As I’m writing this, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic.
However as this is a blog about the events of three months ago, which I really should have written it at the beginning of March, I’m going to pretend that I don’t know this has happened yet. You can read all about how I’m dealing with the pandemic in next month’s instalment! Let’s pretend for a little bit longer…
February is always welcome when it comes around – it’s a short month that follows a long January and paves the way to Spring.
January was great, and I’ve had an equally enjoyable February. Our holiday that’s been in the works for almost a year finally came around and I saw lots of the people in my life that I love so there was plenty to be happy about!
The month kicked off with a spot of dancing! My friend Jane and I, who met when we volunteered at Black Deer Festival last summer, went to a ‘Texan Two-Step’ workshop in Walthamstow. A guy taught workshops at the festival, but since then has run a couple of afternoon workshops in London. We meant to go in October, but Jane put her back out so we finally got our cowboy boots on to go this time. It was a really fun evening – there was a mix of people there of all different ages and experience and we had the chance to dance with everyone. To my delight there was an awesome pizza place just across the road called Yard Sale and the girls working in there were HILARIOUS and the pizza was delicious. They had a band on afterwards who were great, but unfortunately were interluded by the social club’s regular bingo night which signalled home time for us.
You know there’s always a famous sight that’s not too far from you, and you might have even passed it several times but you’ve never actually visited it? For me that’s Stonehenge. Back when I was a kid, we always used to drive past it going to or from my Auntie’s house in Devon for our summer holidays but we never actually physically visited it. So when my friend Becky suggested a trip, I was well up for it. Becky kindly drove the four of us – that being my friends Lauren and Gemma, me and of course Becky herself, down to Salisbury on the first Sunday of February. We started off with a delicious roast dinner at The Crown Inn in the nearby town of Cholderton before heading over to the English Heritage site. I’d actually purchased an English Heritage membership back when we visited Osborne House on the Isle of Wight back in September, so I was happy to be getting my money’s worth for the visit to Stonehenge too. It was amazing to see this famous piece of history up close and personal, and we caught it on a quiet day so we got to enjoy it without much interruption (and take loads of pictures with no one in the background!) It was a great day out with the girls and one to tick off the bucket list. Totally do-able in a day trip from London too!
I made it along to GoodGym for another task – and this one even had beer at the end! We did some flyering for Ignition Brewery to spread the word about the business and an event they were hosting for Valentine’s Day. We got invited back to the brewery afterwards and supplied with plenty of beer – so much so that I ended up running back to our start point holding a bottle in each hand…picture that! You can read the blog about the task here.
Since I moved to London two and a half years ago, I’ve been on a mission to complete the Green Chain Walk and more recently the Capital Ring. The latter is a 78 mile route that loops right around London, taking you through mostly green areas. I haven’t done a section since August with my friend Sophia, which you can read about in a previous blog here, and as I recently found the guidebook in a charity shop (score) I was ready to complete another section. I roped in my friend Becky who loves walking and nature too, and we set off to do the Richmond Bridge to Osterley Lock section. We had a beautiful sunny day for it, and once we were past the busy river fronts of Richmond , it was a fairly peaceful walk with beautiful views. We even bumped into a woman on the way who asked us if we were doing the Capital Ring and proceeded to tell us that she had completed it a couple of a years ago and shared some highlights. We stopped at a pub halfway for a refresher and a picnic, and finished up at another pub with a cup of tea. It was a lovely day, and now we’re both eager to get out and do more sections.
I was debating whether to include this next bit in this month’s blog because it’s a bit personal – but then I think these subjects are sometimes taboo but in reality very normal and everyday, especially for women, so the more we talk about it the better!
It was time for me to look at getting another version of contraception. It’s been many years since I was in a relationship, so I felt it was time to consider my options again. Back when I was a teenager I had the contraceptive implant, but when time was up (you have it for three years) I decided to just have it taken out to let my body get back to its natural rhythms, and I wasn’t seeing anyone at the time anyway so didn’t feel it necessary to have it in anymore. I’d made an appointment with my GP earlier in the year in the hope of getting the implant again, but they no longer do them at GP surgeries and unfortunately the sexual health clinic just round the corner from me had closed last summer, so it became a bit of a mission to actually make it happen. It required a day off work, and a trip to Croydon – so one of my girlfriends, who wanted her IUD removed, and I decided to make a day out of it. Why not?! We met each other at the clinic to get ourselves sorted; I also decided while I was there to have a full sexual health check-up (ladies and gents – very important to do this every so often!) so felt very prodded and poked afterwards. Then we. went to the shops and treated ourselves to a dinner date at IKEA!
I made it along to three Parkruns this month – two at my home parkrun Crystal Palace and one down the road at Tooting Common. Parkrun has remained to be popular since the New Year: there seems to be increased numbers at every Parkrun I go to. I was secretly hoping for a PB at Tooting as it’s known to be a flat course – but unfortunately there were too many people, slim paths, and muddy around the edges. The only people that risked the mud were the front runners who had a lovely line of mud up their backs. I simply cannot run across mud – I have a fear of falling over so I’m like bambi on ice. I did not enjoy this course – and thought it was just me being a bit bitter – but this was recently echoed by another friend who had also done the course.
For the Crystal Palace ones, Dan was staying both weekends I did them so bless his little cotton socks he got up early and came up with me. Lucky he was there for one of them, as afterwards my blood sugar appeared to crash and I could hardly form a sentence. He got me to the shop to get me a snack – all I wanted was chicken(!) – and then we had to get the bus home. The first time I’ve ever had to get a bus home from Crystal Palace Parkrun! But it was lovely having him there both times to support.
But here’s the bit you’re probably all here to read about – my trip to Iceland and New York! This trip has been in the works for nearly a year and we could hardly believe it was finally time to jet off.
I won’t go into too much detail as each trip in itself would warrant its own blog post. In fact I’ve already written one about Iceland, although it’s more of a recommendations for Reykjavik if you’re planning a trip there any time soon. You can read it here – and I promise New York will come at some point. Maybe.
I went on the trip with my friend Becky (she’s appeared many times in the blog this month it seems!) and Becky’s friend Thaianny. Just to give you a bit of context and the TLDR version: my boyfriend is a schoolfriend of Thai’s, and the three of this going on this holiday together is basically the whole reason we met in the first place. So that’s cute.
The itinerary:
Tues 18th Feb: London > Reykjavik
Friday 21st Feb: Reykjavik > New York
Monday 22nd Feb: New York > London (via a quick changeover in Reykjavik again)
It was a whirlwind trip as you can probably guess by the fact that we spent just a few days in each place but we had an amazing time.
Reykjavik
I’d been to Reykjavik before – five years ago with my Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law. I really fell in love with it because it was so different from anywhere else I’d ever been. The mountains are in your view and the cold hits you as soon as you walk out the airport.
This visit, we stayed in a hotel on an opposite side of the city to where I had last time which was great because I got to see a part of it I didn’t really explore on the last trip. Our walk into town involved passing a cemetery which looked like it belonged in Narnia, and a beautiful lake that was so frozen over that you could walk on it. It also snowed quite heavily when we there which was magical!
Neither Thai or Becky had been before and wanted to do some of the main sights which I had visited last time. However I was more than happy to oblige. As it turns out five years is quite a long time so I got to create new memories with only a slight recollection of the previous. One thing I was really keen to do was to visit the top of Hallgrimskirkja – the amazing church in the city – to see the views across Reykjavik as I didn’t get around to this last time. We also joined a free walking tour to see a few other parts of the city. And we also did the Golden Circle Tour, which again I had done on my last trip, but this one was with a different company and had a few added sights. No complaints here though – it was great to go back and see all these incredible sights again. The highlight was seeing Thingvellir National Park at sunrise! We also went to the Blue Lagoon, which even if you’d been 100 times I don’t think you’d get bored of it.
But the absolute stand out moment of our time in Reykjavik HAD to be seeing the Northern Lights! In 2015 we’d gone out on a boat to see them to no avail. This time we chose a small tour bus, with the same company we’d done the Golden Circle tour with. Our guide took us the extra mile to see them, and when we did it was pure magic. I can’t tell you how excited and giddy we were! Our guide even took pictures of us with them, which is an amazing memory to have of such a special evening.
Read my Reykjavik tips blog here.
New York
How long had I been looking forward to this?! I was so excited to visit New York, and it was pretty much my first proper visit to the USA too if you don’t count our Disney World holiday in 1996 when I was one going on two, or the two times I had a stopover in the airports on my way to and from Costa Rica.
The night we got there wasn’t the best introduction to this amazing city – we’d jumped in time zones so I was a bit dolally anyway, but we had shocking service in the restaurant we chose for the night. I had ordered the nachos which were about three times the size of my head, and I had forgotten that the USA doesn’t do real cheese – which for me, nachos unfortunately doesn’t work without.
But that all changed in the next few days of our trip. I fell hard and fast for the city that never sleeps! I can’t even remember in what order we did everything now, but we sure packed a lot in. We did another free walking tour, which although long was a great overview of some of the main sites like the Charging Bull, World Trade Centre, Statue of Liberty and Wall Street. We queued for Ellen’s Stardust Diner for dinner – which had been the most recommended thing to us – and had a whale of a time.
We crossed the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, and moseyed around Brooklyn Heights, mostly doing mini photoshoots of each other in front of the colourful walls! We hired bikes and cycled around Central Park, went to Serendipity 3 for sweet treats and got New York bagels. On the morning before we flew back, I snuck off whilst the girls were still packing to really quickly check out Grand Central Station and the New York Public Library which were fairly close to our hotel. We then took a trip to the Top of the Rock to take in the incredible views, met up with a friend of Becky’s and took the Staten Island Ferry (with canned margaritas in tow) to say hello to Miss Liberty herself.
(I’m quite aware I’m not pointing at the Statue of Liberty – I blame Thaianny’s photography skills and a fast moving ferry!)
We were all so sad to come home after such an amazing trip, but we have some amazing memories to keep us going! I’m so keen to get back to New York as soon as I can as we didn’t even graze the surface. I know Dan really wants to go so that’ll be my excuse!
We arrived back from our trip on a Tuesday morning, so after a long bus trip back home I got to chill out for the rest of the day. Thankfully I seemed to evade the jet lag and got through the week at work in time to recover for Friday’s games night.
Dan stayed as usual, and we spent the next day on a double date with my friend Gemma and her boyfriend Ryan. Unfortunately the weather was a bit hit and miss, but thankfully they suggested some indoors activities! We met them at the Barbican Conservatory and wandered amongst the collection of exotic plants, before heading over to a ping pong club called Bounce which was a lot of fun and allowed our competitive sides to come out. We then searched endlessly for somewhere to eat, and found ourselves on Brick Lane which was an experience to say the least! It’s well known for being the best place for a curry – so much so there’s a curry house every other building, all claiming that they’re the best and trying to coax you in by offering special deals. Dan had a lot of fun getting into negotiations with all of them, and we finally settled on one where we got a drink, a starter, main, rice and naan for £13 each!
I’ve been reading...
Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart – I picked this up in a charity shop a while ago, thinking the cover looked and plot sounded interesting. One of those books where I’m not sure if I really liked it, or kind of hated it. So maybe it was just OK?
I’ve been watching…
Film
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – I like what my friend Tom said about this, “If enough people think you’re a genius, you truly can make anything.”
To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You – the perfect follow on to the first film (which I love)
Seven Pounds – Dan I watched this on Valentine’s weekend. I wasn’t ready for this emotional rollercoaster! But such an amazing film.
Collateral Beauty – sticking with the brooding Will Smith films, finally got around to watching this. I thought it could have been so much better, it unfortunately fell a bit short of its potential.
TV
When They See Us (Netflix) – A super moving series based around the case of the “Central Park jogger” in 1989. It follows the young boys who were falsely accused of the assault and rape of the female jogger after being duped into falsely admitting to the charges, and where it takes their lives. Probably should have watched something slightly more joyful on the trip back from New York, but it’s been on my list for a while so I glad I finally got around to watching it.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Netflix) – Dan got us watching this when he stayed one week and it’s outrageously ridiculous and great. I can’t deny a bit of Charlie Day.
Looking ahead…
(It’s really hard to write about this when I’m three months further down the line and know what’s to come, but here’s some things that did happen and/or that I was looking forward to but might not have happened…)
March is the month of my Mum’s 60th – we’re having a little party to celebrate! Dan should be moving into his new house so looking forward to spending some time there. And Banff Mountain Film Festival which is becoming an annual tradition!
according to gaia 