She Loves London

Author: She Loves London

  • Highly Recommended: A Film about Over 80s Playing Ping Pong (stick with me)

    Highly Recommended: A Film about Over 80s Playing Ping Pong (stick with me)

    I’d never been to the ICA before Monday. It’s on the Mall, home to el Queenie’s gaff, and on this particular Monday night, the entire population of the Territorial Army – berets and all – all doing squats and lunges in preparation for the Olympics.

    Ok, there were no squats and lunges. But there were berets, and the rest was in my mind.

    Point is, I went to the ICA because at the moment they’re showing a film called Ping Pong, which is a documentary about eight competitors taking part in the over 80s World Table Tennis Championships held in Inner Mongolia.

    Les D'Arcy, World Over 80s Ping Pong Champion
    Image credit: Ping Pong, Dir. Hugh Hartford, UK 2012

    (more…)

  • Southbank’s Literary Takeaway

    I hung about, biding my time and watching from a distance.

    A grey haired woman approached and was turned away, and in response her feet turned inward like a pigeon and her knees jiggled with barely reined-in excitement.

    Ha! Keen-o. I thought, as she walked off, embarrassed, and I edged a little bit closer so as not to miss my chance.

    “Get there early” my friend had warned, “they said aim for 11:45am, before the queue starts”.

    The clock neared 12pm and as if by magic, other people nearby who I’d had down as mere casual bystanders made a beeline for the van. Word had obviously spread.

    20120701-094543.jpg (more…)

  • The Ambitious Londoner’s Guide to a Few Days Off Work

    The Ambitious Londoner’s Guide to a Few Days Off Work

    With a few post-Jubilee days off work at my disposal, last week I attempted to Be A Good Londoner.

    In short, I was definitely, ipso-facto, 100 percento going to cram in as much cultural shiz as possible into my three days of office freedom. I scoured Time Out,  Googled “things to do in London today”, asked friends for tips and canvassed Twitter for ideas. Grand ambitions – oh yeah. I had ’em.

    If that sounds familiar, then you’re probably a little bit like me and every other Londoner I know: constantly penning a to-do list as long as your arm, without ever actually getting round to doing any of it.

    Why? Well, firstly, there’s the horror of replicating your everyday journey to work when visiting your chosen attraction. And who wants to do that on their day off? Not fun. Also, you’ve got other stuff to do. Shoes to re-heel. Shopping to do. Cupboards to re-stock. Tea to drink. Three billion hours of YouTube videos to watch.

    Oh! And then there’s this:

    We're about to rain on ya like London weather

    So in the interests of telling it like it really is, let’s look at how even the most ambitious Londoner really spends a few days off work. (more…)