A story of two creatives from different backgrounds,
of different races, and different writing hands.

Brighton is the closest beach to where I’ve lived for most of my life so it’s no surprise that it’s been my most visited one. I can recall my younger self, screaming on the pier roller coaster, dipping my toes in the sea from the pebble beach, playing arcade games in Sega World, and being there when my step mother was tricked into buying a bag of stones she thought was a mobile phone, (which is a story my wife has never stopped laughing at). Brighton beach is in most of my beach memories growing up so it was a destination I had to visit with Hannah during our courtship. We purchased tickets, hopped on a train from East Croydon, and in 45 minutes we were in the bustling seaside town which, didn’t look as I remembered.

I had never travelled to Brighton by train before always by car, so when we arrived at the station I expected us to exit straight onto the beach, I didn’t expect us to be met with large crowds, a high street, and all manner of stores that could be found in Croydon shopping centre. The weather was a scorching 21 degrees Celsius which explained why there were people everywhere and why we could feel the breath of someone close to us every few seconds. We even checked our bags to make sure nothing was stolen soon after someone who previously behind us, plucked up the courage to overtake. The type of people there was a mixture of young people in 90s, grunge rock attire, tourists, and people who looked homeless. 

Hannah has some familiarity with the area and led me to a trendy part of the town, a street with colourful walls, ‘arty’ stores and multicoloured bunting above us going from one row of buildings to the next. The number of people there didn’t reduce, but this crowd had some knowledge of personal space. We visited a Photomatic store with old, American style photo booths and took three sets of four images, two black and white, one colour. Unbeknownst to us, this was the first of many photo booth shots we would take throughout our relationship, I’m sure we’ll create an album out of all the ones we have at some point. Continuing weaving in and out of crowds we said our final farewells to Gardner Street by purchasing some ice lollies then made our way back to the main road.

On one of my occasional Google map checks for our current location, I spotted a place on the way called the Royal Pavilion which became the start of our second detour. This was definitely the most unexpected building of our trip. The Royal Pavilion is a sort of palace possibly built as a seaside resort for some royalty, but based on the Indian architecture of the place I wasn’t sure if it was for Russian royalty, British or otherwise? Nevertheless, the large building was incredibly beautiful and the well-kept garden surrounding it matched its beauty in every way. It contained very colourful flora which either of us were familiar with, and a pond full of koi (which is something we were familiar with). We searched for a way to get into the pavilion itself but were unsuccessful, and didn’t have the confidence to ask the people on the balconies how they got up there. Done with our second detour, we progressed to the reason we were there in the first place, Brighton Beach.

The beach was pretty much how I remembered it, pebbles instead of sand, lots of activities mainly for children, people selling items along the promenade and last but not least, the famous pier which was where we went first. There were a multitude of food vendors claiming to have the best type of food in Brighton, clothes stores, and music coming out if various speakers placed around the pier. The view of the beach from there was fantastic and so was the view if the sea, it was even possible to see water beneath us by looking through the cracks in the floor, this ordinarily would be scary for someone like me who isn’t a strong swimmer, but I had full confidence of Hannah coming to my rescue if I fell. We bought some fish and chips from a navy blue store not far from the entrance and sat by the side of it. We were extremely surprised by the size of battered cod and the number of chunky chips we were given for £7 each, one box would have been more that sufficient for the both of us.

Our hunger satisfied and stomach settled we continued down the pier and made our way into a large, carpeted hall packed with all sorts of arcade games; [slots, coin pusher, candy crush and a few arcade ones]. Although we had no interest in playing them–well, Hannah did put a few coins in one of the machines hoping for the money over the edge to tip over but she had no luck. We made our exit after that defeat and continued wandering. Taking some pictures from a few cutouts before I noticed a shop that claimed to have the best milkshakes in Brighton, I just had to see how good these milkshakes were. We made our was back to the entrance to find a Moo Moo’s Coffee and Shakes, I was spoilt for choice, their flavours were very creative ranging from milkshakes made from Maltesers, toffee crumble and chocolate flakes called 'the Teaser’, to one made out of banana, Twix and digestives called 'Banoffee Pie’ which is the one I went for. 

Now at the time of writing this article, I haven’t yet written a post about the best milkshakes I’ve had but when I get round to writing that this one will be in the top three. The thought had never crossed my mind to put Twix, digestives and banana in a milkshake but ever since that experience I believe I will do it more often. The taste of this shake was fantastic but what sold it to me was its course nature, bits of digestives mixed with the chocolate caramel of the Twix gave such a unique, desirable flavour which makes me want to experiment with ingredients for milkshakes even more. Once done with the wonders of the pier we made our way to the pebble beach to enjoy the sound of the sea and the feeling of pebbles on our skin. With no parasol or beach towel, we found an empty spot near the sea and lay down. We were surrounded by other couples, families, of people who wanted to stare at the waves alone. For some reason, we spent much less time here than at the pier, but we soon got up and began to walk along the promenade. The familiar architecture came before us. Green railings, red brick walls, and arches. This was always the first thing I saw when I got out if the car as a child and seeing it then brought back so many memories.

The sun was setting, it began to a little bit colder and the crowd changed from the 90’s grunge type to the 'chav party animal’ type, and that was our cue to leave the area. The day was definitely one time remember and we’re both very excited to make a future trip to Brighton, although we’ll need to do some research for different thongs to do before we set off.

There was a time when conversations at work or between friends would purely be about what shows we’ve been watching and what we expect to happen in future episodes. Popular shows like ‘The Walking Dead’, 'Suits’ and 'Silicon Valley’ were what usually sparked office conversations, however, I’ve found myself watching less and less shows to point where now I’ve only really kept up with one show this year, ’Designated Survivor’, yes I know – not the best show but entertaining enough to keep me interested. I use the word kept up loosely as now I’m two episodes behind the latest one at the time of writing this and it feels like I watch an episode once every three weeks. So what happened in my life? What has caused me to spend less time catching up with the shows I loved last year? Well, a few things.

1. Jeff Sheldon

In the grand scheme of things watching TV shows; playing video games, reading certain books, watching certain films, and a handful of other things are a waste of time. No matter how you look at it, there’s always something more productive, more fulfilling and more beneficial one could be doing with their life.

Jeff Sheldon is the founder of an online clothing line called Ugmonk. He’s someone whose story I’ve heard before on podcasts and someone I really look up to. Late last year he arranged an AMA on Instagram where people including myself asked a bunch of questions. I can’t remember what I wrote or his response verbatim, nevertheless, I believe my question was along the lines of; ’do you play any video games?’ His response was, ’No, they’re a waste of time.’

At first, I was shocked and slightly offended that someone I admire could say such things about a hobby so near and dear to my heart, however, after a bit of thought, I don’t believe he was saying it in an offensive tone, which is difficult to grasp in a text. Jeff himself wouldn’t have the time to play even if he wanted to. Running a business and being a father are already quite time-consuming, he would probably want to spend the little free time he has with his child, working on a new idea, or probably losing himself in a tv show, maybe? Everyone has their own way of 'wasting time’, and I guess video games was not his. This made me look at the things I do that aren’t really productive and watching TV series was definitely one of the things I could do less of in place of something else.

2. Video Games

This section follows very closely from the point I made on wasting time and Jeff Sheldon’s comment on wasting time. No video games haven’t taken up the free time I’ve gained from not watching tv series, well, not all of the time. Playing video games is something I’ve done from childhood, it’s shaped the kind of music I listen to, the kind of people I associate with, and even the job I have today. Although it’s a waste of time, it’s something I don’t intend to give up. With the aim of spending more of my free time wisely, tv series are one of those things I am more than happy to reduce and something I was willing to do in its place was play more games, even if it’s two hours or thirty minutes more than the usual amount of time I played for. Nothing beats the escapism of playing a great story driven video game and yes, I do love tv series, the immersion isn’t as strong and, I’d much rather have conversations about games at work than tv shows.

3. Relationship and marriage

Following on ever so slightly from both of the points I made above. Spending time with my fiancé definitely isn’t a waste of time and is something I’m more than happy to give up tv shows for. Although we sometimes watch shows together, New Girl being our current one, it’s not something we’ve kept up with regularly. And we’ve never really had any shows in common to start conversations over so there has been no obligation on either of our parts to keep anything up. Who knows, maybe in the future we’ll spend more lazy afternoons together behind a screen catching up on box sets, but currently that doesn’t look like an avenue we’d go down. We’re more into working on small projects (like this blog) or travelling to places we’ve never visited.

In short, everyone has a thing they do that is a 'waste of time’, and although I haven’t completely stopped, I’ve decided to cut mine down by a chunk to do the things that aren’t a waste of time. I hope you find this post useful in some way.

The past 10 months of being with Oliver have not only expanded my taste buds but also my waistline! 2017 has brought with it so many different eating experiences it is hard to choose only 5 for this post. Here is a concise a run down as I can make.

SNAPS AND RYE
Having a grandfather who hales from Denmark I feel like I have an inherent love for all things Scandinavian. I point out Danish design constantly and praise their style so often that Oliver decided to treat me to a wonderful evening eating at a Danish restaurant. It was such a thoughtful surprise. After a blissful afternoon wandering around various galleries, we headed to our reservation. On arriving we felt like we couldn’t be at the correct place. It looked more like a cafe than an establishment to serve evening meals. Don’t let the deli counter or size of Snaps and Rye fool you though, it was a delight. We were seated close to the door on entering, however as it was a fresh January evening there was quite a draught coming in through the window and door. I felt a little too foolish to wrap myself up in one of the provided blankets so we asked to be seated a little further into the restaurant. I’m so glad we did. We were tucked away in the back, near the kitchen. The atmosphere as other guests nestled into tables around us was so lovely and friendly. The design of the place made us feel immediately at ease and the lighting was sublime and very Danish. Once we were settled the set menu for the evening was brought out to us so we could see what food we would be tucking into, and in what order. Then the food followed. I Lost count of a number of plates brought out for us. Each of our courses was exquisitely presented and packed with the most wonderful flavours. It was so much fun to chat over and discuss each course, and the experience was as lovely as the food we were eating. I would highly recommend Snaps and Rye, particularly to celebrate a special occasion or maybe just to treat a loved one. We definitely plan to return and are keeping it on our list of fancy places to go for birthdays.

DUCK AND WAFFLE

The duck and waffle is an experience. Prior to going, we heard so many good things about this restaurant. Oliver was especially excited to see what the fuss was about. The process of booking a table resulted in staying up until midnight and deciding what time we wanted to eat 2 months in advance! We thought it must be worth the wait! After booking so far in advance our reservation crept up on us out of the blue, like finding a £10 note in the back pocket of an old pair of jeans, it was a lovely surprise. We dressed up for the first time going out on a date together and headed out. It felt like such a special evening. Because we had booked in advance we were able to skip the queue at the bottom of the heron tower. The glass fronted lift rose at speed and London was laid out before us. We were seated at a table by the window and had spectacular views of the city in all its brilliant nighttime glow, watching little London buses like ants working their way through the streets below. Now, this is the part where I have, to be honest. If we hadn’t been given a window table I would have been quite cheesed off. 

The view made the experience memorable, but unfortunately, neither of us particularly enjoyed the food. We asked the waitress serving us what she recommended, and how many plates to go for (it was a tapas-style small plate place). After this discussion, we settled on creme brûlée foie gras, ox cheek doughnut, sourdough bread, apple pork skewers and the classic duck and waffle. Firstly there was about twice as much food there as we needed. If we were to go again we both agreed that the duck and waffle alone would be more than sufficient. As for the other dishes, they were very difficult to stomach. the brazen mix of sweet, sugar and bitter savoury did not suit our taste buds and we struggled to hide as much as possible under our cutlery and around our plates to look like we had given it a good go. So it was a mixed bag, we may return, we may not… I hear that the best time to go is actually for brunch, the menu is different and a little less unusual which probably would suit our taste more.

PING PONG 

There are Ping Pong’s all across London, and unlike the title might suggest it is not a table tennis place (I was a little disappointed when I found this out). We went to the ping pong on the south bank. It was a spur of the moment meal choice as we were hungry one evening and wandering around looking for a place to eat. We were sat near the kitchen on a sharing table, though none came to join us which was nice. We had a brilliant view of the dishes being prepared and popped on the counter ready to distribute to their allocated tables. 

Oliver had a great time taking photos of the business. The buzz and atmosphere of the restaurant was contagious and we had an enjoyable evening of wonderful conversation and merriment. The food came all at different times as an when it was ready. It is Chinese cuisine, where you order several small plates to share for your meal. As with the duck and waffle, we enquired as to how many dishes we would need, and again found there to be much too much food for us. I was a real fan of the food and Ollie took some pics so you can check out the deliciousness of our meal. As someone who doesn’t drink alcohol there usually isn’t much exciting on offer in the soft drinks department… not at ping pong! There were so many cool drinks to order, we chose quite a few! My very favourite was a homemade lemonade with separate raspberry and strawberry syrup you add yourself. It was amazing, I highly recommend Ping Pong!

OZONE

 
Shoreditch is such a great place to mooch around. After a morning of people watching, window shopping and just generally feeling pretty cool, hip and smug with ourselves we decided it was time ‘do brunch’ and search out some food. You know an establishment is good when the queue is out of the door. The wait was so worth it, Ozone doesn’t disappoint. We were sat next to each other on the bar table which surrounds the kitchen so were able to see all the plates being laid and food prepared. I could have happily chosen anything from the menu, there was a lot of indecision before we came up with our final choices. I went for eggs benedict and Ollie, an English breakfast with scrambled eggs. It was a gorgeous taste explosion, the memory of this place is making my tummy rumble. The staff we spoke to were all from Australia and New Zealand and were so super friendly. Go eat brunch!!

ON THE HOOF

On The Hoof was one of those places we discovered by accident. In our search for a property, we decided it would be a good idea to check around areas where we might potentially be able to afford to live before buying. One evening after work we looked on the tube map and decided to start with Sydenham. The high street was pretty bland shop wise with a plethora of estate agents, in fact, it was like the Hatton gardens of estate agents! We walked up and down looking for an eatery, there was one sit-in place. It looked pretty empty but we decided to check it out. 

The decor inside was so interesting. I’m assuming that at some point it was an optometrist because the walls were covered in framed black and white photos or people wearing opticians lenses. One wall was covered in mirrors. The bathroom had an eye test in it and a reading card on the back of the door. A touch I enjoyed the most which tied the theme together beautifully was the bill arrived presented in a glasses case. That all said, I’m not sure why it was called 'on the hoof’, without asking we might never know! The service was great and the place had such a lovely homely feel. I think it was only lacking music for the atmosphere maybe. It was quite quiet while we were in there, it became about half full but the close proximity of guests felt like we could hear other people’s conversations and I was conscious of being overheard. Our plates were piled with decent portions of wholesome food very reasonably priced. I hope this place stays in Sydenham for a long time and receives lots of custom. It is definitely the jewel in Sydenham high street!

It’s easy to assume that someone who grew up with people from Ghana, went to church populated primarily of West Africans, and attended very culturally diverse schools would have experienced or at least have some knowledge of what takes place in a traditional Ghanaian engagement, however, this assumption isn’t at all correct in my case. My upbringing has been somewhat westernised and although I had heard of such events, I have never been interested in attending one. To me, it came across as a quick and cheap alternative to having a white wedding and therefore didn’t deserve as much attention. The closest I have ever been to attending one was when my mother got married. A marquee was set up in our garden and many attended the ceremony, I however, was not amongst them. I observed it for about 5 seconds, got bored, then scurried up to my room to continue playing video games. Don’t worry, my mother is very relaxed and wasn’t offended in the slightest (at least that’s what she lead me to believe)

The proposal to my gorgeous, beautiful, long term girlfriend of eight months wasn’t a surprise to my family, what was a surprise however, was my mother’s request for us to have a traditional wedding. It isn’t something any of our cousins did before they got married so I didn’t see the need, nevertheless my mother was adamant. She wanted to give Hannah’s family a taste of the African culture, which to be honest was very admirable on her part. Preparations for the event involved plenty of gift buying, getting measured for, and trying on some traditional West African clothing, as well as the organisation of a venue, decoration, and food (which I didn’t have much of a hand in). I stayed relatively calm leading up to the event my main worry being it would run on for too long, or the non-African participants would find the ordeal incredibly weird. To my surprise, the whole thing went quite well.

I wasn’t present for the beginning of it, but I’m aware both sides were split up. Hannah side stayed in the venue (which was the hall of my church), while my side stayed outside until they were called in. The idea being that the hall was meant to represent Hannah’s parent’s home where the engagement traditionally is supposed to take place. Her side was briefed on what would take place then my side were called in and sat down. Five seats were placed at the bottom of the stage in the middle and key members of the family faced each other while conversations took place. Neither side spoke to each other directly, but through a spokesperson, the aim was for both parties to barter on a reasonable price or dowry for the woman. Replicating what was said at the event in this article wouldn’t do it much justice, nevertheless, there was a lot of laughter and mistakes made as it was a first for many. After the back and forth conversation, the actual engagement took place. I was brought in behind four of my close friends walking in as robotically as humanly possible, we’re not the best dancers. I greeted Hannah’s family twice, first normally, and the second time kneeling down to show respect which was all part of the theatrics. I also wasn’t permitted to speak directly to anyone, but also through a spokesperson. Later on, a girl in a veil was brought in behind a few of her friends (well one person). Now I knew this was Hannah’s sister Lucy because I had seen her only a few minutes before this so a veil wouldn’t do much to disguise her, but I believe the idea was for me to get shocked and annoyed that I had been given the slip. I played along for the audience. One thing I was told about but didn’t believe was the exchange of money from the woman’s side, this happened every now and again during the engagement. I heard a story one where the girl’s father wasn’t happy for her to be given away (because the man had impregnated her) and asked for a large sum of money before he was satisfied. Anyway, I had to give Lucy some money, five pounds or so, which was given to me beforehand, I was told for her transportation but again, this was for theatrics. I’m not sure where the bait-and-switch tactic in these ceremonies originated, but I believe it has something to do with the Bible but I haven’t done enough research to be certain.

Around half an hour later another woman covered in a veil walked in behind her friends, again I was meant to pretend I had no idea this was Hannah, but I saw her get her dress fitted weeks before so again, it was obvious. She danced in behind the other ladies and stood in front of me. I unveiled her, messing up her hair in the process (which she never lets me forget), but she looked stunning, and she gave me such an amazing, happy smile, we hugged deeply for a long period of time, posed for the photographer, then another 100 mobile phone cameras, and went to sit down as more conversation took place. Then, a wedding-esk section preceded which involved us bowing to a prayer, my pastor picking up the engagement ring I bought for Hannah when I proposed, said a bunch of stuff about the importance of marriage, the slipped the ring on her finger, we hugged again, then sat on the lavishly decorated couch on the stage for more pictures. The latter half of the event wasn’t as nervous as the first. We all had something to eat from various Ghanian dishes to choose from including; Jollof rice, Fried Plantain, Wache, and so much more, which went down really well. After the food had settled, dancing took place and surprisingly, almost everyone there got up and showed off some of their moves on the dance floor. All in all, the event was a success thanks to the people who attended; especially Hannah’s family members who travelled long distances, the people who presented, the people who decorated, made food and last but not least, my mother for putting all this together in such short notice and a limited budget. None of this would have happened without her.

So why am I putting this article together in a packed Starbucks opposite Clapham Common station? Well, one reason for this is so that the people who wanted to attend but didn’t, could get a quick overview of what happened however, the main reason is for those who are clueless of what takes place during a Ghanaian engagement ceremony, especially for those who are about to have one. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post I was completely clueless as to what happened during one and if there was an article like this out somewhere on the internet it would have put mine (and Hannah’s) mind slightly at ease. So if you are planning to go down a similar path that we did my final words of advice are as follows; don’t panic, it’ll be over a lot faster than you think, and you probably won’t remember much, so relax, and focus on having a fun time.

(Photos by Ernest Simons)

2017 has been super crazy. So sorry for the lack of posting on my behalf. I thought I would do some filling in on what’s been happening. Firstly on the big news front… after a beautiful whirlwind of meeting and talking, laughing and falling more and more in love every day, Ollie proposed… and we got engaged!! To be MARRIED!!!! (If you can’t tell I am VERY excited!) It was a precious moment of lovely words and the question asked in a very sweet understated way. I cried like a baby and got a perfect ring, I feel so crazy blessed to have Oliver and get to be his wife:)

Subsequently, the last two months have been filled with an engagement celebration and planning for the future. As it turns out organising a wedding isn’t as difficult as people would expect, after a couple of afternoons making phone calls and sending emails, we managed to organise the venue with catering; church, registrar, pastor, photographer, wedding car, bridesmaids dresses, cake and band. As a couple of designers our invitation designing was a breeze. I hand painted some foliage and laid out simple fonts in the centre, Ollie printed it with a company called Solopress. One thing which quickly became evident and is the main negative about preparations is that–weddings are expensive!! As a result, we have been looking for ways to keep costs down. In a dramatic bid to save money, I decided to undertake the dress making myself! I will write a post detailing the process after the big day, but I will say–the results are not too shabby, a lot of enjoyable hours went into making it. The style of the dress is elegant and simple with the personal handmade touches and very much not perfect but saved a lot of money.

The second bit of news from our lives of late is that we had a Ghanaian engagement party. It was so much fun with lots of theatrics, vibrant colours and laughter. Ollie is currently writing a post on the occasion so I will leave the explanation to him. The pictures are a lot of fun!

THIRD big piece of news… (I know there’s more!) Ollie and I have bought our first home!!! This is exciting but super nerve wracking and feels like a big decision to make but after lots of prayer and God placing peace in our hearts our bid was accepted and we have bought a tiny flat in south east London! We could have got more for our money moving a little further outside of London but felt like being here at this time is where we are supposed to be. It’s handy for our church which is an 8-minute tube ride away, we have friends walking distance and it isn’t far to visit Ollie’s family. It’s also going to cut down both of our work commutes which is such a lovely bonus. I’m excited about the challenge of making such a small place a home for us and can’t wait until we are married and will share it together.

Hannah

I’ve always said Croydon is one of the best boroughs in London, not only because it’s the place where I was born and grew up, but also because it’s in close proximity to most places the average person often visits. Half an hour away from an airport, 40 minutes away from a beach, and 15 minutes away from central London. It has a wealth of well-known superstores such as IKEA, House of Fraser and John Lewis, as well as a plethora of restaurants including a Boxpark, and with a Westfield in the way, there isn’t much of a reason for Croydoners to travel long distances. All that being said, what I find more interesting about Croydon are the people. A mixture of diverse races, cultures religious groups, and mental states. A mixture of city and town people, wealthy and poor, young and old.

So when Hannah found out her train from Brockley was cancelled resulting in her taking a replacement bus to West Croydon. Used the extra waiting time to grab a few sneaky shots of people on a regular Saturday morning.

Ever since A Level art, I developed an appreciation for good photography. I would always make a point to visit the photography galleries at the Tate modern and stare at the pictures, trying to imagine I was actually there, trying to put myself in the mind of the photographer, to visualise what they were trying to achieve, and where they stood when the picture was taken. Instagram has been the place where I’ve practised my photography skills and admired the work of professionals. My Moto G was the only thing I used for photography, a £117 smartphone praised for everything but it’s camera. About 97% of my posts on Instagram were with the camera on that phone, and although some shots are really impressive, the camera still has many limitations, mainly it’s ability to take pictures at night.

I’ve never really been aware of the steps one could take from engagement to marriage, in my head there were only two; get engaged, get married. So when I saw an apple watch on the wrist of my friend and found out it was an engagement gift I was surprised since I assumed only the girl got a gift, but also excited, because it meant I could also get a gift. I knew I wanted a Canon camera but wasn’t sure of the model. When asked by my fiancé what gift I would like, I chose the 700d. Although it was a few models down from the latest, it was still fairly expensive and I would have been okay with her not getting it, but to my surprise, she did. Not only did she get the camera itself but also; a 64 gigabyte SD card, and a brown leather strap to replace the original Canon one.

I’ve now had this camera for almost two months now and although I’m far from being a professional, I’ve placed a few good pictures online the majority of which have been taken by me but a few are by Hannah. 

If you’d like to keep track of the images we post please take a look at our Instagram page, or if you would like to download some of our images for free, please take a look at our Unsplash page.

Ollie

Working in Bond street for nearly a year has made me familiar with the area. I know the location of certain stores Oxford Street, and what times the place is at it’s busiest. At one point I was even familiar with the tune a drumming busker would play each evening. Debenhams, H & M, House of Fraser and the Selfridge’s are just a few large stores I saw on a regular basis and understood the way they operated. However one store I thought I was familiar with, completely brought me back into the realm of unfamiliarity when we visited it for our wedding gift list, John Lewis.

I’ve only purchased a single number of items from the John Lewis on Oxford Street and although I was by no means an expert, I wasn’t a complete novice either, I was under the assumption it only operated like every other store in the sense that one chooses an item, pays for said item, then leaves the store. So you can imagine my surprise when I was told there was a process that involved one scanning items that get automatically added to their wedding wish list, and are also provided with a free drink and pastry. We originally planned to put our list together entirely online, but on receiving this information we couldn’t pass the opportunity.

No advanced booking was required for this particular store so we made our way to the customer service section upon arrival, answered a handful of scripted questions from the lady at the desk, and we were given the power to scan in any item of our choosing around the whole store. The device itself wasn’t that impressive, an old Motorola smartphone customised with a John Lewis scanner making it three times thicker than any other phone on the market. The app on the phone used for scanning looked very dated, with an interface akin to a Windows 95 application. Its requirement for a constant internet connection was something that was clearly overlooked by John Lewis and this became our first downfall.

Soon after reaching the lower ground floor Hannah spotted some oven mitts she wanted to add. She pushed the button on the side of the phone to activate the scanner, scanned the barcode and, nothing happened. She scanned it again and still nothing. Upon inspecting the device we realised it had no signal and no internet connection. Attempting to repair it ourselves proved fruitless, so we located a staff member at the till and asked for help, she too was unable to fix it. So she passed the responsibility on to her supervisor who stopped wrapping up crockery to glance at the device, then decided to call someone else for help. We were stuck on the side waiting and watching other customers make their purchases until another staff member came from out of nowhere, apologised, and took a look at our scanner. She too couldn’t fix it but told us our device was faulty and she will call to get one brought down to us. After around five minutes our new, functioning scanner was brought to us and we continued our adventure cautiously, as not to damage the again.

We spent the majority of our time on the lower ground floor trying to locate the items we wanted, the floor was incredibly large. A few things we canned included cutlery; kitchen appliances, crockery, an ironing board, a bin, cooking utensils, even containers for storing food. We both have a similar sense of style so there wasn’t much discussion when picking items, however, it took a long time for us to decide on what type of glass to choose. There were so many choices, but none in the size we were after, they were all either too small or oddly shaped. We settled on a style we liked in the end, but I’m sure we’ll end up adding to them with IKEA glasses in the future.


We next visited the bedding and bedroom furniture floor. I have no experience with purchasing anything for a bed, I have only ever bought pillows, and that was a two-click purchase on Amazon, I wasn’t aware of how many different types of feathers one could pick from for their pillows or duvet, I wasn’t aware of the thickness, the different sizes and how expensive some of these items can get. We ended up choosing a duck feathered duvet which can be doubled up for the winter, but single for the summer. As we were both clueless on pillows I seek assistance from the staff. I interrupted two sharply dressed men deep in conversation, upon receiving my request they continued talking, this time bickering as to who would have the honour of assisting us. A man with glasses and a grey ponytail humbly won the contest and after his college walked away gave some unexpected advice. He told us to show no interest in the all other pillows and focus our attention on one, not the most expensive or fanciest looking one, but a firm, lightly brown one that adjusted to the shape of your head when you slept on it, and never defeated no matter how often it was used. Both of us were asked to try it and I was immediately convinced, Hannah, on the other hand, was not a fan and although we added then to our gift list I have a feeling she isn’t going to use it.

We floundered around different floors for a few minutes, choose a door mat and a few other items. It was getting to the stage where our legs were begging for a rest after hours of standing and walking, so we decided to call it a day, not before we made one final stop to the cafeteria. In all the months I walked past this store I had no idea it had a cafeteria and a fairly large one at that with a wide variety of food to choose from. We redeemed our free beverage and hot drinks. With our hot chocolates, carrot cake and shortbread in hand, we found somewhere to sit, rest, and discuss the events of the day.


I no longer see John Lewis in Oxford Street as an average, relatively overpriced superstore where you walk in, purchase an item, the walk out. Instead more of a place where one can spend a day walking around window shopping, the have a decent lunch, a place where someone can book an interesting holiday and purchase a wide screen TV, a place where you can find obscure items you’ve seen in someone’s house, but never knew where they came from, then have a conversation about pillows with a staff member afterwards. It’s not on the amazingness level of Harrods, but it’s certainly closer to it than I thought.

Ollie

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to write a book; what topic I would choose, what format the writing would be, and how many words it should have. But I have never found a decent topic to write about. My expertise has always been web development and design, yet I would never think myself familiar enough with that field to write a whole book on it. Sure–I know a thing or two about running an online magazine; putting a site together, and I guess I could have written a book on the fundamentals of designing for anyone new to it, however, my confidence isn’t at that level. Who am I to tell someone else how to do anything?

A book is one thing, an article or blog post is another. I won’t write a book about coding, but I’ve written numerous articles on well know design site Creative Bloq about it. I wouldn’t write a book about anything in the video game industry, but I’ve certainly written a few things on Medium which have been picked up by an online publications, and I would never even dream of writing a book on anything about Christianity however, I’ve put together several small posts on my church’s website. A blog post requires much fewer words than a book, a maximum of 3000 in my opinion, meaning there is less time investment on the side of the reader. I feel ‘less bad’ if someone reads a post they don’t agree with because it’s only 5 or 10 minutes of their time they’ve lost, as opposed to the 8 or 12 hours they would have lost reading a book. Almost everybody and their grandmother has a blog, so the requirement to be an expert wasn’t an issue. Yes–there is a possibility I’ve published posts with spelling or grammatical errors, but the beauty of it being online is it can be edited as and when I see fit. In conclusion, I enjoyed writing blog posts for various outlets getting too paid if I’m lucky. So what drove me to write a book, what field did I deem myself expert enough to dedicate hours of my free time and thousand of words to?

I read a lot of fiction books grown up as a teenager, Goosebumps, the Famous Five, and the Secret Seven series. One book we were not allowed to read at home was Harry Potter. Growing up in a Christian household, reading a book about witches, wizards and magic was a no-no, (although cone to think of it, we happily watched merlin on BBC one every Saturday afternoon when that was on). What made matters worse for me was that everyone read it at school. Everyone talked about it, saw it on the news, and had watched the films, but I couldn’t engage in any of those activities. So I grew up never knowing anything about Hogwarts even though it was mentioned in passing between my friends, I went to work not knowing what a 'muggle’ was whenever people made jokes with the word around me. And I had no clue what the sculpture below the number nine and three-quarters at Kings Cross Station meant, these things were all alien to me, until recently. After becoming an Audible account holder and getting a taste for fiction books after Stephen King’s 'The Stand’, I yearned for another long interesting book to be read to me, and what better books to go through than the series I was never allowed to read as a child. Seven books long; with raving reviews, and read by none other than Stephen Fry, I couldn’t resist.

Powering through all the books at 2.5 times speed I managed to get through the everything in under a month and came to an interesting discovery. The in the Harry Potter series is so good and engaging, the characters are interesting, but the world is what grabbed my attention. J. K. Rowling is a genius in my eyes because of it, she essentially created a whole world out of nothing, a universe. A book or film can be made from any small piece of the story that wasn’t elaborated on in the main books. Voldemort’s story in more detail; how Hogwarts came to be and it’s first students, the Quidditch World Cup in a school on the other side of the world. I was impressed with the possibilities, the different stories that can be derived from this world. Also having a story on a modern magic school is something that was new to me since most of my non-fiction reading was around sci-fi and fantasy set in the middle ages. With this new found passion for universe creation, I thought to myself, how difficult would it be to create my own universe? I play a diverse range of computer games all with varying degrees of story quality. I’ve watched a plethora of films and television series some of which are incredibly engaging, and I came up with a handful of stories which I didn’t put into writing in my youth. How difficult would it be to create my own universe? I’d have no issue with not being an expert because everything I write will be made up and I can make the book as long or as short as I want. With that, I began to write a book called, Crimson Hail and the Secrets of Valour. Currently, 2 chapters and nearly 6000 words in I have fleshed out the backbone of the story which I got from a dream I had last year and I’ve built upon ever since. It’s heavily inspired by Harry Potter of course but more futuristic and SciFi which is a genre I enjoy more.

So far I’m enjoying the process, and I hope to get to a stage where I can share some of the text online, maybe. Currently, I’m not in talks with any publishing houses and I’m not sure if I want to, purely because I’d rather not have any deadlines to work towards, however, I am really enjoying the process of making certain parts up, and diving into research to make the text more detailed. I’m using the time during my commute home to write the book on my smartphone, which is how I usually wrote my blog posts so there’s not much of a departure there, nevertheless, I would love to be able to take a few days off work to focus on getting it done.

I have no doubt the frequency of my blog posts will reduce because of this, but I will most likely write another post to let you know how it’s going.

I’ve always been a city boy at heart; I grew up and went to school in South London, went to university in Canterbury, and have travelled mainly to capital cities. So spending a week in North Wales for me was a bit of a departure. Foliage in most directions, livestock a stone’s throw away and, mediocre phone signal, all thing I’m not very used to. Nevertheless, my time in Wales ended up being a time of many new experiences.

Climbing a mountain

I’d like to think I’m a fit and healthy person because of my regular gym attendance, however climbing Moel Famau really tested my fitness. 

My original assumption, when offered to come along, was it would be an incredibly long walk–with some amazing scenery which was true. What I didn’t realise was how different walking in the city is compared to walking in the countryside. A walk in the city might entail one following a designated path, possibly with signs, on flat paved terrain and the odd bit of grass. The walk I took in North Wales was at first akin to the city, pavements, tarmac roads, signs, right up until we veered off the obvious path to one that was barely noticeable. One so narrow and muddy I even questioned the possibility of a car driving through it. When walking along these roads I always made it a point to walk behind someone, not only because we were walking against the wind and I would receive less of the icy cold gust trying to push us off course, but because my inexperienced city mind couldn’t determine which section was okay to walk on and which wasn’t. One wrong step could result in my entire foot being completely covered in mud, which was a risk I didn’t want to take. So with eyes almost glued to the feet of the person ahead of me, I took the exact same steps they did unless they made a miss step, in which case I would take a gamble and place my foot elsewhere.

Once done with the muddy roads we climbed over a style and found ourselves in a public farmland used to graze sheep. Although the livestock was quite close to us, they always made sure never to be in our touching distance by trotting out of our path. I was relieved at the prospect of walking on more grassy terrain than before as it would provide more stability, yet the land here was possibly more slippery than before and trying to avoid small piles of chocolate raisins on the floor (which I later found out was sheep droppings) didn’t help.

The journey from this point onwards was pretty much expected based on what I experienced a few minutes before. I occasionally stopped to look around at the diverse scenery which included Lord or the Rings-esk leaf covered floors with broad mossy trees some of which had fallen down and required ducking and weaving to get past. The peak of the mountain was pointed out every now and again, and the more I looked at it, the more I thought our progress towards it was quite slow.

Eventually, we reached a place nicknamed the ‘Zig Zag’ due to its highly uneven ground, and the placement of the rocks, one is required to move in a zig zag motion to climb it, this section by far was the hardest part of the journey. Completely brown with erosion which stood out because of the tall grass on either side, I stared directly at the steep path and took a deep breath before commencing. Placing my feet on the dry mud covered rocks was fine at first, but after a handful, I started to get out of breath, the air became thin. Climbing in such a way where my legs had to reach as high as my chest for each step constantly started to take its toll, quitting was not an option so I thought to myself, the best way to get through this, is to get through it as quickly as possible. With that I started a light sprint to the top, pain coursing through my legs, cold wind whistling through my ears, I was determined to get to the top no matter if I had to climb with my hands. 

After what felt like an eternity, a group of giant Christmas trees came to view, with a fenced off forest section on the left side of it. Once at the top of the zig zag I found a patch of grass in front of the trees and sat on it, soiling the palms of my hands, and the back of my jeans. I took in deep breaths and watched the others zigging and zagging beneath me. I was glad that obstacle had been overcome, but there was more climbing to go.

The final destination was a fort right at the top, from where I was standing there was about 15 minutes of climbing left, not insurmountable, but I wasn’t sure if my legs were completely up to it. With perseverance on the mind, I stood up and began walking. The ground here was entirely different, steep, not as steep as the zig zag, and covered in rocks. Hand-sized, flat sharp rocks that made a crunching sound as if stepping on cracked plates. I had to stop and take a break every few steps because my right leg needed the recovery time. My body was so warm after all the climbing I was thankful for the cold wind on my face. Once at the top, the views I saw made the whole trip worth it.

My view from the centre of the fort showed some breathtaking scenes of; the Welsh horizon, hills, valleys, and other mountains in the distance. It was surprising to see family’s which young children at the summit, did they climb up the same way we did? How unfit am I? I later found out there was a car park halfway up. A part of me wanted to take that route in the future, but I’m honestly glad I took the route I did.

Village shop carols

We have off-licence or corner shops in the city, many of which are chains so it was a surprise for me to see a completely independent one in Wales. Stocked with many of the items one would find at a typical convenience store, but in a slightly smaller environment, with a cafe area, and homemade Welsh fudge–from the slopes of Moel Famau (of course). The whole place has a modern 'hipster’ feel, so it wasn’t a surprise to me hearing they will be hosting a carol service with minced pies and mulled wine, what worried me, however, is if there would be enough room for the whole village.

On opening the door I was greeted with a wave of warmth, followed by the sound of combined conversation from; a group of tall, middle-aged men at the cafe side of the shop, engaged in light-hearted conversation with the bartender. A group of elderly people behind them some of whose backs almost leant on the wall of groceries. I stood in front of the freezer starring at the carol singers in the corner, on the other side of the shop door. There must have been between 50 and 60 people squeezed all around the place, including young children, which created a cosy, homey atmosphere like no other I had experienced before. About five carol singers sang in harmony, reading words from light brown pieces of papers in front of them. It was great hearing people join in with the subconsciously swaying their heads to the tune.

I left the shop briefly afterwards and therefore missed the second wave of carol singing, which I assume was some kind of string band based on the sounds I heard whilst walking away. I did, however, come back for the third and possibly final group of performers who were a group of saxophonists. I’d never been so close to a group of musicians before, I could almost hear their fingers moving up and down on the keys as they played. The first few songs were slow ones, which added to the ambience of the shop and didn’t really disrupt the conversations that were taking place. As the music picked up, more people turned to stare and began clapping and smiling along. A woman with frizzy hair down to her chin even started dancing and grabbed someone (who I assume was her partner), to dance with her. 

Mulled wine depleted, and happy faces leaving the shop, it was clear the event was successful. I hope the shop gets a lot of future business from that night, and if they were to do it again at the end of this year they could possibly sell some more Christmas related items.

It’s clear in this post that the new experience I had most to talk about was climbing the mountain however, there were many other things that took place which I haven’t mentioned, I might include them in future posts. If this is how 2016 ended, I can’t wait to find out what cool new experiences are waiting for me in 2017.

Note: The last two and the penultimate mountain images in this post were generously provided by Simon Dalton.