Cousin Chris arrives

Benny and I had a very quiet weekend in Little London. Most nights of the week we had been out. We went to watch Temper Trap in the rain at Somerset House. I also cooked Benny my favourite meal that mummy makes, apricot chicken. It is a struggle over here as they don't sell apricot nectar.

We opted to stay in on Friday night and cook spaghetti. We watched parts of the opening night of the Proms season. We also booked tickets for one night in July to go and see the orchestra play at Royal Albert Hall, plus the last night at Hyde Park like last year.

On Saturday Benny woke ridiculously early to watch a load of rugby games being played in Aussieland. Ben had warned me of the potential of him watching games from 6:30am until 7pm. At 9am Ben headed to the station to go and watch the Reds game at the dodgy Australian pub while I prepared to do a bit of baking and wait for my cousin Chris to arrive. He moved to a little town outside of Bristol about 6 days ago. It was lovely to see Chris and meet his new found friends who were going to explore London for the weekend. I helped them get Oyster cards and put them on a train heading to Waterloo.

Once they departed I went home to bake Earl Grey tea cakes for a friend who was coming over to visit. I was excited to finally bake something and it wasn't until I put all the ingredients in I realised that I needed electric beaters. I had none, I mixed at a rapid rate for over ten minutes and today (Monday), my arms are still sore. It was my first official tea party with a friend I’ve made in London. It was supposed to be a crochet lesson but it ended up being a tea, cake and a chat. It was lovely as much as I love talking to Benny I really do miss chats with the girls. I have collected a few tea sets and cups since arriving a year ago.

Early Saturday evening I met up with Chris, Benny and a friend and we discovered a great pub in Clapham Common called the Abbeville. It was down the road from a friend’s house. The food was amazing, it could be described as fancy pub food. I had spatchcock with spiced chickpeas and it was lovely and Benny went with fish pie. It was really miserable weather on Saturday so the warm food really hit the spot.

Sadly, there was no sleeping in on Sunday. We got up bright and early and we headed to Clerkenwell which is in north London. We made a little error and didn’t check the train time before leaving home so Chris, Benny and I were running down streets of Putney trying to make the train. We made it thankfully as we would have had to wait 20 minutes. We were heading to Clerkenwell to try a cafe that our friend had recommended. It is originally from Melbourne and they’re rumoured to have flown some staff across for the London start up. The brunch and coffee was amazing. It was well worth the overground train, plus the three tubes to get there. There was seven of us Australians enjoying a great breakfast. When we left at 11:30 the queue was out the door. We will definitely be going back there again and I think Chris might even come back for a good breakfast.

After brunch, Chris went to visit friends and I dragged Benny to the shops. He has no enthusiasm towards shopping. I think it is one of Ben’s least favourite things to do with me. My favourite store was having a sale so I really needed to have a look. I love, love, love Anthropology. I picked up three things, one was a massive bargain. I picked up a dress for £34 reduced from £138. I can’t wait to wear it. 

This week is looking busy. I am hoping that we have sunshine, but our chances are slim.