London , Cider and Ashley Stymest

With my new found depression me and Tessa took a stroll onto Carnaby Street where a lovely woman from Trendstop.com asked to take Street Style pictures of us. I always find it exciting and abit awkward when people ask to take street style pictures! It’s happened a few times now in London but I secretly love it. It was strange also that in shops like American Apparel all the staff were really friendly to us whereas in Manchester the staff act as though you’re a disease haha.

Afew quick vists to London College of Fashion, H&M and a random street market man and we were on our way back to our hostel to get ready for the Kopparberg Final. It was hosted at the Queen of Hoxton, we had no idea where it was, we just knew we had to get to Shoreditch High Street then we could meander around and find it!

As we were getting lost in the streets of Shoreditch a london accent heckled at us… we couldn’t quite make out who it was but as he came running towards us we saw it was Ashley, he said to us ‘I saw you outside topshop 😉 come and join me for a drink!’ He Shook both our hands and introduced himself as Ashley. By this point me and Tessa were obviously dying inside. I was kind of shaking abit and Tessa was just looking at me like :O…..

We got a drink and joined him outside, he was with two lovely people Vivien and James. We got chatting about careers and what we do for a living, Ashley told us stories of previous jobs and what he’s doing now. When Vivien and James went inside for afew minutes, we got onto the topic of sexuality, mainly mine haha, he said he was straight but he likes to kiss guys to tease them, he then leaned over and kissed me….

Tessa whipped out her camera and we were like… “do it again!” And he did, he placed his hand behind my head and went on to kiss me again, i can’t describe the feeling of being kissed by someone who you’ve viewed pictures of online for years, from editorials, to fashion films to runway shows. It was weird, but amazing.

I grabbed Tessas camera as Ashley obviously wanted to now kiss my friend Tessa, I was insanely jealous yet incredibly happy! He and her kissed and he then asked us where we were going, we said we were off to a VICE party and he was like, okay lets go! So him me, Tessa, Vivien and James headed to the Queen of Hoxton, Ashley asked me for a Piggyback, so i gave him one! He was very intoxicated but he was so cheeky and just wanted to have fun!

We got to the VICE party and i felt incredibly proud that me and Tessa had brought Ashley to the party, he knew some people that were there and started chatting around with people, he’s a social butterfly flitting between groups and people, not wasting a single second. Me and Tessa went to watch the Fashion final of the competition, Krishan Parmar, Zoe Jenkin and Blane Anthony Chapman styled some models to try and win £1000 and a whole lot of exposure in VICE! (Zoe Jenkin Won! Well done Zoe! ) My friend Tessa and I met up with some friends Robert and Holly from whom we’d met at the last party. I got Ashley to give Rob a cheeky kiss aswell! We had abit of a catch up and then sat outside for abit where we got talking to Krishan, Andrew, Thomas and Alis, I’d met Krishan and Andrew in Joiners afew months back and they were very kind and said they had room for us in their hotel, so we agreed to go back with them!

By this point we couldn’t find Ashley, he had disappeared into the night, but for the few hours i was around him, he drastically impacted my life, making me think about fame, friends and what’s important. He reminded me not to take anything too seriously and just to have a good time. And that’s what it’s all about. Anyway, following Krishan and Co around the streets of London we visited Joiners, a lovely bar! You walk through the ‘meat-flaps’ and it’s like a different world! Everyone’s really friendly and everyone dresses like a freak, perfect. However we were getting quite tired and hungry and a hotel room seemed like the best thing in the world! It seemed like it took FOREVER to find the hotel! We got on a fair few night buses, also we think we ate a chicken/pigeon burger and Tessa threw a stale bread roll at a goverment road-sweeper ( he was deeply offended and there was a row – Tessa still feels bad). We FINALLY got to the hotel, but we couldn’t get in as Andrew and Thomas were being held up by what looked like chavs, which were apparently under-cover police searching them for drugs! They searched them thoroughly (abit violently) and found nothing. We went into the room and after watching fat asian prostitutes heckle customers on the streets through the hotel window, we all crashed out and had a lovely sleep.

The next morning, a trip to Mcdonalds with Krishan and Andrew whilst Thomas slept in the hotel room and we said goodbye, me and Tessa walked from PADDINGTON to OXFORD CIRCUS. We just spoke about the night in general and creamed over Ashley for the whole time. It was wonderful, a once in a lifetime experience, a night to remember. I absolutely love my trips to London, and i love everyone i have ever met/spent time with down there.

I think this is the longest text post i’ve ever done? Hope you enjoyed! haha