GOSSIP GIRLS

What joy!  A gossipy girly weekend in old London Town.  My birthday present to me was a chance to meet up with my mates - many of whom I hadn't seen since my wedding, all of 17 years ago ... Yikes, yes I really am getting on ...

A friend who makes fab Scottish gifts (but is actually English as it happens!) makes tea cosies, so many txts later the plan was in place for the tea cosies to be waiting at our hotel ... And nice wee bonnets they make too ...

So we had a great stroll along the Thames at Richmond and many G&Ts ...

Next day we found a nice cafe for breakfast ...

And very swiftly thereafter managed lunch at Tate Modern with my chums from Finsbury Park and beyond ... What a cracking view of St Paul's ...

And a fine feast too with this yellow beetroot salad ...

After a wee wander over the Bridge, we just HAD TO have some cocktails on a fine ship and check out the talent!

Thereafter it went a bit pear shaped as we couldn't quite coordinate the gig plans for the night - Kevin Roland of Dexy's Midnight Runners (my bro bought me the cassette - anyone remember those oddities that used to warp and unravel!!) in Putney or Fat Freddie's Drop (?) a New Zealand ensemble in Brixton ... A deviation to Clapham Junction went awry!  Never mind!

Next day kicked off with a wee spa at our hotel before sallying forth around Richmond's many lanes in search of an elusive tea shop which thankfully was duly located before the wheels fell off our cases!

I then went solo to Islington to meet my mate who is an actress with some very colourful parts just now (your imagination can supply the missing info!). As I lingered around I found this fab frozen yogurt bar called Snog ...  A curious name!

We managed to find a lovely art show at the Angel and to hang out in Crouch End!  The London districts have definitely gone up a wee notch since the days of everyone living in Bethnal Green!

Next day I had a mega trip from north of London to Brighton for a whistle stop your to see another dear chum.  With 3 hours on the pedometer (not the weekend for furry boots but hey ho ...), we found a groovy pub and managed a whistle stop tour of the city ... 

Just time to check out a wee Banksy portrait before sadly having to head back home!

I couldn't quite abandon my cocktail habit at the airport as I had a wee solo toast to my mates ...

It really was a fab weekend ... Such a laugh ... Definitely need a repeat get together of the GLAM GIRLS (once upon a Newcastle upon Tyne that stood for the Graduate Labour Markets Project ... )

CHEERS!