A Year in Review

Apologies in advance for the long post!

January: A familiar red cup to warm up the spirits

Christmas flavours, yes please!

I was still adjusting to the Turkish way of life. Tomatoes for breakfast were still a complete mystery to me although I was quite enjoying the other aspects of Turkish cuisine. Since there is nothing much to do in Ankara other than food and shopping, I was exploring the culinary delights of the city and indulging myself in buying whatever I wanted but certainly did not need. Now, I regret that but it was my way of coping in a city where nothing was familiar other than Starbucks. I was happiest when I was sipping my filter coffee sat in one of the comfy sofas at Starbucks – what’s best (or worst) about international food chains, they are the same everywhere you go, down to their playlist.

Re-connecting with London

Sometimes around this year last year, I was eagerly planning my winter holidays – not the normal/Christmas season but rather the one week off I would be getting in February. Destination: London, a.k.a. my second home. I could barely hold in my excitement knowing that I’d be going back, albeit for a short time, after more than a year of absence. I was looking forward to walking down the streets of London and getting lost as the geographer in me usually does, having hot chocolate at my favourite coffee shop on Fleet Street and see the new tiger territory at London Zoo. None of that happened, other than the getting lost part – I tend to manage that pretty well without trying too much. I had to rearrange my plans when my flight got delayed (that’s the short version, I’ll write about it at some point, maybe) and when the ex-boyfie, a.k.a the-douche-who-I-thought-was-the-love-of-my-life-then-and-with-whom-I-was-in-a-long-distance-relationship – if you’re reading this, well I’m not apologising – decided at the last minute to come down to London from the far North for some cuddly couple time.

We went along with his to-go-to list rather than mine which was more of a where-and-what-to-eat list. His argument was: we couldn’t just stuff ourselves all day long. I should have known then and there he wasn’t a keeper. Just for the record, I did end up stuffing myself all day long either way, so win!

Hello again,  grey London!

Game, Set and Match: It all ends here

I have only just returned from a one-week-long trip from London and embarrassingly, I have to admit, I barely went out of Zone 3 during the time I was there. Instead, I spent most of my time standing in the cold waiting for Novak Djokovic – for those who do not know who that is, he’s only the current number one male tennis player in the world – to make an appearance and when I wasn’t doing that, I could probably be found watching one of his matches inside the arena at the O2 in North Greenwich.

People on their way to see tennis stars at the O2 in North Greenwich, London.