A bright, crisp Saturday morning beckoned us as we set off for our annual trip to London, this year to mark my birthday (did you know I was 40?! I promise, this is the last you'll hear of it.)Let me introduce my friends:
Sandra and Debs
Sonia
Unity
And Jo
After much debate it was agreed that we would neither drive nor take a limo into London, but take the train. On arrival at the underground station, I slightly made the mistake of heading for the stairs instead of the lift. So six women with too much luggage and an overweight American tourist who reminded us of Ron from Badiddlyboing, Odawidaho, were slightly glowing and panting by the time we got to the top and saw the sign that said 175 steps! Oops!
We found our very glamorous hotel, dumped our luggage and headed to Covent Garden.
A bit of window shopping and then it was time for lunch.
Just after this photo was taken, the waitress split four glasses of rose wine all over Debs. She was absolutely soaked and took it a lot better than I would have. It was an accident but there was no apology and we were heading off to the theatre next, so I'm sorry to say, we had to argue to get her lunch taken off the bill.
Then we made our way to the Savoy Theatre to see cough, cough Never Forget (yes, slightly embarrassingly, it's the Take That story). Well, the story was as thin as ice but the effects and the music and dancing were contagious and we were all up boogeying at the end, along with all the other parties of women-of-a-certain-age, including another group from our town that we knew.
Then back to the hotel and more arguing and not great customer service - this time the hotel told us they had one twin room for us, but had given away the two others and we had to have single rooms. That's the thing about this age - you stand up for yourself a bit more - and with five other feisty women behind me, I'm afraid they had to back down and magically they found two more twin rooms!
A lovely free meal out in the evening followed by a walk home past The Ivy and the most amazing bead shop that I must go back to some time, some champagne in the room, then we stayed up talking til 3am. I regretted this, when the fire alarm went off at 8am the next morning! And had I bought any decent pyjamas? Had I hell! Tartan flannelette trousers, red boob tube and leather jacket were what the other guests were treated to - how stylish am I?!
It was a false alarm, so we meandered back to our room and watched the firemen arrive from the balcony.
A leisurely breakfast, then off to Harrods. £2500 for a teeny pot of caviar anyone? £210 for a Missoni cardigan for age 0-3? We had to drag Debs away from the £800 Dior handbag and spent ages in the Christmas department, then onto the pets department where, I'm sorry to say, we lost control.
Who would buy a leopard-skin sofa with a canopy for their dog? What dog would sit in a stroller? Then we saw a model of a dachshund dressed up in £200 chaps and a cowboy hat - well, that was the start of the hysterics and mad whooping as each outfit we saw was progressively worse. A birthday boy t-shirt complete with pointed party hat, an Elvis outfit with flares and rhinestones and the fancy dress outfits in case you wanted to take your pooch to a fancy dress party - ladybirds, witches and yes, crocodiles! I'd absolutely love a little smooth-haired dachshund, but if I was ever lucky enough to get one, I'd treat it like a much-loved dog and not like a mini human!
It was a very enjoyable weekend with some very good friends and we're already planning our next trip in February.
Lots of yarnie stuff going on in the background including sending out Squee! Sock Club parcels - international ones went last week, UK ones today. Dyed up Plushness for Socktopus at Ally Pally today. Hoping to get another dyeing day over the weekend so we can have a shop update next week, but not sure how possible it will be as attending this event:
We're making little hats for bottles of Innocent Smoothies to raise money for Age Concern.
We found our very glamorous hotel, dumped our luggage and headed to Covent Garden.
A bit of window shopping and then it was time for lunch.
Just after this photo was taken, the waitress split four glasses of rose wine all over Debs. She was absolutely soaked and took it a lot better than I would have. It was an accident but there was no apology and we were heading off to the theatre next, so I'm sorry to say, we had to argue to get her lunch taken off the bill.
Then we made our way to the Savoy Theatre to see cough, cough Never Forget (yes, slightly embarrassingly, it's the Take That story). Well, the story was as thin as ice but the effects and the music and dancing were contagious and we were all up boogeying at the end, along with all the other parties of women-of-a-certain-age, including another group from our town that we knew.
Then back to the hotel and more arguing and not great customer service - this time the hotel told us they had one twin room for us, but had given away the two others and we had to have single rooms. That's the thing about this age - you stand up for yourself a bit more - and with five other feisty women behind me, I'm afraid they had to back down and magically they found two more twin rooms!
A lovely free meal out in the evening followed by a walk home past The Ivy and the most amazing bead shop that I must go back to some time, some champagne in the room, then we stayed up talking til 3am. I regretted this, when the fire alarm went off at 8am the next morning! And had I bought any decent pyjamas? Had I hell! Tartan flannelette trousers, red boob tube and leather jacket were what the other guests were treated to - how stylish am I?!
It was a false alarm, so we meandered back to our room and watched the firemen arrive from the balcony.
A leisurely breakfast, then off to Harrods. £2500 for a teeny pot of caviar anyone? £210 for a Missoni cardigan for age 0-3? We had to drag Debs away from the £800 Dior handbag and spent ages in the Christmas department, then onto the pets department where, I'm sorry to say, we lost control.
Who would buy a leopard-skin sofa with a canopy for their dog? What dog would sit in a stroller? Then we saw a model of a dachshund dressed up in £200 chaps and a cowboy hat - well, that was the start of the hysterics and mad whooping as each outfit we saw was progressively worse. A birthday boy t-shirt complete with pointed party hat, an Elvis outfit with flares and rhinestones and the fancy dress outfits in case you wanted to take your pooch to a fancy dress party - ladybirds, witches and yes, crocodiles! I'd absolutely love a little smooth-haired dachshund, but if I was ever lucky enough to get one, I'd treat it like a much-loved dog and not like a mini human!It was a very enjoyable weekend with some very good friends and we're already planning our next trip in February.
Lots of yarnie stuff going on in the background including sending out Squee! Sock Club parcels - international ones went last week, UK ones today. Dyed up Plushness for Socktopus at Ally Pally today. Hoping to get another dyeing day over the weekend so we can have a shop update next week, but not sure how possible it will be as attending this event:
We're making little hats for bottles of Innocent Smoothies to raise money for Age Concern.
2 comments:
Sounds like you had a blast in London! Which hotel did you stay in? Go on. Name and shame 'em! Sounds like their customer service skills could do with a bit of a brush up but good for you for standing up to them.
Oh and a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I've been away for a couple of weeks and missed your previous blog posts. Enjoy your naughty forties!!!
Oh, I couldn't possibly say since they sorted it out in the end, but I can say that the cafe/bar was Covent Garden Kitchen since the waitress was so snotty - guess they see so many tourists, they think they'll never come back anyway.
Post a Comment