Highlight of the Day - Although it sounds really insignificant, I found a long iPhone 5 cable for less than a fiver on Living Social, which means I can now charge my phone over night and still have it on my bed to use as my alarm - not fun to have to get out of bed to snooze every day.  Life changing.

Embarrassing moment of the day - getting lost at Kentish Town station.   Google Maps really makes it looks like you come out on the opposite side of the road to where you actually come out (I double checked afterwards).  I had to ask in Greggs and the guy behind the desk said "Oh, don't ask me, I'm not a local."  I mean, where does he commute from to work in Greggs?? I eventually found my way anyway.

Today, I went narrow boating on the Thames, as you do.  We started at Broadway Market and spent just over 2 hours on the boat to go all the way up to Camden via Angel - it was so much fun! Not the best weather, but it was mostly covered.  I went for a friend's birthday and we all just drank ourselves silly on the boat as we looked at the pretty canal and waved at strangers (which got a bit awkward, as we were actually moving really slowly!!).  We went through lochs and everything, just like Rosie and Jim! I loved it and would definitely go again (would be even better in summer...if we ever get one!)

Highlight of the Week - chilling with vino tinto, vino blanco, beer, shandy and a new discovery of 'tinto verano con limon' which is red wine mixed with traditional lemonade or less traditional lemon Fanta in SPAIN in the SUNSHINE - woo!

Lowlight of the Week - Realising how unfit I am.  Getting lost on a 1-hour mooch turned it into a 4-hour hilly hike.  This was on the second day of my week-long holiday.  I then spent the rest of the week aching all over - slightly depressing perhaps.  I chose to solve it by eating lots of tapas and drinking lots of wine.

Embarrassing Moment of the Week - Where to start? I went into the women's toilet and almost walked into a 70-year-old Spanish woman, panicked because I didn't know the word for "sorry" so I bowed, almost knocking her out (I used to live on Japan, I blame it on that).  My friends and I also got kicked out of the cathedral in Toledo in a rather loud and public fashion as we tried to sneak in because we'd missed the free entrance period by about 2 minutes (due to very misleading signs).  Jesus would've been ashamed.

Yes, I haven't blogged for over a week as I've been sunning myself up in Spain.  My friend won a stay in a 'villa' in the Spanish mountains, near a 'town' called Cecedillia.  Not long before we left, the 'villa' was downgraded to a 'lodge' to a 'flat' and the 'town' to a 'village' that was more a of a cabin (but still very nice).  I've got another friend who lives in Madrid, so I spent some time with her and we also went to the stunningly beautiful Toledo (although we spent most of our time there looking at things without knowing what they were) and the incredibly intimidating tomb of Franco (plus the odd thousand civil war victims!)  I enjoyed myself immensely.  Only small problem was the lovely 4-hour delay that Easy Jet provided us on the way back.  Oh yes, and the perfectly grey sky that greeted us on our return - back to reality!

Also used the panorama function successfully for the first time on my camera - see above! Go me!

Highlight of the Day - Free Egyptian food from a new 'street food' style place that's just opened on St Martin's Lane called Koshari Street.  I'd never had anything like it - it had pasta, rice, lentils and other beans topped with a tomato sauce.  I love lentils and beans etc., but I was thinking when I looked at it that it might be a bit flavourless, but it was really delicious.  Not sure if it was partly because it was free, because free things are always better!

Embarrassing Moment of the Day - Stayed so late at work on Thursday (2.30am!) so I could've taken Friday off, but I had a meeting at 10.30.  It wasn't that important, but I thought I'd go in for it, just to show willing and then go home.  I ran in, completely knackered and looking a state, to find the meeting had already started.  I burst in with my coat still on and had to go and sit at the table next to the person who was talking as it was the only seat left.  2 minutes later the meeting finishes.  It was 10-10.30, not 10.30-11.  I'm an idiot.

I did something very brave on Friday! I'm very proud of myself.  I did some stand-up comedy! I talked for 5 minutes at an open mic night about family holidays, caravanning in Hastings, or somewhere on a layby in the Hastings vicinity.  It went pretty well! The audience was very small, but very supportive.  It was at a night aimed at comedians who have only been going for a year or less, called Underdogs at the Blue Posts on Rupert Street in Soho.  Some of my jokes went well, some fell flat on their face, but the big problem was that I didn't ask the friend who came with me to record it, so I have no idea which ones got laughs and which ones didn't! I'm definitely going to do it again, as I had loads of fun and I met some great people - everyone was surprised it was my first time when I told them afterwards, so that was great! I just need to be a bit funnier next time - sort of a key point! I'm working on it!

That's one of my 30 things ticked off though! Go me!

Highlight of the Day - The Light Show at the Southbank Centre - it was phenomenal.  It's about 15 pieces of art which all use light in some way.  The fact that there were only 15 pieces, but that me and my friends spent well over 2 hours there, shows just how fascinating they were: optical illusions, interactive adventures and mesmerising beauties.  Go, go, go!

Embarrassing Moment of the Day - Randomly falling into a really heavy sleep on the tube - possibly a tiny bit of dribble - horrendous!

This day was a special day.  We organised a birthday treat for a friend, by making her lots of clues on gold cards and hiding around London with them, with each clue guiding her to the next.  We planned meticulously, but this didn't stop the odd error creeping in, like my friend bumping into an old colleague when she was supposed to be rushing ahead of me and the birthday girl to be ready with the next clue at Warren Street Station.  My friend worked out the clue, we went to Warren Street, I thought we had made perfect timing, and then I felt my phone vibrate as soon as we were coming to the top of the escalators.  "STALL."  "I'm behind you".  As she had been chatting away, she had wound up on the same tube as us and we had taken her over! So we were heading to a clueless spot.  Stalling was not easy and it was all quite hilarious.  The clue was about newspapers and it was actually as simple as going to the Evening Standard stand right outside the front of the station, but I made it out it was more difficult, which sent her on a wild goose chase for a couple of minutes.  There was another part where I was going to go the toilet after during our lunch and not come back, instead going with the next clue to Goodge Street, waiting for the birthday girl to find me.  We were in the Attendant Cafe (see below) and you have to go outside to the toilet to the pub next door.  Of course, she needed the toilet at the same time, so we had to go to the pub togehter and I just had to walk into the gents', turn around and head straight back out.  I'd really needed to go too - so spent most of the rest of the day almost wetting myself.  Not sure what the landlady thought of my strolling into the loos and running out 5 seconds later!  Quick work!

Our lunch was in The Attendant Cafe, just near Mortimer Street and the BT Tower.  It's an old Victorian public toilet that has been cleaned up (they promise!) and is being used as a restuarant, so you can eat your lunch in a urinal, with a hand-dryer hovering dangerously close to your head.  It's quite the experience! It's tiny, so a bit difficult to get urinal-seats, but the food is lovely, the staff are very friendly (they even played a part in our clues) and it's just so unique, it's really worth a visit.  I had a sandwich on tiger bread (another addiction of mine) and a really tasty coffee.  I recommend it! My friends had goat's cheese tart and warm french toast - they all loved their meals too.  Slightly ironic that the toilets are outside!  My only disappointment is that there were no cheesy puns like BOGOF on coffees or something, or a fridge labelled the water closet...I'm a sucker for a good pun! It's a bit too cool for that I think though.  I'll be going again, I really enjoyed myself.

After more treasure hunt and the Light Show, we finished the day in Skylon Bar in the Royal Festival Hall Building.  Lovely cocktails (I had a blood orange martini), if slightly awkward table arrangements, as we couldn't fit 4 plates (for charcuterie, darrrling), 4 drinks and the platter around one table, so we were sort of sitting in a line along two tables, which were also of different heights.  It felt a bit like Christmas dinner!

Highlight of the day - Cafe Gourmand - a lovely little cafe and bistrot on Lexington Street in Soho.  It feels very French inside (I used to live in Paris, so I know innit) and it's a lovely, peaceful space in which to escape from the hustle and bustle of Soho.  The staff were really friendly (possibly the only bit that didn't remind me of Paris) and the prices were very reasonable.  I only had a coffee, but was very tempted by all the cakes.  I will definitely be going back for some mini gourmands (little cakes, just a mouthful) or their posh meat pies - I don't think I've ever seen a pie look so delicate!  I'm also quite tempted by their green cookie tea. I was kicking myself for having eaten elsewhere beforehand!

Embarrassing moment of the day - I call it the 'tube lean.'  You know, when you think you're perfectly steady and don't need to hold on and then it jolts off and you rather embarrassingly lean on the person next to you.  That's really embarrassing, right? However, you normally steady yourself and are off of them within a milisecond, mumble sorry, and go back to avoiding eye contact.  I went for a bit of a spectacular one yesterday - it was a 2-second full-frontal lean.  Quite a masterpiece.  Why I was facing this guy, I don't know.  How the tube was going at such a thrust that it lasted 2 seconds, I also don't know.  He was also a really attractive guy, which just made the whole ordeal (allbeit 2 seconds, but let's face it, 2 seconds of British awkwardness feels like a lifetime!).  I felt like the whole carriage were staring at me for the rest of my journey.  They obviously weren't.  Or were they??

So, why was yesterday so spontaneous? I had planned on doing nothing this weekend, but have been talking to friends recently about how my life revolves around lists.  I want more spontaneity damnit!  Then, I saw tickets on lastminute.com a few days ago for My Big Italian Gay Wedding at the Greenwich Theatre.  It's come from New York and the tickets were a good price, so me and a friend went on the spur of the moment.  It was really fun - loud, proud, camp and, in places, hilarious.  It was about an Italian New Yorker getting married to his boyfriend and all the hoo-ha that surrounded it.  It had a lot of visual humour, funny characters and farsical storyline.  There was a great atmosphere, with people from the crowd joining in on jokes and interacting with the actors.  Some singing, some dancing and a whole lot of camping.  A few of the jokes were very America-centric and went a bit over my head - I was hoping they might have localised it a little bit at least, just by picking things that were still American, but more relevant/famous here.  I'd be really interested to know if laughs came at different places in the UK and the US actually.  Me and my friend then went to the gay pub in Greenwich called the Prince.  I then ran down the road like a big poofta about to miss the last DLR.  I caught it.

Earlier in the day, I spontaneously met my friend to go the Southbank Food Market and had a lovely Beijing-style pork pancake from Mei Mei street food.  It did remind me of what I'd eaten when I actually went to Beijing, except that she'd added meat, which made it even better in my book.  I may have also sampled about 15 other stalls' foods! It was such a lovely day to mooch around London.  We then went over to Trafalgar Square and watched the outdoor pillow fight (see photo above).  We didn't join - we're not that spontaneous yet, one step at a time.  Then we went to Cafe Gourmand, then I splurged £50 in the River Island sale (all in the name of spontaneity of course).  Spontaneous is fun, but it's also expensive, and it also left me running (literally at time) late for everything I did.  Still, a great day all round! Maybe the start of spring? Dare I hope?

Highlight of the day - chilling.  Doing nothing for a change made me VERY happy.

Embarrassing moment of the day - being IDed in the Co-op for wine.  I'm 26.  Usually I'm flattered and often offended when I'm not IDed but I'm standing next to a sign saying "If we ID you, it's because you're lucky enough to look under 28".  That truly is rude.  However, this was embarrassing because he didn't believe my (embarrassingly provisional) driving licence was mine! He asked my age and date of birth - it was an interrogation! He said I didn't look like my photo.  That's because that's what I looked like when I  was under 18!  Fear not: Wine was bought in the end.

If this was 7 Days by Craig David, this would be Sunday.  I had an extra day off work.  I did nothing.  Well, I spent a long time looking at figures for ISAs and deciding, in my wisdom/confusion/not being bothered-ness to stick with what I've got, I also spent quite a bit of time organising an extravagant birthday surprise for a friend and, erm...did some laundry and some cooking.  I also napped a lot.  It was a real catch-up on admin and rest day.  It was lovely.  I would write one of my backlog of interesting things I did before I started the blog, but I'm going to carry the chilled vibe of my day through to my blog entry.

My proudest achievements of the day were finding that I was quite good at Pointless (on random TV show Challenge!) (I also had a big crush on the contestant, Raj, and managed to find him on Facebook...I didn't add him) and getting the chance to see Meatloaf be really weird, big-headed and opionated on Loose Women, whilst everyone else missed it at work.  I felt very priveleged.  I also think it's very healthy that I'm going back to work tomorrow before I become a full-time daytime TV addict.

UpDATE - Man 2, the one I like, text back..woo.  I feel big time like I was the keener of the two, but we've agreed (even if he's forced with his arm behind his back) to go out for a drink next week.  :)

Highlight of the day - The return of Jonathan Creek! The ending was a bit weird, but, in my memory, they often were.  Alan Davies also tweeted that there are three more new episodes planned!

Embarrassing moment the day - Does anyone else feel that a different, more angry and impatient person takes them over as soon as they enter the tube system? I always feel as though I'm in a rush, even when I'm not (I more than often am, but still...).  Today, in the distance, I saw a huge crowd of tourists gathering as I was coming down the escalators.  A man had his hand in the air and was signally, tour-guide-stylee for everyone to meet there.  I immediately knew that I HAD to get past them before we entered any sort of corridor.  I JUST missed the opportunity and found myself directly behind said man, right in the midst of the slow-paced group.  He was the only person between me and huge, promising clear space of corridor, which would allow me to reach the platform at least 6 seconds sooner.  Typically British, I didn't want to be rude by asking him to move aside, I wanted to be super-polite, by standing almost on his heels, huffing, puffing and pulling faces.  He turned around a couple of times and failed to notice (the idiot! I was being so Britishly obvious) and then the third time, he realised, looked mortified and apologised, whilst moving aside.  For a brief second, I felt guilty, remembering that just because we are on the tube, does not mean that we have all become horrible, idiotic people, but are in fact all normal nice people.  I said sorry too and moved past him, only to in some catastrophically clumsy motion hit the end of the wine bottle that was in a carrier bag I was holding onto a funny bone in my knee (I believe that's the technical term).  A shock went down my leg, I let out a hugely embarrassing groan and stood clutching my knee.  I almost fell over! Needless to say, I was then getting in the way of the big tourist group, clutching my knee and my pride.  Silly tuber.

Today, I went to The Bridge Coffee House in Shoreditch.  My awful phone camera mustered up the courage to take the awful picture above.  It's a quirky little cafe, which is supposed to be in a Victorian/Dickensian style.  The decor really is something.  It's a feast for the eyes, that sort of makes them want to vomit.  It's quite dark, very kitsch and opulent and certainly old-fashioned.  The decor does look Victorian and you could spend quite a while looking at it all.  The cakes felt quite 70s in a way, but delicious nonetheless.  The music was a mix of 70s-90s - we had Nina Simone, Abba and Celine Dion.  Quite odd.  I enjoyed it and it certainly is an experience.  You wouldn't think that would all be hiding in there.  However, I'm not entirely sure I'd be in a rush to go again.

This evening, I went on another date.  This is another guy I've met on the internet, this time on OK Cupid.  OK Cupid is a website that has a straight and a gay section and, unlike most gay dating sites, is not focussed on sex and even has profiles without cocks on them...quite original! I felt that I had a lot in common with this guy from the start.  We both speak German.  We both work in marketing.  We both like language and puns and he seemed pretty intelligent, witty and good-looking.  We have the German and the marketing in common at least.  We went to Soho Joes on Dean Street, which does delicious pizza at a good price.  The staff are really nice too.  I've been before.  I suggested it, I hope it went down well with him.  I thought it was going really well.  I suggested, very casually, almost as if I didn't want to (trying to be cool, perhaps came off as freezing cold) that we move on for another drink.  He said he should get home as his flatmate was ill.  Then, I can't quite remember what I said after that, but he did a U-turn and said let's go.  I can't work out now if it's that I was being cold and he thought I didn't really want to, until he saw my reaction to him tentatively saying no, or if he didn't really want to, but said yes out of awkwardness/pity when he saw my reaction.  Anyway, we went to The John Snow pub which is really nice (if somewhat overcrowded) and we just seemed to chat and laugh all evening.  I made the very uncool mistake and texting him this evening to say that I had fun.  He hasn't replied.  I had a really good feeling about this one and am a bit concerned already now.  Hopefully he will text soon.

I don't always go on two dates in one weekend by the way! In fact, this may be a first, but it IS Easter, and I'm sure Jesus died so that gay people could meet strangers from the internet, didn't he?

UpDATE from the last one (pardon the pun, would be way funnier with the power of voice for emphasis, not capitals), I text him, he text back, I text again, nothing since.  I don't feel that bothered though, which is a sign I'm not that bothered about him.  I feel quite bothered about tonight's one though, so I'm keeping my

Lowlight of the day - Checking the TfL website to plan my journey home to my parents' house for Easter Sunday the following day to find that Southeastern trains, in typical reliable style, have cancelled all trains to my local station on both Sunday and Monday (covering my return journey) which leaves me with a two-tube-one-DLR-one-bus fun combo. Oh joy.

Embarrassing moment of the day - Being at home with the parents and "More Sex Please We're British" coming on, with opening scenes of people removing massive dildos from boxes...'nuff said.

I went home to my parents' for Easter Sunday.  I say it was not very Easter-like, though, as we didn't do anything particularly Eastery.  I'm a bit old for Easter eggs, we don't watch the Easter hymns like at Christmas when we watch the carols, as we just don't know the Easter hymns (I was hoping for Oats and Beans and Barley Grow, but apparently that's neither a hymn nor an Easter song).  We didn't even have hot cross buns.  It made me wonder exactly what we did as a tradition at easter except for eat cake and chocolate and I honestly couldn't think of anything.  My Mum still spent most of the time trying to feed me and interviewing me about all aspects of my life, as if we never speak on the phone or as if I hadn't seen her only about a fortnight ago! When she will realise that my love life, work life and home life are all highly unlikely to drastically change in the space of two weeks I'm not sure, but that day can't come too soon! I feel like I'm on Parkinson!

Not much to report today, so I thought I'd write about something wonderful I did last Sunday.  I went to the Museum of Immigration at 19 Princelet Street between Brick Lane and Spitalfields.  It's a museum dedicated to the various immigrants who have lived in the area and that house since it and the surrounding houses were built by French Huguenot silk weavers in the first half of the 18th century.  It's a truly fascinating museum, based in a house which was also used as a secret synagogue by Jews in the area in the 19th century.  They knew it had a synagogue in the back of the house, but the other locals didn't, so they secretly worshipped there in peace away from persecution.  From the engravings of names of donators to the synagogue on the walls, to the large silk reel hanging on the front of the house (the sign of a master silk weaver) the house echoes the uniquely diverse history of the East End and an area that is today so sought after but has been through a very poor and run-down past.  Immigrants from France, Eastern Europe, Ireland, the Carribbean and the Bengal have inhabited this area throughout the years and all left their marks.  I used to be a tour guide, doing walks along these streets, covering much of their histories and this house summarises it all beautifully and succinctly within four walls.   It gives you a lot of food for thought about people, community, heritage, London and your own personal history. 

It's only open for a few hours every couple of months (I queued for a good hour in the freezing cold) but it is definitely worth it.  They do lots of fabulous work with local schools about immigration and local history throughout the centuries too.  A lot of it was on display.  If you ever get the chance to go, do it!

http://www.19princeletstreet.org.uk/

This was also number 20 on my list of 30 things to do before I'm 30, so well done me for ticking it off! One of the easier ones done!

Highlight of the day - I love puns.  Some of my friends and I think it's funny to put -poo on the end of the things to make them sound cute, because we are frightfully intelligent and mature.  My friend said he was sorry for being a 'flakeypoo' because he was cancelling on an arrangment and I am very proud for coming up with the pun that a flakeypoo is the poo you do after having too many Flakes. 

Embarrassing moment of the day - A man catching me staring at his thumbs on the tube...as you do. I mean, they were attached to a massive hand which was attached to a massive person (I'm slightly baffled as to how he fit himself on the tube!) but it was the thumbs that seemed to fascinate me. They completely swamped his iPhone and were actually bigger than most penises I've seen (mine not included).  Quite astounding.  When he gave me a strange look back, I still got the feeling it wasn't the first time some had stared at them.

So, in spite of being hungover in the morning, I still ventured out yesterday evening.  Well, early evening.  I went on a DATE.  I went on a date with someone I met on GrindR.  If you don't know what GrindR is, it's an app that allows gay guys to meet eachother, based on where you are.  It finds your location and shows you guys that are near to you.  It's frankly all a bit creepy.  It's also all a bit sleazy, and when I say 'a bit' I mean 'a lot'.  Roughly 99% of the guys are looking for sex (give or take...if you'll pardon the crude pun) and 80% send you a picture of their cock before they say 'hello'.  However, I met a guy on there a few weeks ago who seemed not to be after sex and we got chatting and decided to meet.  We went to The Crown pub by Victoria Park.  It was lovely in there, with very friendly service.  I think it must advertise itself as dog friendly or something because there were SO many dogs in there (to the point where I felt like I was in a TV show where dogs ruled the world or something, it was like I was in the minority in a dogs' pub).  Anyway, I know you don't care about the dogs or the service, you want to hear the gorey details of the date. 

Well, for the first time in a long time (I've been on a  lot of dates lately) it actually went ok.  He was 45 minutes late, which was slightly annoying, but we got on quite well.  This is why the day was better than expected.  I have had so many awful dates recently (I will probably write about them on here in the future), that even the fact that we got on marginally well was a big relief.  He also didn't try to touch me up or basically ask me back to his flat for a shag after one He DID tell me at one point that he could speak 'all South Asian languages' which I found a bit ambitious and he also spent quite a long time building himself up by telling me that his previous job were so desperate to keep him when he handed in his notice which they never normally are, but he was SUCH an amazing exception, but, apart from that, there weren't many awkward moments at all.  Having said that, it's been 30 hours and neither of us have been in touch, so maybe it wasn't amazing...I'll keep you updated.

Highlight of the day: I watched a man apologise to an empty pram on the tube because he trod on it...I'm all for gentlemanly, but that seems a bit extreme!

Embarrassing thing I've done today: we got a letter through to our flat last week telling us not to use any water (taps, shower, toilet!) between 9 and 12 today as they were doing something to the pipes and we would flood our flat and die a horrific death, or something or nothing.  My flatmate and I made a great plan for using the shower in turns to make sure we were out in time and had been talking about it all evening yesterday and also this morning.  Then, I unwittingly (thinking that I'd finished the pre-9 shower/coffee/brush teeth/toilet challenge) used my super sticky Lynx hair gel cum cream and needed to wash my hands before stickifying the tube.   My housemate told me not to worry as she had that weird hyperclean hyperclear sanitising gel thing that you can use instead of soap and water.  I used it, chatting away to her as I rubbed it in, proud of my non-water-using abilities.  Then, whilst telling her how proud I was, instinctively turned on the tap to wash it off as if it was soap! Entire point of the exercise lost in a split second.  Turns out that nothing flooded and we didn't die a horrific death though, so, you win some, you lose some.
 
Why was today so reunited? Because I went for a leaving drinks for a girl who's leaving my old job at my previous company.  I had a lot of fun.  I only left a month ago, but it already felt weird to see people.  One guy (who I love) told me how sad he was when I left and that he was going to go to the head of the company and ask him to give me a payrise to convince me to stay, until he heard that actually I was going to a better company with better pay anyway.  He was really nice about  me and my work, so that was truly lovely anyway and it was also great to see some people I haven't seen in a month, who I used to see every day - very reunited.

My day was also reunion-esque as I had a good giggle and PJ + Duncan being number 1 on iTunes after their rendition of Let's Get Ready to Rhumble on their show last week.  I'm not a huge fan of them, but seeing them dance like that as if they were 12 (?) again gave me a right laugh!  On top of that, it's so funny how that skit was a medley of the other acts from ITV's Big Reunion show (like Atomic Kitten and 5ive) but that they have all been on that show for weeks and laid their souls bare, only to have Ant + Dec perform for 1 minute on the end of their medley and get straight to number 1!!

I am keeping every finger and toe crossed that they do another series of reunion and have ETERNAL on it.  I haven't been watching it, because I couldn't care less about Atomic bloody Kitten.  If Eternal were on it, I'd be Just a Step from Heaven and would Stay with that show every night.  I loved Eternal so much.

I also studied a bit of Japanese today.  I should be doing that every day, but, as it stands, it was a reunion after a good couple of weeks of laziness - natsukashi!!