After saying a sad farewell to my parents Monday afternoon after a fantastic visit (blog posts still to follow), it was back to the normal routine of work and catching up with the friends I hadn’t seen since my parents arrived in town.
Monday evening brought me to my regular Canadian Vandoos meet up at the Hippodrome for wings and £2.50 Blue Moons. I think they changed their recipe for the wings as my mouth was burning for a good 20 minutes after inhaling them! I talked to a few new faces and caught up with the regulars 🙂 The crowds haven’t been quite as large as they were during the Olympic hockey games but there still manages to be a decent crowd for each event! I’ve also somehow volunteered myself to do some kiddie face painting for the Canadian Meet-Up Group’s Canada Day festivities at the end of June. Sounds like fun but since I am not artistic I’ll have to start practising my Maple Leaf and Canada flags for the next month! 🙂
After talks of possible trips to watch the northern lights in Igloos and Tree Houses in the fall it was time to head home. One of the best things about becoming friends with other expats is we all have a huge desire to travel and see as many parts of Europe as we can fit in during long weekends and our ever dwindling vacation days left! The best part of working in the UK is that a month of vacation seems to be the norm! However, after already planning a few big trips and a couple extended weekend trips, I am running low on extra vacation time and money! Somehow trips back to Vancouver seem to be taking a backseat however; I am determined to get back home for Christmas this year and a wedding next June!
Now onto my Tuesday night!! If you know me, you know that my absolute FAVORITE movie of all time is Dirty Dancing! I can pretty much recite the movie off by heart now, and play the entire movie in my head at any given time. I even used a Dirty Dancing quote at my brother’s wedding! That’s how much I love this film 🙂 It is by far THE BEST coming of age girly movie in my opinion and I think every girl who grew up watching the movie has always wanted to find her “Johnny” to do the mambo with.. and possibly a little dirty dancing as well 😉
Anyhow, I wasn’t able to get to the Musical Dirty Dancing which was playing here in London but from meeting people who wanted to see the musical as well, I was able to find a lot of other Dirty Dancing fans! So when I saw that Dirty Dancing would be playing on a rooftop cinema in London, I thought “MUST GO”!!! No brainer!! And at £13.00 a ticket, it’s a new experience, cheaper than watching a movie in some of the cinema’s here and it’s Dirty Dancing!! I can’t pass up my first opportunity to watch Johnny and Baby do the Meringue on the big screen!! So Facebook invites were sent to see who else would be up for it, tickets were bought, and then a month long wait until the day actually arrived!
Fast forward to Tuesday night and the Dirty Dancing Rooftop Cinema Experience awaited us! We all met at Peckham Rye station and tried to find somewhere to eat a quick dinner before heading to the movie, but the area was seriously lacking of any sort of food establishments! Aside from McDicks and KFC, the streets were littered with fake hair stores, grocery stores and other convenience type shops. No offence to anyone who lives in Peckham or around Peckham, I only saw that one area and it just didn’t feel Londony to me and had I been there by myself, I would have gotten back on the bus and home to familiarity. It was a little sketch for me.
So after some pretty terrible McD’s (never again!), we set off to find the Bussey Building to feast our hungry eyes on the Mambo, Pachenga, and the best of them all… the Lift! We didn’t have to go far as the building was RIGHT across the street but we DID have to walk up about 10 flights of stairs to the rooftop of this old, and what seemed to be abandoned, building. I did need a little workout for that day!
After huffing and puffing our way up the who knows how many stairs, we made it to our rooftop oasis! Set up like an airplane with two aisles of British Airways Blue beach chairs, patio lights and a gigantic screen at the front, the outdoor space looked cozy and just right for a rooftop movie experience! And the views were incredible! You could see the London Eye, The Shard, Gherkin and other famous landmarks from the edge. As well as a very dark and ominous cloud that looked like it was headed in our direction!! YIKES!
We quickly chose our seats near the front, took photos and eagerly waited for the movie to start! There was still a good 45 minutes left. We were trying not to let the cold get the better of us and were wishing there were blankets to wrap ourselves up in, when what to our wandering eyes should appear? Other movie-goers carrying BA blankets and headphones!!! Turns out, we had to show our tickets to the booth at the back to collect our “boarding passes”, headsets and blanket!! Good thing we figured that out BEFORE the movie started or we’d be quite confused and feeling very ripped off 🙂
What was also pretty great about the outdoor cinema was you could buy burgers and chips (wish we had known about that before scarfing down Mcd’s) and of course there was a bar as well! I don’t think any events in London take place without giving people the opportunity to purchase alcoholic beverages!
With the dark clouds still looming, the movie started and our headphones kicked with with that famous opening song, “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes. We were extremely lucky to not have the skies open up and it was pretty cool to watch the movie outdoors while planes flew overhead. It was cold even with blankets but that didn’t dampen our spirits!!! A little word of advice for those planning to watch any of the Outdoor Movies: BRING WARM CLOTHES, WEAR A ONESIE, OR BRING YOUR SNUGGIE! One thing I’m quickly learning in London is no matter how warm it may be during the day, it gets extremely cold at night! So the Spring jacket you wore during the day to check out the markets, is definitely not suitable for a night out on the town later!
The one downfall about watching the movie wearing headphones is it took away from the experience of watching this classic with fellow dirty dancing fans who can also recite every line of the movie! The only time I really noticed any audience participation was at the end when a few brave souls started singing “I’ve Had the Time Of My Life”. Had this have been a silent disco and had I had a few drinks in me, i MAY have started singing. But I had no liquid courage in me so instead sat there grinning from ear to ear as Baby ran into Johnny’s arms for the perfect lift! ahhhhhhhh how I love this part! 🙂
Although it was cold, and the headphones a little isolating, I think this got me even more pumped up for the Dirty Dancing sing-a-long happening at the Prince Charles theatre next month! And what will be even more awesome about that night will be that my friend Naomi will be in town from Vancouver who also loves the movie 🙂 Shenanigans are on the horizon and I can’t wait!!
After the movie ended, we all quickly handed back our BA gear and headed back towards Peckham Rye station. And a LONG wait to get back into town!!
Not sure I’ll be headed to another outdoor movie at this location but I’m definitely glad to have checked it out and would definitely check out the outdoor cinemas happening in other locations throughout London! Although I may wait until the weather gets a tad bit warmer 🙂
Thanks as always for reading!
Krismas x
krismasinlondon 