Finding the mundane in the madness

…even in the busiest of places there’s always mundaneness in the madness. It’s difficult to spot when you’re wrestling through the crowds or racing for the tube but London is full of moments like this, we just have to look for them…or create them.

I’m going to be posting twice this week, partly because I’ve been out and about so much during the week, and also because on Monday I am FINALLY going to fulfil a life long dream and GO TO HARRY POTTER WORLD.
So I’d like to get you up to date with all of my goings-on so far this week, then after my trip to Hogwarts on Monday I’ll give you another little update.

Christmas has well and truly arrived in London town! I am still running around the city, spending hours at Christmas markets, marvelling at pretty lights in the evenings after a busy day writing all sorts of travel goodness in the Travioor office.

I had a brilliant night on Tuesday with Amelia, and was also able to tick another thing off my London bucket list. We wandered around Covent Garden to see the giant mistletoe and baubles and amazing giant Christmas tree which stood in the main square, beaming with it’s big red bow and sparkly lights. Covent Garden is magical on a normal day so when it’s all dressed up for the festive period it’s a sight to behold. The raspy voice of a talented busker and his guitar filled the market hall as twinkly eye shoppers sipped hot drinks and checked a few items off their gift list.

We decided on Chinatown for food (tick!) and after scouring Time Out’s guide to the best Chinese restaurants, chose a place called Four Seasons on Gerrard Street. The restaurant wasn’t too busy so provided the perfect escape from the evening crowds. We shared a feast of satay chicken, crispy shredded beef, chicken curry and rice with a few prawn crackers thrown in for good measure. The food was amazing, as was the glass of wine we washed it down with and of course the company was the best!

Wednesday was a big day in Travioor HQ – we moved down a floor into our brand new, shiny office! When the desks and equipment were moved downstairs, we had to make ourselves scarce so we had a group trip to the Exmouth Arms for some good old pub grub! Slider burgers, chilli cheese fries and fish and chips were amongst the choices! A little over an hour later we headed back to the office and TAADAAA transformation complete! Well, sort of – we had to set up all the computers and laptops but that took no time at all so we were all typing away again soon enough.

Wednesday and Thursday were ‘straight out after work’ nights as I met up with a mate who I went to sixth form with (many moons ago now!) whilst he was in the city on a course with work. We had a few drinks in a pub by Farringdon station on Wednesday night, a quiet night compared to Thursday!

On Thursday, Adam and I went to see the Regent Street Christmas Lights switch-on…it was amazing! Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Odell performed before Jamie Theakston and Emma Bunton presented, later joined by Holly Willoughby who switched the lights on. The highlight for me was seeing Tom Odell perform, what a voice – spine-tingling, goosebumps on you arms, tears in your eyes kind of singing.

The lights themselves were spectacular, giant angels draped from building to building across the full length of Regent Street. As they were switched on, fireworks exploded from the roof of the buildings and Mariah Carey singing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ vibrated through the speakers.

We headed down to Leicester Square afterwards, stopping off for a look at the cute Christmas Markets, before settling in Bella Italia for food.

I was able to capture this beautiful moment between a couple – I had no idea I’d done it till after the shot – which reminded me that even in the busiest of places there’s always mundaneness in the madness. It’s difficult to spot when you’re wrestling through the crowds or racing for the tube but London is full of moments like this, we just have to look for them…or create them.

When we went for food, I did my usual, going back and forth between pasta and pizza, eventually deciding on a pizza that was gone in about 5 minutes of its arrival (hey I was hungry!) Our night was rounded off perfectly when we headed back to Piccadilly Circus and stopped to watch a hilarious group of street performers as they wowed the crowds with their dance moves, illuminated by the backdrop of the giant neon signs.
On Saturday I FINALLY made it to Portobello Road Market! I’ve planned on going for about a month now but due to bad weather and cancelled tubes hadn’t made it until now.

Well, it was certainly worth the wait! Stalls and stalls of bric-a-brac, antiques, tatty souvenirs, unique arts and crafts, fruit and veg, vintage clothing and books filled Portobello road.

Of course it was manic, but that was part of the appeal. Navigating through the crowds to discover a first edition Bronte novel, a rusty old telescope, a faded globe, a broken typewriter, a classic Adidas t-shirt or a beer bottle shaped into a clock.

And of course there was a tonne of food stalls as well selling Spanish croquettas and omelettes, paella, burgers, Polish pastries, Indian curries, so much food I couldn’t even begin to list it all.

I picked up a few Christmas gifts on my way back through and even got told off for taking photographs from one stall owner! (oops!) Before heading home I stopped off at the Lonely Planet pop-up photography exhibition at Boxpark I’d been meaning to go and perused the amazing shots that made it into The Travel Book. I also entered a competition to win some LP books – we had to name the place in an anonoymous photo which lucky for me was a castle that had been written about in a Travioor article!