Image above: Chee Yeng and I at breakfast at the Landmark Hotel. [Saturday 20 September]
Yay! My friend Adelia is now in town. The last time we met was back in September 2006 when I was in Singapore enroute to Japan for my week-long Kysuhu trip. And the time before that was ten years when we first met. I was on exchange in NTU and we happened to be both placed in Hall 9 Block 45.
But more about her later. Rewinding to the morning, it was a decadant (and rather expensive) breakfast with Chee Yeng in Marylebone who’s back in London for work. We originally became friends back in 2001 and its been about five years plus since she left and we lost touch. So it was a fun catch-up and hilarious to know that even though the years that have passed I’m still just like a kid in her eyes! hee hee.
Image above: The impressive atrium of the Landmark Hotel above where Chee Yeng and I had breakfast.
Afterwards, headed to north London to have lunch with Tom, back from my secondary / uni days, who took me a little cafe in Springfield Park in this that part of London I’ve never been to before. The weather, surprisingly, was gorgeous so it was wonderful being able to sit outside enjoying the last vestiges of summer with the vista of the park and canal below us as we wolfed down a good ol’ English breakfast.
Image above: Tom getting stuck into his English breakfast at the cafe in Springfield Park.
Image above: The dilapidated bridge over the River Lea next to Springfield Park.
Then from north-east central London it was down to the south-east quadrant to meet Winnie at the 2008 100% Design show at Earls Court. We had a great time both catching up and seeing all the varied installations together. Both of us were drooling over the Gessi rainfall shower! I’ll be posting more photos of the event seperately.
Image above: Winnie at the end of the 100% Design show looking quite exhausted absorbing all the fantastic installations.
Above: On the left, Winnie’s wonderfully retro Casio watch (which I used to have and actually program). On the right, the iPhone I now use for the same and more. How times have changed!
After the show, it was off to Paddington station to wait for Adelia. And when she got off the train she was carrying umpteen bags of everything. She even brought me a portable induction cooker as a house warming gift which she hand carried all the way over. Wow, so nice of her.
And best of all, aside from having her actually in the UK after ten years of saying she should come over, is that she brought me bakkwa. We get it in the UK but it’s really not the same. And not only that, but she got me 3 kilos of it! So now I’m trying not to eat it all in a week. Mental note to self: must ration. :)
Image above: Adelia bringing me some totally delicious (and illegal) bakkwa from Singapore. Yummy!
It was really great to catch up with so many friends all in one day … and with friends that I’ve not seen for years but we can still chat like anything and laugh out loud as if no time had passed at all. Great friendships – you can’t beat them.
