Tag Archives: Shopping

Dear Pheromones… (Leave Me Alone!)

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I took the train to Amsterdam yesterday to meet up with my friend IvS from Scotland who was in the Lowlands for a short vacation. It was fun! She rented bikes so we could cycle all across town, which was great. It was nice to be in Amsterdam again but I can tell that the city has no longer this vibe to me as it used to have. It wasn’t as busy as it normally is, probably because half the Lowlands is currently abroad but I don’t really feel the need to live there anymore… which feels odd in a way.

I bought three gorgeous dresses -wearing one this very moment while writing this post- two from Waterlooplein, both silk and Asian *of course* and the other I got from a shop called Streetclothes at the Albert Cuyp market. It’s a dress by DEPT and yes it was way over budget but amazingly beautiful and just my kind of style, something that will last for the next 8 years and still remain a pleasure to the eye, timeless… I was actually looking for new Doc Martens to replace the old ones.

But I was utterly disappointed in the quality of the brand, the leather is half the thickness of what it used to be, the soles were replaced with a less solid kind of rubber. Rubber that could easily tear or cut. I read somewhere that the actual factory in England took their business abroad and these shoes are now manufactured in India or Thailand. It shows… Coz the quality that I was used to (I’ve had these boots for 10 years!) has disappeared just like that. I fear they will lose lots of customers because of this!

So… since I decided not to spend the 149 Euros *YES! it was fine when the quality was right* on something that had lost its quality over time, I thought it was okay to spend half of it on the gorgeous dress… Anyway, on our way back from the market I ran into an ex of mine, I hadn’t seen him in a long time. Only once over the last ten years and I avoided him that day because he was with a woman and had a child with him. I didn’t want to disturb them so l just pretended not to have seen them and kept walking.

We had a fun chat, he told me he’d been married, divorced again and he has an eight year old son. It means he got married two years after I broke up with him and had his son the year after. Wow… hearing this from someone who didn’t want the commitment at the time is odd. He asked me lots of question and ‘joked’ that he wouldn’t mind hooking up with me again. I think meeting up one day to have a coffee with him and a nice chat is fine with me, so I gave him my business card which he asked for.

It was great to see him but that’s it *wink*. I don’t know what is going on at the moment but there’s been others as well. I’m being stalked by some idiot on FB, I keep ignoring his emails and friend request, what a moron. There’s another who tried a few weeks ago but I ignored him as well. Perhaps it’s because I’m enjoying myself lots lately, I feel more confident and better about myself, I get positive attention and feedback and I feel better about life in general. I guess it rubs off on others.

Men particularly…

Bi-Weekly Update

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I haven’t written much lately… I guess because there is too much going on at the moment. Pleasant things mostly and also stuff that needs to be done, so I ain’t complaining. AS. has been in Egypt for almost two weeks, windsurfing, so I have the place to myself and you know what it is like: while the cat’s away, the mice will play.

So I had fun, doing things that I wanted to do which makes me realise that I really need to get my life back. Kris sent me an email last week because a friend of his had a client who’s looking for Flash designers, so I sent my CV and cover letter to him last week. I have applied for a few other jobs but I’m still waiting for a response. They seem to take their time over here which can be quite annoying…

Anyway, here’s an update:

Wednesday August 15

Got email in from Kris about job. CS. called and came over for a few hours in the evening, she wanted to chat and I haven’t seen nor spoken with her ever since she came back from her visit to India. She brought a bottle of wine, I finished it and was a bit pissed after that… CS. asked me to meet up again on Saturday to hang out with her and her niece R., and go into town for some window-shopping.

Thursday August 16

Got email in from friend of Kris about job, sent out my CV and cover letter.

Saturday August 18

CS. called to meet up at my local Tube station, her niece R. is over from Canada and she promised her to go shopping. We were supposed to go to Oxford and Regent street but they booked tickets for her to watch the football match in the afternoon so we only had a few hours… We had a coffee near the Tube station and walked to the local high-street to check out some shops.

Later that evening I went over to IS. and CS.’s place, we were on the guest list of club Pacha through JS. [CS’s son] who is friends with the DJ. So we had to be there at 23.00, we took the Tube but CS. forgot that Victoria line was closed earlier because of maintenance so we had to take a cab to Victoria Station. Had a fantastic night: have been dancing for six hours which was great; I needed to get rid of some energy and this was the best way to do it, most of the time on my own.

Met some guy from Estonia who was really thick so I ended up showing him my bitch switch. I had to be rude to get the message across; I just wanted to dance on my own and be one with the music and not being bothered by someone who desperately wants my attention… I closed my eyes, thought of thunderstorms and lightning, turned around and ignored him. I was happy we were on the guest list and had a VIP room to ourselves and the DJs so I could escape from this guy and doze off on the bass… Hectic speakers!

Funny thing was that we had to wait in line each time we wanted to have a fag. There was this narrow alley on the side of the club, everyone there was really friendly, joking and having fun. It was pissing down and half of the alley was covered but no one seemed to care, it was hot inside so it was nice to cool off a bit. We left just before the club would close and waited outside for a cab to show up. JS. had called one but it took an hour to get there. I was home at 06.00 in the morning and couldn’t sleep really. Kept thinking about thunderstorms…

Here are a few pics:

Sunday August 19

Didn’t sleep for 48 hours… and it took me a while to recover from this and a night out clubbing…

Tuesday August 21

Met up with Kris at Holborn Tube station to have lunch today, walked around Covent Garden for a while and to my surprise I ran into Stu. who is over from the lowlands for two weeks. I was so surprised to see him that I even forgot to say hello to him. He felt the same, so it wasn’t just me being scatterbrained. I mean, out of almost 8 million people, that day, that place and that time; what are the odds? And we were supposed to meet up on Thursday, not that Tuesday… :P

Kris and I went to Satsuma to have lunch there. I had some delicious sushi, with smoked salmon and avocado, also nicked a few from Kris who had ordered crispy duck sushi and some spicy noodle soup. I wasn’t very hungry so the sushi was plenty for me combined with a nice pot of green tea. We stayed there for a while chatting and decided to walk around Soho and have a coffee bit further down the road at an italian place called Bar Italia which seems to be an all night Soho favourite since 1923. We walked back to Holborn and I went home from there.

Thursday August 23

Had to collect R., got stuck at Mile End and had to take a detour to get to the Times which took me 45 minutes altogether. Had a quick coffee with CS. and then we went to Camden Town because R. had an appointment to have a small tattoo done. It didn’t take long so when they were done we took the Tube and went to Covent Garden where we walked around a bit. I bought some brushes for my aunt and we had lunch at a vegetarian place at Neal’s Yard. We then walked back to Covent Garden Piazza to meet up with Stu. Meeting point the carousel at 15.15…

We walked a bit, checking out Covent Garden: showing R. around, and decided to go to a pub around the corner in Wellington Street, called The Corner Store. Unfortunately we had to leave after some time because some people had made reservations.

We walked around Soho and Chinatown looking for another pub but most were too busy. I called MvdM. to ask him about this Dim Sum place that he knows of, since we were getting a bit hungry and I have been craving for Dim Sum for such a long time. He gave me directions so we took the Tube to Oxford Circus. I’m not sure about this place, I’ve read very negative reviews and also, it isn’t really authentic, I’d rather find a cosy place in Chinatown to be honest. This place seems too modern, too yuppie to me perhaps.

Anyway when we arrived there was a line of people, at least about 80 of them probably more, it would’ve taken hours so we decided to go for a pub grub at Carnaby Street instead. We stayed till about 22.00 and walked back to the Tube station. I had to bring R. home, CS. already called because it was getting late. Unfortunately we had to leave in a bit of a rush, so said a quick goodbye to Stu. and walked to Oxford Circus. We were at IS.’s and CS.’s at 23.55; I. took me home at 01.00… A busy day but has been very good and it was really nice to meet up with Stu. and hang out for a bit!