sparklies and goth gigs

Saturday I took Rob into London to buy my birthday present :-)  Well I would have been happy waiting until the weekend itself but Rob was worrying I wouldn't find anything - I was taking him to Butler & Wilson, so "as if"! :-)
On arriving at South Ken station, we discovered the weekly farmers market so had a quick mooch there, tempted by all the goodies for sale but decided to head to Butler & Wilson before making any food purchases.

That shop is sparkly heaven! :-)  Unfortunately the bracelet I had in mind was no longer there (the big cute crocodile on their Online store front page)  but instead we predictably got drawn to their skull collection and after quite some time of indecision, selected a rather lovely brooch/corset decoration.  Rob was trying to talk me into the bigger version, but at £99, there was no way I would ever dare wear it for fear of losing it!  so instead went for a slightly smaller model, which is still slightly terrifying to wear but rather gorgeous indeed.
Back to South Ken for a quick(ish) stop at the pub and then bought our dinner at the farmers market.  Got back there just in time, as the stalls were nearly empty!

Although the weather was lovely, we reluctantly headed home early to avoid the football crowds going to Wembley and to give us enough time for an early dinner, rest and change for the evening's gig.

Rome Burns were playing a rare gig in London.  Unfortunately for us, they were supporting Nosferatu, a band I had no intention of ever seeing again. ;-)  However we were talked round and decided to go, figuring it would be a good social evening at the very least.
As it turned out, a very enjoyable evening.  Lots of friends present and I actually enjoyed more than the one band! Was pleasantly surprised by both Last July and Dyonisis, in addition to enjoying Rome Burns' set of course!  Sat out for Ghosts of Lemora, as i knew they weren't my thing - fortunately the venue consisted of two rooms, so we could stay out in the bar area and chat to others instead.
No pleasant surprises from Nosferatu though, they reminded me of the reason why I went off the British goth scene in the first place; loud, noisy (in a bad way) and a vocalist who sounded like someone was stamping on his foot.  At least the rest of the bands that evening were refreshing proof that the scene is no longer all like that!

Experiencing some slight discomfort from my corset, which just wouldn't behave that evening, and developing a headache from having to shout over the noise of that band even in the bar area, we decided to call it a night during their set.  Other than that, very glad we were talked into attending! :-)

a day on the Embankment

Sunday we'd arranged to meet with morbidfrog and simonsatori to visit Two Temple Place.  It was too nice a day to waste time at home, so Rob and I set off early to sit out in Embankment gardens before meeting up, finally having one of their gorgeous Purbecks icecreams, which have been eluding us all year.  Worth the wait, rather gorgeous icecream and I do love Embankment Gardens, a little enclave of peace and quiet in busy, dirty Charing Cross.

Cecile had spread the word about Temple Place, so a little group of interested persons gathered at the meet-up point.  the house was holding an exhibition on William Morris, opening its doors to the general public for the first time.



The exhibition was good, a rarely seen collection of works from William Morris and Edward Burne Jones on the themes of Story, Memory and Myth.  However it was completely overshadowed by the splendour of the building itself.  Pure gothic extravagence, with ornate wooden carvings all over the place; we spent most of our time staring up at the details, awestruck.

      (no photos were allowed but i sneakily took a couple of the main stairwell, which are on my facebook page)

After the exhibition, we all went our separate ways.  Rob and I planned to go see the Awakening but had some time to kill, so firstly went to the Tattershall Castle for drink and food.  As a pub, its pretty nondescript; an overpriced Wetherspoons style pub but without the interesting drinks range.  However its selling point is the location, it being a turn of the century paddle steamer moored on the Thames, opposite the London eye. 
We managed to grab a windowside table, so spent an hour or so here watching the sun set while having dinner.

Attempted to head off in good time for the cinema, however after 30 minutes waiting for a bus to take us to the Curzon Mayfair (yes, we could have walked in that time!), we ended up in the decrepid Cineworld Haymarket instead.  Actually a rather appropriate cinema to see a ghost story, as its a beautiful old theatre converted to a cinema rather badly and now pretty much forgotten about.

The Awakening was hauntingly beautiful but bloody terrifying.  From about 30 minutes in, i was a quivering wreck hidden under Rob's armpit and peering at the screen from behind my hands!  Its not perfect, the storyline is a bit messy due to them trying to over-complicate things and if features a fair few horror cliche's; however its a million times better than all the bland US slasher horrors.  Definately recommend it if you want to see a traditional old fashioned ghost story, just try not to read any spoilers on the plot beforehand.

Walked to Green Park to get the tube home and got to see this year's gorgeous Christmas windows at Fortnum and Masons.  They always do my favourite christmas displays and I love walking past there in the evening when the tourists have gone home.  This year they've departed from the usual fairy tale themes and gone with a Moulin Rouge style.  I spent some time drooling over the display of the lady in the peacock gown!