It's been a whirlwind of days. Sunday last week was Christmas dinner with the kilo-gang, and it was lovely. I was late and stressed, both because I'd had a busy few days, and because I had quite a few things on my to-do list that Sunday. Waiting for my bus from picking up a few books at the school library, I decided to undo my jeans, just so I could breathe properly. I don't know if you've ever tried it, but unbuttoning your buttons and unzip the flies are much easier to do discreetly rather than do them up. My coat was luckily long enough to cover me, so I wasn't flashing everyone, not that I know of anyway. I managed to drag the zip up a bit, before I went back to pretending that nothing was awry. The girls had pretty much finished preparing the Christmas tapas when I arrived, so I got the easy task to open a bottle of vino tinto and pour it into glasses. Sugar had kindly invited us to hers, which was extremely nice as we were able to spend more time working on something together, also we decided the volume and the choices of music, which is actually pretty important to an atmosphere. I cried a few tears, almost as evidence for Marble who pointed out that, yes I am an emotional person. Again, it was a lovely time, and it was so nice having everyone gathered again. We didn't leave until later than we probably should have, and therefore went to bed later. I think we slept for four-five hours? I say sleep, but I didn't really ever feel like I reached deep sleep, because I was slightly overstimulated by the girls. Pre-Christmas dinner I hadn't really been socialising with anyone for what feels like forever, and was mostly just buried in my master thesis. So any social stimuli was probably going to overwhelm me, and I spent a lot of the night just thinking about our conversations. Our flight was an early one, which meant once we arrived in London, we were knackered. And then we decided to take the bus to Oxford Circus, which was a bit not good. We had lunch at a french patisserie? Or maybe it wasn't either French or a patisserie, but we got some food and tea in us, before venturing outside to do a spot of shopping. Can I just say, all the chain stores seems to play music extremely loudly, and there was even a dj in Topshop. I started feeling really awful, as in swaying slightly at the spot and feeling nauseous, so Kiwi sent me back to the hotel. I'm grateful that she did, because otherwise I'd just be following them around and probably getting worse. I checked in, and immediately went to lie down under the duvet. I realised I had a case of trapped wind that just didn't want to remove itself from my body. It was a perfect time for having a nap, but since my body was in pain, I couldn't relax enough. Luckily it kinda resolved itself slowly, and I felt a lot better for it. Because I'd been worried I couldn't go along with Kiwi and Marble to meet up with Gemma and Alison. But I was good to go when we went to meet up with the girls. I did send a last-minute invite to Thomas and Anne, but Thomas was busy and Anne lives further outside of the city. So we didn't end up meeting them, but Thomas did a facecall, which was amusing. Initially I didn't invite them because it was so close to Christmas. Part of me feels like it's rude to intrude on people's time when so many spend that time with family. In hindsight I realise I should've just sent out the invites earlier. Oh well. Tuesday we went to Westfield because I personally prefer doing my shopping at a shopping mall if I know what I'm looking for. Finished off a few presents, and then we finally sat down for lunch. I had an amazing burrito and managed to cut my thumb on the aluminium wrapping. So now I'm craving burritos. We finished our shopping, and I bought my mince pies at M&S, before leaving for the hotel. Marble decided to continue her shopping, whereas Kiwi and I went back to relax a bit before leaving for dinner in Soho. However, once we got there, the queue was for almost two hours, so we decided on South Bank in the end, where we had a thirty minute wait, maybe more. But I got my patatas bravas and other tapas dishes, in which I've been craving since last year really. I honestly just went to look at a tapas menu just now, and fell in love with the sound of all the dishes. It's strange, because I'm not actually hungry, but the thought of tapas or a juicy burrito is making me salivate. Anyway, we took the tube back to Soho I think, and Marble and I decided to wander, whereas Kiwi went back to the hotel. I personally really enjoy a city at night, because the atmosphere is really nice. Also, the Christmas lights are all out, so it's quite nice to look at. We wanted to sit down at a pub for a beer, but we were too late? They stopped serving alcohol, which Marble and I were extremely surprised by. We ended up going home, where Kiwi was ready to go to bed. Wednesday we did a bit of casual shopping, I actually found my perfect summer bag and it was on sale for even less than I thought. I also bought myself and my sister some merino wool knits from Uniqlo. So all in all, I had a really successful shopping day. As Marble wandered around Liberty, I went back to Carnaby street to sit down at Starbucks, where Kiwi had situated herself. I had a green tea, and it was definitely needed. We had decided on having afternoon tea at The Wolseley. However, they didn't have any free tables, so we decided on getting there early so we didn't have to queue for that long. So we walked in that direction, and I had to stop by Uniqlo again, because I'd actually gotten the wrong size for the knit for my sister. They'd marked the knit with size xs with one of those stickers, but the actual sizing was xxs. So, after waiting in line for what felt like ages, we finally went outside, and we found the most cosy bookshop. It was lovely, and possibly just what Kiwi wanted. Once we got to The Wolseley, we felt quite underdressed. The girls walking out the door just before we reached it, looked to be dressed as in a feature in a fashion magazine. It was kind of awesome, because a lot of the people seemed almost like characters. We waited for a table for half an hour, which was nothing compared to the ones that appeared in the line behind us. It was good luck or great planning, that we were basically the first in the queue. Apart from one lady who said she'd been waiting for forty minutes. I didn't mind the wait, as it was something we had been looking forward to, it also gave us time to do a bit of people-watching. Also, the staff was very nice. The actual afternoon tea itself, was maybe a bit too much, and quite sweet. Doesn't really matter, as we wanted the experience. We were actually sat beside the lady who waited in line before us, so we chatted a bit with her. She was lovely as well, and even came back after saying goodbye, because she'd forgotten to wish us a merry Christmas. We basically sat for three hours almost, before we asked for the bill, and took the tube back to the hotel. I needed to change from my clothing and shoes, as I didn't want to walk in my dress or heeled boots when going to Winter Wonderland, which is what we did after we had changed our clothes. It started pouring down, so we found a dry spot in a tent, where a man was basically singing karaoke from a stage. However, he was the entertainer, and the people around were singing along. He sang the kind of songs that everyone knows, so Marble and I joined in. Don't know if Kiwi did, but she did film us having fun. We tried one of the rides, which was a VR-ride, and we thought it would be scary. However, it was really lame, and a waste of money. We bought ourselves some "dinner", and found a very cosy lavvo with a bonfire within. The atmosphere was lovely, and the people were merry with a bit of alcohol in them, and possibly some cheer. That being said, most of the people we've met have seemed really nice regardless of alcohol. They were playing pretty classic songs on the speaker, and almost everyone was singing along. It's probably what I'm going to remember Winter Wonderland as, somewhere you can do a sing-a-long with a whole crowd. Sadly we didn't get there until pretty much closing time, so Marble and quickly bought ourselves a pint, and ended up drinking the rest as we started leaving the wonderland. We fancied going to a grocery store, but all of them seemed to be closed or close to closing time, so we went back home instead. I think we all still had some energy, because I hummed and let the girls guess the songs, which I thought was amusing. Thursday we basically went to South Bank to see Big Ben, which is currently under construction or something? I did tell the girls, but I think they've either not heard me or just forgotten. So it was a bit amusing seeing their disappointment once we got there. We all had some spicy lunch at EAT, and then the girls bought themselves dutch pancakes with various topping. It looked amazing, and I would consider it if we had a place to sit down and it wasn't cold. But we had neither. There's quite a few buskers along the river, so we stopped to listen to them. The last one, Marble decided she wanted to leave for the tube station as it got too cold for her. Kiwi and I, however, decided to stay and listen to her. She was captivating, both in voice and her being. The second song we listened to was a cover of Coldplay's Magic. Before she sang the song, she talked about her struggles of becoming an artist and how she hasn't yet managed to get a record deal, so when she sang the last lines: "And if you were to ask me after all that we've been through; Still believe in magic? Well yes, I do", I just burst into tears. Almost spend the entire walk across the bridge trying to rein myself in. I was a bit mortified, and surprised by myself. To be fair, I did warn Kiwi that I suddenly felt rather emotional, and I can hear myself saying it at the end of a video I took of Tygermylk as she calls herself. I wish she had covered the song on Youtube or some kind of platform so I could listen to it again. Anyway, I thought it was so fitting to the themes of my master thesis, so now I want to listen to the song so much that it'll be the only song I'll remember from this time of my life. Eventually we found Marble, and we took the tube to Kensington, where we did a bit of looking at houses, which is a favourite of mine. We also went to see Harrods, as Marble had it on her list. Afterwards, we walked through Hyde park back to Paddington. Sadly it had already gone dark, and we didn't have time to wander around Kensington Gardens and to look at the palace. But we got to the airport in good time, only to be slightly delayed of course. It was annoying because Kiwi wanted to catch a train back home once we'd landed. But as we were delayed she lost the last train. That being said, I think we were mostly grateful for landing back home safely. We could've been flying from Gatwick, only to realise that the airport was shut down due to the drones. All in all I think we were really lucky, and I had a great time this trip. I only slept five hours yesterday, as I had a meeting at school. It went better than expected, despite me feeling like I was going to keel over. Got home and finally unpacked (normally I would unpack the moment I get back in), put clothes in for a wash, made some lunch, then I wrapped the presents I hadn't yet wrapped. It was good timing, as Monchita rang the bell. She later manipulated me to go to the mall with her, and we ended up buying some cheese and accessories for a cheese and wine evening. I stayed up later than what I wanted to, and slept for nine hours. I initially wanted to sleep without an alarm, as I was exhausted, but I had plans to meet with Oyster today. So Monchita tagged along, and we went to visit her and her family members. We exchanged presents and talked about life. We stayed for a few hours, before we wandered to the mall to buy a present for my dad. So now I've finally got all of the presents, and we're off for a long drive tomorrow. I need to pack for the few days we're staying at Lynx's house, although what I really want is to sleep because my body feels a bit ragged after all the stress the last month and in general the last week. But I'm push through just a bit more, and then hopefully sleep a lot. I am looking forward for the whole family to be gathered, as we haven't been for a very long time now. Merry Christmas!
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