When you live and work in London it is so important to get out there and enjoy it, as time has this crazy way of flying right past you if you give it half a chance. I was talking to someone the other day and said that we spend all our time planning our nights out, the rest of the time recovering from being out and then still fitting work, eating, and sleeping into that.
This Sunday we set out to Liverpool Street for me to have my first ice skate of this year, or last, as I was in sunny South Africa while you were all enjoying the wintery festivities. Right in the heart of the City is Broadgate Circle ice rink, (now closed) but we caught it in its final day open. We had to wait but got a chance to see some youngsters skating much better than many adults. Besides falling down when we were trying to skate in convoy we had a good few laps to some trance anthems.
London’s Broadgate Circle
Next, a short walk from there via Shoreditch High Street to Columbia Street Flower Market to go find some exotic flowers. There were tulips everywhere, in every colour and are 3 bunches for £10 or £4 each. The street is long but when it gets busy you have to move very slowly forward, taking into consideration the majority of the guys there are hungover and being dragged there by girlfriends. This was, of course, not the case with me and mine.
From the moment I saw them I knew they were for me – thistles arranged with some pincushion Proteas, a beautiful combination of purple and orange-red.
Being right near Brick Lane and needing to get to Hoxton it would have been sacrilege to not stop off and take a peek at all the markets Brick Lane has to offer, every sort of food you can imagine and clothing stalls for every taste. I must say that they do not cater for men to a large degree and vintage jewellery is also not represented very well. On route we stopped off at the very kitsch and very cool Commercial Tavern for a drink and a game of pool. The decor here is ‘retro-licious’ with old wall paper, chandeliers, animal horns adorning the walls and much more.
Pincushion Proteas, Thistles and The “retro-licious” Commercial Tavern, 142-144 Commercial St, London E1 6NU
Pincushion Proteas, Thistles and The “retro-licious” Commercial Tavern, 142-144 Commercial St, London E1 6NU
We did not sample any food as our end goal was Red Dog Saloon on Hoxton Square for a meat feast. We got away with not having any starch in our dinner, very healthy! Only ribs, quarter chicken and a side salad the size of your palm, plus a milk shake that filled me up before the food even arrived.
That was it, our Sunday was a success.
