'Tis the season

Today is a beautiful Winter's day in London, freezing & foggy, sure, but nothing to ruin the mood. This post sort of draws from my last one, what London does when it gets cold. Well, it's mid-November, Christmas is on a fast approach, the lights are up, London becomes totally charming.

I had a terrible day last Friday, work was hectic, everyone was rude, and (worst of all) I found out that a very good friend's mother has passed way the week before, as I live on the other side of the world - the news didn't reach me very fast, and I felt awful. Instead of going home, cooking myself something sweet and wallowing in self pity, I put on my scarf and ran back out. Oh, what an idea.

I took the tube to Marble Arch as I had been avoiding a trip to Primark (I am not a good  shopper, I find it boring, stressful and exhausting and thus Primark is the epitome of evil). Just look - SO MANY PEOPLE

Wall to wall people shopping for a bargain. My idea of hell. 

Anyway, I hurriedly bought my necessities and vacated Primark with all due speed, and, still feeling pretty awful, walked down Oxford street.

Oxford St - Suddenly I felt much, much better.

Uplifted, I then walked down to Trafalgar Square and entered the National Gallery shop. I had done this last year and cannot recommend it enough. On the last two weekends of November (or thereabouts) the shop is open late, and serves free mulled wine and mince pies. Everything is fairly expensive, but the atmosphere is just wonderful. Last year I slipped out as soon as I had finished the pie (I'm a girl who thinks with my stomach and my wallet!), this time I stayed and bought some Christmas cards and a gift for my grandmother and my aunt and uncle (who are on holiday in France, and whom I get to meet in Paris next weekend!). I think they'll enjoy it.


London is magical on the approach to Christmas, now all we need is a little bit of snow. I will post a list of other things to do in the festive season soon - but the Christmas lights aren't up in Bethnal Green yet, and that, to me, signifies the *real* festive season beginning. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures.

Regent St.

Selfridges

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And now, well, it's official. Cyril and I have booked our tickets to Australia. We leave Paris in mid January, have a few days exploring Malaysia and Singapore in an effort to beat the jetlag, and then arrive in Brisbane one certain Wednesday evening. What a way to start a new chapter of my life.

Bit chilly, innit?

To all of you who have not braved any climate other than Australia (or somewhere else that is constantly warm) before. Let this be a warning:

London. Is. Cold.

When I first arrived (in the Summer, might I add), I was surviving quite well wearing just shorts, a light cardigan, a t-shirt & flip flops (havianas, or thin sandal-type shoes), this (minus the light cardigan) is normal wear where I come from for about 90% of the year, and as a result, I was simply not used to 'wrapping up'. Lucky for me, 2009 was a relatively warm year - but in mid November, where the temperatures dropped rapidly, the heavens opened, and people started to pile on layers - I was *still* slipping around in shorts, a light cardigan, a t-shirt & flip flops.

For the first week or so, that's funny, Europeans smile at you fondly and look as though they want to give you a pat on the head for being 'the cute silly Australian who doesn't understand cold'. I did understand, it was freezing. But I couldn't contemplate wearing anything else! Gloves and scarves felt restrictive and foreign, coats made me look fat, this was fashion suicide!

By the beginning of December I had given in a bit, and invested in a coat & stockings, 1 scarf and some cheap plimsolls. I put off buying boots and gloves until it snowed. I had my heater on most of the time (sorry Earth & landlords) and played a new favourite game 'summer' (where you lie around inside wearing summer clothes and pretending it's warm outside too). By doing this, I avoided dying of exposure to the cold, but eventually, the consequences still caught me. One cold, January morning, I awoke to find a few red, pox-like spots on my neck, arms, stomach. A friend (on holiday from Australia) was staying with me, and when she surveyed them she assumed I had chicken pox (a second batch). But considering she showed no symptoms, I thought it best to drag my sorry, freezing self to the doctor and get a real diagnosis.

The result? Put simply: I did not protect my virgin Australian skin from the cold well enough, and so, it had begun to eat itself.

Looking back I can laugh, but these spots were unsightly and itchy as hell. I had to take allergy tablets to stop the itching, use a special soap to stop the swelling, and go on steroids to kill the infection. It went, and all was well within about a fortnight, but let this be a warning to you. I have compiled a list of things you NEED in winter in London. Do as I say, not as I did!

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Survival list for new Londoners

• Coats
• Thermal underwear, vests, pj's
• 100 Denier stockings
• Scarves
• Gloves (I had particular issues wearing gloves, please, forget any hangups!)
• Boots (fur lined inner, leather outer is best, but I survived on cheap £20 synthetic ones for most of winter)
• Beanies/Berets/something warm for the head
• Shoes with good grip (Ice is a slippery bastard)

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Keep warm. Have the heater on full blast, experience mulled wine (oh, yum). Do whatever makes you feel comfortable, because when you go out (and to experience London, you need to go out), you won't be comfortable. Also take the cold weather as a good reason to visit the art galleries, museums & shops, they'll all have heating on full blast and make it all a little more bearable. I reccomend heading to Covent Garden for shopping, and to the National Portrait gallery, I could spend all day in there.

Above all though (and contrary to the vibe of this post), don't panic, and enjoy the refreshing cold. London can't deal with high temperatures (they know no such thing as ventilation) and you'll be wishing it was sub zero degrees come July.

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Aside from this, I have been focusing on some of my favourite London views recently. Average daily temperatures are at about 9.C here are the moment, and the sun begins to rise at about 6.50am and sets at about 4.45pm (more or less my working day). This means SAD disorder is affecting us all a little, but it also means I am at work as the sun rises, and  I am spoilt with this view:

Sunrise as seen from EC1V 1NY

In Europe, the light & atmosphere is completely different to that in Australia. In Australia, I remember the light as harsh, warm and omnipresent. European light is soft, subtle, and borders on melancholy, this makes for beautiful, slightly austere photographs that simply ooze a cold, dark day. A week or so ago I took a walk down a freezing, deserted Portobello Road (a favourite thing of mine to do, as you may know from this post) and took a picture that serves as a pretty good example:

A quiet Portobello Road

I am off to Paris this weekend again, and the weather looks to be awful. I'm taking my own advice and putting coats, stockings and boots in my luggage, and planning to stay indoors most of the time (le copain and I have shopping and church-visiting on the cards, possibly the cinema too). A bientôt!

Speed limit on high speed

So, I didn't write to you in Paris. I apologize. I was busy seeing this:

Parc de st. Cloud

It was a long weekend in Paris, so I had the opportunity to experience what the Parisians do on their days off. It would seem the answer is simply, much the same thing as they do on normal weekends. Leave the city, stay in bed, or somehow, magically disappear. Where I stay on my trips to Paris (in the far West of the city), virtually everything shuts, or at best, is open until 1pm. A note to those of you who (like my boyfriend and I) never have anything in the fridge and heartily enjoy eating. Stock up.

The weekend was not particularly eventful, it seems the Parisians (or at least the ones I knew) were not even remotely interested in Hallowe'en, and so, another year goes by without me celebrating it. Oh well, I don't know what I'm missing (all my past Hallowe'ens have consisted of baby sitting or sleeping), and, I got to spend quiet time with le copain, which I could hardly count as a compromise!

After a quiet night in on Friday, Cyril and I trawled the streets on Saturday for Brocantes (little antique markets). We found a few and the artefacts were just fabulous. If it hadn't been so inconvenient, I would have bought myself one of the giant oriental armoire's and a chair, (I have a *thing* for antique chairs, and there were so many!) but to take those back to London and then Australia would have just been insane. We strolled the streets, shared a baguette and felt very Parisian.

Cyril and I attended the Salon du Chocolat in Place de Versailles, 16éme on Sunday. This is why I love the French, while Australian expo's tend to be about showbags, animals or university, Paris holds one about Chocolat. We overdosed on degustations and bought some amazing pralines and macaroons that didn't last the night, who could say no?!

This past long weekend saw us do a mix of the old and the new. The weekend was cold but dry, so we did a fair bit of exploring the city after a morning walk through Parc de St. Cloud. Thanks to a tip off from Peter's Paris, we decided to use the Monday to find some signs of life in more downtown Paris. It was more alive downtown, but still empty enough to allow us to see this:

Bouillon Racine - St. Germain des Pres, Paris.

It was only serving tea & coffee and as a result it was almost totally empty, which allowed us to take in the full (and amazing) view. If you're ever in town, it's very romantic and comes highly recommended.

Then, alas, it was time to take the train home. This is just the worst moment imaginable, leaving someone I adore (and it's me doing the leaving, I manage to hold it together if le copain leaves London). I checked in, went through interrogation immigration and waited for my train to board. As we set off for London, I hear 'unfortunately, there is a speed limit on the high speed line, we will be at least half an hour late in to London  St. Pancras.'

Wow, thanks for that one. On the brightside I had a good connection with tubes and wasn't too late for bed. I am, of course, absolutely desperate for the next week to go by so that I can be back in Paris with mon amour. I only have two more trips to Paris before I quit my job and go to live with Cyril in France, before making our trip to Australia. On that note - Cyril has finally had a breakthrough! Not one, but TWO companies have registered interest in his CV. There is no interview as yet, but Cyril has some questions to answer and some references to provide, it's all positive so far and we're very excited - keep your fingers crossed!