Holiday in London! - 13/02/2023 - 16/02/2023

13/02/2023 - Me and my parents were going to London for a few days away! We were all looking forward to going as we hadn't been anywhere for a while and our Whitby trip got cancelled due to us getting COVID a week before. We had packed most of our things the night before, I seemed to have the most stuff (change of clothes, toiletries, makeup etc) out of the three of us. I wore my white dress with black details with a black petticoat and my "marching band" jacket, with the dark eye makeup, I looked like I had just joined the Black Parade XD I also wore my DM's with red rose embroidery and a white bow. Spare clothes was just a BMTH t-shirt and a plain black and red tartan split skirt that I had recently bought from a charity shop (remember to thrift guys!). 

Mum had already bought us tickets on her train app, but she left early to get the bus to Peterborough as she had to go to the hospital for an appointment. Dad and I left the house at 10:40 and our train was at 11:18 (it takes about 40 minutes to walk to the train station), however, halfway to the station, Mum rang us and told us our train had been cancelled! She also stated that she had to have a blood test, so she was going to have to wait in the hospital longer than she expected. I was already anxious, as I had been feeling slightly queasy the night before due to worry, so this was not helping. We got to the station and Dad told the ticket person that our train had been cancelled and our tickets were booked to be 11:18 from our home town to Peterborough then 11:50 from Peterborough to Kings Cross. The ticket person told us to catch the next train to Peterborough which was at 11:30 and we would arrive in Peterborough at 11:49, leaving us with one minute to change trains... As you can imagine, I was very anxious. 

Dad and I caught the 11:30 but Mum was still in the hospital, still waiting for the blood test, she also needed to allow time for catching the bus from the hospital back to the train station. On the way there, we saw that the 11:50 to Kings Cross had been delayed by five minutes! Dad and I were able to catch that train, however, by the time we got on the train, Mum was still in the hospital! She wasn't going to make it :< Dad and I safely got to Kings Cross within an hour, so we decided, rather than waiting for Mum to get here, we'll head straight to Camden. 

In Camden, we went to Traid (thanks Emily Boo!), which is a charity shop in Camden, after some guy was trying to talk to us (probably a distraction as there's a lot of pick-pocketers in London, particularly Camden, so watch your stuff). I didn't get anything in there but I think Mum would've liked it, they had lots of stuff that you wouldn't normally find in charity shops, like entire racks of band tees (albeit very old bands like Guns 'n Roses or Black Sabbath), quite a few fur coats and even proper leather biker jackets (the ones with the metal in)! 

Dad and I then walked to some stalls, including the one where I bought the dress I was wearing, Dad seemed quite impressed. Whilst I was talking to the guy running the stall, Mum sprung up out of nowhere and told us what had happened: after having the blood test done, she accidently caught the slow bus back to the station which stopped at like every neighbourhood in Peterborough, and the train she caught, the people asked for her ticket and asked why she had three but was travelling alone, so she had to lie and say that her husband and child caught the correct train but she was sick so caught the one afterwards, and then, upon arriving in London, had to buy a ticket to Camden because Dad had all of the oyster cards. What a performance!

I didn't buy anything from that stall, but I got a tank top (unfortunately, the straps are quite thin, I prefer muscle tank tops, but never mind) from a neighbouring stall. There was lots of denim jackets with prints on them, I thought that was pretty cool. We then walked across the road and looked in the Camden Buck Street Market, which I had somehow managed to walk past without noticing it every time I've been, its basically a bunch of old shipping containers that have been converted into shops, mainly food, Camden seems to be increasingly centred around food... We then looked in the New Rocks shop and I tried on a platform but I wasn't overly keen on the appearance, I don't like the ones where they have the holes and you can see the springs, they didn't really have anything on display that particularly caught my interest. 

We then went to Camden Market Hawley Wharf for lunch, a bit that I also managed to walk past every time. Both Buck Street and Hawley Wharf I had seen on Camden Market's Instagram. We had Japanese, Mum had teriyaki beef, Dad had katsu curry and I had teriyaki prawns, it was good, but there was very little sauce. We then walked a little way along the canal, Dad split off from us to walk along the rest of it whilst Mum and I headed back towards the shops. We looked in Collectif (a vintage/ retro style clothing shop) where Mum bought a coat, it was on sale for £65, that's incredibly cheap for Collectif! They had knocked £100 off!! After that, Mum and I wandered around some market stalls, I got a new tote bag that's covered in eyes, we also got a bit lost. Also a young girl said she liked the way I was dressed, so that was nice :3 We then looked in Sai Sai and I got a skirt and dress, the dress was on sale and the skirt came with a free belt! 

We then met back up with Dad and wandered through Cyberdog, the loudest shop in Camden, as that's always fun to go in, it took Dad back to his raver days, just with less dry ice and weed. We headed down Saddle Row, the street with the masses of umbrellas hanging above you. Dad and I looked in a goth shop and I tried on a corset, but it wasn't what I wanted, i want one that's more like a belt than an actual corset because they're just too tall. The lady in the shop was pleasant enough but when she was helping lace the corset up for me, she did it just a little too tight because with every pull, I felt the air getting forced out of my lungs, it was an underbust corset, but with my lack of said bust and my short body, it didn't look right, but it was a nice corset, with proper steel boning inside. Mum and I bought a few patches from a shop, she also got some badges, I also got an Ankh necklace from a shop that was playing the Alien Ant Farm cover of Smooth Criminal and Before I Forget by Slipknot, not sure of the name of the shop but its great for metalheads, loads of band tees and graphic shirts, plus other bits of band merch and even Tripp trousers! 

After wandering a bit more, we went and found this cheesy pasta that Mum had seen on YouTube, there was a few people queuing, maybe about three or four other people. I went and stood out of the way, by this point I was quite tired and I had been carrying my backpack as well as my handbag and tote bag now, I wasn't pleased that we couldn't go and drop off our things at the hotel first then go to Camden. As I was waiting, a couple came up to me and the guy was wearing green eye shadow and black winged eyeliner, he looked very cool and I wish I told him that, and he said he loved my outfit! He said it a few times, he really meant what he said which was so nice, I feel bad that I didn't comment on his makeup because that's something I rarely see irl and I thought it looked fun! The person he was with didn't seem particularly impressed, almost glaring at me as if I was stealing him away or something! When my parents finally got the pasta, I told them what had happened and I said that I belong in Camden. The pasta was a alright, but I think even Dad could make better pasta than this. I think Mum or the people she had seen on YouTube had hyped it up too much. 

After eating our pasta, we headed back to our hotel, which was in Canning Town, our hotel was only a few minutes away from the tube station. Just before we checked in, we went to Morrisons and I bought a bottle of flavoured water, Mum bought some grapes and Dad got a sandwich and a snack of some description. I had a separate room because I'm an adult, it was nice having my own room. I could finally relax! I watched an episode or two of Metalocalypse on my phone. All of our legs got very sore, I know the soles of my feet got very sore due to walking too much but by the end of the trip, we should have very fit legs XD 

14/02/2023 - I was a little late getting up, Mum and Dad had already gone down for breakfast (we paid for a cooked breakfast to save ourselves time of finding somewhere to eat), but somehow I was first to finish mine but that gave me extra time to get ready. I just wore the same outfit as I did yesterday. I also discovered that I had a blister on my ankle :< But, when my parents requested for their room to be cleaned, one of the staff members said she liked my dress, which was very kind of her to say :D 

We went to Greenwich on the tube and looked round a market there, one stall had these incredible rings for £10 each! I liked the silver planchette one and this silver one that had claws holding a blue eye, but they were too big! XC I was so disappointed! I bought a blue lace bow and a red tartan bow from one stall and a silver pulse ring from another. We then went to the park and ventured up the hill to the observatory, the view up there was okay, there were a lot of planes flying overhead. Unfortunately, you have to pay a lot to go inside the observatory, so we looked in the shop where I bought a t-shirt with the moon phases printed on the front and one of those 3D postcards that change when you move it in a certain way, Mum and I also bought a moon badge and Dad was interested in the clocks. After coming out of the shop, Dad was talking to one of the staff members and the staff member said I looked nice, he seemed very interested in my bag (it's shaped like a book). 

We looked in the National Maritime Museum too, that was interesting, I was surprised at how many male figureheads they had, female figureheads were thought to help with safe passage and ward off storms, so it seemed odd that their collection was mostly made up of male figureheads. We then went and looked at Cutty Sark, but that you had to pay to look in as well. My parents walked under the Thames through this tunnel, I stopped on the steps so my feet could rest and drank some soya milk. 

When my parents got back, we got on the Uber boat and headed up to Battersea power station, which has been converted into a very large shopping mall. The boat trip was nice, but I don't have sea legs and it took me a moment for my balance to return to me once reaching dry land. What they did with the power station was okay but there was so little to look at, there wasn't many people there and I'd say a third of the mall was empty, there wasn't that many shops to look at, and pretty much no food. Yeah there was like three restaurants but none of them caught our interests so we just bought something from an M&S that was hidden outside the back of the power station. My back was also aching and I wasn't sure why, I think I had pulled a muscle somehow. I had a slice of cheesy pizza, Mum had some sushi and Dad had two boxes of sandwiches. 

After sitting out in the cold to eat our food, we hopped back on the tube and went to Waterloo to look at the graffiti tunnel. Both my feet and back were aching so it was difficult to appreciate the hard work of the artists at the time. One man was literally sat on a fold-up chair guarding his piece lmao. There was also two drag queens at the other end of the tunnel trying to film their intro, I think they must've done at least 10 takes XD But they looked fabulous, I was going to tell them but they disappeared behind a backstage door before I got chance, there must've been a venue of some sort above ground or something. 

We then headed back to the tube headed back to the hotel. I went back in my room and popped on my casual clothes again and removed my makeup, whilst Mum and Dad went out to get a takeaway. When they came back, we ate in their room, which was quite small actually, really they should've swapped rooms because mine was much larger than theirs. We had this delicious Turkish kebab, it was soooo good! Maybe it was just because we were very hungry but to us it was like the best thing we'd ever eaten. The rice was very nice, and mmm the sweet, delicious baklava for dessert, yum! After that, I went back to my room and watched some more episodes of Metalocalypse before getting ready for bed. 

15/02/2023 - We had breakfast as usual, got ready, blah blah blah, except! I had discovered I had a stain on my white dress! I hadn't spilt anything on myself otherwise I or someone would've known straight away, I suspected it was from possibly being on the escalators in the tubes (they're pretty grimy places) as my petticoat made the skirt of my dress stick out so I'd push myself to the side so people on the left could walk by, which meant that side of my dress, where I had discovered the stain, would be rubbing against the side of the escalators, picking up all the muck. But luckily, I had that new dress from Sai Sai, so I wore that instead. 

We headed to Canary Wharf on the tube and jumped onto the Uber boat, we got off where the Tower of London is and had a look round there, but again, you had to pay to get in so we only looked round the outside. Dad had sped off somewhere whilst Mum and I were reading all of the signs dotted around the place. We found out Dad was walking across Tower Bridge, so Mum and I just headed back to the gift shop where Mum got an Anne Boleyn "B" necklace t-shirt and I got a Tower of London t-shirt with a raven in the foreground, I really wanted this brown t-shirt that had three images on the front but they only had it in size large and I can't find any on the website :< 

When we reunited with Dad, we then went to the St Dunstan church which has been converted into a lovely little garden (a place that I had seen on Thedyerghoulhouse's Instagram), we got some nice pictures there! We then walked to the Walkie-talkie in hopes of going to the sky gardens but unfortunately, they weren't letting in any more people that day. We then headed to Leadenhall Market and there was an alley with various pride flags attached to the ceiling, a pleasant surprise! After that we got on the tube and went to Brick Lane, but not before completely missing the turning to go into Brick Lane because some daft sod had turned the sign round ;-; And after a seemingly very long walk, we found this bagel shop that Mum had seen on YouTube, there was a massive queue outside the shop! But I don't like bagels, and Dad didn't need to queue up with Mum so we went to find this Hong Kong style café that Mum had also seen on YouTube, but unfortunately, the shop had already closed down, like it literally wasn't there! I went off and bought a croissant because that was all I could afford on my card as I had got just over £5 left on my card and no cash... 

I met back up with my parents and they said the bagels were extremely underwhelming, they were very poor quality. Dad bought this Karak Chai (Arabian tea) which was just a bit too fragrant for my liking but it smelt nice. On our way back to Spittlefield's Market, a guy in a car was playing drum and bass and Dad looked at the guy and the guy looked at him and they nodded at one another and gave each other the thumbs up (my dad's a drum and bass fan), which was wholesome! When we got to Spittlefield's Market, we walked around for a bit. I saw this very well dressed man in a top hat and coattails and I was looking at him and he was looking back at me, I think we were both in awe of one another. We sat down somewhere and I had a hot chocolate and my parents had some tea. 

When we finished, I got up and looked at a stall selling various hats, including top hats! I had been looking for a tall top hat for a while, as the one I currently had was shorter. Turns out the man I had seen earlier was the guy who runs the stall! I saw he was wearing a waistcoat and had a pocket watch, he also had these sparkly gem stud earrings which I found quite amusing. I told him I wanted a top hat, his tallest top hat to make up for my lack of height, to which he produced. He educated me that top hats were actually invented in the early-mid 1790's, they have been around a lot longer than I thought. They were originally made out of wool which was treated in mercury, which would cause hatters to go "mad", coining the phrase "mad as a hatter". It's use began to decline in the 1920's. He also said he'd give me a discount on the hat because he liked how I was dressed so much (whAt, I didn't even know that could happen but that certainly made my day)! It was originally £50 but he knocked £10 off! I went and got Dad and he paid for the hat. I still cannot believe that happened. 

We wandered round the stalls for a bit, I got an overpriced t-shirt with a penguin on it and Mum bought a plate from a Hong Konger <3 We then hopped back on the tube and went back to the hotel to drop off our haul. As we were walking to the tube, just after beeping the oyster cards, a lady came up to me and said I looked beautiful and gave me a proper look up and down, she asked for a hug which, I'll be honest I wasn't a 100% comfortable with and I was concerned she was trying to rob me, but all went well I guess. After we hugged, she asked for my Instagram and I gave it to her but we had no service as we were too far underground for it to work, so she just screenshotted by user and we then parted ways. 

After dropping off our haul, we got back on the tube and headed to the O2 to find some food. As we were walking around, some guy yelled that stupid "I fell in love with an emo girl" song at me and grrrrr I do NOT like MGK, in my opinion, I think his singing is very poor, I thought I liked one of his songs but as soon as the person he was duetting with stopped singing and the instrumental ended, it turned to crap! Also he just seems to be a bit of a jerk so... Anyway, we eventually settled for a Japanese restaurant. Mum and I had pork udon, I also had prawn and sweet potato tempura and Dad had katsu curry with fish and prawn tempura. It was good but I don't think any of us will come back to the O2 for anything unless there's a concert there because it was just so freakin' busy. After that we headed back to the hotel and and I had a shower. 

16/02/2023 - All of us got up a later than usual. I had packed most of my things the night before, so I didn't have too much to worry about. We checked out and went back to Canary Wharf to go on a boat that went up the Thames through the flood gates, but unfortunately, the boat only runs during the early hours of the morning for the commuters. We then headed to Oxford Street to look in this camera shop, which pleased Dad. After that we headed home! It was a very quick train ride from London to Peterborough, I think max 45 minutes. Peterborough to home town was a quick ride as well. The walk home seemed pretty long. It was a great trip!