The Rotating Glass Elevator, and other adventures

It’s been such a busy month with work that I decided to take two days off to recuperate. So on Thursday I went up to London’s West End and see my friends Pippa and Joanne for a spot of lunch at the Cambridge and a catch-up.

How many pictures are there of me eating lunch? Never mind, here's another!

And naturally, we needed to do a bit of Christmas shopping and see the Christmas lights of Oxford Street.

The best thing, though, is the newly-installed rotating glass elevator in Selfridges that takes you from Louis Vuitton bags on the ground floor to ladieswear on the second floor, with a spiral of bags going up the outside. There are apparently only two in the world and it was a delight to ride. Weird at first, but then so beautiful to rise up among the stylish luxury in this crystal cylinder. You must do this. Dressed elegantly, of course. But with a fond remembrance of how you wished you too could travel in Willy Wonka’s Great Glass Elevator. (I’ve swapped my craving for chocolate and sweets for one for shoes and handbags)

Going up

Stepping out

  

The Selfridges windows are good this year and have reverted to something a little more traditional yet fun, if you like hundreds of tiny figurines of penguins, Santas and snowman skiing or people trekking up and down giant shoes of perfume bottles. But I am sad that their hosiery department, once a wonder, has shrunk to almost nothing. I guess a lot of us buy our hosiery online these days.

I met Kimberley for dinner and we enjoyed a good meal at Ristorante Cappuccetto in Moor Street, Soho. This is a very good Italian but the other clientele must have been bemused by our weird conversation!

On Friday I packed my bags and went to the last girls’ Big Night Out of the year at Pink Punters. http://www.pinkpunters.com/ This is becoming a bit of a tradition now but there weren’t so many of my friends there this time as last year. Never mind, it’s an opportunity to make more friends and it was great to get to know Linda and Jo in the bar at the Campanile Hotel where I was staying and Sophie Hunt in the club later.

The obligatory photo in the Campanile Hotel bar

Ange, Maddy, Bobby and Mrs Bobby, Jemma and Kimberley all came. I also bumped into Kerri, she of the Erotica bar. Santa had his grotto upstairs and all the good girls and boys could sit on his knee and get a present. Those of us brought up in the Jimmy Savile era were wary, but he wasn’t too naughty. I have a new eyebrow pencil and some lipgloss as a result. Thank you, Santa. When it come to clubbing, I’m a lightweight, though, and went off at 2am. And besides, most of the girls there are so glamorous and perfectly turned out that I just can’t compete! You do wonder about the ordinary looking blokes in Saturday casual clothes who are leaving the hotel the next morning. Who was who or not or what the night before. But, hey, it’s all part of the life we lead! 

Batteries recharged.

Sue x