Tina, I salute you
(L-R: Nick, Kata and Dan giving me directions: London, UK)
This unlikely trio are a complete set of new pals I made during my London stay. Nick (on the far left) was my official flatmate whilst resident in ‘Stokey’ and the others are miscreants we picked up on the way; both are firm friends of Nick’s. I captured the moment that they were simultaneously attempting to explain out current position in North East London in relation to the flat, this café and Belsize Park.
In all fairness, I believe Dan was pointing to spots in the air that may have indicated the flat’s position and that of the nearest Overground station, Nick may have been pointing to Gospel Oak station with one hand and then Kata was getting a little carried away. She was quite excitable. The vertical hand map they created is obviously flawed in that it is completely incomprehensible to anyone but me – and even then I believe I may be allowing them inflated credit.
To add some context, Nick had invited me to join him for a drink with some of his friends the previous evening. This had escalated quite rapidly into more than one drink and also more than one venue. What was supposed to be one or two subdued beverages became several, compounded by energetic dancing. We four were eventually turfed out of the final destination at an hour approaching dawn. Basically, they had showed me the bright lights of Shoreditch by night and had then taken it upon themselves to reconvene in the morning and bring me to this café for a coffee. In truth I admit that it was more collective recovery than a treat of sparky morning coffees. The café is called ‘Tina, we salute you’ and somehow with it’s odd moniker and bizarre occupants it aptly topped off the madcap antics of our brief but eventful time together. Needless for me to add, we were all tired at the very least and may have been suffering slight ill effects from an over indulgence of some kind. Probably dancing.
For the record, I cannot explain the expression of the girl in the background. Maybe she is not a fan of three dimensional hand maps.
– Today Rosie is spending time with family in Carlisle, UK –
