A Little Story of my Wild Weekend in London.

Well I have most definitely made up for being bed-bound the whole of last week! Friday night I drove into Central to go to a friend’s birthday celebrations. For the first time ever I had to work my way ’round the A40, usually I drive from Uxbridge to St James’s via the M4/A4, but as the Hammersmith flyover is closed and it was rush hour, I decided to take a detour and go the other way to avoid the traffic. It worked. Until I got lost. Thankfully I had my tomtom, and after cutting up a bike, I finally got to the club.

It was a little strange driving through Westminster instead of through Chelsea and Knightsbridge…I definitely prefer the M4/A4 route to the A40.

We started with dinner, and then TGIF at the Lansdowne Club…

As usual I parked at the club (it is the best feeling in the world having access to free parking in Mayfair), before heading in to meet Chris for a catch up. After our catch-up we headed for some dinner at Caffe Concerto, I had the Lasagne, which was really tasty! Then we headed over to the Lansdowne for the standard TGIF drinks with everyone before jumping in a taxi to 86 Fulham Road to join the birthday celebrations.

Before heading to 86 Fulham Road for Sophie’s birthday celebrations…

It was so great to see everyone after missing out the previous week due to my sickness, and I finally got to wish my friend Lotte congratulations on her recent engagement (men everywhere are currently devastated about the fact she is now off the market).

Now, unfortunately, once the excitement of seeing my friends for the first time in two weeks was out of the way, I wasn’t feeling great, I realized I still felt sick, and therefore maybe I shouldn’t have come out. And because I was driving, I wasn’t drinking. A sick Catherine who can’t get drunk =  a very miserable and sulky Catherine. And it made it even worse when people were asking me what was wrong because I wasn’t on ‘full form’ like usual.

I drank too much and couldn’t drive, so crashed at Lotte’s…

So eventually everyone managed to persuade me to drink…oh dear. I got drunk, I couldn’t drive, I ended up crashing on Lotte’s sofa again and waking up to be faced with Uncle Howard yet again (a super scary old portrait painting that hangs above the fireplace opposite the sofa…his eyes follow you wherever you go!) But my friend’s house-mate and I had a bit of excitement on our walk home…we walked past Louise from Made in Chelsea. She was wearing leather skinny trousers, a huge black feather coat, and was talking to a hairy man at the entrance to a dark alley. We liked her coat.

After waking up with a banging headache and being confronted by Uncle Howard, I had to work out how to get to the tube station….cue tomtom! It literally saved my life! I am awful at directions, but luckily I brought out my trusty tomtom, and walked around the streets of Chelsea with it until I found Gloucester Road tube station.

And then had to walk to the tube in 6-inch heels the next day :'(

Unfortunately I had left my change of clothes and sensible flats in my car (I always have them in my car…you never know when you might need a spare set of clothes and shoes!), so had to walk from Lotte’s to the tube station barefoot (a 10 minute walk, but no way was I walking in my 6inch heels with a hangover), with my tomtom, in the clothes I was wearing the night before (thankfully the dress was a reasonably respectable dress, and not something I would only wear in the dark). Cue tourist bus stopping right next to me. Nice. And slightly awkward.

I had to get changed then go straight to a social marketing course!

So I eventually got back to Green Park, grabbed my keys from the front desk at ROSL and then headed to the bathroom to get changed and freshened up (that club really is a god-send), before heading to a cafe for some breakfast (cafe’s are the only places where it’s acceptable to eat by yourself!). After strolling around London for a couple of hours I had to get to Islington for a Social Marketing course.

Again, cue tomtom! I really wouldn’t have found my way from the Barbican station to Cowcross Street without my tomtom…and I spent the whole walk worried that someone would mug me for my tomtom, Blackberry, Camera and Hermes watch.

And finally, I had the most epic hangover dinner with friends!

After my course I had to get back to Green Park yet again (as you can probably tell by now…I pretty much live there), to meet two friends, C and Chris. We then went to Ed’s Easy Diner on Old Compton Street in Soho for dinner.

I decided to be good and just have the Chicken BLT burger instead of my usual Big Bubba, but then I ruined it by having the Oreo Cookie Malt Shake (HEAVEN). Seriously, if you haven’t been to Ed’s before, GO. It’s amazing, it’s a proper 1950’s style diner, they do the best food and the staff are incredible, they honestly can’t do enough for you. It’s basically the UK version of the US’s Johnny Rocket’s. AND I’ve just noticed on the website they now have a restaurant in Mayfair! Score! Definitely need to try that one out – it’s closer to le club.

And ended my hangover day with hot chocolate in the club – bliss!

So after dinner we headed back to the club for tea (hot chocolate in my case), and then I eventually got home at around 10:30pm. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I’ve had the laziest day ever today (it’s 7:45pm on Sunday and I’m still in my PJ’s – being a student is the best).