Portobello...

Before you even get to the main street make sure you stop off at the treasure troves of vintage boutiques on Pembridge Road. Walk from Nottinghill Gate and you come across Retro Woman, Retro Man, take a left onto Portobello and take a peak into Portobello Gallery - if you are even one wing of the magpie that I am you'll never leave this jewelry spectacular, crowns included. Teeter your way down the cobbled road and you'll hear the market before you see it.

The market can be split into Antiques, Fruit & Veg, New Goods, Fashion and Second Hand Goods. For more information on where they are located go to http://www.portobellomarket.org/ - written by a true Londoner and someone who works on the stalls for many a years.

I try and trip it to Portobello at least once a month, it's a great place to style watch and if that new pair of Chloe pants are going to feature anywhere I can assure you it'll be somewhere along the streets of Nottinghill. Enjoy.

Tooting Tram & Social

Tooting Tram & Social; a diamond in the rough and a stumble across

The Correspondents.

TTS can be found nestled in between Bingo and an equally disheartening drinking venue in Tooting Broadway. With fairy lights, antique furniture, velvet sofas and reasonably priced drinks it attracts an eclectic cliental, all of which are there to have a good time and I've never left that place without learning new names and faces. Actors, musicians, local suits and students fill the old tram shed and if you time it right you can also catch a few bands... which is exactly what I did on Friday night when my love affair with The Correspondents was planted and since grown into a hot pink rose. Calling themselves a swing-hop duo DJ Mr Chuckles and MC Mr Bruce "collaborate to make Hip Hop for the 1930s, Big Band music for the 00s. Splicing swing samples with squelchy synths over dusty drum loops they’ve depicted a modern day journey into time of rogue’s, lust, affordable clowns and foot-tapping toe curling "get your brogues on" dance floor swing beat."

Check out their myspace page and you won't regret it, you certainly won't look back, not even a little peak...

www.myspace.com/thecorrespondentsmusic

So good I've done my neck and back in from throwing those shapes, sleeping hurts, eating is a challenge and I should've bought shares in Neurofen - no blame, no claim. I dote on them even more.

Where It All Began...

When I was sitting with my girlfriends over brunch this morning discussing the recent escapades from the past couple of months none of us could write down fast enough the suggestions of the names and places where giggles were had, tea and cakes gobbled, art seen, an emerald green 1950s dress bought, burlesque watched and markets routed through.

For a while now I've wanted to start a blog but finding a subject proved a tad tricky. Do I target fashion, music, galleries, markets, the best thrift stores in town, the sweetest tea shops, post-war swing nights where hot red lipstick is mandatory, indoor picnic parties...? The list was endless. So my conclusion after all of that? Do it all.

My mission statement is to post the unusual, off the beaten track, heard it on the grapevine night and day happenings all of which have the vintage, little bit rough round the edges, feel that London does so well. So, here goes...