100 Things I Love about London

Well, this is something new. Charlotte has begun a new series, called 100 Things I Love about England, and it’s inspired me to start this, although mine will be centred on London. My hometown. The city that I know and love. Admittedly, there are some things I don’t like about London, but the same goes for most places, and the good things far outweigh the bad. So…here we go. Something to add to 10 Things I Love, and Sunday Night Inspiration. Sometimes I might be able to think of many things, and other times I might only be able to think of a few things, so each post might vary in length, but the idea is that by the end of it, I’ll have a list of 100 (wow!) things I love about London… Let’s see how long this takes me to complete… Without further ado…

Part 1.

1 ♥ Walks along Southbank…

2 ♥ The Underground signs…

3 ♥ Quirky street names…

4 ♥ Cute tea and coffee shops…

5 ♥ Tate Modern…

6 ♥ The Hard Rock Cafe…

7 ♥ Hyde Park in the Spring and Summer…

8 ♥ American-style diners…

9 ♥ The National Portrait Gallery…

10 ♥ The Royal Academy of Arts…

11 ♥ The Royal Opera House…

12 ♥ The Mayor of London’s Bike Hire…

(Please note, none of the pictures featured in this post belong to me; I have tried, as far as I could, to link back to the original posts for them all.)

Creativity

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” - Scott Adams

Chasing the sun

Last week I flew out to Barcelona for a few days to join my parents on the last leg of their Spanish holiday. It was a bit of a last minute thing, and involved me going on my first lone plane journey, which I can happily say I survived! Had a lovely few days, it wasn’t too hot (I don’t do too well in heat…) and was just nice to get away for a bit. As much as I love camping holidays in the UK, there is still a part of me that wants to go somewhere aboard, to experience different cultures and climates…and so the restless wanderer in me was crying out to be released! That’s where the boy and I differ a little; he does like to go aboard, but he is quite content to go on holiday in the UK, whereas I like to go aboard more I think, even if it is only for a few days.

The only downside was that on the last day, I fell ill; it was either something I ate the night before, or a nasty stomach bug. So the last day (Saturday) was spent in close proximity to a toilet, even though we were still out and about in Barcelona! After we had left our luggage in lockers, we found a Starbucks, where I had little naps on the comfy armchair and duly took some medicine to try and curb the sickness. It seemed to help a bit, so we set off down La Rambla, stopping at a beautiful cafe that was in one of the guidebooks. Unfortunately, the sickness didn’t want to behave…and it all began again! We continued down La Rambla to the port, where I fell asleep on the floor near the toilets in a shopping centre – not exactly the best end to the trip, but what can ya do? These things happen. We didn’t get home until past 4am on Sunday morning due to train disruptions, and when we did get home, my bed greeted me like an old friend!

Apart from that, the rest of the trip was lovely. We didn’t rush around, so even though it was a city break, it was still relaxing. My sister gave me a book to read whilst I was there: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and I’m just finishing it now. Was quite fitting as it’s set in Barcelona. Now that I’m getting to the end of it, I’m started to feel slightly unnerved by it; don’t want to give anything away, as it is a good book, so well worth reading. A few things we did whilst in Barcelona: Casa Batllo – a beautiful house by Antoni Gaudi, Parc Guell – another Gaudi creation, a walk along La Rambla and then along to Barcelonetta. Did a few others things whilst we were out and about, including a stop in a church and a spot of shopping, and we also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe – I’m one of those who tries to eat there if there is one in a place I’m visiting!

Haven’t done much since we’ve been back, just resting and nibbling at food but have yet to eat a full meal yet. Hoping it’ll clear up soon! In the meantime, it looks like we’re going to get a late summer here in London, the weather forecast is predicting 27 °C this week – not sure which day but I’m pretty sure that’s what I saw on the news yesterday. Looks like the sun has followed us home! Now I’m off to carry on reading and sipping water; hope you’re all having a Happy Monday

Can your passion be your work?

You know how it goes: you have a hobby/passion and you do it as your living but you end up hating it. I’ve always felt this way about photography; certain people have told me that I should just go for it…whilst others have told me that I shouldn’t pursue photography as a career because then I wouldn’t enjoy it anymore. I’m not sure how I feel about the whole thing, to be honest. I look at professional photographers, and for the most part, they seem extremely passionate about photography – they don’t treat it as a “job” as such, they’re just making money out of their passion, really. So why do I feel this way?

There are some opinions that I respect – the people who know me best and generally understand what I want out of life. However, I know that I need to try things out for myself, make my own judgements about things. How will I know that I’ll “end up hating photography” if I don’t actually try it out? I get the impression that if you’re a free-launch photographer, you can photograph anything you like and then sell the photographs in some way or another? Or maybe I’m being naive? I’m just starting to feel though, that life is TOO SHORT. Why spend your life in a career that only brings you money but no happiness? Sure, if your work is your passion, then yes, you’ll still have those funny old days, but surely the fact that you’ve managed to make your passion into your job will bring you some joy, will it not? I’m confused about the whole thing.

I wish there was some way of knowing if something will work out or not; but then again, if this was the case, there would be no point in life because you have to learn things as you go along, you have to make use of trail and error to work some things out. The point I’m trying to make, is that if we knew how everything would go, we probably wouldn’t get much out of life because everything would be predetermined, in a way.

How will we ever know the answer to certain things if we don’t actually try it out? It’s life-altering to take that jump, but, being optimistic, I believe that once you take that jump, you’ll feel happier for it because you can rest in the knowledge that you’re leading your life in the best way you can. Leaving University last year was a jump…but it was a jump into the darkness in some respects because I didn’t know what I wanted to do next, I still don’t. Although I am studying still, I haven’t got a long-term view of what I want to do. I play with ideas every now and then but nothing really calls out to me.

I’m scared to contemplate photography as a career because it would be difficult – you need that special, wow-factor to be able to be a success. I guess, I’m a bit scared of some people’s reactions too. Some people are far too judgemental. In fact, I think I’m too critical of MYSELF. I just don’t know where to start sometimes.

P.S. Sorry for all these “confused” blog posts today…you can’t help feeling this way sometimes.

Jewellery for you…

Head over to www.starsandrainbowsjewellery.wordpress.com – I’ve just put some new photographs up… The ball is starting to roll on etsy.com too so I may post the web address of the shop soon. Happy beading…with cold fingers.

Autumn? Winter more like!

Just how cold is it today?! It wasn’t so bad earlier, but I had to put the heater on in the car this morning because it was a tad cold. Then all of today it’s been chilly but not so cold that you’d need an extra jumper. Tonight on the other hand is a completely different matter. It’s freezing. Or at least it is in my room, and I suppose it doesn’t help to be by the window. What’s the weather like up in the Highlands tonight? I’m guessing it’s either even colder than it is here…or warm, as it seemed to be for a while in the summer. We were having the rain but up north it seemed to be SUNNY. What? Such strangeness. Disagree with me if you must…

Went out with a close friend today, we went into Central and took in a few pretty sights (as you do) and an art exhibition. All I can say is wow. The exhibition was pretty good, if not a bit sexual in some parts. I’m not completely sure whether the sexual stuff was “good”, or rather it was just a bit uncomfortable looking/watching the stuff in public. I caught myself sneaking glances at others to see what their reactions were. I guess you don’t want to be stuck in a room with me when a film is on. I also have a habit of watching people when they’re reading. There’s just something interesting about people when they’re reading, they’re either stone-cold like a statue with only their eyes moving OR they are full of expression – laughing and frowning accordingly. I think I’m the latter, I can catch myself out sometimes and laugh out loud in public if I’m reading something funny. No change there then.

Yes, I think there’s too much running through my mind at the moment. But, isn’t it better to have a curious mind than a laid back, lazy type of mind? My favourite word seems to be “why?” which can be quite annoying for whoever I am with. A conversation will never die if I’m always inquiring as to WHY something is this, WHY they didn’t like it, WHY they have to do this or that. Sorry for the annoying questions everyone, I guess it’s just who I am. Although I have to say that children and the curious of them all. They never seem to be satisfied with an answer you may give them, but that’s not always a bad thing. Unless you’re telling them the truth of course, in which case “why” could be quite challenging to always reply to. But here I am, debating about whether or not “why” really is my favourite word. Or perhaps “what?”, I’d quite like to know how often I say that word. Quite a lot I’d suspect because of the inability to always catch what someone just said. Today I thought my friend said something along the lines of:

“How old are those pigeons…?” to which I gave her a funny stare, but she repeated it as “How old are those pictures…?” Yes, you can see why I was confused! We were sitting in a square amongst pigeons though… You may be surprised to know that lipreading is 90% guesswork (unless I am completely wrong, correct me if I am)…so it often depends on whether you know what the other person is talking about in terms of context and topic…but pigeons instead of pictures…well at least we got a chuckle out of it.

My room is currently a mess again. Really is rather annoying since I spent (I think at least) so long on it last week…but the tidyness was not to be I guess. Me and Tidy don’t get along very well. We are life-long friends, wouldn’t you know. But we fall out a LOT, and spend days, if not weeks without talking to one another. But then we’ll kiss and make up and everything is up to Tidy’s standards. Until we have another argument. But when Tidy is not around I like to think that I’m enjoying a series of organised Mess. Unfortunately, other’s do not like my friend Mess. Especially Mother. Oh and Granny. But I quite like Mess, until she gets on my nerves. That is usually when I make up with Tidy. Oh, this story could go on for hours. So I shall stop now. Tidy and Mess shall make another appearance on here another time, ciao pals.

I think you’ve just experienced my randomness there. I apologise if you didn’t find it amusing like I did…indeed I have a funny sense of humour. Tonight, coming home from London, I cried with laughter. In public, much to other’s annoyance. For some reason, London’s Suits don’t like to hear people having fun on the tube. Me on the other hand, it makes me smile if people are happy on the tube. Makes a change for once. You may notice that I’m gushing out loads of nicknames, I think I just like nicknames. And I really like the nicknames on Lizzie In Wonderland’s blog. The Gorgeous Boy really is gorgeous though, even though I may get a slap on the wrist for saying that. But it’s TRUE. And she’s a very lucky lady to have him. My boy tonight said no to seeing me, which is funny because today I was telling my friend how it seems to be him that wants to see me more lately…maybe he’s reversing the roles tonight. I still love him though.

Whoops a daisy, my feet are feeling like they’re frozen. Better go and search for thick socks, maybe walking socks? They’re always comfy. Hope you’re all wrapped up warm tonight if it’s cold where you are. That reminds me, I must buy another copy of the Big Issue soon.

Work and play

All work and no play makes Sarah a dull girl.

Wow, the last few weeks have been really busy at my end! Had a bit of a panic with the course I’m starting on Monday, there was a mix up with the registration and course fees, but luckily it’s okay now. Going to be doing Creative Writing as part of an English Literature degree, getting quite excited about it! Will hopefully be doing something with photography as well but will do this in my own time, there’s too much going on at the moment to do evening classes in that as well.

Have made a jewellery blog for our pieces, so if you want to have a gander at that, the address is:

www.starsandrainbowsjewellery.wordpress.com

We’re getting our items up on etsy.com now so will post the address of the shop in due time.

Been meeting up a lot recently with an old friend, we’ve managed to keep in touch over the years. We went to primary school together but went to different secondary schools so I feel very lucky that we’re still friends. We also went to different colleges, and different universities. She’s just starting her art degree at university, so it’s quite an exciting time for her!! Having said that, need to go along with her to a few art exhibitions soon…must get on to her about that. We’ve been up to many silly antics lately, we went to the pub the other week and then we also went into central London for some fun…and then last night we went to the pub for a meal, was lovely. Afterwards we sat in her garden with her dog, who is adorable, I think she’s a spaniel… I’ve recently said to the boy that I want a spaniel when we live together. Which will mean that we’ll have a dog each because he wants a jack russell…lets see how that goes then!

Got a massive task to complete today. My room is overflowing with “stuff”. I’m not sure where to put everything! Still have boxes from Uni that I need to unpack…and my bookcase is full to the brim so I’m really not sure what to do. Therefore, today shall be dedicated to sorting my room out. Oh, what joy?!

Some photographs from Manchester

Art + Music + City + Old + New = Manchester

Wow! It just goes to show that you should never judge something before you try it! Never thought I’d like somewhere like Manchester, always thought that it’d be bleak in comparison to London…how wrong I was!! It was a fabulous blend of old and new architecture, creativity, art, music and it had a great city buzz to it. I know I may be biased because I was just a visitor, but my parents’ friend, who grew up in Manchester and goes back up to visit every now and then, took us around the city and was our “insider” tour guide. Learnt some interesting facts about the place…there’s a statue of the first vegetarian (although he was probably the first publicly known…) in the city hall and he set up the vegetarian society, which is still established today good times! May have to research into that a bit more…what with me being a veggie too.

Visited many places in such a short space of time…we visited Urbis, which was a great modern building, and there are many exhibitions held there (one was showcasing art from New York…). Also popped our heads into the Manchester Art Gallery…another place to find good art, reminded me a bit of Tate Britain in London. Had time to do a spot of shopping…really should have listened to my earlier protests more – I said that I didn’t want to spend much of my pennies when I was there…as always, this went out of the window! We also visited (no favouritism here by the way) Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium for a tour…was very interesting, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t really follow football. One other high-light was the opportunity to have a meal at the Hard Rock Cafe!! Wow! Definitely one of the best ones I’ve been to…they had these lines from Wonderwall along the wall: “And all the roads we have to walk are winding, And all the lights that lead us there are blinding.” – pretty cool huh?

Snapped quite a lot of photographs, so along with a few of the Cornwall photographs, the Manchester ones will find their way onto here I’d definitely recommend a trip to Manchester if you get a chance…what wasn’t to like about the place?!

Jewellery to feast your eyes over!

Just a quick blog to announce that I’ve created a new page on here, called Jewellery… On here, I’ll be posting images and notes on new jewellery that I or my sister have made for sale We use a variety of materials: recycled beads, metal findings, leather string, ribbon, pendants…anything really! We have a shop on www.etsy.com, the address of our shop will be posted in the jewellery section on here. We’ve yet to put anything on etsy but when we have enough stock and pieces, then the ball shall start to roll. If you see anything you like in the jewellery section, then leave a comment and I’ll try and get back to you quickly.

Going to be snapping away with the camera this weekend…if there’s any good photographs then they might find their way onto here…likewise with the Cornwall photographs that are still in the queue!