Bank Holiday Weekender

The last three days have been perhaps the finest in London so far- well, certainly the 'finest' in terms of the weather. Given that it's been a Bank Holiday weekend (public holiday on Monday), the wonderful weather couldn't have come along at a better time. It's been mostly sunny, and around 23 degrees Celsius each day since Friday, and I, along with every other person in this city, have been out, about and amongst it!

On Friday evening, I went to meet Caitlin and Erin in the Clapham Common area for some Friday night drinks, and I really felt like they were deserved after my week at work! The Common is extremely close to where I am living, and incredibly easy to get to by bus. Many bars and clubs align the huge park with a pond in the middle.

We decided to meet right outside the Tube station around 6:30pm, and made our way firstly to a nearby Irish haunt, for some Brothers Pear Cider (much stronger than others I had sampled, but good all the same). Despite the fact that they were playing Nick Cave in the front bar, the place itself was kind of a dive, and so we decided to head to The Sun, in Clapham's Old Town. With an extensive beer garden (providing lots of shelter), reasonably priced drinks, and a 'trendy' crowd, The Sun is certainly the place to be on a Friday night.

The following morning, I was awake early, and was keen to head on down to the Battersea High Street. Every community/suburb here in London has it's own High Street (what Australian's might refer to as the 'main drag'), which usually feature one if not all of the three 'main' banks (Lloyds, Nat West, Barclays), various coffee shop chains (Starbucks, Nero, Costa, and Pret a Manger if you're really lucky!), supermarkets chains (Waitrose, Tesco, Marks & Spencer), a Boots (chemist chain), shoe and clothing shops, off-license convenience stores (selling cheap alcohol!) and of course at least three pubs. Some are better than others, but regardless all are unique and special in their own way.

When I first went for a walk to explore the Battersea High Street, I first thought it to be a bit of a non event, compared to the High Streets in Hammersmith, Putney and up around Clapham Junction. However, on Friday I found out that each Saturday there is a Farmer's Market along the Battersea High Street, and I was keen to see what produce would be available...and I was not disappointed! There were fruiterers selling ridiculously cheap and fresh fruit and vegetables (I managed to pick up some sensational bananas and nectarines for next to nothing), a butcher, a variety of French and Spanish food stalls (featuring paella, sausages, salamis, crepes, waffles, cheap blue and brie cheese wheels and other traditional dishes from both countries), as well as lolly, fudge and chocolate stands, and nuts and eastern European desserts laid out fresh on carts.

There was also a variety of baked products, and decorated tins you could buy to fill with biscuits.

Aside from food being sold along the High Street, there was also clothing, cards and hat stands, and stalls were you could by toys and games. There was also a bloke selling crappy wooden statues (sourced directly from Taiwan), and I saw amongst his lot a little black and white cat, which reminded me of Caitlin's cat Ziggi. Given that it was only one quid, I decided to buy it for her, and when I asked the guy how much he said, "Ah, you're an Oz then?" and I said that I was, and he proceeded to tell me that he had lived just out of Coolangatta or Tweed Heads, "Oh right" I said, and smiled. "Yeah, it was the only place in the world I've ever felt homesick", he said, and took my coin... Jeepers! They're a whingin' lot these poms!

Around lunch time we headed back to Cabul road, to start getting organised to head over to Bayswater, to a friend's barbecue. The barbecue was set to start around 1pm, so we had to organise food and alcohol, and make our way across town. We made our way by bus to East Putney Station, then caught the Tube to Earl's Court, where we changed onto the Central Line, and made our way to our final destination, which happened to be an absolutely amazing apartment overlooking Hyde Park. So there we sat, on the edge of the balcony, waving to people as they zipped by on their opened roofed tour-buses, drinking stupid amounts of white wine and Moet champagne, listening to the Beatles (as well as an eclectic mix of Australian tunes) and dressing up in fur coats until the sun set late on Saturday evening.

By 10pm, it was time to head back to the South side (a trip I remember very little about, except for trying to feed a pigeon with my bare hand...). We stopped into the local Slug and Lettuce in Clapham Junction for a cheeky Pear Cider, and collected some late night greasy food from Chicken-2-Go (faux-KFC) on our way home, where we introduced ourselves to the mono-browed owner (we've been in there a bit since we moved into the neighbourhood!), and have now sworn off it for good. Dirty bird indeed.

The following day, we awoke to a magnificent Sunday, and naturally decided to return to the Clapham Common in our slightly hung-over state to lie on the grass in the massive park that the Common is, along with all the other hundred of others who were looking to soak up the sun's rays.

There were people kickin' the fuse ball, wearing two piece bathing suits, drinking cider and smoking herbal jazz cigarettes- there was laughter and ice-cream, public-displays-of-affection a-plenty, and people with their i-pod docks playing tunes. There were even people with their remote control boats having races, and doing tricky stuff in the Common's pond.

We ended up being there for most of the day, lying under trees and people watching, with some trashy magazines, cans of cider and Tesco salads, til it was time to head home to watch The Hills (series 5 is being aired in the UK at the moment!).

Monday, the actual bank holiday, was much the same as Sunday- glorious sunshine, and a chilled out vibe across the city. We decided to high tail it over to Hammersmith first, to hit up Primark (affectionately known as Prim-ani) to purchase some homewares and other items for Cabul road, before busing it over to Fulham for some Gourmet Burger Kitchen goodness and then to a local pub for a lazy afternoon.

Everywhere you look, it is obvious that Spring has sprung- the days are getting longer, birds are chirping (the same birds whose song I hear in Australia tell me that spring is on the way) and I'm recognising all these flowers in English gardens and flower pots that my mum used to grow back in the 80s before our continent started to run out of water. After beeing cooped up and locked inside during the epic London winter that I keep hearing about (from every person I speak to), I can understand why the people are busting out to enjoy the sunshine, the warmth and nature's ambience.