Weekend in Toronto (01 – 08 Sept)
Leila had a re-charge day so took the day off and went to Emma; Alex was working but they met in the evening to go for massages and haircuts together. They did both together, with Alex on one chair and Leila on the other, in both places! In the eve, they stayed on the East side and went to a Fish restaurant which was ok, but not that great.
The next day they went to Othership in the morning (it was guided up – throwing the balloons around), then La Palette in the evening, with mussels and wine. On the Sunday, they went to 915 Dupont and played chess and chilled for the morning. They went for Good Fork brunch and Alex had this amazing Spanish Hash. Then in the evening Alex had his NFL draft which he’d spent ages preparing, by creating a detailed spreadsheet which brought together all the existing metrics and adding new one.
For Labour day (the Monday) they planned a trip to Toronto island. They met up with Kat and Harry, and they sat and had a picnic on the beach and they told us that Kat was pregnant. It was super chill and they really got along with them well. They went to a Chinese restaurant that Harry and Kat recommended (just ok), then they had another Othership before going to Cigarettes after Sex. They were running a little late and Alex was getting stressed, but then they realised that all the other attendees were teenagers, and they sat at the back and chilled. L had a headache though but she persevered through.
Flying to London together
When they got off the plane, they headed straight to intermission, where A got a sausage roll from West Hampstead farmers market. They went briefly to Barnet before heading to Dave’s 30th birthday party. It was super hot and they were sweating at his new flat (near Stratford) where they met all his family (about 50:50 with friends). They went on a barge and had a dance and chatted to people around Hackney Wick. It was a lot cooler than they thought and they ended up at a food market place where they chatted before heading home.
They next day they went to Highgate to the Flask with Alex’s family, it was a super nice day. L headed off to see Pooja while A went for a walk with his fam. A’s mum fell over and got a deep gash in her leg so they had to take her to the Royal Free hospital. A, Mish, Mum & Dad all hangout for a while, before A’s mum had to go in for multiple stitches. Alex was just looking after the dog so headed to meet Pooja before returning up to Barnet and having Indian food with L’s family.
They worked Monday and Tuesday and A had his Deal Scan final SteerCo which went well. It was an intense working day but Alex was working from the McK office where he knew lots of people while Leila was confined to working from home. A was seeing friends each day – he saw dave for his birthday on the Monday, Umar on the Tuesday, Famile dinner on the Wednesday, (forgotten Thursday), Dave & Cam together on the Friday morning.
They went to Osea Island together on the Wednesday to check it out as a wedding venue. It was super lovely, they took a boat over to the island, and then visited all the different houses. It was a wide open place but they were worried about if it rained and the limited capacity indoors.
Unfortunately Sadru uncle passed away during the week.
Two different weddings (15 – 19th)
This iPad is really broken and delayed the writing of this paragraph. in fact, most of Alex’s tech is broken and he is not replacing it.
L met Anish early on friday morning at Stansted airport. They flew to Berlin together for Joohee’s wedding, and immediately went to the hotel and had a swim in the pool to relax before heading off to meet the wedding party and did a treasure hunt around the city organised by Joohee and Jonas. They had a really nice time wandering around and chatting to her friends and ended up at a Biergarten outdoors with fairy lights and had lots of beer and food. It was a very chilled vibe overall and Joohee was in short and t-shirt! But she looked great. All the Berlin mothers were super chill with their babies.
On saturday (wedding day) they went for coffee and to an amazing bakery called Sofi where they had great bread and eggs and L bought some granola to take home. It was worth the wait. Then they quickly got ready and went by train to the wedding which was in a castle outside of Berlin. It was really hot and they drunk nice wine at the garden party and bought Joohee a foccaccia from the bakery. They hung out outside for quite a few hours before going into the main room for dinner. They were super hungry by this point but heard speeches and vows which were funny and chilled. They also played a game where they had to get to know the other guests and find out which fact was associated with which person.Then they ate loads when the food came out! It was a buffet. And then they danced for a while (even tho not many people were, but Joohee really wanted to). They also chatted outside and looked at the stars. They got back to berlin around 1am and Anish went to McDonalds and then dropped all his chips all over him so L bought him so more!
The following day they went for coffee and a middle eastern brunch before going for a walk in the Tiergarten, a quick swim then headed to the airport back to London. L had a lovely weekend with Anish!
— swapping to Alex’s wedding
Meanwhile Alex went to Bowsher’s wedding party in Hampton Court palace. It was ludicrously luxurious. Alex started going to The Ivy in Richmond with Umar and Krook. They chatted about what the UK was like and Alex told them he’s likely to be coming back in January. Before the wedding, he met up with the Squid crew at a pub then headed to the palace.
It was ludicrously luxurious, with Bollinger jeroboams and oysters being shucked, before going to a Rose garden. A got to talk to Brendan which was nice, and then they got to the great hall, where Bowsher and Hannah were on thrones. The speeches were really good, with everyone, super confident. Jamie MJ was super funny tbf. In the eve, they danced before A took Umar home cause he was slightly worse for wear.
On the Sunday, Mish was over at the house, so they hung out together and A went to see Nana out in the Barbican.
A overall had a super helpful time at work during his time in London, including going for a beer with Sam B, seeing lots of the PM folk and going for coffee with James M and crew. He also got to meet Eoin from 10DS at No.10 downing street and got a tour around the fancy rooms.
On Monday, L saw Steve the chiro and Nuraiyah arrived at Barnet. Before they flew back together to Toronto on Tuesday and spent the time doing case study prep (after being told off by two angry English couples
Back in Toronto (19th – 1st October)
Naima had a baby, who was unnamed and on the Friday, Nani took a bus to Eglington where they had Syrian food together and Nani was on super good form. They did a really nice walk around the area. On the Saturday, they ha a morning coffee in Sondr which was super good before receiving their painting off Aly which was dropped off by her and her mum. They went to downtown winery together.T
They cycled to Geary Art Crawl, where they walked around, bought some bitters, Leila bought a T-shirt that was stamped live and Maxi mara jacket. They went to parallel for food and it was super good, A got this mushroom on toast thing that was banging.
The next week, they went to their favourite farmers market on Tuesday. They spent most of the time talking case-studies, as L had her TikTok shop case study interview which went quite well. While L did her interviews, A went to see Will.
On the weekend, they were really tired, and they started watching TV together. On the Saturday they did a massive them brunch before going to Avling for food and a cheeky beer, then headed straight up North to Khane for Sadru uncle’s ceremony. They went to the Wood Owl on the Danforth for dinner where they had amazing carrots.
On the Sunday , A headed off super early to go to the Buffalo Bills while Leila went with the girls to Mamarkus. The bills was amazing and they headed off at 6.30am, before getting there at 9 to start tailgating, the community felt really good, with people giving them free beer, offering them food and they had a super nice time going around before the game. They chatted, had quite a few beers and got in the mood. The game was super frantic with a super high scores which the Bills won. They headed to get some Buffalo wings afterwards before taking a super long journey home (the traffic was awful).
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 