Word On The Tweet: Hideaway

Thanks to @seraa on Twitter for tweeting about this place in South London's Streatham, or Saint Reatham if you're an uppity, saddity fool trying to make the area seem all posh by mispronunciation.

"Hideaway features the very best Jazz, Latin, Funk, Soul and R&B musicians, showcasing new talent, established artists and star performers. Our weekly comedy nights will present the very best of a new generation of stand-up comedians that are performing on the London circuit.

The stylish environment of our club creates a laid back, relaxed ambiance where you can really appreciate great live music."

I'm a South Londoner and Streatham is only one short 15 minute bus ride away so will be checking this place out at some point. Nice to know there are places like this in South London that exist.

Hideaway's website
Follow Hideaway on Twitter

I'm In The Mood For Dancing

So I ventured out on Saturday to a ment2excel event at The Wall. A good time was had, so good the next morning I felt beat up, that's the worst I've felt post clubbing in what seems like forever.

Now I'm not the type of girl to leave my house for a night of clubbing other than that, a night of clubbing some serious hard bust a sweat dancing, and I remember the days circa 1996 when the place was so rammed full of people just hot and sweating. Girls never entered the clubs and left looking the exact same way. Make up was smeared from sweating profusely and the clothes were just sweated out. You didn't make any plans for the next day because clubbing consisted of being a two day event. Day 1- Party Hard. Day 2 - Recovery. That was the sure fire indicator that you know a good time was had.

Now circa 1996 Internet wasn't even on the scene like it is now. I remember around 98/99 getting hooked up online and just started seeing TV and newspaper ads from these things called Internet Service Providers about monthly contracts and from then it just blew up. Camera phones? PLEASE! It wasn't even like that back then and if your phone had a camera then it was top notch. I was sporting this in 1996 a Motorola M350 model on what was then Mercury 121 [that became One2One, that is now known as T-Mobile] and I'm proud to say I've had the same mobile number since I was 16 years old. I can never stand people who every time you bumped into them had a new number. But I digress. So where was I? Yes no camera phones, no Internet on phones, no picture messaging no WAP [mobile phone Internet] and certainly no Facebook or MySpace.

Go onto Facebook or MySpace and you'll see the typical up in the club poses. I have a few too, but you know something we have a rule.

RULE #1 We get there early I'm talking about 10-15 people up in the place early.
RULE #2 we take 1 or 2 pictures before we've even ordered a drink.
RULE #3 The camera stays out of sight for the rest of the night.

Fast forward to 2008. We have phones that can take pictures, pay your bills on, chat to people, send pictures, use the Internet, access Facebook and MySpace applications and we are also in the digital camera age. Oh my friggin goodness I am now clubbing with the Social Networking Junkies [SNJ]. I myself am a SNJ but this is a private affair that I do not inflict on anybody, only on those who are my friends online so please spare me the night out clubbing and the hoards of pictures taken on the dance floor. It was seriously ridiculous. The amount of times I had to stop mid dance whilst 8 girls gathered in a huddle tens of times over to take a picture. I am probably in the background of at least 150 pictures from Saturday night adorned on Facebook photo albums as that strange girl in the background with some hardcore dance face on.

Then there was…you know something let me list the idiotic club pet peeves I endured in one evening.

The constant picture taking which you know was taken solely for the SNJ to post their pictures on their pages. 1 or 5 is fine. No one wants to see the same group picture 38 times in your album with each one differing with a head tilt. Pick the best ones to put up and keep it moving.

The fools that made their way though a dense crowd and infringe on my dance space to only stand there and not even move. I am dancing hard to 'Swagga Like Us' and have to literally morph into a 2 step. NOT PLEASED

The same girl in the bubble dress and dead straight weave who I never saw dance all night. Just walk all over the club acting social with everybody for about 4 and a half hours. She left the same way she came into the club with a hair not even out of place or a droplet of sweat on her skin.

The light skinned crew. These men are too nice too dance. They stand in the corner or in your dance space trying to look real good like they are the flavour of the month. People get dressed, drive, find somewhere to park, pay to get in only to stand there the whole night until 3am.

The fool that seems to be in every club wearing sunglasses. It's December and freezing outside. Not even tinted but fully blacked out Gucci sunglasses with Gucci sneaks [bootleg!!!!] wearing a striped sweater holding a champagne glass and a bottle of bubbly [cheap shit!!!!] acting like he's somebody of some status, when you know he's probably living on a council estate with his mum and doesn't have a pot to piss in. Those that try too hard do just that…

Speaking of sweaters, weren't these men hot. Hot and foolish.

The girl who made her way to take up valuable dance space and stand in front of us only to have the nerve to fan herself like she was cooling down with her non-dancing self. "[Move bitch] get out the way" by Ludacris came to mind.

This same girl decided in the middle of a crowd with hip-hop blaring at club level she was going to stand there and make a call on her mobile. I can't even concentrate making a call with the TV or radio on. No attempt to move out to the quieter area by the front door. I bet it was a man she was calling and wanted him to know she was out enjoying herself without him. Sad...but women do this type of shit thinking it's impressive. And you know on a regular night at home she's not calling ANYBODY at 1:30am so why do it when you're at the club. And I know because she was a mother with her toddler child as the screen saver on her phone so you know she's probably desperate for sleep at 9:30pm.

More people just standing there making/answering calls and sending text messages in the club. I was out for a total of 5 hours door to door, I left the other half [Blackberry 8800] at home. My sister had hers and that was enough for an emergency other than that I'm out with who I needed to be with. Who the hell am I contacting that can't wait till Sunday and at a decent hour at that?

The non-movers n shakers. About 15-20% of the club capacity were dancing like they were there to dance. The British black women are really becoming concerned with leaving the club the same way they came in I don't give a zippidee doo da. Whether free, £5 or £10 entry I'm out cause I'm in the mood to dance and dance like a crazy black woman shaking off the working week I will. All these women just sitting down for the whole night looking pissed off. Why are you even there? I noticed this 'trend' when I went clubbing in New York, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston. Miami folks were the only people who seemed to get down for the sake of getting down.

I don't get it. I just want to party and not care about the dress code. I'm tired of seeing pretentious prissy women and guys who think they are the shit just out to pose and do nothing else taking up valuable dance space and looking miserable the whole night. Then at 2:55am decide when the old skool jam comes on then it's ok to get a dance in knowing it's about to wrap up and there is no chance of perspiration, aching feet, and the hair remains as is. Not me. I'm a straight fool on a night out. If I have trouble walking to the car because my feet hurt, I'm so hot from dancing then freezing as the cold air licks me, my hair is just…over, face shiny from the foundation just saying "I give up" and cannot make me matte anymore, and I'm craving some yard [Jamaican] food from the Bagel King on Walworth where all the hungry South London 3am'ers head to before venturing home, then I know I've had a good time. And that's how it should be!!!

Although we never rounded it off with Bagel King on Saturday as my sister went via Brixton instead [and I respect that as her right as the driver] but the next time I drive I'm getting my 3am grub on. I had to settle for English Muffins with Blackcurrant Jam with some hot chocolate at home after the club was showered off me and headed to bed at 5am.

Dance Like No One's Watching...

…Blog Like No One's Reading

**rolls eyes 10x over**

Whatever! Just Whatever!

I'm not even mad, I'm not even angry. I'm just extremely neutral. So much so, I am flatlining on neutral.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Why is trying to organise a date, [technically it's not even a date per se, it's more like a 2 hour time slot for a post work drink] so exhausting?

It's always a case of:

I can't do that day.
I'm busy that week.
I can only do the first and last Friday of the month.
Thursday's are out, but next Wednesday is OK.

Then I end up going with when they are free. So in essence I'm revolving my life pretty much around them.

This is one element of visiting friends in Texas that I miss, no matter what day of the week it was, it was pretty much a case of:

Hey we're having such and such for dinner want to come over?
So what do you want to do tonight? Go out or stay in?
You get a call at 10am to meet for lunch at 12
You get off work and a call from your friend and the boys are round having dinner and drinks a few hours later.

Whatever happened to a little spontaneity? My sister has it but she seems to be the only one. She goes to bars, clubs, gigs, concerts, dinner, museums, galleries, shopping trips with her friends. She's no different than any of us. Works, pays bills and has to look after herself and her home. If this was a one off I'd be like fine, it's cool. When I sat back and thought about it, this was a typical regular way of planning my social life and it's quicker to get a doctor's appointment on the NHS than to go out somewhere.

I'm sorry waiting 3 weeks to go to the club, or plan a month in advance to pop round and catch up with a friend is not my idea of fun. All this safe, by the diary planning is straight up bullshit. I'm tired of it. I'm going on meetup to inject a little fun into my life.

Fuck this for laughs. I'll be dead soon. But some folks may not even be able to make my funeral.

The Weekend Was a Great One!

A lil booze, high heels, handbags, and some dancing, made for a great weekend. Throw in some lovely London weather, rest n relaxation and it was a real treat.

Friday, the night out at Guanabara was fantastic. I didn't expect to have such a great time. In fact I expected to be in a pissy mood, but Friday was just what I needed to lift my spirits and give the middle finger to a not so great week. Catching up with MB was great who let me in on his Australian travels and told me what his experiences were like living and working in Sydney and thoroughly recommended it [especially as a black woman] coming from a black man. I told him I don't know of anybody who is black from London who has lived and worked in Oz whether long or short term, and he told me that's my he wanted to do it. I'm going to a relocating seminar for people in my industry for Sydney, Australia on October 1st so am really looking forward to hearing what it's all about. My plan initially would be 3 months minimum then spend that time afterwards travelling a bit in the Far East, seeing more of Oz and New Zealand. Coming back to London and if I like it that much go back again for another stint. I'm more drawn to Oz than I am Dubai, and on top of that the Australian and Far East is flourishing in the Banking industry, they don't even know about no damn credit crunch over there from what MB was saying. It seems that it's the UK and US that are hard done by at the moment.


I used this opportunity at Guanabara to get to know my Miss D's new beau J, and he's a really nice guy. And I heard from Miss D that he said he thought I was nice but a lil [now what was the word] scary and/or intimidating. Is it the shoes? because in a pair of heels sistah girl is at 6ft or is it the face? He has a good head on his shoulders and I can tell he genuine and decent. Not as nerdy as she described. Thank God it was nice talking to a black man that wasn't reeling off the typical London and UK jargon with the likes of "ya get me", "innit doe" and "fa real fa real". My friends know how to pick em. Although she was not, and has never asked for my approval as she's more than capable, he gets a thumbs up from me.

The whole crowd, those who I already knew and those who I'd only met that night, everyone just had on their 'lovely vibe' hats on Friday. I managed through all that Brazilian music, tipsy on 4 alcoholic beverages [and I drink so so rarely] I managed to successfully talk to Miss D's sisters man H, about trading the Forex regardless of the economic climate. We had a good convo about making money and just talking about social [black] issues and relationships. Always good to get a black man's perspective on things whether you agree with what they have to say or not.

I talked so damn much that night, come Sunday my throat is still a little gravelly.

Saturday, had a lie in, no hangover. I didn't even do my hair as planned and will do it next weekend. Only managed to wash and condition it. I was glued to season 6 of Sex & The City for most of the day as well as a 90 minute nail biting edition of X Factor. That was pretty much my lazy day of the weekend. As well as a lil relationship convo with Miss D. From here on I will never utter the words "so what's going on with you and so and so." She let me know where her head was at regarding so and so and that's all I was concerned about. Do your thing!


Sunday, OMG up at the crack of dawn 7:30am is the crack of dawn for me. A 10am shopping start at London Fashion Weekend with my sister.

Here's pretty much what I snagged

A Bracher Emden red/black leather handbag with semi precious stones and Swarovski crystals - was £799 for £150 [don't even get me started it the same bag Rihanna has, but she's not even got it on the right way round. The semi-precious stones are on the OTHER SIDE!!!!!]
A Crumpet England cashmere racer back vest in Yellow - was £95 for £7.50
A Blush B-Lush gold metallic leather and black suede large hobo bag - was roughly £300-400 for £100
A Elisa Atheniense soft leather grey Handbag - was £200+ for £15
A Elisa Atheniense soft leather caramel coloured Handbag - was £200+ for £40
A Tabitha White bag was £295 for £55
Some crazy designed Japanese top for £5 [no idea on the retail or the brand]
A Malene Birger cropped jacket was £159 for £15
Some jewellery from Anna Lou of London 2 bracelets, 2 necklaces, 2 pairs of earrings for £40

I bought my friend a white leather Elisa Atheniense Handbag - was £200+ for £15, she loved it. THANK GOD!

I was a happy bunny to say the least, and as much as I want to go to the Ted Baker sample sale on Wednesday I'm bailing out. I can shop, but I also know how to pay my bills and save my money and be disciplined. When I can go for 4-6 months at a time not shopping, a hit in one like today is justified and pretty decent for what I got considering the retail on them. And I did good today. I got my leather bag(s), and my intention was to get one. But being leather and at those prices, there was no way I was leaving quality crafted leather handbags that are on sale for the same as PVC bags. And anyone that knows me knows I don't do PVC in shoes, handbags or belts.

Well the day is nearly over. So more Sex & The City for me and some R&R before Monday tomorrow. I've been watching too much SATC because I picked up a pair of earrings and said to my sister "those are sooooo Samantha."

**rolls eyes and slaps forehead**

I'm feeling positive and hope the week ahead will be so as well. So fingers crossed.