….was FABULOUS! They took me out to afternoon tea at The Ritz, and I had no idea we were going until we got there. It was such a fun night- I’ve posted some of the main the pics on flickr.
The only information I was privy to before we left was that I had to wear something smart, and that we were going to be heading into London. It could have been to do anything really. I travelled up with my middle sister, Malph, on the train, and we met my bigger sister, Jeeyet, at Piccadilly Circus, where I was immediately donned with all that fancy paraphernalia (as seen previously) and showered with sparkley confetti in the middle of the busy street. We didn’t attract attention at all, I should add (I’m being extremely sarcastic here).
Yes, that wet stuff is the rain…it’s raining A LOT here at the moment, but more about that another time. It was really windy too, but I digress…..
We then wound our way in a circuitous fashion down Piccadilly, incorporating various red herrings along the way….we made a false stop to join a queue outside a kitschy restaurant chain called Garfunkles…stopped into a sushi place pretending to get a snack….crossed the road a couple of times, that sort of thing. I really had no idea where we were going. At all. At first I thought we might be going to a show, or to the ballet in Covent Garden, but that was in the wrong direction, then I thought we might be going to Fortnum and Mason (another fancy afternoon tea place), but that was closed when we walked past, and then when we walked past The Ritz, I thought that we might be going to the Met Bar, or that being told to dress up was all part of the ploy to trick me and we were in fact going to the Hard Rock café. But then, we turned back again, and they finally told me we would be going to TEA AT THE RITZ!!!!
I was SO excited. it’s always been somewhere that’s meant a lot to me since childhood as I have all these memories of when we used to go there on our London trips as it was near to where we used to catch the bus home. For some reason, we could never just walk past The Ritz like normal people, we always had to run through the colonage, dodging behind all the columns on the way down pretending that we were Cagney and Lacey on some really REALLY exciting police chase (so very 80s of us). Goodness knows what passers by must have thought, but to us it was completely normal. So this sign above the colonade aand the colonade itself ctually means rather a lot to me. It’s one of those places that really calls me when I’m away, and I get the urge that I really want to be there. I always did wonder what it would be like inside though, but it’s not the sort of hotel that you can just wander into without reason, and ‘reason’ would normally be a reservation. And if you were a man, you had to be wearing a jacket and tie.
Inside was all very grand indeed. It was glamorous, luxurious, opulent and extravagent, and everything and more that you could have imagined it to be. All the colours were pretty pinks and greens and golds, and there were vases everywhere of the most beautiful pink and white roses. It was entirely tasteful, and exuded old time elegance and comfort, not at all stuffy or pompous which it could have easily been. (You can see a bit of what it’s like in the photos on flickr).
We had the second sitting for tea- the first was in the morning, but our turn was at 6.30pm. They only two two sittings each day, which keeps it nice and relaxed as there’s no rush to hurry you out and clear the table for the next people. We started with a selection of finger sandwiches and bride rolls which turned out to be an endless supply as the waiters kept coming around with top ups. Then the tea came, and we also had scones, with jam and clotted cream. The final course was a selection of fancy cakes and pastries, but by that stage we were so full that we couldn’t manage to finish them all. As we had never been before, we were a little unsure of the order of events, and what with it being ‘afternoon tea’ we assumed that it would be over in probably two hours. Based on this, we raced through the sandwiches, and started knocking the tea back too. No wonder we were so full so quickly!!! We actually asked the waiter in the end, and I’ve never felt such gastric relief when he told us we had four hours, and not two.
We weren’t supposed to take photos during tea, but I manged to sneak this one in when nobody was looking. The tea room was actually smaller than i imagined it would be, and also more central in the hotel than I imagined it would be too.
As we were eating, a porter arrived with a special delivery of a Ritz Rose that my sisters had arranged for me. It was so beautiful! It’s a special breed, with ivory petals tipped with green and is unique to the hotel. It was over a metre in length, and came in the most gorgeous presentation box.
Incidentally, you will notice in the first picture that I was wearing some rather bright blue flip-flops on my feet, that weren’t Ritz attire AT ALL! Actually, i wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you didn’t notice, but a rather observant friend of mine *did* after I sent him the picture, and so below is pasted an email of the explanation as I can’t be bothered to type it all out again:
I *was* wearing some rather fetching peep toe black patent sling backs that I had purchased ESPECIALLY for the occasion (not the tea bit, as that was a surprise until we got there, but shoes to go with that dress, which I happened to decide to wear tonight this afternoon). Anyway, by the time we got to London it was POURING WITH RAIN, and because the shoes were open-toed, they decided to form little swimming pools for the rain water which made my feet slip and slide all over the place inside each shoe, which made the shoes flop off, which was a little risky as these shoes were 4″ high. So I got these jelly insole things to put inside them which happened to have a self adhesive backing, and they worked fabulously at keeping my shoes on….until we got outside again, and rain got in my shoes again, and melted the adhesive, so not only were my feet swimming around inside my shoes, but also were my little jelly “Party Feet” (that’s what they’re called) insoles too. So each time I took a step, it was kind of a slip-flap-sploosh-jellysquidge-slideandalmostbreakmyneck sort of action. And I was getting a blister in the process. So I went down Regent Street, and Gap was the third store I tried (and the last hope) and the only one that was still selling summer clothing, hence the aquisition of the rather chavvy gone-down-majorca-style flip flops. They’re rather ghastly, but at least I was able to walk. And when we got to The Ritz I put my then-dried-out rather fetching peep toe black patent sling backs back on and tottered happily off for tea.
So the flip flops were because of the weather.
Well, he did ask.
All in all it was a perfectly lovely evening out and I couldn’t have imagined a nicer way to spend an evening with my sisters. I think what made it especially lovely was that it was the first time in at least two years when it had just been us three sisters together. I still get to spend rather a lot of sister time with Malph, but ever since Jeeyet moved into her own place with her boyfriend, we rarely get to see her on her own these days. In fact, i think it’s been at least two years that I’ve seen her at all for sister time. But we all decided how nice it was to spend time together, and we all made a pledge to do a sister outing whenever we get the chance from now on. Nothing beats having sister time, and I’m glad we’re going to get to have it more often.
P.S. Remind me another time to tell you about the other amazingly nice bachelorette party that my friends in California threw for me. It right in the middle of my busy week, and was reason #2 for not being online lately. I will definitely get around to posting about that soon.
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