London never sleeps, it just sucks...
"... the life out of me, and the money from my pocket..." 
(if you know this song then i like you)
i've just been back from a weekend in Londinium, where i almost didn't go because i was changing my mind but now i'm glad i went. i was visiting my friend Delphine (aka Babydoll) and she was having a Christmas Party at her house. this was a Secret Santa Party, which meant that each guest had to bring one gift and they were all put in common and redistributed at random. when i made it there (from the brand new St Pancras train station, more about it later) the house was crowded. hours just flew by without anyone noticing and before we knew it, it was 5am, and the neighbours were complaining, which is always a good thing! the present i ended up with was... a lightbulb.
the next day was spent sleeping, being comatose, cleaning the house, playing the silly boardgames Delf got as presents, and trying to put some proper food into us. i do not want to hear about mince pies or gingerbread ever again. in the evening we decided to join Sabrina who was also at the party the previous night, for some more entertainment, somewhere in Moorgate near the Barbican. we had no idea what this night was going to be about, all we knew was that entry was £1 and there were bands playing. it turned out to be kind of the Guildhall School Of Music's Students Union's party, with acts ranging from contemporary classical string ensembles to the new underground side project of Joel Cox (bassist in Good Shoes), in the basement of the Parker McMillan club. catching up with Joel was a good surprise, he played a very low key and unrehearsed little set on guitar aided by a girl playing the violin, with their faces smeared in paint, like bona fide art students. at some point the music stopped and we were encouraged to a spontaneous collective performance by the DJs, with instructions consisting of "make as much noise as you can". at first people were bemused but after a little lapse everyone started banging on tables, clinking glasses together and shouting randomly, it even ended up sounding like actual music. it was very interesting to be standing in the middle of that, and see how natural it is for anyone to be making music even without any instruments. all in all, a very relaxed and pleasant night, and drinks were dead cheap, especially for central London. meanwhile, Noel Fielding and Serge Pizzorno were upstairs, involved in more interesting anecdotes.
on sunday i had to catch my train back, it took me all day just to get there and walk the millions of miles of corridors and passageways from King's Cross tube station to St Pancras' actual train platform
i'm not sure this new Eurostar terminal was such a good idea after all... and it's a shame that all weekend i didn't get to see more of my friends living there (especially Amandine and Sandra
) but it's only game postponed, not cancelled!!
piccies:
xAL
(if you know this song then i like you)
i've just been back from a weekend in Londinium, where i almost didn't go because i was changing my mind but now i'm glad i went. i was visiting my friend Delphine (aka Babydoll) and she was having a Christmas Party at her house. this was a Secret Santa Party, which meant that each guest had to bring one gift and they were all put in common and redistributed at random. when i made it there (from the brand new St Pancras train station, more about it later) the house was crowded. hours just flew by without anyone noticing and before we knew it, it was 5am, and the neighbours were complaining, which is always a good thing! the present i ended up with was... a lightbulb.
the next day was spent sleeping, being comatose, cleaning the house, playing the silly boardgames Delf got as presents, and trying to put some proper food into us. i do not want to hear about mince pies or gingerbread ever again. in the evening we decided to join Sabrina who was also at the party the previous night, for some more entertainment, somewhere in Moorgate near the Barbican. we had no idea what this night was going to be about, all we knew was that entry was £1 and there were bands playing. it turned out to be kind of the Guildhall School Of Music's Students Union's party, with acts ranging from contemporary classical string ensembles to the new underground side project of Joel Cox (bassist in Good Shoes), in the basement of the Parker McMillan club. catching up with Joel was a good surprise, he played a very low key and unrehearsed little set on guitar aided by a girl playing the violin, with their faces smeared in paint, like bona fide art students. at some point the music stopped and we were encouraged to a spontaneous collective performance by the DJs, with instructions consisting of "make as much noise as you can". at first people were bemused but after a little lapse everyone started banging on tables, clinking glasses together and shouting randomly, it even ended up sounding like actual music. it was very interesting to be standing in the middle of that, and see how natural it is for anyone to be making music even without any instruments. all in all, a very relaxed and pleasant night, and drinks were dead cheap, especially for central London. meanwhile, Noel Fielding and Serge Pizzorno were upstairs, involved in more interesting anecdotes.
on sunday i had to catch my train back, it took me all day just to get there and walk the millions of miles of corridors and passageways from King's Cross tube station to St Pancras' actual train platform
i'm not sure this new Eurostar terminal was such a good idea after all... and it's a shame that all weekend i didn't get to see more of my friends living there (especially Amandine and Sandra
) but it's only game postponed, not cancelled!!
piccies:
xAL