I haven’t seen one of girlfriends for ages – we have both been so busy. And our weekend was meant to have included a celebratory trip to Rome – but as those plans were dashed by the continuing ash cloud saga we decided to spend an entire day in the West End shopping and doing girly things.
We met at Covent Garden tube station at 3pm and, despite it being FA Cup Final Day, it was incredibly busy. So we retreated to Patisserie Valerie on Long Acre for a restoring cup of coffee and piece of indulgent cake (I had the Mille Feuille which was as close to heaven as I can imagine and she enjoyed her tarte au citron) while we planned our day.
As it was practically next door, we couldn’t resist popping into Elliot Rhodes – the best belt and buckle shop in the world and also the little shop next door which sells a variety of clothes and accessories and does an incredible line in good value (from £9) bead necklaces in a rainbow of colours.
Battling through the crowds we wandered round the craft market in the main Piazza – seeking out a replacement pair of ear rings for a necklace set that I have. We spent a while here as we were entranced by all the lovely colourful elephants dotted around as part of the campaign to raise awareness of the plight of Asian elephants. We also helped numerous tourists (I used my little bit of French language skill while my friend showed off her amazing Spanish) take group photos. We succeeded in our ear ring quest in the nearby covered Jubilee Market.
We had been handed a flier for a second hand designer shop in Monmouth Street near Seven Dials so pottered over to have a look – taking in some shops on Long Acre on the way but avoiding the Paul Smith store on Floral Street (Paul – forgive me! I will return when my bank balance is healthier!). Disappointment at The Loft though – there are plenty of better second hand and vintage stores in the area.
I had mentioned earlier on that I wouldn’t mind popping into Top Shop if we passed by a store which my friend now took as satnav input instructions. Luckily she knows central London as well as me so she had us marching through the back streets at quite a pace while I wailed that I would prefer to walk where I could browse at the shops. She frogmarched me along - wow she can be bossy at times! But she was determined so I followed without complaint – happy to pick up some new routes through our great City.
We walked to Oxford Circus. Repeat: we walked to Oxford Circus and boy was I glad that I opted for the comfortable flat shoes rather than the designer heeled ones. We spent a while getting lost in the basement of Top Shop (great fashion jewellery section!) and, to be honest, feeling our age even though I was pretending that I was shopping for my young daughter. Bit of giggling at that.
So she then declared that she had to get an outfit for a special occasion next Sunday so the serious shopping began in earnest. As she walked me through BHS at a brisk pace to reach John Lewis I managed to spot a denim skirt I had been seeking. We spent a while hunting for the perfect dress in John Lewis and found a number of strong contenders in the Hobbs, Coast and L K Bennett sections. There were a number of delightful 50s inspired outfits - very Jackie O. I also found a pretty yellow cropped cardigan (very this season) that will go great with a dress I bought a couple of years ago and will cheer up and make an ordinary jeans days significantly more “on trend”. After dallying a while in the jewellery section (well, it would have been rude not to) we needed water (too busy shopping to rest in a café) so we stopped at one of the many street stalls and were surprised to be only charged a £1 for a bottle.
Then she announced that she REALLY wanted to do Marks & Spencers and off she went. I admit I was flagging. Battling through the crowds on Oxford Street was hard but we struggled on – only popping into occasional shops on the way to catch our breath. We separated for a while in the huge Marble Arch branch but when we found each other again we discovered that we had both chosen the SAME out fit – although she had also discovered THREE others she liked. This was shopping on steroids.
It was nearly seven o clock by this time and both my feet and my stomach were starting to complain. We couldn’t believe we had walked from Covent Garden to Marble Arch! Whilst she started talking about the various tubes and buses that could get us back to Chancery Lane where she had left the car, I hailed a taxi. Much hilarity here as we talked about the football results (she’s a bit of an expert having a football mad son so whilst they animatedly traded views on the transfer value of various players I drifted off into a happy day dream). There were hoots of laughter when he offered suggestions for dealing with our sore feet “So what, now you’re a doctor too?” said my friend.
Once in the car we put on some music and sang loudly and enthusiastically the way you can only do when no one is actually watching or listening to you (and I own up to doing some car dancing which must have surprised the other road users) as we navigated through London to get to Ladbroke Grove where she needed to drop off a dress to a cousin. We were debating where to eat and managed to persuade the cousin to do a very quick change and jump in the car with us and went round a couple of blocks to check out Portobello Road.
Their favourite restaurant was completely full – as were many of the other bars and restaurants there. It was buzzy, buzzy, buzzy. So we ended up at the lovely Essenza in Kensington Park Road where the Italian waiters took about a nanosecond to run down the street and collect more chairs from nearby establishments and set up yet more tables on the pavement outside where there were already a good number of diners enjoying the nearly warm evening. Minestrone, bresaola, bolognese, beef fillet and vongoles (one of the reasons we are not the ideal stick thin types for some of the shops we had visited earlier) were washed down with a bottle of pinot grigio and water (for the driver) while we did the girly chat and laugh thing.
Finally it was time to go home so we took it in turns to connect our iPhones and iPods to the car stereo, cranked it up loud and sang and laughed at the tops of our voices all the way back to drop me off in South West London.
My feet are still aching from all the walking, my voice is still hoarse from all the singing and my face is still tight from all the laughing. London, we salute you!
