Springtime in London - Gigs & Sightseeing

 

I was lucky enough to travel up to London twice in the space of a week last month and enjoy some nice dry weather 😶

Trip 1 -

First up was my long-awaited Delilah Bon show. Those of you who read my 2024 In Music blog will remember that I listed her album 'Evil Hate Filled Female' as my favourite album of the year. 

By chance I'd come across an advert for an exhibition about an exhibition at the Warburg Institute Tarot - Origins & Afterlives and since it was free it felt rude not to pop in!

The exhibition was, as you would expect, pretty small but for tarot readers like me (or anyone interested in occult history) it was absolutely fascinating, especially this incredibly old Florentine Tarot (the city not the biscuit sadly) deck -

I was near to the British Museum so it felt rude not to visit. 

As well as finding Eos represented in the Egyptian section and the gift shop

I also found Greek pottery depicting her namesake the Goddess Eos pursuing a young gentleman 😱

I stayed at the Kings Cross Inn which was literally opposite Kings Cross & St Pancras tube stations. 

Taken from the hotel steps

For the gig I wanted to try the 'layered' look. I think a crop top over a mesh top looks so nice but being very much on the larger side I avoided it as I thought the general public didn't deserve that sight! But in the spirit of 'fuck it' I popped my Delilah top over a mesh top and skirt and yes I actually felt cute!

The show was at the London Garage a small club venue (my favourite type!)

I was really looking forward to seeing the support act Eville and they didn't disappoint. 

Anyone who plays in a Hello Kitty bikini top gets my vote!

They give me Bring Me The Horizon backing music with 'brat rock' vocals, I really hope I get to see them again soon!

Delilah was as good as I hoped she would be, her live vocals are amazing. She really is a voice badly needed right now for the LGBT community and women around the world and I hope her music spreads far and wide. 

There are loads more photos and videos on my Instagram page jenraefrancesdeux .

Trip 2 -

A few days later I was back in London to meet up with my friend Bente for the first time since 2018!

A misty morning train ride

*Insert 'Sitting On The Dock' joke here*

We took the boat (yes I got on a boat without being sea sick!) from London Bridge down to Battersea. 

You see so much more from the boat

Clearly the key to not getting sea sick is to travel on boats named after fighter jets!

Although I didn't get sick on HMS Belfast when we went and that's technically on the water!

We had an amazing breakfast at Where The Pancakes Are in Battersea Power Station. 

We worked off our breakfast with a stroll around Battersea Park. I'd only ever been there once about 10 years ago when I went to the Formula E race (Blog here) and hadn't realised how much there was there or how pretty it is. 

We particularly liked this Peace Pagoda built back in the 70s. It was particularly beautiful with the emerging blossom around it. 

It was still pretty chilly so after grabbing a cuppa we went back to Battersea Power Station. I've never been there before or after it was re-generated. 

Such an impressive building (sadly no Pink Floyd-style Flying Pig)

Inside the power station is the coolest bar called Control Room B located (you guessed it) where one of the control rooms was. They've left all the original equipment in there and have themed cocktails. I particularly enjoyed the 'Booster Field' and 'Smokestack'. 

The menu was the building blueprint

The equipment -

A well stocked bar is always a beautiful sight 😉

Enjoying some Prosecco and a Smokestack - 

All too soon it was time to head for home.

Come back soon!!!!!

I had such a lovely couple of days, London never fails to excite me and I've been lucky to have been up 4 times this year already (check out my Emo and Tim Burton blogs). I think my next trip will be for the planned VE Day flypast in May (weather permitting ......). 

Love Jen

XxxX

A Strange & Unusual Day Out In London

 

My year of Jen-themed exhibitions has continued! Hot on the heels of last month's trip to the Emo exhibition (blog here) Vana and I went up to London to visit the Design Museum's World Of Tim Burton exhibition. 

A traditional train selfie

Being autistic at Gatwick (since you asked it's a 737 Max 8)

Battersea Power Station

When we arrived at Victoria we went to a Japanese Pancake cafe that Vana had found on Instagram.

It was super busy but luckily we'd booked. 

Vana always takes me to the pinkest places ......

After I managed to get us lost twice on the tube we finally got to the Design Museum.

The exhibition was absolutely fantastic and was like walking into my dream Halloween. I'd forgotten how many projects that Tim Burton was involved in, it ranged from his early sketches right up until recent work like Wednesday. I love so many of his films - Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice In Wonderland, the Beetlejuice films and his aesthetic in general ( I even have a Tim Burton inspired striped wall in my room - flashback to my decorating blog).

Corpse Bride models

Frankenweenie Pet Cemetery

Mars Attacks 😂

My favourite items were the Nightmare Before Christmas models -

Initial Alice In Wonderland sketches

Alice's dress she wore to fight the Jabberwocky

Edward Scissorhands sketches and hands -

Posing with costumes from Wednesday

This corridor was so fun to walk along -

Obviously I used my Beetlejuice bag

After we finished at the exhibition we went off for an explore; starting off in a soggy Chinatown -

After a visit to the Japan Centre we stopped off at Watkins Books which sells lots of witchy books and tarot cards. I've been wanting to visit for ages and wasn't disappointed. 

Their carpet is so cool (Thoth the Egyptian god of knowledge)

I resisted the urge to add this to my deck collection ....

The basement is huge with so many interesting looking books which I feel warrants a further visit when I'm back in London next month. Whilst we were in Covent Garden we came across the London branch of Artbox (the company that run our beloved Hello Kitty cafe in Brighton). 

So cute

We wanted to visit a couple of the bars that Hilary took me to when we were in London last month so we hopped on the tube, giving me the chance to act all of my (almost) 38 years ......

We started off in The Mayor Of Scaredy Cat Town and I manged to order a candyfloss cocktail!

Vana's looked a lot more sensible!

We carried on to the London Cocktail Club where I managed to end up with another accidental sweetie cocktail when, much to my surprise, the barman handed me my drink which included custard creams 😂

That rounded off an absolutely fantastic day in London, thank you to Vana for coming with me. I'm back up in London next month to see Delilah Bon which will probably include a sneaky trip to Treadwells along with my planned return to Watkins. 

Love Jen

XxxX