London Trip.

London is my all time favourite place in the world, over all the expensive, hot and amazing holidays I have been on, London has always been the place I wanted to be.

There is something about the hustle and bustle, the knowing that whatever you need is always available and the idea of blending into a big crowd that makes it appeal to me so much - I have never liked standing out from the crowd but always found myself there anyway but London is the only place I feel happy and truly myself. There are so many styles, people, cultures and everything in London that makes everyone so different nothing is stand out enough to take note. In the capital city surrounded with thousands of other people doing their own thing I found myself, literally discovered something within myself that I never thought I would, contentment, that is why I love being there and that is why my heart belongs to the capital.

 

I take every chance I get to head down to London for a couple of hours, a weekend, a week or just a concert! This time I wanted to document it, I stayed for 2 nights and lived the life of a Londoner, no longer a tourist- I have mastered the tube, seen the sights and am now just enjoying my time- just another person going about their day and I couldn't have been happier with my time spent there.

 

 

 

 The street I stayed in was absolutely beautiful and right next to Hyde Park! On my last day after breakfast I walked through the park and even managed to catch a glimpse at the charitable half marathon.

 

 

 The memorial for all the British soldiers lost at war was phenomenal and I know 'a picture speaks a thousand words' but this picture and no other picture is able to represent the immensity of the display or the emotion expressed through the thousands of ceramic poppies planted in the ground.

 

 

  I of course had to take a walk over the river and take some shots of the London Eye and the London sky line in all its glory.

 

Portobello Road is one of my new favourite places in London! I went purely for the famous market but found myself in awe of the beautiful buildings and scenes around me - I would definitely recommend it for anyone who hasn't experienced it yet!

 

Camden was one of the first places I ever visited on my first trip to London 8 years ago and I have never stopped loving it since! If you ever go look out for the fresh orange juice stand covered in whole oranges and a man shouting about how good his juice is because it is the best.

 

 

 During my time in London was the African Culture Day which I of course had to go and check out (long story short I ended up playing a bongo in front of around 100 people) still one of my favourite days ever spent in the city!

 

 

I had to fit a show into my weekend also and went along to see Made In Dagenham which was one of the funniest and sweetest west end shows I have ever seen! I would definitely recommend it to anyone into rom coms/ chick flicks such as myself as it is the perfect combination of everything in one!

 

Piccadilly Circus
 

 

Until next time,

Toni.

x.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Penguin Lovin'.

I recently went to my local zoo and went by to look into the penguin enclosure and had such a lovely view of a group of penguins up close and personal, literally! I had the opportunity to feed the penguins when they were all in the water and swimming, which was kind of gross (considering the food they eat are tiny dead fish) but also so much fun and definitely something to check off my bucket list. After they had been fed they got onto the rockery and I got some lovely pictures of a couple of penguins sitting with their partners and showing each other some love. It was great to witness this because, although you can see every documentary, cartoon film and picture of penguins cuddling each other and standing close together to keep warm, seeing it right in front of your eyes makes it all the more magical! This is a short post but I wanted to share these sweet pictures I took of my favourites from the enclosure.

BOOK REVIEW: 'Love Is A Number' - Lee Monroe.

I was very sceptical about the book to begin with and went into reading it very open minded yet (despite my initial doubts) I ended up staying awake until 3am reading consistently because I simply had to finish it. Although the story line is quite cliché, it is incredibly sweet and as the author presents the feelings of both characters throughout the novel by switching between their view points in chapters, I was able to connect much more with them, meaning I wanted to know the ending as soon as I could. The book is finished with an amazing last line from Lo which I feel links the whole book together 'Call me... just, call me'.

It was an easy read and an incredibly enjoyable at that, there were certainly moments throughout the book where I forgot my own life and believed I was a part of the story. The story at the beginning is fairly dragged out and at times I found myself beginning to get frustrated to 'get to the point', but at the same time I love books like that because it makes me read them non stop to get to the end, if a book doesn't keep me hooked I find myself becoming bored and reading is like a chore.

On several occasions throughout the book I had mixed emotions about some of the characters being incredibly rude and pretentious whilst others were lovable and similar to those of my own friends, making the book more relatable. Within the novel, I think there are hidden themes of finding true friends and living your own life; as Lo's life had been taken over at a young age and she had been forced into a crowd of 'those girls at school who are 'popular' but secretly hated'. I loved this about the book as I love to observe human behaviour, so found this very interesting in the way Lee Monroe had presented the themes. Although I did find the ending to be slightly rushed and again quite cliché and unrealistic, the novel was still an incredible story and dreamily 'perfect', therefore, I would consider it a great novel and recommend it to any readers who love a classic romance with a modern twist or someone just getting in to reading.