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No, that’s not binary I’m writing in… I’ve been waiting for it to be 11.11.11 for years… and, well, it was all a bit disappointing. I spent most of it in the library at work studying for my Association for ProjectManagement Introductory Certificate (APM IC)…don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet, but yeah, I’m doing it through work and if I want to move towards project management next year I’ll be able to do APM Professional. The exam is in December and I have to work through 20+ modules before then. As well as all that we’ve had a busy week in the office pulling together a planning report for the whole of LU IM but got there in the end. I’ve also had my mid-placement review where my manager has said lots of nice things about me. Which is nice.

Les Mis

Tankard anyone?..

But enough of all that, onto the good stuff – the weekend! Kathy came to visit and Suzie and Amanda were down for the weekend too. On Friday evening we headed to Nandos at the O2 for dinner and a few pints then on into town to meet Suzie and Amanda who had been at the Queens Theatre to see Les Miserables. Kathy and I drank while Suzie and Amanda had a late night Chinese from a d-o-d-g-y China Town buffet that keeps it’s sticky chicken near the door and makes you drink from either a metal tankard or a plastic cup regardless of what you’re drinking – my type of place…

Candy

Suitably tipsy we headed across the road toward Soho and in search of the infamous Candy Bar. I’m not really sure how to describe the place. ‘Interesting’ is always a good word. Safe to say we were suddenly feeling quite sober and so spent a lot of time at the bar before we felt able to approach the dance floor – very unlike any of us. I’m not sure what happened to London this weekend but everywhere I went they were playing crap 90’s pop music – massively disappointing. However, as soon as the vodka shots, Apple Souz, Kalua and more vodka shots hit us we were away and just went with the somewhat bizarre flow. Weirdly we bumped into a few people we know from Uni/Manchester/being out and about - It was good to see EJ, Chloe and Gemma. One argument with a night bus driver (who very almost left Kathy stranded in Trafalgar Square) later, it was 5am-ish (I think) and most definitely time for bed.

HMS Belfast

Protest outside St. Pauls

Saturday (afternoon) arrived – massive lie in necessary to get rid of hangover – and we headed to Borough Market for some A-MAZING lunch then on to the Tate Modern for a bit of a wander around. There are some really cool exhibitions on there at the moment – highly recommended. We watched the fireworks at the end off the Lord Mayor’s Show at the Thames and then the England match in the Doggett Pub before shooting back to C-Town for a Strictly/XFactor megamix.  Sunday was a sunny and warm day and we headed up to Stratford to see some of the Olympic Park, then back into town to walk by HMS Belfast, over Tower Bridge and along the North Bank, stopping at The Tower of London, Monument and St. Paul’s (where we stopped by the protest town of tents to find out whats going on) along the way. We stopped at Covent Garden for a spot of lunch and a Ben’s Cookie (see my What Happens in Bath, Stays in Bath blog post) and finally onto Leicester Square for a well earned drink before heading back. All was going well until the Tube’s breaks slammed on, all the lights went out and Kathy screamed like a little girl… we were stuck in the tunnel for about 20 minutes before the  engineer appeared out off nowhere like magic and we started to reverse back to the station we’d come from to have to find an alternative route. All I wanted to do is get from A to B, how hard can it be?!...who runs these things?!...................

Turbine Hall - Tate Modern

Lunch at Covent Garden

A 40 minute journey turned into an hour and a half but we finally made it back where Kathy packed up her stuff and headed for Euston and I settled down for Sunday night TV and an early night. After 15-20 miles of walking I woke up this morning ACHING just a tad!

This week I will be mostly seeing friends in the evenings and eagerly anticipating the start of the German Markets on Friday!

Until next time,

Bren x

Ps, while I’ve been writing this I’ve just had the most fabulous Skype session. So, in honour of that… here is the all new ‘Skype Session Snap of The Week’:

Rosie, Jen, OB, Traum and me :)