On The Run

..” you look like an asshole, and there’s a good chance they’ll be right”

So yesterday i went for a walk, weather here in London of late has been rather Blah.. just what you’d expect from a traditional Brit summer, greyness and a bit of rain, then an odd hot day followed by a week of crap ones. After checking out a positive weather report i ventured outside to hit up the usual spots.

First up, Oxford Circus to pop into NikeID and catchup with whats going on. Niketown as a whole has had a facelift and looks pretty sweet inside, the ID Studio also looks really nice, it finally seems to be getting things together now offering nice colours and materials to play with, however, at £205 for an AF1 its still taking the piss with some of its prices. Next shot onwards walking down down Argyll Street with the Grade II listed Liberty building in the background.

Took a left at Liberty and walked down Carnaby St, havent been here for a while, theres not much down here anymore to make me visit regularly, Bond has closed down, SlamminKicks has bit the dust too, theres’ still a large Size? there, but 99% of their staff are pretty rude so i never bother, the Adidas store has nice bits’n'bobs but its always insanely priced, had a peek in Vans whilst i was walking through but they didnt have the TOY i was looking for. I also noticed that Paul Darts famous giant plug on Ganton Street had been repainted, its no longer orange but…

Onwards down the back of Carnaby St through Brewer Street, one of London’s best crepe spots ‘Fine Crepes’ was doing good business for such a warm sunny day, following through to Earlham Street passing by Adidas and Carhartt to the London chapter of Stussy, I had a browse at their winter range, I can see why the staff seemed a little down, Stussy needs to pick their game up quick, right now it all seems a bit tired and done before.

Oh, on my way out of Soho before hitting up Stussy i had a look down Denmark Street, there i saw that the old abandoned building on St Giles Street had been knocked down and progress on the new build was well underway, i took a snap of the cranes and upon closer inspection of the shot i noticed something odd, so i zoomed in and took another pic!

Hung a left at Seven Dials and turned into Neal Street, not as busy as it once was, but as on any sunny day, the tourists were out in force in Covent Garden, swung by Offspring to have a chat with the old workmates, had a browse at their product, again, nothing really caught my eye, same ol hyperQuickbland strike Nikes, new retro bright coloured Adidas, a million converse that all looked the same and one or two nice Vans that where available everywhere else. Footlocker has closed down, some weird Italian Gym Clothing store is in its place, Shellys had also gone under and a new NikeID store is set to open for the end of October. Anyways, forwards to Covent Garden taking a right down Floral street and into Maharishi.

Maha is easily one of the coolest stores in this fine city and all the peeps inside are lovely, ended up staying there for nearly an hr just catching up with people, going through the sale, staring at those Warhol decks that will soon be adorning the wall of my hallway, all the nice pouches and accessories and that insane leather chair made of Maha Bonsai camo, yeah, i want that too.

Next stop Regent Steet, it was packed, really busy still seemed to be alot of tourists about too, late September is often not a good time to visit London, (having said that, Indian summers are not unheard of around this time of the year), and the tourist influx usually starts to die down for a couple months until December rolls by. I popped into my new employer to buy a book, yup, i now work for Apple. yay me.

So by now i was feeling a wee bit tired, i toyed with the idea of just jumping onto the central line at Oxford Circus and heading home, but i wanted to see if Ralph Lauren were going to do the ‘custom your own jersey’ thing at their store on New Bond Street, so off i went. Its a bit like NikeID, you pick a rugby shirt and there’s a number of patches and stuff you can have stitched on, thats ferkin fresh, (alas i later found out you can only do it online, bah). After Ralph Lauren i was knakered so i headed back. Got out at White City and walked by my soon-to-be workplace, the Westfield London Shopping Center, its due to open on October the 30th, upon completion it will be the biggest shopping center in an urban area thruought the whole of Europe, it has had its very own tube station built next to it and an extra overland train station and bus depot have also been added. The place has confirmed LV, Gucci, Prada, Apple…. and all the other top major retail brands  but no place for KFC or McDonalds hah!.. oh and its 4mins from my house =]