waking up to a hyper 3 year old has got to be one the best things, when it happens only now again. But thats what happened today, I woke you at my parents house and was met by a energized three year old that goes by the name of FLO. after some standard hungover activites like throwing up and feeling sorry for myself. I was king of ready to start playing, but as soon as we pulled out the camera she was happy to take some snaps and bang my lens of the floor. After showing her how to take a photo and then letting her lose, she soon worked it out and we were taking pictures of my little ponies in no time.
Thank you canon for building a Flo proof camera!
Heres some of her snaps!
– this is her telling me what todo –– my little ponies giving it some sass –– Mooney (my dog) and the pony in full sunday mode –
Probably a lot of you know im a bike fan of 2 wheels, not motor bikes they scare me but bicycles and all things pedal power, as someone living in london i’m used the walking out of a shop of pub to notice my bike lock on the floor and my bike gone. to me thats the lowest of the low, steeling someones bike. but this post is not about that, is post is about the sad and familiar site of bikes abandoned, chained to a lamp post or bike rack. something thats been rubber side down across hundreds of miles, it might of been a commuters new years eve resolution or even just a spontaneous purchase, but one thing no can disagree its the best way to see a city.
with 32% of all londoners cycling, thats around 4.2 million people! that means theres got to be at least 5 million bikes in London, thats amazing, but with that goes up the amount of bike abandoned which is sad! these could be the perfect traveling tools for people to get around. so people fi your reading this, dont abandoned your bike on the side of the road, take it to one of the bike hospitals for a new life!
right lets start by saying im no cocktail expert or even really a cocktail drinker, i like a beer, but when I saw the new cocktail bar on Bethnal Green Road the Coupette, i thought I should give it a review. before it was a cocktail bar this place was a proper east end pub, full of locals that had been drinking there since beer was invited, the pub even had a sign out side that read “No Travellers allow in this pub”, but added great character and a down to earth feel. it was just something that set Bethnal Green apart from its neighbour SHOREDITCH a now expensive trendy extension of Liverpool Street.
well Charrlotte and myself went into this trendy new bar Coupette and give it a try and see if it was something to rave about, it wasnt our cup of tea. I dont like to slag someone off or put down something that the owner has put a lot of work into but it just feels like shoreditch is taking over this weird and wonderful street of bethnal green. where the homeless issue is quite literally a big problem, the road is also filled with cheap £1 shops and a cash converter, it has a community sprite which is rare for a zone 2 part of london, but its what set Bethnal Green apart, and an expensive cocktail bar really isn’t doing anything apart from dispersing a community and popular local business which seemed to survive the Shoreditch effect till now.
Anyway enough of the ranting heres our views of the bar.
Look:
Josh – 7/10 – the bar has an old feel but has used new furniture, which doesnt fit the vibe, they also sit you down like your going to eat, but then you don’t. I did like the menu’s they were really cool, but again the lighting didn’t help, it was that funny yellow tint.
Charlotte – 6/10 – its like they have spent a lot of time on the front of the bar and then ran out of money as they got to the back, it lacks an atmosphere and seems very portentous, which bethnal green definitely is not.
Coupette: 2 cocktails – £20.25 including service charge (£9 each)
And again we arent anyone who could give you an educated assessment on the cocktails (mine was good, it had chocolate in it) we are just two people who love bethnal green road and enjoy a drink, and dont want to see all the great local people of this area have to leave. We started talking to some other people in a bar down the road after charlotte noticed they where in the coupette, they were locals and said they felt underdress in the cocktail bar, “it was full of suits, which is not what bethnal green is about” . to finish it just feels like another rich vs poor battle was one by an ex-Savoy Cocktail maker and a local pub was lost.
Heres some pictures of the bar.
– The entrance –– it was earlish and still a new Establishment, so you cant expect it to be rammed -the actual bar was pretty cool –
theres no better wake up call and to be reminded that your back in london than english rain, its the “I dont need a jacket today” attitude that catches you out the most and the sudden down pour that seems to last a few hours but long enough for you to be sat at your desk with wet jeans for the whole day! but I suppose I cant complain because I saw a guy standing in the que for the sainsburys check out with a metro news paper still balanced on his head to protect him for the sudden down pours that happen inside Sainsburys every now and again, it doesnt sound that funny as I write this, but if you were there…
Any way heres my snaps from today. I’m trying a few new things out, to see what works, what does work, changing the format, adding a watermark trying to work on finding a nice typography that I can use consistently and mainly the style of my photos, what I focus on when i’m in London and what I focus on when Im in new countries. so please let me know what you like and what you think is absolutely crap.
– this is kind of a smart / cheap way of advertising – – its like the old people are walking towards the light – – I found palm trees in tower hamlets, its almost like being on holiday –
Nothing absolutely nothing beats breakfast on the side of the motorway in mainland Europe. the One euro espresso that comes in that weird brown plastic cup is probably the best coffee you can get your hands on, that with a ham and cheese baguette is the best meal you can have, breakfast, lunch or dinner it really doesn’t matter. I recommend it to any!
Thats exactly what amy and me did the other day, we said screw it to the croissant, fruit and coffee machine, we grabbed a spicey salami & cheese baguette at the local auto grill and a coffee to wake us up, not only did they warm it up for us but they also gave us cutlery, well a spoon to stir sugar into an espresso, but cutlery is still cutlery. they even sold big versions of junk food, from 5 litre bottles of popcorn to massive tubes of pringles. its was almost dreamy.
– Never drive past one of these without stopping – – I know it doesn’t look a lot but this place is does the best food – – these packs of pringles aren’t messing around –
We both woke up pretty early today and was nackered but instead of going back to bed we decided to head to a beach, eat ice cream and swim, we found this small beach in this cove no idea what it was called. the Amalfi coast is weird, there are thousands of small beaches dotted along the coastal road and you really have to look out to find out. any way about 100 meters away from this beach we found was this kind of secret beach which you could only get to if you swam across, we wanted to take the go pro and get a picture but we forgot to charge it so had no way of getting a photo!
Anyway after swimming over there and then chilling in the water it was time for amy todo some serious work on her tan and for me well I just had to try and find and shade I could and do my best not to burn. which didn’t work, I fell asleep in the sun and now look like a really ripe tomato.
anyway heres some snaps from our day.
– that 80’s punk rocker style –– wheres your PPE mate? –– nothing beats seeing a dog on a canoe –
This place is amazing, but its also pretty chaotic! One of the craziest things is driving south along the amalfi coast, its full of crazy moped drivers and to match that is the 100ft cliff edge literally inches away! But we have had a smasher of a week, yesterday we went and saw pompei, which is massive but properly jammed packed with tourists! After this we headed down to Amalfi for some food and a swim. that place is full of bright colour walls and cool little restaurants down small alleyways, its definitely worth a trip but dont come by road that the boat!
todays our last day and I owe amy a day sunbathing, we’ve been out the door each day at 8, either travelling somewhere, climbing a volcano or swimming. So today we work on amy’s tan!
– just a small bit of the amalfi coast roads –– so much Italian in one photo –– amy feeling like a roman –
Manon and Pauline thanks for taking us in for the past few days and showing us around your home town, it was actually such a sick weekend. so much fun and so many pictures, but thanks for taking us to a million different lakes, tropical parties and some old cave! I also think my french has improved. Look forward to seeing you guys in London or again in Switzerland ! SALUTE! much love and all that, Amy and Josh!
Heres a few snaps!
– real girl band stuff –– the legends Manon & Pauline –– a waterfall in side the cave, it was like 1km under the mountain! –
First thing, im sun burnt. really really sunburnt, ill post some photos tomorrow of my Sunburn, but today I wanted to show you how cool switzerland is, we literally sat by the water the whole afternoon just chilling out and swimming. In the morning though we went up into the mountains to find this new suspension bridge over a Valley, im not sure how high this is but it was pretty far up.
– amy’s sur la pont –– it doesnt look that high, but it really was –– they like volleyball in Switzerland –– it looks like he caught the boat-
so interesting fact, lake geneva is actually called Lake Leman. Amy and me are here for a little trip this weekend staying with some friends manon and Pauline, I was supposed to be running an Ultra Marathon in Chatel tomorrow, but because I tore the tendon in my leg I had to pulled out, so we are just here drinking wine and eating cheese.
Yesterday we ended with us having a bbq by Lake Leman (lake geneva) and ended with me jumping in the not so warm lake in my boxers, proper brits abroad style.
– a photo of the BBQ –– its a proper swiss view –– looks like an eagle, actually a pigeon –
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