Wednesday was non-stop gogogo! (apart from the 7-ish hours in the car, that is!). My dad is a big Status Quo fan, and had managed to book tickets for the first ever ‘Aquostic’ gig, live from Camden Roundhouse for BBC Radio 2. My dad’s liking of the Quo is a bit of a family joke – my mum can’t stand the noise levels, and my sister radiates extreme disapproval whenever they are mentioned! However, my mum said it was much better at the drastically reduced noise levels that come with playing acoustic, and apparently witnesses saw my sister half-enjoying it at times! Whilst mum and sis were sat down, I was with my dad and a family friend on the ground floor, about halfway back. There was one terrifying moment – dad had gone to the loo and our friend was joking with some people around us about how they’d never get back if they left for the loo. Holding up a beer cup, they suggested an alternative solution…*shudders*.
Other than that, the concert was really fun and a novel experience!
Earlier in the day we visited the Tower of London installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’. For those of you that haven’t heard about this, it is an evolving installation of ceramic poppies, made by ceramic artist Paul Cummins and set by stage designer Tom Piper. Each poppy represents a British and Colonial soldier killed in the First World War, and 888,246 are being installed between August 5 and November 11th (Armistice Day). After the installation ends, the poppies are being sold for £25 apiece, to raise money for six charities associated with the Armed Forces. There is also a Roll of Honour being done each evening where the names of public-nominated soldiers from the Commonwealth armies are read out. The poppies make a truly spectacular sight-visit them if you can!
We also stopped by the Harrods Montreux Jazz Festival Cafe, although we didn’t stop to eat – at £15 per head for coffee and cake, I was happy with just looking! As possibly one of the best surprises ever, my dad planned for us to visit the Hummingbird Bakery. My sister has one of the HB cookbooks, and my dad knows how much we love the brownies from their recipe 🙂 Our parents had coffees, whilst my sister and I both had hot chocolates. She also had a very fruity slice of rainbow cake, and I had a mouth-wateringly delicious vanilla and raspberry cheesecake brownie. I think that was it’s official title!
For lunch we went to Pret-A-Manger – I had an amazing chicken raita wrap, and my sister had macaroni cheese in a cute little box! Tea was pizza in Camden – yum! Although we didn’t get back till somewhere between 1 and 2 a.m., I did manage to sleep in the car and we slept in until midday on Thursday 🙂
Did you hear any of Status Quo Aquostic on the radio, and have you visited any of the places I went to?
An Overthinking Teenager
mixolydian musings 