Snippets of a London Summer.

I’ve been busy. I’ve finished my book! But in my small amount of spare time I’ve had, I’ve been soaking up the fabulous London summer. We have gone to the pub (a lot.)

We watched the Tour de France come through Hackney.

We took Banjo (the dog) on a boat ride in Victoria Park lake. She tried to attack baby swans – not the smartest idea.

I’ve moved into a lovely big English terrace house in the village – we have a big apple tree in the yard, and a pear tree too. I’ve been getting up early and picking fruit while the weather is still warm.

This cat, who cohabits with me, wanted my croissant.

We went to see Arcade Fire in Hyde Park, and lots of other bands throughout the summer. We have seen the Pixies, the Horrors, Jake Bugg, Broken Bells, Metronomy, The Melodic, London Grammar…. The sun set behind the crowd as bubbles fell from the sky, while Arcade Fire sang ‘Here comes the night time’ in the heart of London.

We have been spending a lot of time in the park. Our lives revolve around that park – it is a central hub of the East End and home to all of our sports, picnics, parties, coffee shops, music festivals…

We visited a corner store in Bethnal Green that has been converted entirely into felt. Dylan bought me a felt banana with a smiley face.

We visited the British Museum and casually saw the Rosetta Stone, Cleopatra’s mummy and the friezes from the Parthenon.

Allie and I went to a chocoholics afternoon tea at the Hilton.

They shot a commercial in the Deli – the film crew took over the village and converted our Deli into a film set. I was cast by the director as, wait for it – Hero Hands! My hands appear in the TVC chopping all varieties of foods.

We bought alcoholic milkshakes from canal boats.

I didn’t have time to blog. I didn’t even have time to photograph!

I spent most of my summer living with my beautiful friends in their awesome sunroom. This was such a pretty view to wake up to every morning, often with squirrels running along the fence.

Lots of eating. Lots, lots and lots of eating. My favourite restaurant was Dishoom, a Bombay style cafe in Shoreditch. Rolls dipped in fresh, milky chai. Yum.

I’ve picked wild blackberries all through the borough of Hackney.

We have had big brunches with lovely food from the Deli – Dylan is a bartender at the local pub so we had awesome bloody mary’s too.

We went downtown when the tide was down and walked along the edge of the Thames. We found bits of pottery and glass, worn smooth by decades in the river.