First Night Out

On Tuesday night I went out with Vanessa and her friends to Vendome Mayfair. It's a very posh spot in Central London on Picadilly across from The Ritz. Crazy, I know. Little old Delly off to Vendome where the likes of Kate Moss have been spotted. Hehe. Anyways, let's back up to Tuesday during the day. I had sent Vanessa a few pics of some of the dresses I'd brought to see what she recommended for my first night out. Now, imagine my utter horror when she pronounced all of my dresses too casual!! I was mortified! Like some little country bumpkin come over to the big city with her little town girl clothes wanting to step out to the hottest clubs. Can you imagine?? I wanted to hide in shame. Especially because I did not see that coming at all. I thought that my dresses were all very cute and totally in style. I mean, they're not straight our of magazines or anything, but I love a good party dress so I have a bunch that I've bought in the past year.

After I got past my shame, I met up with Vanessa in the day to go get my nails done at her nail shop and to find a dress for me to wear out. I took the tubes then the overhead train to Forest Hill, which is South London, where she lives. Total transit time: approximately 1hr 15 minutes. Not horrible, it goes by really fast actually. When I got there, I remembered I needed to deposit my travelers cheques into my newly formed account so I stopped at the bank to do that. I must pause here to vent on something; is there a rulebook somewhere for all banks that specifies that as soon as a line starts to form, at least two tellers should shut down their station, leaving just the two slowest tellers to take on the quickly forming line of people?? Cause if this is in the rulebook, then Barclays in London should receive some kind of award or at least an international recognition. Also, bank tellers, just a note: your job is to do banking, NOT to try to be friends with customers and inquire about their children and pets and new handbags. These inquiries only frustrate the already angry people waiting in line for your services and that anger and frustration stays with them and continue to build with each visit to the bank. Eventually that anger and frustration will need to find a release, beware you are not the recipient of said release.

Thanks for allowing me that rant. After the bank experience, we took the bus over to Peckham High Street, aka, Nigeria. I didn't immediately make this connection, but I had heard there was an area in London that had a ton of Nigerians. To be honest, it didn't seem like that many, maybe because they all have British accents so I can't actually tell if they're British or Nigerian. Anyways, there were a ton of black people along this street and a bunch of markets and small grocery shops. There are also about a million little shops with incredibly cheap clothes, shoes, purses and jewelry. There are also a lot of Caribbean and African restaurants and food stands. I ended up giving in to my craving for oxtail and I'm glad I did. For about £7, I got oxtail, rice and peas and fried plantain. It was fantastic! I was worried, especially about the oxtail cause you can really ruin that, but it was great! And it was a lot of food, I wasn't even able to finish it all. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures. To be honest, we already attracted a bit of unwanted attention and I didn't want to whip out my camera and draw even more attention to us. It's not really a touristy area, so to speak. More the kind of area where you keep an eye on your purse and don't make eye contact with any males.

But the shopping was great! I got a great tour and I found all the black hair shops. A good black hair shop is almost as exciting for me as a good library. And in one of the clothing shops, I found my dress. It was fabulous and not too crazy. It's a bright coral empire waist party tube dress for £7. That's right, £7. I'll say that again: £7. I nearly bought two, just because! Really, my lunch was the same price, if not a bit more than my dress. I also got my nails done for £12. A full set of acrylic nails with a French tip. Fantastic.

That was the day. I rushed home, ate quickly (too quickly actually, nearly choked to death on some rice alone in my room), took a shower and got ready.Because I live in North West London and the rest of the ladies live in South London, I met up with them at the tube station near the club. I got dressed but carried my shoes in a little bag and put on flats for the walk to the tube station. I also put on a long coat, so as not to draw any unwanted attention in my (tiny) bright dress at 10 at night. I was able to leave my stuff in the car once they picked me up from the tube station so I didn't have to worry about lugging all that stuff around with me all night.

We got into the club without paying cover since in most clubs here girls get in free before a certain time (WONDERFUL trend! It should be adopted worldwide I think). The club was fun. Very busy and the music was great. I was VERY worried about the music because I know the Brits love their pop music and their house and dance music. But turns out they also love 'funky' music which is a fantastic cross between house, pop, hip hop, r&b and dancehall depending on the song. I loved it!!! It had a great beat to dance to and there were words with an actual chorus, not techno lyrics that just repeat over and over until your ears start to bleed. There was even a live performance by a group called Wake Up London. I think that' what they're called anyways. I don't always catch everything that's said with their accents.

I must apologize again because I didn't take any pics of the actual club itself. Just of the us ladies. But I can describe it. It was basically a circle with the dj booth at the centre of the circle. Around the dj booth was the dancefloor which was clear with coloured lights beneath it that changed colours. Then around the dancefloor is a kind of exterior dancefloor a step up, on this level are the booths that can be rented out. Then along the left and right sides of the circle and down a step were the bars and sitting areas. It wasn't very big at all, but it's London, nothing's big except the clothing stores :) After going to the club and seeing how people were dressed, I do actually think that most of my dresses will be fine once properly accessorised. Two of them probably are too casual but that's alright, I can just wear them out to chill or with tights to dinner.

I had booked a cab early in the evening to pick me up from the club. £11 from the club to my place. Pretty great! I'm happy our area is so close to Central London. Apparently once I get to know the city better I'll be able to hop a Night Bus home, but until then I am happy to cab it for under £15.

Things I noticed at the club:

-Perverted old men trying to talk to young females is a worldwide epidemic. Winnipeg, Atlanta, London, Minneapolis. They're everywhere, and if you're wondering why you haven't noticed them, maybe because you are one....

-The smart way to drink is before the bar and then just sip on cranberry juice all night to quench your thirst. The drinks at the club were more than my dress.

-No matter where you are, when Michael Jackson comes on, everybody dances.

-Girls love bathroom pictures. For anyone that doesn't know, these are pictures taken of each other in the bathroom right after fixing our makeup and hair so that we look perfect.

-Men are shrinking. It's true. For every guy above 5'10, there are 14 more who are about 5'4 and a couple under 5'2. It's horrifying. You're walking by and you feel something brush up against your elbow and hip. 'what's that?' you wonder. You look down and (gasp!) it's a small little man trying to talk to you!! Oh the horror!

-The less attractive the guy, the more confident he is that you want him to touch you and the more convinced he is that you're playing hard to get, even when you say 'fuck off, do not touch me' and walk away.

-The Dutty Wine will bring out the slutty in any girl, even the ones you don't expect

-Everyone everywhere is blaming it on the a-a-a-a-alchohol...!

It was a fun night. And it's really nice to know that some things are universal. And as different as the club was here, it was still just a club. I think I'm heading out to a different on Saturday though so I'll be sure to report back.

Sidenote: I do have pics from that night, but I feel like it's a looks a little self indulgent to post my bathroom club pics on here...yes I know the very concept of blogging is pretty self indulgent, but still. Anyways, just trust me when I say the dress was fabulous ;)