Winter in london | the cosiest cafes and bookshops in east london

Hello there, it is a Friday today and this is actually the first time that I've picked up my camera all week. The week has not really gone the way that I'd hoped, in general the start of the year has not really gone the way that I had hoped. I came back to England with so much inspiration to start all these plans that I had for the year and I was just really motivated to get going with everything and then on Friday we got the news that my grandfather had passed away and I was not really expecting it, like all Christmas I was so worried about my grandmother on my mother's side and then suddenly my grandfather on my father's side got really ill after a fall and yeah it just it didn't come out of nowhere but it was still a shock and it's the first of my grandparents to pass away so I've just kind of been coping with that all week. Work has been really busy this week which is kind of good because it distracted me all through the day and then in the evenings I distracted myself by completely submerging myself into my heated rivalry obsession so as you know in my last video I watched the show and I completely adored it and now this weekend sorry this week in the evenings I have just been on the sofa reading the books and totally distracting myself from real life because I haven't really wanted to be in real life and in the beginning it was probably a little bit of a good coping mechanism because I was just allowing myself to be on the sofa reading my book and feeling good rather than forcing myself to do chores and responsibilities whilst feeling bad so it started off good but then throughout the week I just kind of felt worse and worse and worse and was getting to the point where I wasn't showering, wasn't doing anything and I was just wanting to be in this fictional world the entire time and I didn't really want to be in the real world so today I decided to start the day off differently. I showered, I washed my hair, I got ready and I've made plans. I'm gonna have a call with my friends and dream later this afternoon and me and Alex are gonna go to London and see some friends this evening and I'm definitely feeling kind of not good still but I think it'll be really good for me to be with some friends and see some people and be in real life rather than avoid everything because that's definitely how I've been feeling so not gonna lie I would love to just get in my pj, sit on the sofa, open my book and just escape but I think it'll probably be better for me in the long run to get myself out of the house and do some nice things. That's why I am making myself a cup of tea right now. I'm using this tea that I got from Cinderine, the one I'm gonna have my call with later. It's from Candor Pluck and it's the best earl grey tea in the world. I love it so much and genuinely I want to book flights to Montreal both to go and see her but so that I can stock up on this tea because it's so good and I'm gonna take myself on a little walk because it's sunny outside and I've not been good with my walks this week which is okay. I'm allowing myself a week to just rot on the sofa but I need to try to get myself out there feeling better and I know the next week is going to be really tough as well because next week is the funeral and I'm going to go back to Norway to be at the funeral and be with my family but until then, that's a whole week away, I can't just let myself waste away. I need to get out there and try to feel better so that's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna get some oat milk in this. This tea definitely goes with oat milk, it's like Cinderine's recipe, she showed me this tea and I'm so grateful because it's just delicious but yeah unfortunately not the best week and I'm sorry that I'm not coming at you with more positive energy today but that is life, things happen. I'm glad I'm going to be with my family next week, it's obviously very sad circumstances but I have not seen my grandmother for many years because these are my grandparents that live in my dad's hometown so I've not been there for many many years and I've not seen any of my uncles for many years so even though it's a very sad situation I'm grateful that it's going to bring us together and I'm very much looking forward to seeing everyone again and being there with them because there's nothing worse than going through grief and missing your family and having things like this happen and then be so far away from them that is definitely the hardest part of living in England in a different country for my family because it's not so easy to just jump on the plane and go and see them so it'll be good next week to go and see them but it is still a week away and until then I cannot let myself just wallow, I need to live my life so I'm looking forward to going to London today, seeing my friends and then I think because we're going to stay overnight at my friend's house we're just doing a sleepover basically and we're going to do a movie night, we're going to order takeaway, we didn't want to do anything too like stressful and they suggested going out for dinner and I wasn't really feeling quite that out there but I think doing takeaway at their house will be lovely and because we're doing a sleepover I am going to go and have a little bit of a day in London tomorrow, I've actually not asked any of my friends if they're free because I think I just kind of want to do a little bit of a solo day, I'm going to bring my book and I'm going to walk around London, they live in East London which is my favourite place in London as you know, so I'm going to walk around, move to some bookshops, go for coffee, bring my book and just have a couple of hours in the morning in London and hopefully that will make me feel better than how I would have felt if I just stayed home because I forgot to say but Alex has got a badminton match tomorrow so he's busy all day so it's either do something in London or go home and be all alone which is probably not the best thing for me right now, I think I need to be out and about and doing things. Talking of out and about I'm gonna pack up this tea, get my clothes on and I'm gonna go out for a walk because it's so lovely outside, blue skies, sunny and yeah I'm just grateful to see the sun again because after three weeks in Norway where it was no sun at all I'm very grateful to see the sun again, it feels delicious on my skin. There's no comfort left in that world I see the lawn mower, the green grass, flowers that shimmer in the sunlight The heat settles into my voice So not only have I immersed myself in the heated rivalry universe by reading three books this week and also watching a million and one edits on Instagram reels, oh my goodness my entire feed is just heated rivalry like I have no idea what else is going on in the world because it's just that's all there is, but not only that I've also been listening to the heated rivalry official playlist of course, do I sound crazy? I may be a little bit crazy but anyway what I was going to say is that I've been listening to the playlist and I have been in particular listening to I'll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade and first I was listening to the song and thinking about the show because it's a very emotional scene if you've seen the show you know and if you haven't seen the show while you're watching this video go and watch the show like pause this video go and watch heated rivalry come back to watch this video anyway it's a very emotional scene in the show and in the beginning I was obviously thinking about heated rivalry and thinking about that scene but I've been listening to it so much just this week and like letting myself feel my emotions as well so I'm sure in like a year when when the next season comes out and maybe this song will go viral again I'll hear it again and I'll just be thinking about my granddad which is so sad but it's just such a beautiful emotional song and I it's just so amazing to have a song that you can fully cry to like I think music is so powerful and I think it's so okay to just like let yourself be totally taken away into an emotion by a song and letting yourself feel all the emotions because that's basically what I've been doing this week when I haven't been disassociating and distracting me with either work or reading my books I've been listening to this song on repeat and cried my eyes out because that's healthy I think so anyway this song is just beautiful even if you don't watch heated rivalry even if you don't like that show which you'd be crazy not to but if you don't like the show I still encourage you to listen to this song it's so so so beautiful and wolf parade I've never heard of them before but I need to give their other music a listen as well because I love this song a lot and I think it's going to mean it already means a lot to me but I think it's definitely one of those songs that will encompass this week in my life or this time in my life and that's also quite special like I've had that happen so many times in the past with music where I listen back to an album that I listen to a lot in a specific period of my life and it's just it just takes me back to that period and I don't necessarily think I will want to go back to this period of my life because it's not in the best week but still you know what I mean I just love music so powerful and this song in particular means a lot to me but I'm not going to listen to it now because I don't need to feel any more sadness today I'm going to try to feel good and I'm going to focus my energies my friends and nice things so I think instead I'm going to continue listening to Conan Gray which is what I've been listening to today I really like his new album Wishbone. Conan Gray was one of my favorite youtubers back in the day and even though I miss his videos so much on here I do think he's doing an incredible job at being a pop star so I also encourage you to give Wishbone a listen that's his latest album but I also love Kid Crow and Super Egg I think Super Egg is my favorite album of his because it just means a lot to me and a lot of those songs also you know remind me of a specific time in my life but yeah I think he probably has evolved even more lyrically with his latest album Wishbone and it's just like from start to finish oh is that a raindrop oh no it's like blue skies but just where I'm sat there's a cloud and I'm literally getting rained on anyway he's evolved a lot as a lyricist I think in his latest album and I think this is a really really good album so I'm going to listen to that and then continue my walk and try to avoid this cloud I've landed under isn't that such irony I'm trying to go for a walk to brighten up my mood and even though it's like blue skies around me well you can't see it actually but there's blue skies in front of me I happen to sit under the one cloud that starts to rain I'm gonna try to not read into that I'm just gonna keep walking okay so it's sunny but it's also raining so that's very English isn't it hopefully my makeup that I meticulously did this morning is going to be okay for my plans this evening oh gosh it is it is very pretty outside though it does always help to get outside though I'm happy I forced myself had a dessert yeah these ones are these the really good ones um yeah I think so I think we should buy those then nice I'm in control I don't know anything to do guys oh good morning Alex has gone to his badminton tournament and I was expecting to have a day on my own but luckily Harry and Emma were free so we are on our way to mooch around the shops we're in east London which is my favorite area in London and I am really keen to go to this Italian bakery that I love called Forno but we did already have a croissant and a coffee at home so we're going to mooch around some shops first so we can warm up and get ready to try out the lovely Italian pastries that Forno has but yeah I'm so happy to be in London it's so nice to wake up in London and not have to like get the whole train and have a whole journey in we could just wake up and walk over to London Fields and I'm very excited about that and the sun is out which lovely beautiful January day it's a bit it's maybe a bit too oversized oh these buttons are not easy to press yeah I think it's a bit too big but it's the color is great we mooched around all of my favorite bookshops in Broadway market there are some great shops there I'll write them all the names all on screen in case you are in the area and want to have a but yeah love Broadway market and they have such a great selection of just really interesting books I didn't buy any today because I didn't want to carry it around all day but I was tempted to buy many and now we are finally on the way to Forno I'm ready for a coffee it's what time is it now it's 12 30 so perfect time for my second coffee of the day and I'm looking forward to seeing what pastries they have hopefully they still have some on sale because I think they go early in the lovely is it warm yeah yay oh so nice this is actually much nicer than I wanted it to was just finished eating and I am so full so I need to walk off all these pastries with some more mooching around just said goodbye to my friends and I'm on my way to the bus stop to go back home it feels kind of wrong to go home when there's still sunshine outside and like lots of hours I could kill in London but I've had a really nice time and I do have a YouTube video to edit so I need to get going home before I'm exhausted because then I know I'm not going to get anything done but it has been really really nice to wake up in London and have a full morning here walk around London Fields Broadway Market I just love this area so much if you didn't know Alex and I used to live just around the corner from here so this feels like home to me we lived here for a year and a half and I miss it so much but it's really nice to come visit as well and stay with our friends so I had a lovely time and now I'm going to get going home and get productive and I must admit I am excited to read Heated Rivalry on the bus because I started the second oh sorry there oh that's my bus oh I need to run okay I made it what I was saying is that I am excited to be on the bus and on the train for a little bit because I can't wait to continue reading because I started reading The Long Game last night which is the sequel to Heated Rivalry so it's book five in the series I had to skip a couple of them because I couldn't move up to read all of them but honestly I might go back and read them when I'm done with this because I'm still enjoying the world and being in the universe with the ice hockey players but yeah I started reading The Long Game last night and I'm already on chapter 13 like I was reading until like 3am and then I woke up this morning pretty early and continued reading before we started hanging out so I haven't slept much last night but I am thriving and enjoying the books and I just want to be in like I'm just I am obsessed it is an obsession but I'm having a great time I'm back home the journey actually took me quite a while it took me like over two hours to get home but honestly I didn't mind I had a great time I love train journeys when they're quiet and there's not that many people there and there was an incredible sunset outside the windows which was just mesmerizing to look at and not only that but there was a puppy sausage dog like a sausage dog puppy on the train which was literally like running through the aisle and cuddling people and there were two children that was cuddling the dog and I just wanted to be there I was literally like this close to getting on the floor with the kids and cuddling this tiny little dog because it was so adorable it really made my day and I could read on the train which is just lovely and now what I should be doing is editing my vlog but I'm just so addicted to my book all I want to do is read so I've told myself because I have no willpower that I'm going to read for 40 minutes I'm going to put a timer on and then when 40 minutes is up I'm going to make dinner and then I'm going to edit because it's like I'm home alone this evening Alex is still at his badminton thing so I just I just have to grab the opportunity as if I haven't grabbed the opportunity every single evening this week but anyway you will get me if you love to read you you know what it's like to be totally obsessed with a book and just want to exist in the universe the whole time so 40 minutes I'm going to give myself 40 minutes and then I promise I'm going to edit but if you think oh last week's video was out a bit late sorry blame Rachel Read who wrote some incredibly addictive ice hockey romance novels and because I'm reading the sequel to Heated Rivalry which is based in Montreal I have to use my Montreal mug that I got when I was in Montreal I honestly the addiction is so real that I was looking at flights the other day not only just because of the books but also because my friend lives there and she's moving to Europe soon so I was like maybe I should just do it it is expensive and I did say that I was going to prioritize saving this year because I have many big goals that I'll be chatting about later in another video but at the same time how many opportunities do you get to go and visit your friend in Montreal like I think I need to I think I need to just like grab the opportunity so yeah I'm feeling very Canadian this weekend all day today I was talking to my friends about not just Heated Rivalry but ice hockey in general because my friend Emma also likes ice hockey I think also as if I like ice hockey I know nothing about ice hockey all I know is what I've learned from the books and the show that I've watched but I'm getting into it like I was reading an article about how there's this lesbian couple that are on opposite they play I think they play together on the same team normally but in the Olympics they're gonna be playing on different teams and how that's like a real world version of Heated Rivalry because obviously they're right I can't speak they are rivals on the ice but then they are in a relationship off the ice so I might have to be watching the ice hockey olympics this year because clearly I'm now an ice hockey fan anyway I'm just making myself a cup of tea this is my favorite twinings tea I don't I've never seen this in the shops in England but it's so good if you find this it's apple cinnamon and raisin and I don't like raisins like the fruit they are disgusting to me but this tea is really nice and then I'm gonna read for a little bit and then cook dinner and then I'm gonna be productive but it's a Saturday evening and I'm home alone and oh god a girl just wants to have fun and editing my videos is fun normally but right now nothing can beat the excitement of reading my book saying that though I am very glad or yesterday and had a day today it really cheered me up it was so nice to see friends it was so lovely to do a sleepover and it was amazing to wake up in London and just immediately be able to go mooching around and not having the whole journey there so that made me really want to move back to London which that was something for another day but yeah sometimes when I'm in London I'm just like oh my god take me back but then other times when I'm home and I have all this space and I'm able to have a garden I'm like oh I'm fine it's okay to be a couple of hours away from London like I can deal with it but yeah it was lovely to just wake up in London and immediately go outside and be in my favorite part of town basically anyway I'm babbling now and honestly this video is probably already too long because I feel like I've been babbling a lot but um I hope you're doing well um I'm sorry that this video has been a 99% heated rivalry and then one percent dead granddad that's not exactly the topics you probably came here for but I hope you also enjoyed a little bit of London and maybe you got some inspo for your next trip to London because yeah where we went today is literally my favorite area in the entire city so if you go there I would highly recommend checking out the cafes or the cafe and the bookshops that we went to because they are just the best but now I'm going to give myself 40 minutes of joy on the sofa I might even and just have a great time reading before I get productive