Week 22: Some public art please

To celebrate my dear brother's new public art installation you are challenged to discover the artistic treasures hidden within your city.

Gem x

Week 21: Still waiting...

Here is the book which I surreptitiously placed on the seat next to me on the Piccadilly line on my way to work. I have read it and enjoyed it, I am not so fond of it as to feel the need to hang on but I liked it enough to recommend to a complete stranger - let's hope they are just taking their time and planning what they will say before blogging.;

Come on people it's all fun!!

Gem

Week 21: renegade librarianship

For this challenge, I selected a book that already had a long, sad history of being abandoned. It had been left in our house by our friends Anja and Anton, who had picked it up in a secondhand bookshop somewhere on their travels. Without wishing to offend the author and any fans of said book, I do not think it was a book that one would fall instantly and eternally in love with. It was not, as they say, a keeper.

So, yesterday, I surreptitiously left it in the cafe where I was having breakfast, and managed to take a few sneaky snaps of it before the couple opposite started to get alarmed about why I was taking pictures under the table in their direction....





If anyone reading this happened to find this book, please say hello! Oh, and I didn't mean what I said about it, it's a delightful read.

Love, ali x

Week 21: spread the word

This week:

1) Take a book that you own (one that you don't mind parting with in the service of this blog).

2) Write today's date in it, then inscribe it with the following: "Take me, I'm yours! On one condition: you must inform my previous owner, by visiting http://aliandgem-taleoftwocities.blogspot.com/ "

3) Leave said book somewhere in a public place, then simply walk away, and entrust its destiny to fate...

Love, ali x

Week 20: 'Hey, I put some new shoes on and everything feels alright'

I guess it depends on how you judge a bargain but for me these shoes fitted the bill. Bought them on Tuesday and wore them out on a Netball night out on Friday. Danced my head off until my feet gave up in my new shoes. Went to a bar called Strawberry Moons: cocktails for £8 and cheesy music all night, thought of you a lot and how much I wished you were there.

Good night was had by all, we have a new team so it was a good bonding session for the newbies. We have just joined the training sessions which start tomorrow night so we will be pros by the time you get back.

Love Gem xx

Week 20: what is need?

Need is a relative, and therefore very nebulous, concept. Did Tom really need a new t-shirt with a pointless slogan on it from our local vintage shop? Probably not. And I think Pa Parkinson would have agreed with me on that one. But there's no denying the bargainous nature of this purchase; 6 shiny Australian dollars was the asking price, and we got away with paying $5.60, because it was all we had on us. We then realised that one of the dollars we'd handed over was a New Zealand dollar, so technically we paid just $4.60 in legal tender. This may not have been very moral, but when you're bargain-hunting, morals go out the window.




Love, ali x

Week 19:A new way through

I decided to walk to work last week in the attempt to scope out a new route. As you said there is a reason for taking the tube and that reason is time and temperature. I was hot but made it with three mins to spare, phew and never again.

Gem xxx

Week 20: An eye for a bargain

I am posting my blog for last week's tonight but I thought I would let you know the up and coming challenge for this week to get you started. This week you have to find a bargain whether that's in the supermarket on clementines, on your favourite lipstick or on an obscure pair of leopard print leggings for 20p in a charity shop. As my good ole' pops used to say 'It's only a bargain if you need it'.

Lots of love

Gem xxx

Week 19: a bit random

NB The unexplained detour via Pet Barn was deliberate, to stock up on Bunny-related items. Otherwise, I feel the video speaks for itself (including my admission that this week's challenge was perhaps somewhat weak). After all, there's a reason why we have our usual routes to work, which is because they're fastest/cheapest/least crowded. To attempt a different route is to invite disaster, or at least discomfort. That is not what we're about on "A tale of two cities".

Love, A xx

Week 18: ES give some space for women

OK I have been a little rubbish last week but in fact I had actually done my challenge by Wednesday. I took a picture of the article on my phone but it wouldn't let me send it to my gmail account. Anyhoo I read with interest this article in the Evening Standard attached below.



It talks about Boris Johnson's support and financial backing of three new rape centres across London in a bid to address the growing need to support women in the capital. It was remarked upon last week that the handling of sex attacks in London has worsened over the past few years with officers not knowing how to properly handle the situation. Following on from this it talked about the need for an education programme for police officers and the introduction of these rape centres which I think is a step closer to improving the care of these vulnerable women.

Gem xx

Week 19: nine-to-five

This week, take a completely different route to work.

If you usually go by private jet, why not try the bus?

Sick of taking the high road? Heck, take the low road for a change!



Come back next week and tell the world what you discover...

Love, ali x

Week 18: in which I make my televisual debut

Consume some news, did you say? How about consuming it LIVE as part of a television studio audience, on a news panel show featuring the illustrious Richard Dawkins? Watch out for the three hotties laughing in the audience right at the end here...



It truly was quite an exciting experience. Being on a tv show was just like....just like it is on tv. Standard of debate was admittedly not quite tip-top, getting too bogged down in scratching-the-surface religious ideological broohaha, but obviously Richard Dawkins is sex on legs, so that helped things along.

Love, ali x

Week 18: Extra! Extra! Read all about it

This week's challenge encourages you to consume news about your city, whether that is on your commute to work, waiting at doctors, reading in your favourite couch or a mag in bed. You have to take a clipping about your city that intrigues/moves you.

Week 17: Get an eyeful of this

The London Eye otherwise known as the Millennium Wheel is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe and although not the highest building in London, it is a pretty impressive sight nonetheless. It was built in 1999 and was then the highest Ferris wheel in the world only to be surpassed by the Star of Nanchang then the Singapore Flyer in 2008. The views from this height were incredible and we were able to watch the sun set as we made our way round.

It's actually very peaceful as you move clockwise in the egg shaped pods. I was expecting some clanking of chains and clinking of bolts but it was far more futuristic and calm. London seemed really special from up here and I took a deep breath in and remembered why I love this city so much.

We shared our little cabin with a few tourists and some other cosying couples but we had plenty of space to move around and find our very own vantage point.

A smooth but exhilarating ride - we would recommend if writing for the Lonely Planet.

Gem