A Wimbledon First

I have been lucky enough to have been to Wimbledon four times now. These visits have included getting to watch amazing matches -one of which was on Centre Court- as well as some beautiful sunshine (translation: a very sun burnt Roo), some endless rain, of course strawberries and cream and endless amounts of queuing. None of my four Wimbledon trips ever disappointed, so I always look forward to this time of year and adding to my tally. 

In spite of my four trips, the one thing I have never experienced was camping (my earliest Wimbledon start was 5:30 am last year, with included a 5 minute journey from my bedroom to the queue). Megan (Richard's sister for those who haven't read my last post, in which case: shame on you) is a huge tennis fan and an equally impressive Roger Federer supporter and having flown endless amounts of miles and hours from South Africa, she wanted to give herself the best chance of seeing him play. As Federer is one of the most loved tennis players here at Wimbledon, this presented us with only one option: camping. Having cut our tourist trip short on Monday and bought all the camping necessities, we joined the queue around 4pm and were given ticket number 670 (ish). Given the number of excessive Federer fans in front of us, we didn't consider ourselves to have a good chance to get a ticket to see him but nevertheless set up camp and went out to get some food. 

Living minutes from my flat was a bit of a saviour (for a non-camper like myself, that is). It allowed us to keep our food fresh for the next day, have a hot drink if we pleased (without paying £3 for a filter coffee) and when I woke up with a soaked back from the condensation outside of the tent, I was able to run home, take a hot shower and have some lemon tea to prevent any sort of cold from developing. 

As Natz joined us for a couple of hours in the queue on Monday, we all had a bit to drink (some more than others) and in spite of the Stewards waking campers at 5:30am, I had been awake since 3:30, with only 3.5 hours sleep. Nevertheless, having packed up, dropped our camping stuff back at the flat, we were eventually moved into an actual moving queue where we found out that (through the median of a wrist band) we got a ticket on Court 1 and would therefore get to see Federer. Furthermore, not only did we get our tickets but managed to get courtside seats, just three rows behind where Federer was sitting for his change of ends!!!

The day turned out to be sunny and hot and although I am not a Federer fan myself, it was a great experience to see one of tennis' greatest players. I’ve only been to one other grand slam, but I have to say that Wimbledon and its crowds is really special. Possibly my favourite part of my day was when Federer was cruising along against Paolo Lorenzi (who was giving it his everything): in spite of 80-90% of court supporting Federer, everyone really got behind Lorenzi and urged him on, clapping and supporting every good point or game he won, as if he won the set, or match. Lorenzi clearly appreciated the support and it made for a good match and brilliant atmosphere! 

As well as Federer, we managed to see one of my favourite female tennis players, Maria Sharapova and although for just a game, my favourite male player; Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. The last match we managed to see was Anna Ivanovic which proved to be a great match but by that point in the evening, we hit a plateau and were fighting to stay awake. 

It proved to be a great day and it was wonderful to share it with Richard and Megan who were experiencing the tournament for the first time. We returned home beyond tired, managed to eat our dinner and all but pas out as soon as our heads hit the pillow. 

Muah

Roo xx

City girl as a London tourist?

Bright and early on Sunday morning, Richard's sister, Megan landed in London for a visit. I know Richard has been looking forward to the visit for a while and given that his family lives far far away, Megan was the first family member that I was to meet. In spite of an 11 hour flight, Megan arrived with far more energy than I could ever muster after such a journey, so after some breakfast we headed out to central London for some sightseeing.

Having arrived in Victoria, we managed to cover as many sights as possible in one very long walk which included Buckingham Palace, St James' Park, Whitehall, Big Ben(jamin) (as I like to call it), Southbank and London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square (and therefore M&M World, of course) and Piccadilly Circus. It proved to be quite a walk (and one that every tourist should try, given that you get to see so many attractions, all on foot and avoid the stuffy public transport) and we decided to get the train back up to Wimbledon, with very sore legs.

At Wimbledon, with a sugar hit from a Starbucks Frappucinno, we walked through Wimbledon Village taking in all the racket and tennis ball decorated shop and restaurant windows. I make no exaggeration when I say that with the exception of two art galleries, every window had something tennis related: it was quite the walk to get us in the Wimbledon spirit.

Once home, all we managed was dinner (some delicious chicken fajitas) and a glimpse of some World Cup football.

Having booked a couple of days off for Megan's visit, on Monday we didn't quite have the early start we planned but eventually got up and out of the house and headed out to Tower Bridge, walking around, grabbing some lunch. We soon headed back home (having bought a tent and a mattress) to set up camp at Wimbledon. A post on that, however will follow soon...

Happy Saturday, lovies!

Muah

Roo xx

Day at the Royal Ascot

The weekend (along with the days that followed) has been more than a little hectic, consisting of rushing around, travelling and very little sleep. I started the weekend in style with my first ever trip to the Royal Ascot for my cousin, Rai's 30th birthday.

In spite of my exceptionally early start on Saturday (6am!!!!) which consisted of a run, a lovely breakfast and general getting ready, the journey to Ascot proved to be rushed, squashed and a little hectic (apparently, half of London decided to join me on the trip which meant only one thing: there were severe train delays). Having eventually reached Ascot and finally the grounds, the atmosphere was buzzing, celebratory and the weather was absolutely gorgeous with the sun being out in its fully glory. We arrived just in time for some celebratory Pimm's and a viewing of the Queen during the Royal Parade.

Having never bet on anything before (silly verbal sibling bets of "I bet you're going to lose" aside, of course) I decided that Ascot would be the ideal setting for my first bet. Sadly, I didn't win after the first race but having a vested interest in the result definitely made the race more fun and exciting (especially since I have absolutely no knowledge of horse racing and decided to go for a silly or eye-catching name). Having lost in my first race, I left my cousins and their friends behind and went to find Rosie who was experiencing her first trip to Ascot too. We enjoyed the sunshine, had a mini catch up and managed to see some of the racing horses before their upcoming races.

I decided to leave Rosie and her friend in search of my cousins and their party which proved to be a huge mistake as they had moved in my short absence. Being unable to locate them, I spent over an hour having a tour of the grounds (in high heels) in search of them. Although the grounds were quite beautiful, the combination of crowds, walking in high heels and scorching sunshine didn't quite put me in a celebratory mood. Having finally found the party, I bet on one more race (the final one of the day), had a bit of wine and listened to some of the celebratory singing which brought this year's Royal Ascot to an end, before making my long way home.

I am truly glad that I made the trip to Ascot; it was an interesting experience and we were lucky to have some glorious weather but if I am perfectly honest (which I do try to be in my posts) it isn't an experience I would try again. It was a little disappointing to see empty alcohol bottles and litter all over the lovely, green grass in later afternoon. Both the grounds and some of the people were a bit of a mess and I felt that an event which was supposed to be special and somewhat prestigious, didn't feel that way in the end. I should also point out that after spending days trying to organise my outfit and making sure it met all of the (seemingly) stringent Ascot guidelines, I realised that I needn't have bothered; aside from the absolute need to wear a hat or fascinator, the other rules in regards to straps/sleeves and dress length wasn't enforced at all. By far my favourite part of the day, however was towards the end when the band started playing their brass instruments and the crowd joined in the singing, waving their Great Britain flags. It was exactly what I expected of the day; the mood was celebratory and happy and the perfect last impression to have of the day.

After a very long day, I returned home shattered with very sore feet ( and slight sunburn) having had a pleasant day out but very happy to be back in the comfort of my home. I even came home to some gorgeous purple flowers that matched my dress!

A pretty good Saturday, after all!

Muah

Roo xx

London Travel

As a Londoner, I expect to do significant amounts of travel to get pretty much anywhere. Whilst this has its nuisances, most of the time I accept this as part of life in London (with signal failure related delays being the key exception). This weekend however, I took travel to a new extreme, spending what felt like most of the weekend on public transport.
 

After a hectic week at work, I celebrated the end of the week on Friday with Rosie over a bottle of wine at the Bistro 1 on Southampton Street in Covent Garden. We only had a bottle of Rose which was quite nice (but most importantly very well priced) and with the weather being summer-perfect, we spent the evening sitting at one of the outside tables. It was a lovely, relaxing evening and exactly what was needed after a crazy week.

Due to a line closure on the District line on Saturday, I had a very early start to make my way to Eastbourne. With a newspaper and a latte from Starbucks, the train journey out of Victoria wasn’t all that awful but still brought back memories of the endless amounts of travel I did between Exeter and London during university (really not all that fun. At all). In Eastbourne, I met Richard and we headed out to watch some qualifying tennis matches at the Aegon Eastbourne tournament.

We managed to see some good matches and had a lovely time, in spite of the sun being in hiding for most of the day and it being anything but warm. After a day of tennis, we headed back to London for pizza, wine and football (of course!). The pizzeria, Franco Manca has been opened for a week now in Southfields. Having seen the setting up of the place over the last couple of months, we ordered our sourdough pizzas to take away and enjoyed them in front of the telly. The pizzas were really quite delicious. Unfortunately, they seemed to have gotten cold before we even finished eating them (and I am a fast eater) and didn’t taste remotely as good but I can’t blame the pizzeria for my sheer laziness and refusal to get off the sofa and re-heat it! With my early morning start, I unfortunately fell asleep in the last 10mins of the England match, but was quite proud of the fact that I managed to watch most of it (even though it was a little disappointing to see them lose).

Following a good night’s sleep, a lovely (albeit a bit rushed) breakfast, me and Richard embarked on a 2.5 hour long journey to South East London, to visit my parents. The journey was little fun and involved a lot of changes but having reached my parents’ house, it was a rather nice afternoon filled with too much food and some telly (including football). My parents were on their best behaviour!

After a little too much food and wine, we started on the very long journey back home. Returning completely shattered, meant I went to sleep all but straight away…

Muah,

Roo xx

Monday with John Mayer at the o2

Yet again, I have fallen a little behind on my blogging; turns out living, sleeping, working and blogging can be a challenging balance to strike. 

It isn't often that I look forward to a Monday which doesn't contain a day off work (in fact this has never happened before) but last Monday was the exception. After what seemed like the longest working day ever, I walked up to London Bridge to meet Richard so we could head up to the o2 for the John Mayer concert. Now I say with immense understatement when I say that Richard is a huge John Mayer fan and when he asked if I wanted to go with him, I was really excited, having not been to a concert in ages and being a bit of a fan of the man myself. 

I must say: John Mayer did not disappoint. The show was absolutely incredible (and he played 3 of my favourite songs!) I also absolutely loved the mixed audience; everyone was there from teenagers to guitar loving grandads and everyone in between. I don't think I can give an apt description of the show but it was genuinely brilliant and completely worth the long journey home and my sleep deprived, zombie state the next morning (by the way, I am not a huge fan of Tuesdays either).

Sadly, this Monday has been far less exciting, but you can't have good Mondays all the time; it's against nature!

Night night, lovlies!

Muah

Roo xx

Is summer really here?

Londoners (along with the rest of the country) have been severely deprived of a summer this year (winter boots in May should not be legal!) but last weekend, the sun and heat came out for the whole weekend (that's right: Saturday and Sunday!) and I made the most of it by playing tennis (after all as all the signs on the road outside my flat indicate; Wimbledon is just round the corner).

Following a bit of a mental week at work, I spent Friday evening at home. I made some (rather good, even I do say so myself) Spaghetti Bolognese for myself and Richard -who was down for the weekend- which we enjoyed with some wine before trudging off to bed.

After sleeping slightly too much, Saturday had a very slow start. Most of the morning/early afternoon was spent watching the French Open and having breakfast. It took us a while to decide on a plan for the day. Rather uneventfully, we thought of going to a decent tennis shop so that I could buy a tennis skirt and Richard could look at some tennis shoes (yes, we are that cool) but soon came to realise that living minutes away from the All England Club means that we have one of London's better tennis shops just round the corner. Having bought my lovely tennis skirt, we had to test it out by going to the park to play some tennis which turned out to be so much fun. For the first time in over a year (when Richard and I first started playing tennis together), I actually made Richard run and he admitted to being a bit tired after it all (this is no mean feat, with his long legs) and I thank my skirt and new shock absorber for the achievement). After tennis in the sun, we rushed back to the flat, showered, ate dinner and headed out to Islington with Natz to the o2 Academy where we met Antonio.

The tickets for the academy promised a tribute to The Killers which we didn't quite get. We arrived to hear two live bands, the second of which was really good. After the live bands, the club music came on, consisting of old school indie which was promised and delivered. The DJ also mentioned that The Killers tribute would soon start but having stayed at the club till after 12, I didn't hear any of their songs. The place was surprisingly small and not very busy at all which was quite a relief as it meant it didn't get too hot and stuffy but then lacked a fun, dance-encouraging atmosphere (that, of course didn't stop me and Natz). It was a nice, relaxed night and great to spend some time with all the lovely South Africans in my life!

Having had to get two long night buses home the night before, Sunday was dedicated to a lie in. As a result, I had to rush off to Oxford Street for an early lunch with Rosie (with some window shopping, of course!) We had some lovely wine and pasta at Carluccio's at St Christopher's Place, opting to sit inside since there were absolutely no seats in the shade (I reminisced about Rome with a lovely seafood pasta). Having discovered that me and Rosie were both going to Royal Ascot this year (sadly on different days) we were left with no option but to try on a ridiculous amount of hats in preparation - some great, some crazy and some on the verge of disgusting). We discovered that Rosie looks good in any and every hat - a little envious of that!

Having got home, I quickly changed into my tennis clothes for some more tennis in the park. Having pre-booked a court, we didn't have to wait and Richard got to play on astroturf for the first time ever. The sun was out in full swing and to show off that fact, Richard came back pink and I had some horrible tan lines from my top. Richard having bought some cooking ingredients earlier in the day, we finished the evening making Lithuanian beetroot cold soup (it tastes a lot better than it sounds and Richard tasted his first traditional Lithuanian dish) and some Chinese noodles in Thai red curry sauce, as inspired by our trip to Dim T last week. We ate dinner in front of the telly, watching the England take on the Rest of the World in football.

After a wonderful weekend, I rolled into bed looking forward to Monday evening... (yes, that's right) But more on that in the next post...

Muah,

Roo xx

Mid-week Blues

I am sure the second sentence of this post today will get me little to no sympathy, but I am going to say it anyway. I haven’t worked a full 5-day week for over 6 weeks. Yes, it may be shameful and may make me not-so-great-an-employee but in my defence, there have been a lot of bank holidays in May! And then there was Rome… Basically, this week being my full week back in weeks has made it a rather challenging one. By Wednesday, the combination of a busy weekend and limited sleep made me a bit zombie-like so I decided to have a busy, lovely Wednesday evening (after a full day of work, of course) to help me survive the rest of the week (not quite as counterproductive as it sounds).

The Chambers for which I work has been lucky enough to have two barristers made silk this year (if you’re not sure what that means, I had a rambling post on this last year). For a mere mortal like me, this means one thing: a work Silk’s party. Our two new silks celebrated their career success at the London Symphony Orchestra. This was a beautiful 18^th Century converted Church, building that was once a church, with beautiful high ceilings, old exposed brick walls and stunning windows. The place was stunning, with a great atmosphere – I managed to listen to our Chambers band, speak to some clients and colleagues and have a couple of glasses of champagne before heading off to Blackfriars to meet Richard who came down for the evening.

We walked to Southbank, reaching Wagamama just before the rain started pelting down. I had a lovely curry, finishing just as the rain subsided. We then made a trip to Oxford Circus for a cocktail and some Blues at the Lucky Pig which may be my new favourite cocktail bar. Having showed up quite late, the place wasn’t overly packed and we managed to get served quickly and found a very comfy, old sofa to sit on. The cocktails were slightly on the pricey side (the cheapest one being £10) but they were very unique sounding and quite delicious – I had a lovely French Martini which tasted like a liquid hard-boiled sweet. Yum! Inside, the walls were run down with bits of wall being stripped off but with candles, mirrors, a piano and beautiful Victorian sofas and chairs, it created the most cosy atmosphere. We also showed up just in time to hear the club’s Blues band, The Polar Bears who were really really good. It created the nicest atmosphere with great music and we returned home tired, relaxed and happy. It was the perfect evening to help me survive the rest of the working week!

Muah,

Roo xx

Food feast weekend

In spite of having a 3 day week last week, I still felt proud that I survived the very slow 3 days and managed to reach the weekend.

To celebrate the start of the weekend, me and Richard went out for dinner to Roxie Steak & Wine café in Fulham. In spite of the unoriginal name, the place was really nice. It won’t be all that surprising that the “café” specialised in steak (and wine). The place was split into a more casual feel café with a couple of small tables, along with some bar stools and high tables on the one side and a more like a more restaurant-like half with normal tables and chairs and some candles. The place was really busy and I was thankful that Richard had pre-booked a table earlier in the week (by which point the place was almost fully booked). In spite of sitting in the restaurant-esque area (with a quiet table), the place got pretty loud from the typical end-of-the-week chatter (probably helped by the wine). Whilst I am no steak connoisseur, I found it really delicious. Typically opting for my meat to be “very well done”, due to endless peer-pressure from various friends (you know who you are), I asked mine to be cooked medium/well done and it was absolutely delicious! However, Roxie's real treat was their New York style cheesecake. It was incredible! I have a deep love for cheesecake but have been unable to find one as good as the one I had in New York City. Well I have to say Roxie has definitely offered the best cheesecake that I’ve ever had in the UK! After a lovely dinner, cheesecake included, we decided to walk some of it off by heading to Putney Bridge which was lovely and relaxing and very good for my overfilled tummy.

That cheesecake

After too long a lie in on Saturday, me and Richard made the most of the sunshine (perhaps too much in fact since I got a little sun burnt) and played some tennis in the park. I hadn’t played in a while and had so much fun, albeit did regret forgetting the sun screen. Returning home, we watched a bit of the French Open before getting ready and out of the flat for dinner at Dim T by Tower Bridge. The menu itself bore a very close resemblance to that of Wagamama (perhaps with a few less choices) but it completely stood out on location, being adjacent to Tower Bridge. The restaurant has two floors – the second flood offering the most perfect view of the bridge – but sadly the second floor was fully booked (will definitely pre-book next time). Nevertheless, we still got a table by the window, which was lovely. The atmosphere was far quieter than Wagamama and the food was both really nicely presented and really delicious! After our lovely meal, we walked by Southbank, reaching B@1 in Covent Garden for a cocktail before heading back home.

Sunday proved to be largely unproductive, being spent in front of the telly, watching the tennis. Eventually, we made ourselves leave the house and head up to South Kensington for a walk up to Hyde Park. That, however turned out to be a not-so-great idea since there were several triathlons going on in the park which made it extremely difficult to find a quiet, undisturbed path and even more challenging to cross a road. After a bit of walking and some lounging about, we headed back to flat for some dinner and a lovely, relaxing evening in front of more telly.

A very successful weekend, indeed!

Happy Friday lovelies!

Muah,

Roo xx