pink and grey

i went to the v&a today and it wasn't as exciting as i thought it was going to be. and it was full of french people. not the good type either, the teenage variety.

this is the building across the street. i'm not sure that i understand it, but i really like it. london is so good at weird brutalism.

pretty lanvin in the window of joseph...

..where they were installing a launderette.

81 fulham road : the conran shop and home of everyone's favourite tyre man, bibendum.

note : i'm not crazy about the quality of these photos, my camera has potentially been in unusual settings all day. or one could blame my own laziness for not checking/changing the settings. you choose.

a bag full of...

hey there sophie (i hear you ask), what's in that big, duck-egg blue bag you've got there?

it's a bag of pandas (i reply), and some of them are quite surprised.

(for ellie)

(for me)

and a bright red pepper grinder that came in handy when making lunch.

schoolgirl style

new shoes that make me feel like i should be skipping down the cobbled streets of paris on my way to school. on the right (à droite) navy suede mary-janes that came in my a.p.c. package the other day. à gauche, black suede lace-ups that receive a surprising amount of compliments.

finally friday

january so far has been a bit weird. i'm still (still) looking for place to live which is incredibly (incredibly) frustrating for all parts (mine, ellie's, kat's) but we muddle through. i have been working a little bit though which is quite fun. i met one of the girls from bistroteque yesterday (they opened flash) and she invited me to come along to their sale early. yes! 

so friday finally rolled around after a bit of a non-week and my little package from a.p.c arrived which meant i was able to dress like a french schoolgirl when we went out to dinner here :

it was delicious. 

(photo stolen from s.c. taylor.)

rebuilding

i spent a rather uneventful, little bit rainy day wandering about in soho. foyles is an amazing and independent bookstore across the road from a borders on charing cross...

it's where i picked these up. two pounds each. yep, two pounds. and i thought $10 penguin classics was a good deal. this photo doesn't do the colour justice either.

flash flash

ellie, kat, olivia and i went to flash for a most scrumptious lunch today. it's a temporary restaurant in the royal academy set up by the bistroteque people and it was most delicious. the plates are commemorative wedgewood (it's their 250th anniversary) and they have various collaborations (a chandelier by giles deacon, thonet chairs etc) within. the place closes at the end of next week therefore everything is for sale... my reasoning is as such : seeing as though wedgewood is going under (horrible, shocking, awful i know. stupid recession.) and i like pandas (and i had to leave rosie at home) i shall go and purchase some lovely crockery and not feel guilty about it. they're collectors items. come on.

they also had a lovely man playing pop tunes on the baby grand. lunch became a mini game of spicks and specks. kat lost.

it was coming

i, quite literally, ran into young laura geddes on the street today. well not literally, but it was very much an unplanned reunion. she was heading here : to richard nicoll's studio (see where that big 'R' is in the right-hand building?) for an interview. of course i told her to do a bit of name-dropping (for the uninitiated, ellie has an internship here too). it was an hilarious situation but i knew that a bizarre meeting was bound to happen one day.

slowly, but surely

www.climpsonandsons.com

this is where i work. one down, two to go. many, many thanks to young sophie fletcher for introducing me to the manager and opening the door for me (she used to work there too).

a very long day indeed

it's still christmas on broadway market (though everything is half-price).

ellie, kat and i wandered down to wapping and found a contained pile of porcelain.

not entirely sure what it was, but ellie salvaged a dove and a geisha from the rubble. the strangest thing is that it was battery-operated.

the town of ramsgate. a pub, not a town. it was still christmas here too. i had winter pimms (pimms, apple juice and hot water) and bangers and mash. it was sweet, though i never need to eat again, nor do i want pub food very often at all.

wapping is full of opportunities to smuggle outlaws out of the city via boat (a la great expectations).

this church was rebuilt after the fire by wren, survived the blitz and various other things that i can't recall. pretty impressive though. now there's a back pain clinic and a pretty garden.

we ended up back on brick lane at story deli.

new friends.

that turned out to be a fun game.

sophie, victorious.

doctor recommended

in the spirit of the end of the year, and because josh and dave asked me the day that i left and i didn't really give them an answer, here is my album list of 2008. in no specific order.

top ten :

Atlas Sound - let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel

Joan As Policewoman - To Survive

Wild Beasts - Limbo, Panto

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Fleet Foxes - Self Titled

Hercules and Love Affair - Self Titled

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah

Vampire Weekend - Self Titled

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

but also : 

Jamie Lidell - Jim

Department of Eagles - In Ear Park

Beach House - Devotion

Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart

The Roots - Rising Down

Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances

and most importantly : the albums not released but discovered in 2008 (and ultimately my favourite albums this year)

Smog - A River Ain't Too Much To Love

Bill Callahan - Woke On A Whaleheart

i know that's actually a lot of music and i haven't really committed myself to any one album in particular. i'm sure if i was really forced i could name one but i don't have to and you can't make me. so long 2008, bring on 2009.