Week 1:
We settled into Maida Vale and Alex bought 23 doughnuts for £3 on Too Good to Go while visiting Ed Hall.
We ordered sushi and had a date night outside.
We discovered Notting Hill Farmers Market and bought trout, tomatoes and special mushrooms. We thought it was great until we went to Queen’s Park Farmers Market the following day, which was epic.
They discovered they love Queen’s park which is a lovely family vibe, and they had coffee there from Dark Habit (twice) and the first time sat on a muddy log whilst Alex ate a pastry and Leila admired all the little children and well dressed parents. They also found a cute wine shop where the lady recommended a Lebanese red wine. Alex bought an unfiltered, no added sugar beer from a strange man who was cutting his nails behind the stand….
Alex did a million calls per day for work and hogged the kitchen, but then Leila learnt to sit in the same room as him and they worked together and it was lovely.
Alex tried barre for the first time and did it with weights 4x heavier than required. Leila continued with her barrecore challenge
Holland Park reminded Alex of his childhood, and Leila was shocked by how many pregnant well dressed ladies there were.
They got many quiches from Popina on Too Good to Go (twice), and the first time Misha came round and ate some in the garden with us.
Alex moved D&D to Tuesday late nights which was good because it meant they could spend the weekend together, they also really enjoyed just doing their own thing in the sitting room together.
WEEK 2
McKinsey treated us to a Mexican dinner on Thursday which was our only Deliveroo this entire month
Alex did a day of service at McKinsey and designed a tool to find your purpose
Leila was still permanently cold and wrapped in a blanket
They walked through Hyde Park on Saturday listening to Payne’s Politics about how the government was reducing their budget on aid, increasing defence and put out a vague green plan. Alex was moody. But then we found Guillam Coffee which was great, and shared 2 coffees – one lovely Brazilian but quite normal, and one really special Ugandan Kisinga which tasted like blueberries (we later went back and bought the beans for this one). They had a pastry and some weird pickles (guess who had what?) outside The Ismaili Centre.
On Sunday, Alex saw Misha by the flat and had a cheeky Gail’s because Leila wasn’t there. They chatted about life and ran through her work proposal. Meanwhile, Leila went to Marylebone Farmers Market with Arabella and had to beg Patisserie Valerie to let her use their toilet.
Alex disappeared into a little coffee / publication shop in Marylebone and Leila and Arabella were left confused. He had bought a new magazine which he thought L would like (Courier), and she did. Very much. She read it all day. And then she went back to buy the next one the following week. There was an article on Tofu and lots on on the social impact/sustainable businesses (she is also reading “Impact” at the moment)
Alex downloaded a mood app to prove that his diet didn’t lead to a worse outcome than Leila, he really likes it
Alex chatted to the ADB and got approval for his project and he was super excited
Alex was a bit overloaded by work this week, and definitely had a sad day when work said that he couldn’t work on his dData project, he couldn’t go abroad (incl. to America) and he wasn’t able to improve his role.
Alex wrote a plan for the 1st half of 2021 and aimed to see his friends more as well as spend less energy on work, he went out to see Sam in Battersea on Sunday night and it was super nice
Leil bought Alex a Gail’s Spinach and Feta on the day he was sad about work and it made him much happier, they then spend the day chilling and watching TV
Alex chatted to Rashmi on Saturday which was super nice, it was really good having contact with the US. Meanwhile Leila chatted to Ruchi and walked around paddington recreation ground
Leila bought smoked salmon and soda bread and made a lunch with pickles and other salad on Sunday, and she loved it. She loved it so much that she made Alex a plate when he arrived back.
They tried Too Good to Go again this week and got Poke. Alex made his own Poke the night before (with cooked Salmon) after a big Waitrose shop and he loved it. They also tried a stir fry with THIS isn’t chicken, and it wasn’t half bad.
Leila had her annual review and it went well. She’s awesome and super good at things, but they were so tired, they collapsed instead of celbrating. See photo of her wrapped up.
Neleen and Iman came round to drop Iman to Paddington and they went on a walk while A had to work 😦
The upstairs girl was SO loud on Thursday evening and it sounded like she was doing gynamstics with her friends whilst moving furniture around. A had to knock on the window to tell them to quieten down and L realised she never wants neighbours.
WEEK 3:
Alex met Stas for a walk on Monday eve and did not have a no alchohol day
He also had the Christine celebration in the morning so spent the morning having cake with her.
Alex and Leila worked together in the kitchen on Tuesday because he had no meetings. They were both so productive and enjoyed it.
Leila had her antibody and PCR test in Liverpool Street. She was annoyed it took her so long to get there but she swung by the second Alchemy location for the first time in Shoreditch on the way back. Coffee was lovely but she didn’t know the staff there as expected. She sat outside on the bench and a guy walking by remarked that she looked really happy. She listened to a podcast about community munical investment in the UK. However, she then got annoyed about having to buy expensive brocoli from a corner shop that had already past its sell by date. It put her in a bad mood for a while (she blames it on her period)
On Wednesday eve, A had convos with two of the people he likes at McK, Andrew and Tom, he really appreciated their thoughts on his work: Andrew on why he’s working at QB and ‘portfolio’ing his life, Tom on fun and why he’s so buisy as an AP
Leila had an AKF meeting on Thursday night and realised she does think like a creative. Meanwhile, Alex spoke to Roukaya and simulteanously cooked a Thanksgiving meal of nut roast, gravy, potatoes, green beans and roasted sweetcorn. It was yummy and he put a shirt on.
It was Leila’s turn to cook on Friday and she did a Middle Eastern inspired mint, pomegrante salad with sumac aubergine, fried egg, za’atar bread and other nibbles. It was also nice and A a CNDP wine from Sainsburys which they loved as usual. A spent ages shopping online and thinking about gifts because he hadn’t made a Black Friday list in advance. L gave up and went to bed a bit before him (but then he bought 2 rare sci fi books from Oxfam and was happy, so came to bed)
On Saturday, they spent a while thinking about where to go for coffee. Despite it being far, Guillam won again and they headed there whilst chatting about which shoes A should buy and where A should live next year. At Guillam they chatted to the nice lady again and tried 2 new coffees which were nice but less exciting than last week’s before stumbling upon a Scandi coffee shop that had the biggest queue outside they’d ever seen. L went to buy granola and ended up buying A a 9GBP cheese and kimchi toastie which was yummy, but v overpriced. A was listening to the guys chatting next to him and started having a life ponder again. They swung back via Portobello Road market and grabbed some veg and Courier, before watching the final of Masterchef (2017) and reading. They got excited by restaurants re opening and want to book some tasting menus. Alex then cooked masterchef inspired carrot steak, with broccoli potato mash and L made tempeh. They then both did their separate reading but in the same room (this is a newfound level of their relationship)
Sunday is today and we went out to Queens park farmers market, and the queue was so long they never ended up going in. Instead they had coffee, sat in the park and looked at houses to buy. It was nice, they listened to Paynes politics, came home, at some food and are now writing the blog.
Alex did some packing in the morning so we’re getting near the end!
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 