so it's a sunday night and we're all just hanging out at dolly & drew's flat until we head out for dinner. i knew this would be a short trip and can't believe that i have to leave in a few days. it's kind of strange. though i know i'm in london, there are times when i don't feel any different being here. not sure if it's some kind of sign or it's because i'm hanging out with good ol' friends. it was great to see dolly on weds night when she got back from work. we went for a jog along our usual route (from tower hill to the millenium bridge, over to the tate modern and then along the south side of the thames river and over tower bridge). it's always nice to hang with dolls and continue from exactly where we left off...
the first night we walked over to the wapping area and had dinner at il bordella. a fabulous little italian restaurant where the portions are huge. dolly and i shared an alfredo dish and the rocket parmesan salad. i realized after eating this fine meal that when i go home, i will get back into the swing of things and try some new dishes out.
the following morning, i made joe go for a morning jog with me. joe (andrew's younger bro) was in town since mid august and had come here via vancouver but had spent an entire year over in japan. the boy is fluent in so many different languages...it's pretty impressive. we took a leisurely jog and i thought it would be funny to document the start of it. by the time we hit the south side of the thames, joe thought it would be funny to run through a water fountain and then i thought it would be even funnier to follow suit.
later that night i took the tube over to the marleybone area to meet up with rick for dinner (and gave the alchie his bottle of crown royale). we ended up going to a great thai restaurant in st. christopher's place and had dessert in leicester square. the funny thing was along the way we were roaming the busy streets of london and this range rover turned the corner ... all in slow-mo. rick was like, 'hey, that's ross!' as i raised my head up and took a quick glance at the passenger seat (with the window rolled down). low and behold he nodded his head and gave us this quick hand signal to say 'hi'. david schwimmer must get that all the time. here's to another celebrity citing.
so on friday, we decided to pick up the rental car for the weekend and head over to the putney area to check out a place that dolly and 'drew were interested in getting. it was an old woman's college (with a chapel) that was designed by sir giles gilbert scott and was recently converted into new apartment units. drew was interested in this great 3bedroom set up that had this huge living area with a terrace that was equal if not greater then the living space. i would say that this unit was a gem but the location was a bit questionable and dolly wasn't happy with the small bedrooms. later that night we had dinner at the rocket bar and shared a chorizo calzone that just melted in your mouth. yum scrum!
by the time we got home, we were so exhausted! andrew works long i-banking hours and the commute time for dolly to and from (four hours total each day) work made it a very long week. so we debated whether or not we'd call it a night. but i bit the bullet and popped into the shower. i figure, let the married couple rest...i'm in london, it's a friday night and i better not fall asleep at 11pm. hit the shower and headed out to the soho area and had a tasty little grape martini at a cool place called cocoon. ended up having late night chinese at HK diner at about 3:45 in the morning. yikes!
so saturday was one of my favourite days so far. for several reasons. one, i was proud of myself for actually getting into a UK rental car and driving on the other side of the road while handling a stick shift in my left and driving on the right. we drove into putney in the afternoon to check out a place that dolly and 'drew were interested in buying. and now onto the second highlight...they signed and reserved a place in this quaint little area in putney (carlton square). i'm sooo excited for them. it's a beautiful unit and i know that it'll be a great investment for them. later that night we sped back to the flat and got ready to celebrate my belated bday. now, this is the part that got me totally floored. they made reservations to this great restaurant called the wolseley and i didn't know that it's a place where british celebs dine and it's ubber hard to get reservations. i just read in the paper today that catherine zeta jones and her hubbie m. douglas were there last night celebrating both of their bdays. anyhoot... after being seated at our table, dolly gave me my bday card and i was on the verge of tearing just reading it. she has been such a solid gem to me and i'm so grateful to have her and 'drew in my life. so then shortly after, she hands over this blue box and said, 'happy bday'. OMG. i'm thinking why do i have a this tiffany box in front of me. even before i opened it, i hugged her incestuously and thanked her and drew over and over again. and then at some point drew looked at me and said, 'don't thank me, it's not from me' and then seconds later, out from under the table he hands me another tiffany blue box and says, 'now this is from me'. what the fu? i was in so much disbelief and at that point so stunned and shocked by their generosity. i will forever remember that special night and will cherish my 'return to tiffany' heart necklace and bracelet. thanks for making me feel like a million bucks!
so later that evening we ended up going to 'the long bar' for drinks. according to 'drew it was another pretentious place in london but dolly really wanted me to check it out. after having a few rounds of drinks (obviously not me) dolly and rick got into a lengthy discussion about their family history and some of the interesting life lessons that were passed down to them from their respective gmas. at one point, drew and i figured out that there could be a possibility that dolly and rick are long lost relatives. their gmas come from the same village in china, they speak the same dialect (which is very rare among most chinese immigrants) and have so much in common in terms of family background. too uncanny.
so sunday was yesterday. we ended up sleeping in and decided to hop into the rental car and head to spitafields mall ... a cool little district in london where on the weekends it's sort of like a flea market but better quality. had a bunch of cool knick knacks from local designers (jewlery, clothing, design, furniture, etc). i guess you would say a huge open forum like pike place/granville island but with less food and more design. got a few things to bring back and hopefully my friends will like 'em. i ended up ditching dolly, drew and joe and took off with rick to hit 'wagamamas', a great little japanese noodle shop. i think they have a whole bunch of them franchised throughout europe. not sure if it's in nyc yet but i know it would do really well in the pacific northwest. anyhoot...had my chicken ramen and then went over to rick's to go over some alberta pool stuff. i'm really thinking that work life would be more exciting if we got involved with the alberta or cali pool market. headed back to the flat for dins and then had an interesting convo with joe, on the eve of his departure. for the first time since i got there he actually opened up to me and we yammered away on the meaning of life and what makes us tick. how happy we are in our lives. what do we need to make us happy. what really is happiness? joe is an interesting fella. i told him that i still want him to email me his best man speech. once i get it, i will be sure to post it on my blog. to this day...it had to be the best friggen best man speech i've ever heard anyone present to the groom. deep in thought and purely genius. here's to joe and pulling himself out of his happy numbness.
so now it's actually tuesday (2:49am).
monday, we had another great day! dolly and drew were at work all day but we agreed to meet up to catch the 'mary poppins' show in the theatre district. dolly scored perfect seats and it was such a sweet little show that brought back that childhood spirit in all of us. here's to 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'! ended up having a late night dinner at this cute little japanese restaurant that served delicious pancakes that were fried right infront of you on a teppanyaki grill. ended up taking the cab back by midnight and as soon as i heard that ed was coming down for a quick visit, i knew i had to break open my surprise for 'drew. on my shopping stint today, i walked into hmv and bought the latest nhl '07 for 'drew's xbox 360. i was going to save it for him as a surprise when i left but i couldn't resist as his partner in crime was paying us a visit. i was so thrilled to see 'drew turn into a little kid again as he skipped to the tv and popped in his game.
i only have one more day to go...hopefully it'll be just as good as the rest, if not better.... will follow up with a post and with some pix.
i'm headin' to bed!
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