A few beautiful hours in London

Another 24hrs in London. Learnt a lot more about this city, and I’m sure there is more to come. This place is huge. London has something for everyone. No matter who you are, whatever you’re into, this amazing city has something to offer you.

Ended our night off by going to The End. That’s not as hectic as it sounds; we just went to a club called The End.
Cute CT boy Ty, his friend and myself decided to see more of the city and party with some of its people, at that moment all roads led to The End.
It was a few minutes walk to get there; we stood in line outside waiting to get in. I don’t have a watch so I don’t know what time it was. I’m actually enjoying not having a phone and a watch to tell the time, there’s a certain freedom to that. Stood in line and had time to observe my surroundings and take in what was going on.

One of the things I noticed was the guys – sort of young looking but seemingly over 18, all wearing very tight pants. Tight all the way to their ankles, I didn’t know they made skinny jeans for guys. That was really weird. Most of them had long hair; for some people that looks sexy, but some people it just looks like you’re dirty and don’t wash, some people pull of the ‘I’m cool and I do what I want’ look. Anyway, most of the chicks were wearing stockings with mini skirts or socks, and here is something that boggles my mind – if you are cold then wear long pants, if you want to show off your sexy legs – take off the stockings! Most of the people were dressed more or less the same, and all at the same time going for an ‘I’m cooler than you’ kinda thing. All good, let’s just get into the club already!

So the first bouncer asked for our ID’s. I was very tempted to pull the ‘how old do I look? With an attitude thing’ but thought otherwise. After all I am in a foreign place and I don’t know what bouncers are like here.
So I pull my very recent drivers license, which hasn’t really been touched by a lot of people, and I allowed him to take its virginity so to speak. My brand spanking new license was ‘touched like a virgin’ ha ha ha some Madonna there. Hey, I am in Britain right. We made a couple jokes about not being from around here and that the bouncer might not be able to read our ID’s properly. Stupid jokes I know, but sometimes you have to make small talk, you never know who you’ll need favours from. He said something about Japanese ID’s being the hardest to read. I’ve never seen a non SA drivers license, so, whatever!

My bag was searched, not peeped into to check I didn’t have a firearm. My bag was almost stripped of all its contents in search of whatever they were looking for. No problem, just strange that the guys weren’t being searched at all. At home, women usually walk right in with these huge handbags that might be carrying AK47’s and grenades and whatever else, and guys get searched like their pockets have houses hidden in there somewhere. (Cartoon style)

Finally we got into this place, and bid a sad goodbye to a whole £3 (x14 to get rands = R42) music I couldn’t quite understand, but then again this whole trip is about experiencing the unknown. Walked around a bit. Suddenly there were people on a stage that I hadn’t seen being erected but was suddenly there. This band had some huge masks on, so couldn’t see their faces. I was looking at the lead singer with a body of a man, and the voice of a woman. Can’t be too sure there. They played for a little bit then we went to the bar to get drinks
After about 20 minutes of waiting we resigned ourselves to the fact that this was a futile exercise – three barmen with about 50 people waiting to be served.
We left and decided to call it a night.

What I learnt there, which was extremely strange, was that you are not allowed to smoke anywhere indoors. Cool that law is almost universal but London has decided to take it a step further, you can’t smoke in clubs or pubs or restaurants. No, there aren’t designated areas with an extractor fan. No smoking inside a building;
I could handle that, but I realised that my body couldn’t. There is something a little too clean about being in a club packed with people and no cigarette smoke. It was a weird sensation all together. I’m so used to ciggie smoke all around me that I couldn’t understand being able to see clearly in a club. They might as well have switched on the lights and put on a television for us to watch prison break while sipping on our drinks, (or not sipping on anything because of the car situation)

Went home, smelling like normal, no smoke in my clothes, nothing. A club has this wonderful fusion of scents that you must leave with if it’s been a good night. It’s a mixture of booze, smoke, colognes and perfumes, a little sweat with hints of the passion you danced with, the desire in the air, the electric energy, the atmosphere of pure fun and the search for mischief and escapism. I left that place with nothing. Not a single remnant of what I just walked out of. Yes, I could call the scent urban energy, because that’s exactly what it is. There was none of that on that night. Oh well, no regrets, I got to see a little bit of London nightlife. There is so much more to come and I can’t wait. I want to see and experience it all. The good, the bad and the ugly

My first night in London was interesting, slept like a baby and woke up on Tuesday 09.11 at 11am feeling super refreshed. Okay that’s the bad part about not having an alarm clock, watch or phone - might not wake up early as usual.