Continuing my long, drawn out story of my trip in September…
September 14th: Woke late-ish (for me) in the morning. My train back to London wasn’t until 12:30, which meant I had a nice, lazy morning to have coffee, watch the local news and slowly pack my bag. It was the first rainy morning of the trip, so I opted to stay inside the little apartment under a blanket on the sofa. Sooooo nice and cozy.
Finally got my weary arse up and out and into the misty morning. By the time I needed to walk to the train station the rain had nearly stopped and all that was left was a soft but cold drizzle. As I walked myself to Waverly, I imagined that I was living in Edinburgh and just going about my everyday life. This is what it would be like, walking in the chilly mist, seeing the faces of the others walking - and I could feel it. I could imagine myself living there.
Train ride back was kind of amusing. There was an announcement as the train was pulling out of the station: “due to anti-social behavior on previous trains, there will be no alcoholic beverages served between Edinburgh and York”. I mean, I was planning a glass of wine or two, but I didn’t mind waiting for the trip to be half over. I certainly didn’t need to drink the entire 4-hour ride. But it made me wonder what the anti-social behavior was!
Arrived in London without incident and 2 glasses of wine in my belly, post York Station. Caught the tube to my next hotel, which turned out to be very close to the MASSIVE Westfield London shopping center. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Westfield would become something of a home base for me for the next couple of days.
My hotel was cool. It was the K West Hotel, which used to be a BBC recording studio where David Bowie and Amy Winehouse, among others recorded and performed, and is now a hotel with what looked like a very luxurious spa. I’d gotten a deal where I could also use the spa, but never ended up having a chance to use it because I was out and about the whole time. Kind of a modern oasis in the midst of old buildings, but I have to say it was a bit rough around the edges. For a place that touts itself as ultra cool, my room was kind of drab and dark and the lifts weren’t working properly. You know how much I hate elevators, right? I didn’t even attempt to ride them. Another reason to travel light.
By the time I checked in, the day had gotten brilliantly GORGEOUS in London. Unseasonably warm and sunny, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and figured I’d grab a bite while I was out as it was almost dinnertime. I’d also found a little wine bar via yelp that I figured I’d visit at the end.
Wasn’t sure exactly where to walk to start, so I decided to check out Westfield. It is one of the biggest, most luxurious malls I’ve ever stepped foot inside. And it was the start of London Fashion Week to boot, so there was a TON of activity going on. I walked right in and happened on a fashion show in the middle of an atrium, surrounded by kiosks full of free goodies - they were doing makeup and hair styling and giving away cocktails and glossy magazines all week…very fun stuff! Watched the fashion show for a while and then walked around the mall to window shop and people watch and get some makeup (my blush had exploded when I dropped it at the hotel so I needed some new product).
By the time I’d gotten all of that done I was famished. There were about fifty thousand options to choose for dinner, so I found a dim sum place and sat at the bar and ate dumplings and drank champagne. The only thing missing was a companion, but it was a fine dinner even though I felt a little lonely.
After dinner I went in search of the wine bar, thinking that I might have the same kind of luck I’d had in Edinburgh at the fancy-schmancy place. Unfortunately, this place was kind of tucked away in a corner. Very cute and romantic bar, but it was filled with couples. Definitely not a place where I’d find some great conversation - AT ALL. So one glass of champers for me and then about a 20 minute walk back to the hotel in the dark.
I was a little turned around. It’s kind of hard to get your bearings in the dark. But I’m such a super map studier that I knew I was on track - just felt like I was walking through a sketchy couple of blocks. Finally saw the hotel like a beacon in the night!
Walked inside and the lobby bar was hopping! It was Friday night around 10:30PM and I could tell that a lot of the crowd was a Fashion Week crowd, which was PERFECT for people watching! I bellied up to the bar and eavesdropped on the crew to my right - a stunning group of men and one extremely tall, gorgeous, probably half-Asian woman dressed all in leather. Unfortunately, two guys kept horning in on my eavesdropping by trying to order drinks in between me and the group. Finally, I dropped my guard and started talking to one of them. They did lighting works - presumably for fashion shows among other things, but I wasn’t able to get a good conversation going because they were back and forth with the drinks to their work group.
Finally, I gave up. I was exhausted and needed some sleep. Slept like a rock.
September 15th: Woke up in the morning with the biggest case of the blues…EVER. Wow. It just suddenly hit me that I had spent the last 8 days traveling, having a blast and doing the most amazing things…ALONE!! And the times when I wasn’t alone…like hanging out with Pascal or hiking and even getting some lovin’ from HB John still made me ache. [I started to write something like the fact that those times weren’t real - but of course they were REAL and they were REAL FUN - but they weren’t with someone I consider MINE…my heart and my soul…does that make sense?]
Suddenly, I was the loneliest human on the planet. I was just really missing having someone to experience all of this with…someone to laugh with. I felt devastated.
I let the tears just flow. Big ones. I can’t remember the last time I had such a cleansing cry. It felt really, really good - despite the sadness. I let the waves wash over me. It was extremely cathartic. It lasted a good 45 minutes.
And then, miraculously, as if the sun came out from a rainstorm, I was ready for the day. Got up and got moving.
As I was showering and dressing and prepping, I discovered that I’d left my electric converter on the train when I’d plugged in my laptop. Must have unplugged the computer part and just left the converter still plugged into the outlet on the train. There was no way of powering on my straightening iron. Immediately the thought occurred to me that I could get a free hairstyle at the fashion show kiosk at Westfield, right around the corner! They’d be styling at noon! Perfect timing, too, as I had fashion shows to attend starting at 4:30.
Big breakfast in hotel lobby then off to get mah hairs did at the salon pop-up. Had some guy give me the most beautiful beachy waves (I normally wear my hair stick straight) that actually lasted the rest of the trip! I wouldn’t need my straightening iron at all!
Then…since I was in a gigantic shopping center (again), I got it in my head that I wanted to buy myself something cool to wear to the fashion shows that afternoon/evening. Ended up walking the whole entire place only to talk myself out of buying something because nothing was tickling my fancy. I had stuff to wear already anyway. Why was I letting this stress me out anyway?
Back to hotel to get ready and figure out where I needed to go to these shows.
Found myself at the venue right on time (actually a bit early), and checked in early at the VIP check-in (I’d booked VIP to do something nice for myself and so I could have front-row access), and then I was pointed to sort of a backstage kind of waiting area where there was a step and repeat, some products on display, a bar and a little outdoor patio kind of thing. Someone (I later found out it was one of the producers) bought me a glass of champagne and then I went out to the patio area where I met a super nice American couple about my age who were there because their daughter was modeling in the show. Had some fun converstion and then it was time for the first show!
These shows were for up-and-coming designers and there were about 8 or 9 highlighted, but the designs, for the most part, were very cool and sophisticated. I enjoyed the first one very much - especially since I had a front row seat, very close to the photographers at the end of the catwalk. Took a bunch of photos and then went back to that little backstage area to await the second show.
The second show was touted as the first fashion show ever to include robots as an interactive part of the show. I was intrigued by this notion.
As I was waiting, I checked my phone and happened to find a direct message on my Instagram from Karl, a guy I’d gone out with a million years ago (okay, a couple years ago). He’d seen from IG that I was in London and he happened to be in London too. It was his last night in town after dropping his daughter off at college and wanted to know if I was still in London and would I like to maybe meet?
But of course! I wrote back and told him that I was at a fashion show and asked if he wouldn’t mind waiting AND if he’d maybe meet me at the Prosecco House?
He said he wouldn’t mind waiting and he’d meet me anywhere I wanted to go…so I was really happy to know that I had plans after the next show since I’d been feeling so lonely earlier in the day. What a nice feeling to know that there are people everywhere who want to connect. Truly excited about that.
Second show started and…well, you know how I wrote above that there would be ROBOTS?? Yeah, I think they touted this thing a little too highly to the press - even Forbes magazine wrote about it:: Robots Storm the Runway
You guys. The fucking HYPE leading up to this thing was insane. The show started late and the announcement was like it was a NEW AGE IN FASHION TECHNOLOGY…. [cue blasting loud music crescendoing, crescendoing…and BOOM!!!]
It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. It was essentially an iPad attached to a blinged-out stand with wheels! And there was only ONE of them!! And the models walked around this thing that just sat there in the middle of the runway for like 30 minutes!! I couldn’t believe I paid extra for VIP seats to see this. I was laughing the whole time.
Don’t get me wrong, the clothing was amazing at all of these shows, but I was soooo annoyed by the hype of this damn iPad on a stick!
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Then to catch the tube (it was about a 30-minute commute) to get to the Prosecco House to meet Karl. It was late and chilly and once I got out of the tube station I was completely turned around. I started walking in the wrong direction in the pitch dark and soon figured out that I needed to cross the Tower Bridge to get to where we’d agreed on meeting.
Once I crossed the bridge it was still a difficult walk because the venue was kind of around and down an alleyway and NOT even marked. It was super annoying and I almost blew this place off because it was impossible to get to. I ended up walking back and forth in the alleyway and had to ask some people in a restaurant where the hell the place was. I was close, but had to walk down yet another alleyway!! When I finally got there, the place was lovely and fancy and all that, but nobody was there because it was just so damn hard to get to!
Not even Karl was there! He was having just as hard a time as I had.
But he eventually arrived and we did have a glass of prosecco there because it was one of the things I’d wanted to check off my list since I’d started PLANNING this vacation, so…had to do it!
Great to see Karl - a wonderful familiar face nearing the end of my trip. A very pleasant and unexpected surprise. And he was very pleased as well. He told me of his annoyance with the social media age and how it’s so hard to get anyone to do anything anymore because social media has made it okay for us to say, yeah, sure to plans and then back out. I totally understand what he meant by that - we see it happen in our brunch club every month - we invite 50 people and 7 or 8 show up. So it’s VERY nice when something spontaneous like this happens.
And it was truly a happy evening for me as I’d had SUCH blues about being so alone earlier that morning.
After prosecco, Karl and I walked around the Thames Riverfront, hopping into restaurants and pubs to grab snacks and beers (and more prosecco for me). We walked and laughed and enjoyed each others’ company, though no sparks were reignited. It just felt really good to be hanging out with someone from ‘home’, you know?
It got late and kind of cold. Karl put his jacket around my shoulders and it made me feel warm and taken care of. He told me he’d like to invite me to some events when we both got back home, and he even dialed up an Uber for me (my phone had died and he didn’t want me to take the tube back at that hour). What a super nice guy.
sigh
Uber ride was awesome as the driver had some political show playing on his radio and people were discussing what a shit show Brexit is - I felt a sense of camaraderie with the driver as we were both shaking our heads and laughing about Brexit and the jokes being made about Trump.
Back to the hotel and immediately in bed and under the covers for a glorious next-to-last-night’s sleep.
Next entry in this series: Last day of London, back to Paris, and The Scot…
xox,
GS
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