I went out for a GNO (that's Girls' Night Out) with KerryAnne and Mel-Jen. (Her name is Mel, but she is absolutely-creepily-spookily the same as Jen of Ben-and-Jen fame, that I've renamed her Mel-Jen. They have the same mannerisms, behaviours and, although I know full-well that Mel-Jen has a posh English accent and Jen does not, they speak the same way, same tone or something. It's really odd...)
Anywho, back to the story. Mel-Jen suggests we meet down at Suburban in Wimbledon, a simple ten-minute bus ride from my 'hood, which is having "2 4 1" drinks on this particular GNO night. Rock on. Now...while I'm well-versed on cocktail-speak, I figured 2 4 1 (and yes, that's how they write it) drinks would mean that if you order one, it's just half-priced. Um...no. That means, in fact, that if you order a martini, they give you two. Yikes. We started out well enough, but I think each of us had a tiny bit too much by the end of the evening. Whew. Mental note: find a drink that we all like and actually engage properly in 2 4 1. Sigh. Chalk up 1: Something I didn't know.Moving on...Steve Mafia and I went out on Friday evening. I had suggested we go down to a Halloween-themed Asylum Hill, which sounded nice and spooky (my fave!). He accepted and, in response, noted that it would take us 32 minutes on the train, 9 minutes to walk, leaving 4 minutes to purchase our
tickets. Cool-o. Um...until we realized that neither of us knew where we were going. With such accurate and precise times given, I was sure that he had mapped out the way. And he thought that since it was my idea, I had mapped out the way. No worries, we figured, we'll just pop into a pub or something. He led me down to Hoxton Square, and we had a happy drink (or two) at Apprentice. It was super-cute, in a funky little area of London. I was shocked at one of the sights, however: There, on the corner of this picturesque little square was an odd triangular object. Steve explained to me that it was where men could urinate. "Like, right here on the street?!" I asked incredulously. I had to snap a picture (whilst he pretended not to know me). Thank goodness that no one was using it at the time. Crikey. Number 2: Another thing I didn't know.
After our drinks, we tubed it on back to the 'hood. As we went up the escalator, we heard a familiar voice. There was Tree (short for Trina, but not Katrina, thank you!), saying hi. (As a side note, I'm not sure if that's how she spells it, but it can hardly be spelled "Tri"...that would be weird...hehe) Ah, finally: something I do know: seeing familiar faces. Yay!
Tree had just returned from seeing Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the theatre. Upon leaving the tube station, we hopped over to the Tup for a quick drink together. Good times...
Steve Mafia took Star and I to Richmond on Sunday for a pleasant morning walk through the park. This place is huge -- and incredibly beautiful. There were herds of deer (No, Star, you can't chase them! It's illegal!) that seemed hardly to even care about the people and puppies wandering around them. The views were amazing, and the whole place was well...just so natural. I know, I know, that sounds ridiculous, it being a park and all. But it's one of those parks where they allow ferns and brush to grow wild...and it adds to the 
fabulousness of the place. I'm proud to report that Star handled herself very well, running off the leash, and having a field day sniffing wood. I, myself, didn't realize that wooden logs were so astounding, but...Meh. I noted that I'd wished Star would be that interested in a stick and would play a game of fetch. "She wouldn't?" asked Steve."Nah, I think she'd just look at me like I was an idiot. I've always wanted to get a ChuckIt for her, but I don't think she'd play along."
Steve, mimicking Star's would-be reaction: "'Why'd you throw that away? You're going to have to go get that, you know!'" Hehe...Good times.One of the more interesting sights in the park was a parade of folks on horseback dressed in costume. You may notice Scooby Doo riding the horse in the pic. There's something awfully funny to me about a dog riding a horse, and I can't quite put my finger on why...Number 3: Something I do get - wandering around on a beautiful autumn morning through an amazing, fab park. (Not like anyone would actually believe that, but really...it's true...)
Let's keep on the roll of things I do get and move on to my Monday, where I had a meeting with a recruiter. Julian texted and invited me to meet him for lunch afterward near Holborn, where we could do a bit of wandering around one of my favorite areas of London, Lincoln's Inn Field, where barristers (not to be confused with baristas) live and work in buildings that seem so proper English. I love it.
I agreed and set out to walk up there from my appointment to Holborn, checking my A-Zed every few blocks to ensure that I was on track. I am horrible with maps. I think I don't have that section of my brain...or perhaps I lost the brain cells with one too many pub visits...I don't know.
In any case, as I wandered past Blackfriars, I came to a corner with a building that was boarded up on the ground floor. Looking up to get a better check of the pretty windows on the second floor (that's the third floor to us Yanks, of course), I giggled: There was spray 
paint on the windows, a la the movie Sid and Nancy, where Sid Vicious comes into the London flat and starts spray painting anarchy signs on the walls. Yup -- this building must've housed Sid the Squatter, too. In one window was written "No war," in the other, how classic: an anarchy symbol...Made me chuckle. I'm not sure if that falls into the category of what I do understand (i.e. I've seen the movie) or what I don't understand (i.e. I'm not pro-anarchy), but meh...
Last for now is another one of those terms that I absolutely missed on first glance...I was at my beloved Tup, enjoying the great back patio for which it's famous (ok, near famous?) and saw two signs on one side of the patio: One with "Barbie scrum" (scrum is a rugby term, of course) and the other with "Party and Barbie zones - no charge." What the..? I hear the
word Barbie and automatically think of the doll. And that just didn't really make sense to me. A party and Barbie zone? Is that an area for wild blondes? Added to that was the sign on the opposite side of the patio, "Barbie zone hooker," which truly added creepy images to my mind. No, no, Steve Mafia had to explain..."It's barbie, as in barbeque," he corrected. Oh. Whew. I was near wondering what type of anarchistic place I'd moved to! Winks.Yeah, it's really not...I absolutely love this place, and truly feel as though I made the right decision moving here and trying this life! Yay! Now off to watch the Arsenal game...
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