All by myself

I just saw my mum off at King’s Cross, after almost a week full of fun. I’m quite sad to see her go, but we had a great time together!

On Saturday, we went for a walk down by the Thames, and happened upon Somerset house. We both love fashion and the 50’s, so when we saw this we thought we’d go in and have a look around. Fashion photography was so much better back then! There were so many photos I would have loved on my wall.

I also made her pose on the Nelson stairs – apparently these stairs are not to be missed. I wasn’t sure, but I’ll trust the experts when it comes to art.

When we were done being cultured, we went to Kettner’s in soho for some champagne. My mum loves champagne and I would, of course, never say no to anything sparkly. I’d been tipped off that Kettner’s serves the champagne in the old style glasses if you ask, and I just think that’s how it should always be served. It was an absolutely delightful evening!

My mum had never been to a burlesque performance, so on Sunday I took her to Madame Jojo’s (also in soho. Can you tell I’m gay or what?). We had a great time with lots of laughs – I think it was a good thing that her first performance was quite a funny one! I also think that since I keep telling her I want to do it myself, she is a bit relieved that it is not as seedy as she might have previously thought.

We took this picture on the way home. The difference in skin tones was a running joke throughout the weekend!

Okay, I think this was almost my favourite part of the entire trip. There is a cafe in London called 42 degrees raw. If you ever get a chance, go there. I cannot stress this enough! It is a raw vegan cafe and it is SO. GOOD. We shared a raw lasagna and some curry “rice”. I can’t even tell you how amazing it was. I’m going back as soon as I can!

Here’s my gorgeous mum!

Here’s my gorgeous food! It was made of courgettes layered with cashew paste, tomatoes, pesto, and tomato paste, with sunflower seeds on top. So simple and so delicious! I need to learn how to make this and convert every single person into someone who eats only this.

On Monday, we went to the Saatchi gallery to look at some modern art. We both thought this old paper bag was quite cool! I can’t remember the artist’s name, unfortunately, but he’d cut out trees from various bags and displayed them like dollhouses. We also went to the V&A to look at the fashion exhibitions, and at the end of the day we tried to get tickets for A Midsummer’s Night Dream at the Globe theatre, but it proved impossible. We walked down the south bank instead, which wasn’t too shabby!

On Tuesday, I’d got us tickets to the Lion King musical. The first time my mum was here, we went to see our first musical ever, Wicked, and I was instantly hooked. We have since made it a tradition to go see one each time she visits me in London! Apparently people back home laughed when she told them which one we were seeing this time, but it was really good! The Lion King was my favourite movie when I was little, and it’s still my favourite animated movie. I started crying when they sang the first note (no joke!) and all in all I cried for literally half the performance.