Started the day out by heading over to the new St Pancras International Station - they've built it as a new gateway for the Eurostar, and it's absolutely beautiful. All glass, new and modern, with shops along both sides of a wide and spacious hall. I was supposed to meet my future flatmates at Le Pain Quotidien for a meeting over flat logistics, so I quickly found the restaurant (one of my favourite chains in London) and waited outside. I arrived pretty early so it was a rather long wait, which was okay because there was plenty of interesting people-watching to be done! Shoko arrived first, so we claimed a table in the restaurant and waited for Eelin to arrive. She turned up after a few more minutes and we all had a leisurely lunch before pulling out our laptops, diaries/planners, maps and tube maps to begin discussing things.
The good news is that we sorted out a concrete budget, a move-in date, areas we're willing to look at, our individual requirements, and even managed to find some properties we were interested in and note down estate agents we want to talk to. Eelin is going to be frontwoman - since I'm new to the country, temporarily jobless, and don't have any landlord references, I'm not the sort of person landlords are going to be happy to rent to :). Anyway, Eelin has to work unexpectedly this week (it's supposed to be her week off), so it looks like we're going to be flat-hunting in the late afternoons and evenings. That leaves me with some extra time on my hands - I'm going to have to find some way to keep myself busy!
After our flat-meeting, Eelin headed off to the gym and Shoko and I decided we'd head over to Regent Street for some shopping. We weren't at it too long before we realised it was closing time for most shops, so we decided to get some coffee at a Starbucks. Quickly nixed that idea when we walked inside and found that it was absolutely boiling inside! I swear, it felt like an oven in there! The heat of the Starbucks put us in mind to have some ice cream, so we decided that we'd head home and then meet up for dinner (at which we'd have ice cream!). Took the tube back to West Kensington and agreed that Shoko would come over to me after dropping off some things. She came over about 30 mins later and we sat and had a chat until we decided it was late enough that we were both hungry.
Now, Shoko and I had somehow gotten it into our heads that we wanted to eat at Pizza Express (I can't believe how many times that restaurant is featuring in this blog! lol), probably because I'd shown Shoko the picture of my dessert there and she thought it looked delicious. After quickly checking the internet for locations, we found there were a few around Charing Cross, which was convenient because Shoko had to meet a friend there at about 10. Easy enough, right? Not really!
The first problem we encountered was with the tube. We got on at West Kensington as usual, not really paying attention to where the tube was going (since normally it only goes in one direction!), so were surprised when we pulled up at High Street Kensington station 5 minutes later. lol. We got off and decided to double back to Earl's Court, where we'd have to switch lines to get back on an Eastbound District line train. Did that with fairly little trouble but, on getting onto the train at Earl's Court, found we were in a car with some very...boisterous...people on their way home from the Notting Hill festival. I think they were drunk and, in any case, spent the tube journey dancing, singing, shouting at each other (I think they thought they were speaking at normal volume), and just generally being a bit annoying. Shoko and I were both glad to get off the train at Embankment and walk up towards Charing Cross station to the nearest Pizza Express.
When we got there, the place looked very quiet. So, imagine our surprise when a man at the door suddenly said, as we were trying to pass him, "Sorry ladies, we're full up. Bye bye!" Shoko and I exchanged confused glances, then looked back at the man. He was dressed in normal street clothes, smoking a cigarette, and seemed a bit...off. We both think he was drunk, actually :). Neither of us thought he actually worked at the restaurant but, what could we do? Say, "No, actually, we're going inside anyway"? Rather than dealing with him, we decided we'd just turn around and walk across the river to Royal Festival Hall, where there was supposed to be another location. Neither Shoko or I had ever seen a Pizza Express there, but we figured it couldn't be that difficult to find - after all, the address had read 'Unit 3, Royal Festival Hall', so it had to be a part of the building itself, right? Wrong again!
We walked across the bridge and headed down a flight of steps to the upper level of the complex. Standing, we scanned across the restaurants...and didn't see the one we wanted. "Fine," we thought, "we'll just check the lower level then". Went back up the flight of steps, then down another flight. Stood, scanned....nope. Hmmm. Walked across the entire length of the building. Stood, scanned. Nope. By this time, we were exhausted. I was tempted just to go eat in Wagamama, which we could actually see, but we decided we'd walk all the way around the building to see if the restaurant was on the other side. Went back up the flight of steps, then down again. Walked all the way around the building. Still no Pizza Express.
Just as we had given up and were walking around the other side of the building to get back to the river, suddenly I saw the restaurant! Across the street...COMPLETELY separate from Royal Festival Hall. lol. Believe me, we had a few choice words to say about the address...
After dinner, Shoko and I walked back across the bridge, past Embankment station to Charing Cross station. We popped into M&S so I could pick up some food for today's breakfast and lunch, then we split up and I walked back down towards Embankment station, got on a tube (without incident this time, thank God!), and came home.
A series of unfortunate events, indeed! :D
1 comment:
I cannot believe you got lost. You always know exactly where you're going! ^_~
Congrats on moving to London successfully!
Post a Comment