London Calling...

07 October 2007

She did go to the ball!

This week during our walk, Tom told me that when he flies he always wears union jack boxers, just in case the plane goes down. This came up because he was flying to the Isle of Jersey this weekend for a wedding. The attire (for all invitees, not just the bridal party): "top hat and tails" for the day and black tie for the evening. Wowee.

Well, luck must have been on my side, because I did actually make it to the Asda Tickled Pink Ball this time. It was a grand occasion and a pretty fun night - everyone looked stunning in their black tie 'with a hint of pink'. The only not-so enjoyable part of the evening was the entertainment. It was very odd, to say the least. They first introduced "David Brent" who was a Ricky Gervais impersonator...impersonating his character from The Office, which, let's face it, is a bit old now. If that wasn't strange enough, he was followed by a Kylie Minogue impersonator (who they actually introduced as 'Kylie Minogue') who was a slightly heavy-set woman in her 40s with a very skimpy pink outfit and some dancers. This was (of course!) followed by a Tom Jones impersonator. Our sales director said to me at one point that I had a look of 'confusion mixed with horror' on my face. He claimed it just because we were in Leeds, and this is what the people of Leeds find entertaining....but I am not so sure. Is this what the good people of this country find entertaining? It sure was strange. The highlight of the evening was the dancing, which came later. As per usual at these sorts of things, once I got on the dance floor I was unable to leave. Apparently we were all broadcast on the big screens, not once but several times over the evening! Oopsie. We closed the place down around 3am and had to get up the next morning to catch the 3-hour train ride back to London and go into work. Ouch.

Last night I left dreary London and am now in the much- sunnier and brighter streets of Cannes. I spent an hour or so on the beach this morning and relaxed a bit, before all of the craziness starts later today. I was hoping to do a spot of shopping with the slightly weaker Euro, but all of the stores are closed. Even the supermarket! So I ate a crepe instead (nutella and banana...yum!). Tonight I am meeting some colleagues for dinner and drinks to discuss our 'plan of attack' for the week, and tomorrow it will get pretty crazy. In the evening alone, I have 3 cocktail parties, 1 dinner and an after party to attend. This is on top of spending all day in meetings. Tuesday is the big dinner. Wish me luck!

Oh, and apparently England are doing pretty well in the Rugby World Cup, in case anyone is following. I am not, but you can't help it around here.

26 September 2007

It is not even October!!....

It's not even October yet, but the furry pink hot water bottle is going to make its first appearance this evening. To be fair, I did have to haul it out a couple of times this "summer". It's cold! On the BBC news this morning, all the weatherman could summon up was 'today's weather is...err...disappointing." You don't say???!! The English weather celebrated my birthday to bringing seven tornadoes to Southeast England. Wah-hey!

Oh well, tomorrow is the ASDA ball...let's hope she shall go.

This is just a quick post to report that during my walk yesterday, I had said to Tom that my friends back home were very interested to hear about our waistcoat outing, but he was very disappointed I left out critical details, such as the name and location of the shop, which added to the 'quintessentially Englishness' of the story. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a picture of the shop(pe) (I'm sure this kind of place doesn't need to advertise online...it looks like it stepped out of the 19th century!) but it is called "Ascot & Henley"--quite appropriate, don't you think? Also of interesting note is the issues faced leading up to our walk. When I left the house yesterday (after my day-after-birthday 'lie-in' we're entitled to at work, called a "duvet day"), it was bright and sunny. Not warm but sunny at least. So i put on a breezy white skirt (they don't have Labor Day here so I think its ok until autumn comes--feel free to critique...), but by 3pm it was pouring down with rain. We were supposed to leave at 6:00, but at 5:30 it was still raining. I walked over to Tom's desk and pointed downwards and casually explained I simply could not walk home wearing a white skirt in the pouring rain. He rubbed his chin, and replied, "Quite right, Eleanor...but I saw two hedgehogs mating in the park at lunch, which means the rain will end before we leave."

I don't know where he pulled that theory from, but you know...he was right!

23 September 2007

How lame am I???

Please don't answer that question! But I woke up this morning feeling pretty lame, indeed. Despite sending out a 'save the date' email for my birthday party many weeks ago, I had a grand total of one person attend last night. Thankfully I had a joint 'do' with a girl from work whose birthday is today, so there were actually other people there, but boy did I feel like Billy-No-Mates! Granted a lot of people seem to be away this weekend, but it sure didn't make me feel all that great. I had bought a new frock (my first from Kate Moss's collection, no less) and silver shoes just for the occasion too. Oh well.

I do realize the lack of blog postings recently, but my mood over the summer was very reflective of the British Summer weather. It literally rained for 3 months straight. And not nice Summery rain either. It was dark, cold and pretty nasty...ALL Summer! I think it was the wettest summer in 30 years or something like that. Half the country was flooded and everyone was in a bad mood. Not even the 'stiff upper lip' could withstand 3 months of that. I also had my bicycle stolen right from my back garden while I was asleep, which was a pleasure. Another fun treat came that same weekend when my toilet broke. As it was bank holiday weekend, no one was around, including my landlord, so I spent 3 days trekking to the nearest public toilet (10 mins walk away) everytime I had to use the loo. Fun! If it weren't for my Arsenal season ticket, I would probably be on the first flight home. Seriously.

So not a great past few months, but I am very pleased to report Arsenal are having an amazing start to their season. The best I can remember. My baby Cesc Fabregas is simply on fire. I didn't think it was possible to love him more, but everytime I watch him play, I do. And to think he is barely 20 years old!

We've had a big restructure of the marketing department at work. My job is virtually unchanged, bar from a little more responsibility (for no additional pay, of course) but a few people were made redundant and others have had to move around and are not so happy. The atmosphere hasn't been the best. I think we've had something along the lines of 50% turnover in the last year...not the most encouraging. Me thinks a good party may be in order.

It has not all been depressing. I did get to attend the Bourne Ultimatum premiere and party which was quite cool. All the stars were there, free champagne, and entrance to a very chic club. We've got the ASDA black-tie 'Tickled Pink Ball' this Thursday night up in Leeds. If you'll recall this will be my second attempt to go to this ball. Last year, a tree fell on the tracks or something silly and we didn't make it. Let's hope she shall go to the ball this year!

I've also started walking home one night a week with my friend Tom from work. It all started a few weeks back duing the transport strike. The tubes were shut down (on strike! along with the Royal Mail) for 4 days, leaving the city in chaos. The queues for busses were hundreds deep, and the streets were absolutely rammed. It was taking me 1.5 hrs+ to get to and from work (only 4 1/2 miles!) which was pretty annoying. One of my colleagues Tom lives nearby so we decided to walk home, which only took 1 hr 15 mins...quicker than the bus! It's actually a pleasant journey - down to Piccadilly Circus, bordering Hyde Park, through Knightsbridge and Chelsea--not to mention good exercise--so we've been trying to do it one night every week. So far so good. Tom is one of the sweetest guys I know at Universal, but he makes me laugh because he is very posh, and uses phrases like 'old boy' and 'quite right' a lot. During our walk last week, we were in a mad dash for the first part of our journey because Tom needed to pick something up in a very old-school English shop. When I asked what it was, he replied 'A waistcoat' - 'yes, of course it is, Tom!', I replied.

I'm off to Cannes in a couple of weeks for MIPCOM. I've got loads of meetings booked in, including a dinner with that quite-famous and oh-so-cute English actor which should prove interesting if nothing else. When I went frock-shopping at Top Shop I also bought a dress for that dinner. Unfortunately, the silver shoes probably won't be appropriate for that my professional dinner, so another shopping trip may be in order! Oh darn... ;-)

And thank you all for your input on my travels. I am thrilled to report I have booked a flight to Cape Town in mid-November. I cannot wait!!!!

16 July 2007

Stag n' Hen

It has been raining in England for 6 weeks. Honestly, I am not kidding. We had 2 nice days in the past 2 months that I can remember. Thankfully they coincided with Vermut's visit to London. I don't think he could really understand my immense pleasure at being able to put on a pair of sunglasses. I am beyond depressed. Even a charater on Coronation Street today said 'I am in a state of general malaise'. I know how she feels. The weatherman had forecast one nice summer day (which was supposedly yesterday). It thundered and rained all day long, with some places lucky enough to receive golf-ball sized hail. And to think I moved here willingly???

A bit of good news is that the 2nd job has finally been binned. Thank gawd. Perhaps the best news of all is that I have a week off coming up. It's off to Colorado to see mom, breathe some fresh air and perhaps see some sunshine, followed by a weekend in LA for Mikee's wedding. I think a spray tan is definitely in order, given our recent weather. I-need-a-break-from-this-place-pronto.

I got invited to a party this past Saturday. The invite was labeled 'Stag n' Hen' and it was a picture of a hen with some antlers on, wearing a tracksuit (!). I didn't know what it was so I deleted it. Then the other day I was asking this guy at work (we call him 'Mickey the Fish') what he was up to over the weekend and he said 'Its my party..aren't you coming?' Uhhh....yes?? So I dug out the invitation and asked around. Apparently it was a joint 'bachelor ('stag')/bachelorette ('hen') party' and the tracksuits were optional. The groom and bride throw their party together. It was actually a pretty good time. The poor host was really nervous about his two sets of friends mixing. There were his colleagues from Universal (just the cool ones, mind) and his life friends. My friend Alex refer to them as 'the crunchies.' Think: Glastonbury, Humanists, dreadlocks and hats. It was a blast and we danced and danced. A few pictures below.

But first, I am taking a poll. All of this rain has encouraged my to plan my next holiday. Wintertime sunshine. I am debating between:

South Africa
Cuba
New Zealand

Already have books on all 3, and all are fairly straightforward to get to from London. And SUNNY. Please use the 'comments' section to cast your ballot.

Alex, Steffan and Jon...trying to look cool

elf, with the Stag

the Universal kids

27 June 2007

Fare thee well, Tony!

10 years ago, I was living and working in London, trying to pursue my dream of working in marketing for a record label. I sat at home at my flat in Tottenham, desperately ringing Independiente Records (who had just launched) every day looking for a job but failed, and somehow ended up on the trading floor of Abbey National bank. It was a good summer, though. I went to my first V Festival and saw Gene, Ash and The Divine Comedy, among others. I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park. Red Bull was introduced. Sarah and I went to Jersey, Isle of, and got to ride around in a Rolls Royce.

One of the memories, though, that will stay with me forever is being here in England for the general election that year. Labour overturned 18 years of Conservative rule. Gone were the Maggie Thatcher years...welcome Tony Blair. He was young, liberal and overwhelmingly popular. He hung out with the guys from Oasis and appeared to be way more 'with-it' than his predecessor John Major.

So much has happened since then. I've worked for Enron, gone back to school at UCLA, finally found my way into entertainment marketing. And just to show life always goes full circle, I am back in London. Tony Blair has done a lot for the country - one only has to look at how strong the £ is to see that. Unfortunately, he got tangled a bit too much with Dubya and suffered quite a bit for it.

This afternoon, as I am typing this, Gordon Brown will be 'invited' by the Queen to form a new government and will become the next Prime Minister, and a new legacy will begin. So long, Tony. Its been a fun few years...