Howdy Pardners! So Sunday I didn’t go too far from my home. The quest for finding a flat iron continues. I don’t know what I will write about when I find it.
So I decided, surely I can find a Boots (the store that I have been looking for) something close by. There are lots of them ranging from kiosks and quick stops to mega stores. Haven’t found a megastore yet. The one that was at Hays Market was totally souvenirs so I really don’t know what to expect when I show up. I have gone to 4 so far and no luck. I thought, I will just order it online and have it delivered to a store near the office. That was going to take 6 days. I thought from the internet I could actually walk to an area further down from my flat and find one.
I realized that when I arrived, it was an area Lynette said was a ”little dodgy” at night. A little? Straight outta Compton dodgy. I was walking along, doo de doo…uh oh… is that a pimp? Could be but he might just be hanging out in his car waiting for his grandmother, don’t jump to conclusions, Erika. Walking along a little further and people were looking a little less than sober and it was really starting to look a little more “dodgy” for every step I was taking. I seriously thought I might run into 1982 Cousin from the river the other day.
Now, I knew for sure I was going to come across some kind of Beauty Supply store judging from the amount of weave everyone had on t heir heads walking the streets. But this was just a little bit much for me. When I got to the corner of the street there was a huge enclosure that said “Super Center” with looking thing that had a few stores advertised outside and outside people were selling a little bit of everything. But what did I do? About face…..forward March…Double time…. I walked my happy butt back to where I came from. This was middle of the day, too. It was only a half mile from my flat.
The moral of the story, children is: (said in a hushed British tone) “ghetto is ghetto wherever you are in the world”.
Sorry no pictures, nobody bothered me but I was NOT about to whip out a camera.
On my way out of Elephant and Castle area (don’t let the name fool you), I was starting to get closer to my neighborhood. I rounded the corner near the police station (good to know) and on the other side there was some very loud music coming from one area. I thought it was a little early for a rave but apparently not for some people. There was a courtyard where people were going in but I was not slowing my pace. I later found out that that was the world famous Ministry of Sound. http://www.ministryofsound.com/Index.aspx I am really eager to find out more about the London Music Scene but not today. I will have to get some coworkers to show me the best places.
So, I made it back to my neighborhood and noticed there was a pub called The Trinity http://www.thetrinity.co.uk/index.html that was airing the World Cup matches. Looks like a good place to swing back by in a little later in the day.
I went back and hung out at home until the match at 7:30. The big deal seems to be that the pubs offer full Sunday Roasts menus. This kind of reminds me of the Sunday meals my grandmother and my aunts and mom would make where there would usually be a roast, potatoes, and veggies. The British food so far is pretty gross (in fact, I am eating a nasty sandwich for lunch while I write this) but this might be something worth trying another day. But at any rate, I was going to go the watch the game.
I was a little self conscious going in by myself and it was PACKED. But wait…they have air conditioning! Wow, first place ever but is is not as scorching today as it has been the other days. I would never go to a bar by myself in Dallas. The bar staff seems cool. But here, the pub is the center of the neighborhood so I think people are used to singles, groups, tourists, etc. I immediately went up to the bar to get a pint of something that didn’t look to dark. Now I have something do with my hands. A bar stool was vacated so I pulled it over, now I have a place to sit while I pretend to be into the game and people watch.
This place reminded me of West Village on steroids. There were a lot of hobo chic guys in some variation of cargo shorts, tight t-shirts and trendy hair. Some are wearing the oversized shades. One trend I don’t get is that the guys are “sagging” but instead of boxers, they are wearing tidy whities with some kind of color banding or cartoons on the banding. I don’t care how fine they are, I don’t want to see that. The more Emo guys are wearing skinny jeans, have bigger hair and some form of manery (man jewelry). I am seeing a few guys with the guy cleavage shirts(really deep scoop neck down to about the middle of the chest).
The girls here like to wear footless tights under EVERYTHING but for the most part, not too much to write home about fashion wise at this pub. Typical tights under something or alone. A few in maxi dresses and sandals (me being one so I am glad since I didn’t change clothes, that I don’t stand out too much). It looked like a real meat market though. There is a quite little guy with huge Tortoise Shell glasses sitting next to me at the bar and we are really getting over crowed, in fact we can’t even see the one screen for the game because of the crowd. We chatted for a minute then he decided to move. I just turned around and looked at the screen the other direction. I am really not into the game but am trying to participate in the moment although that was crazy to see one guy get karate kicked in the chest. OUCH!
I keep feeling someone looking at me. I turn around and the Chef is looking at me. Not sure what to make of that so I am just not going to make anything of it…yet. Some people are being rowdy but for the most part, there is just a buzz in the air. Chef is staring at me again, he is not looking away. Might have to explore this another day, he might just be checking out the crowd and totally overwhelmed with the number of orders. The plates of food look like real works of art.
I strike up a conversation with a guy next to me who is using his iphone. We became mate. His name is Tony and he has lived in The Bouroughs for 10 years. He told me about the great places to see in the area, where to shop, how to get wi-fi service for my phone, how to find half price meals at the top restaurants and some great things to see like plays, sites and neighborhoods. He said, yeah, Elephant and Castle is a little ghetto. (See, it wasn’t just me.) His friend Eddy joined us a little later and we chatted more, they bought me drinks and we tried to watch the game over the singing of these annoying guys near us.
So I decided, surely I can find a Boots (the store that I have been looking for) something close by. There are lots of them ranging from kiosks and quick stops to mega stores. Haven’t found a megastore yet. The one that was at Hays Market was totally souvenirs so I really don’t know what to expect when I show up. I have gone to 4 so far and no luck. I thought, I will just order it online and have it delivered to a store near the office. That was going to take 6 days. I thought from the internet I could actually walk to an area further down from my flat and find one.
I realized that when I arrived, it was an area Lynette said was a ”little dodgy” at night. A little? Straight outta Compton dodgy. I was walking along, doo de doo…uh oh… is that a pimp? Could be but he might just be hanging out in his car waiting for his grandmother, don’t jump to conclusions, Erika. Walking along a little further and people were looking a little less than sober and it was really starting to look a little more “dodgy” for every step I was taking. I seriously thought I might run into 1982 Cousin from the river the other day.
Now, I knew for sure I was going to come across some kind of Beauty Supply store judging from the amount of weave everyone had on t heir heads walking the streets. But this was just a little bit much for me. When I got to the corner of the street there was a huge enclosure that said “Super Center” with looking thing that had a few stores advertised outside and outside people were selling a little bit of everything. But what did I do? About face…..forward March…Double time…. I walked my happy butt back to where I came from. This was middle of the day, too. It was only a half mile from my flat.
The moral of the story, children is: (said in a hushed British tone) “ghetto is ghetto wherever you are in the world”.
Sorry no pictures, nobody bothered me but I was NOT about to whip out a camera.
On my way out of Elephant and Castle area (don’t let the name fool you), I was starting to get closer to my neighborhood. I rounded the corner near the police station (good to know) and on the other side there was some very loud music coming from one area. I thought it was a little early for a rave but apparently not for some people. There was a courtyard where people were going in but I was not slowing my pace. I later found out that that was the world famous Ministry of Sound. http://www.ministryofsound.com/Index.aspx I am really eager to find out more about the London Music Scene but not today. I will have to get some coworkers to show me the best places.
So, I made it back to my neighborhood and noticed there was a pub called The Trinity http://www.thetrinity.co.uk/index.html that was airing the World Cup matches. Looks like a good place to swing back by in a little later in the day.
I went back and hung out at home until the match at 7:30. The big deal seems to be that the pubs offer full Sunday Roasts menus. This kind of reminds me of the Sunday meals my grandmother and my aunts and mom would make where there would usually be a roast, potatoes, and veggies. The British food so far is pretty gross (in fact, I am eating a nasty sandwich for lunch while I write this) but this might be something worth trying another day. But at any rate, I was going to go the watch the game.
I was a little self conscious going in by myself and it was PACKED. But wait…they have air conditioning! Wow, first place ever but is is not as scorching today as it has been the other days. I would never go to a bar by myself in Dallas. The bar staff seems cool. But here, the pub is the center of the neighborhood so I think people are used to singles, groups, tourists, etc. I immediately went up to the bar to get a pint of something that didn’t look to dark. Now I have something do with my hands. A bar stool was vacated so I pulled it over, now I have a place to sit while I pretend to be into the game and people watch.
This place reminded me of West Village on steroids. There were a lot of hobo chic guys in some variation of cargo shorts, tight t-shirts and trendy hair. Some are wearing the oversized shades. One trend I don’t get is that the guys are “sagging” but instead of boxers, they are wearing tidy whities with some kind of color banding or cartoons on the banding. I don’t care how fine they are, I don’t want to see that. The more Emo guys are wearing skinny jeans, have bigger hair and some form of manery (man jewelry). I am seeing a few guys with the guy cleavage shirts(really deep scoop neck down to about the middle of the chest).
The girls here like to wear footless tights under EVERYTHING but for the most part, not too much to write home about fashion wise at this pub. Typical tights under something or alone. A few in maxi dresses and sandals (me being one so I am glad since I didn’t change clothes, that I don’t stand out too much). It looked like a real meat market though. There is a quite little guy with huge Tortoise Shell glasses sitting next to me at the bar and we are really getting over crowed, in fact we can’t even see the one screen for the game because of the crowd. We chatted for a minute then he decided to move. I just turned around and looked at the screen the other direction. I am really not into the game but am trying to participate in the moment although that was crazy to see one guy get karate kicked in the chest. OUCH!
I keep feeling someone looking at me. I turn around and the Chef is looking at me. Not sure what to make of that so I am just not going to make anything of it…yet. Some people are being rowdy but for the most part, there is just a buzz in the air. Chef is staring at me again, he is not looking away. Might have to explore this another day, he might just be checking out the crowd and totally overwhelmed with the number of orders. The plates of food look like real works of art.
I strike up a conversation with a guy next to me who is using his iphone. We became mate. His name is Tony and he has lived in The Bouroughs for 10 years. He told me about the great places to see in the area, where to shop, how to get wi-fi service for my phone, how to find half price meals at the top restaurants and some great things to see like plays, sites and neighborhoods. He said, yeah, Elephant and Castle is a little ghetto. (See, it wasn’t just me.) His friend Eddy joined us a little later and we chatted more, they bought me drinks and we tried to watch the game over the singing of these annoying guys near us.
I will call them “The Sisters” (like in Shawshank Redemption).
These guys started out trying to talk to all the girls and they were totally Douche Bags.
They thought so much of themselves and they standing up and were pulling up their shirts to show off their abs and flexing their muscles when someone made a big play.
Huh?
Then they would pound the table and sing out for the Spain team and the only Spanish they knew was “Vamos” in a very heavy Brit accent. 
I seriously thought they were going to start a fight at one point and I was going to have to run. Then they would break out in to Lady Gaga at the top of their lungs.
What the…?
These guys were totally random.
I took a look under the table. Is one of the guys with the man cleavage shirt wearing Espadrilles?
Yep, sure is.
I am done.
I wish I could turn the other way because they were so distracting. Everyone was glaring at them.
Tony said they are not regulars and said I should meet him and Eddy there another night when it is a nicer crowd. They know the chef and said the food is great. (note to self…this could be my in. What the chef lacked in general hotness, he made up for in artsy intensity. Worth investigating.)
Tony and Eddy left, gave me kisses (on the hand and cheeks) and said to look them up next time I swing by the pub again. I think they are a couple.
It was close to 10:30 now and I was getting tired, another couple asked me to watch their things while they went out for a smoke so as soon as they came back, I left. They tried to get me to stay but I was exhausted. The woman was from Chicago originally. I didn’t catch their names. I also met another girl staying in my apartments who is from Canada.
I have some pictures of “the Sisters” that I will post later. The were a real Haute Mess!
Cheers,Erika
Tony said they are not regulars and said I should meet him and Eddy there another night when it is a nicer crowd. They know the chef and said the food is great. (note to self…this could be my in. What the chef lacked in general hotness, he made up for in artsy intensity. Worth investigating.)
Tony and Eddy left, gave me kisses (on the hand and cheeks) and said to look them up next time I swing by the pub again. I think they are a couple.
It was close to 10:30 now and I was getting tired, another couple asked me to watch their things while they went out for a smoke so as soon as they came back, I left. They tried to get me to stay but I was exhausted. The woman was from Chicago originally. I didn’t catch their names. I also met another girl staying in my apartments who is from Canada.
I have some pictures of “the Sisters” that I will post later. The were a real Haute Mess!
Cheers,Erika
Your bog is sheer entertainment! I read some of the post to my mother and we both agreed that you are a super fab writer. Seriously, write fiction! Sooo glad you made it to work finally. Wonder what happened to that sick rider?! Alright. Tally ho!
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