All the way from America. But he's a little young to travel by himself, so Thimbleanna and TheManOfTheHouse escorted him. Abi and I met up with Anna in Waterstone's in Piccadilly, and barely caught breath as we chatted for two hours, while Anna's husband browsed downstairs. A very happy arrangement for all I think! We joked about how it's great to meet blog friends in real life and find out that they're not needle-wielding maniacs, hurrah!
For Halloween we went to a White Mischief event called The House of the Sandman, at 33 Portland Place. I have to say (though without any photos to prove it, sorry) we looked bloody great, hah. I dressed as Mrs Lovett from Sweeney Todd, complete with spattered butcher's apron which proclaimed 'Lovett's Fine Pies' thanks to freezer paper stencilling, grimy [plastic] cleaver and a basket of pies. A girl at the bar complimented the attention to detail in bringing a selection of meat products.
The event was made considerably more complicated by a drugs raid by the met. It's difficult enough to manoeuver around the building because the only passageway to the basement toilets is down a narrow servants' staircase. When you've got people moving along in both directions, in transit to the downstairs dance floor as well as the bathrooms, then the only option is to shimmy down hugging the wall as a slew of bodies bumble past and hope that you don't fall in the darkness, and that nobody is standing on your skirt because it's impossible lift up your hem as you might with a couple of inches' breathing room. So then when you have a bouncer shouting at you to move (so that the cops can get down the stairs) it's easy to get a little annoyed with it all. Apparently as the building is a private residence, some laws seem to apply and some don't. Like the staff didn't seem in a hurry to ask people to stop smoking inside, yet the police still came in for a look about. The place seems it has a sort of chequered history, if you can believe all that you read. Partygoers were looking at the cops thinking 'what realistic costumes' and it all became a little surreal. Even more annoyingly, when we did manage to get back upstairs we could only in one direction and got separated from everyone else.
Interruptions apart, the entertainment was the best of any of the WM events so far. The Dead Victorians, singers of fine ditties [sound!] the Puppini Sisters, [sound!] and good old Tough Love, bless them. Promoters, singers and cloakroom assistants at the end of the night.
Today it's a disgustingly wet and cold day. I went to Camden to the Nano meet up. It was so packed that I scuttled off home again. Now a friend who has locked herself out has come over to dry out here. So it's unlikely that my nano count will rise much from 150 words - but it's a start...
Awww look, little bunny looks all at home even if he doesn't have a big smile on his face! Such fun to meet you -- I could kick myself for not getting a picture. Hope you got your yarn ok. Sounds like you had lots of fun on Halloween! We went on a fun Jack the Ripper tour -- BIG crowd which made it all the more fun. Do we get to see a pic of you in your costume??? ;-)
Posted by: Thimbleanna | Tuesday, 04 November 2008 at 02:57