They went off sightseeing in the afternoon and Georgia arrived a short while later, after failing to open our gate, with house warming gifts of toilet paper and home-made peanut butter, as well as a cylinder of helium and some balloons. We spent an enjoyable hour or so eating peanut butter sandwiches, blowing up balloons and talking about the phenomenon of trending and the internet, after which we made our way to Covent Garden (with our balloons!) to meet some friends for a Byron Burger date. I have never been to Byron Burger before and I will say now that I think I was missing out. I had medium to well done blue cheese burger with avocado and it was SO good! And the onion rings were amazing as well!
Unfortunately my Byron Burger experience was cut a little short because my friend, Abi (who I met at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and bonded with over a mutual infatuation with an American comedian) had got free tickets to a that evening's show at the Comedy Store. I was initially excited about this but as soon as I got there, and was told I had to leave my balloons in the cloakroom, I remembered how much I dislike it there. It just feels so unfriendly and the comedy's normally all about gender stereotypes and casual racism, which can be OK, but I always feel as though the audience isn't laughing at it ironically and it just doesn't feel very progressive. Maybe I'm just a bit of a snob and don't like anything that isn't a bit 'edgy' or 'alternative' (like a hipster of the comedy world) but I barely laughed throughout the whole night and resorted to staring into the glass of a picture frame plaiting my fringe to alleviate my boredom. Abi liked it though and it was also very nice to see her, so that's good.
On the way back to my house from the tube station a group of boys accosted me to ask if they could have some balloons which made me so happy! Any residual bitterness about my non-enjoyment of the show vanished in that moment.
Back at home I practiced my stand-up set for the first time in months and then put on my housework playlist on Spotify and sang and danced wildly amongst the remaining balloons. Eventually I fell asleep, woke up on the return of Lucy and the Americans, said hello to them and went back to sleep. Oh and I also did all my washing! Clothes and bedding!
The next day Hannah made sausage gravy for breakfast (very American apparently), which was delicious! I actually had two helpings... I then went to the Natural History Museum with them but had to leave after the pretend earthquake to go to Marie's for a pancake party. I definitely didn't wear enough clothes on the way there so I had to sit on a sofa for half an hour with a cup of Earl Grey tea before I could even attempt to be sociable. I did improve though and from then on the evening was lovely! Even being attacked by her GIANT cat was more exciting than anything. I managed to catch literally the last tube home and then played Hearts with the Americans before going to bed. The one sad thing was that I had to miss Josh's birthday party, which I felt terrible about!
Sunday was Oscar day and (after after the departure of our American friends, leaving Lucy, Olive and myself rather lonely and depressed) Lucy and I set to planning an Oscar party with Oscar nominated film themed food. Here is a list of what we had and what film it related to:
- Cornbread - The Help (Southern American)
- Hotdogs - Moneyball and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (New York)
- Pain au Chocolat and baguette- Midnight in Paris and The Artist (French)
- Pineapple - The Descendents (Hawaiian)
- Bread and wine - Tree of Life (religious)
- Lychees - We Need to Talk About Kevin (I haven't seen it but they are apparently very relevant)
- Sweets - Hugo (Children like sweets...)
- Jam doughnuts - War Horse (they ate a lot of jam during the First World War...)
Yesterday (nearly caught up!) I met Kylie and Josh and my friend, Canavan in the Court on Tottenham Court Road and played a game and a half of Catan. I am currently Lord... This makes me extremely happy. I also consumed a lot of beer and drunkenly called a drunken Mab and Tom to talk to them about how great they are.
Today I am relaxing in the back garden (well, outside space...) with Olive, who is having a nice time sniffing everywhere. And then I'm pub quizzing later this evening with Kylie, Georgia and other Esprit friends Andrea and Chris. I'm very excited because I really, really love quizzes!