had known for years. The McQueen brand and Sarah Burton will be remembered for that dress for years to come. The New York times recently compared him to Van Goch. See McQueen almost as good as Van Gogh.

I thought I'd end this nattering with some my favourite McQueen dresses from his years of collections:

                                                                 

                             and last but not least...