Monday 5 September 2011

London on a Rainy Day

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It's been a weekend of absolute doom (w.r.t. life) and gloom (w.r.t. weather). Nothing went to plan, I upset a good friend and I got absolutely soaked in London (though this was the good part). Seeing as I actually LOVE gloomy, grey, overcast weather, I’m going to stick with the gloom today and save the doomy story for tomorrow (I imagine you’re super excited for tomorrow’s post now aren’t you?) just to save confusion/contradiction. Cool?


With a half a Sunday ahead of me, and nobody who wanted my company (*wails*), I found myself alone, in London, on a very rainy day. Gloomy? Yes. Still my favourite type of day? Yes. As much as I like a sunny day, it always feels like the city's behaving out of character if the sun's shining. Almost like a naughty kid on his best behaviour, beaming up at you with all pearly whites. That's London on a sunny day, wooing you, conning you. Rainy London is the real London. The London that tourists are prepared for (
visitlondon.com says "…weather is very fickle, plan a picnic in the park on a bright, sunny morning and it could be raining by noon. So always be prepared, you never know what may happen." Say no more.) So around Leicester Square I traipsed along with the tourists, damp seeping through my clothes, lashings of rain matting my hair (yes, the tourists were better prepared than I was. Your point is…?), through the wonderfully aromatic Chinatown and onto Oxford Street. I haven't been to Chinatown for a long time - and I'd almost forgotten how good it smells (and looks - check out the cakes with the pandas on them!). The highlight - I doubled back on myself (I was too full of street-side pizza and Haagen-Daaz the first time), for some steaming hot coconut pearl bubble tea. Confused? Let me tell you. Just when I thought I'd entertained every possible combination/option/variation/experimentation of tea (hot/cold/spiced/iced/fruit/herb/you get the point), I stumbled upon Bubbleology in Soho. If you like your tea in a cup and saucer, stop reading now. Mesmerised by bubbling, neon beakers, I stood, mouth and eyes wide open in fascination, before being drawn inside. As I didn’t know really know what exactly I was here for, (and I was a bit too shy to ask seeing as EVERYONE was Chinese and seemed to know what it was), I chose the third drink on the menu (lucky number three) and fled for the awning of a neighbouring store to shelter from the rain. And there I stood, slurping something purporting to be tea through a straw (a straw!) that was fat as my forefinger. This was bubble tea, a long way from Earl Grey, a bizarre blend of a milkshake and a Lipton's: very sugary, and – here's the rub – filled with soft little tapioca pellets. (Or bubbles. Hence the name. And the fat straw.) Downing the glass was a surreal experience, not least because half of it wasn't liquid. There were so many bits of tapioca, it felt like I was having lunch (again). Of course when I got home I had to google the phenomenon and I was actually pretty disappointed to find that I’m rather late catching onto this one. Apparently it’s pretty big in New York. Anyone tried it?


xx


Visit Bubbleology at 49 Rupert Street, Soho, London, W1D 7PF


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13 comments:

  1. thanks for your comment:)
    love these photos!

    hope you had a good day xxx

    love,
    rosecandle11.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. i love this pictures!!!
    favorite: the cakes
    lol they look so yummy!

    and thanks for the comment :)
    the empanadas were bomb! haha

    and i am sorry to hear you had to work today!
    i was very lucky to stay home, clean a little
    and enjoy not waking up at 7 am

    happy monday love!

    xoxo

    www.onlyaflightaway.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful! How delightful to always be able to re-explore your city (even on rainy days)! There's not as much to see here in this small town.

    xoxo, Nali

    P.S. I'm in New Haven for work, (so not too exciting) but it's good to get away from home sometimes.

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  4. Gorgeous pictures! Love the picture with the love and then the chinese words!


    In our sea of love

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  5. Such lovely pictures, everything looks amazing; I so want to go on a vacation after seeing these pictures, I bet you had a great time and also those sweets look amazing, yummy! You have a lovely blog and I'm a new follower! Hope you'll like my blog and follow back!

    Pop Culture&Fashion Magic

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  6. that first picture is just amazing! just magic!
    xo sandra

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  7. I have never tried this and I'm from NY, but I admit I usually only drink tea at home, when my Abuela makes it with honey, dried out orange peels and many leaf variations.
    I love this post- I felt like I was under that awning having the odd glass of tea.

    Liv

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  8. Such lovely photos and bubble tea is delicious!! Hope you and your friend are much better. I hope your week is going fantastic!

    www.redsolesandredwine.com

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  9. Thanks for all the lovely comments guys. @olivia - that tea sounds AMAZING.

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  10. Cool photos! Yep it isn't really London unless it rains- although yesterday was ridiculous!! I haven't tried bubble tea but have heard of it on a few blogs, sounds intriguing...! xx

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  11. I've never tried bubble tea but i've experienced many a rainy day in London! Apparently the most miserable people in the UK live in London, wonder if the rain has anything to do with it... :P

    Leia

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  12. Love Bubbleology! If you like it you MUST try the Honeydew flavour- the best!

    There is a Bubbleology in the top floor of Harvey Nic's now, too.

    -Danielle
    http://lonjawn.blogspot.com

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  13. Bubble tea is known as "Boba" here in Los Angeles. It's sooooo yummy I tried it for the first time last year and am now impossibly addicted. :)

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