# London calling.



## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

Silje had a job in London. She was a last minute replacement and they wanted to have a look at her beforehand, so we decided to make a week of it.

The last thing I wanted to do was hang around the studio when she's working and so with my underground map in hand I set off to do some shopping and wandering. The underground system makes life easy and so I covered much ground in little time. While not as well travelled as some I've been here and there, yet I'm still taken by how cosmopolitan and vibrant London is.

My shopping resulted in me finding a lens hood I'd been after for a while. But despite visiting many record shops and bookshops all I bought was this:








I bought it solely for the awful/awesome cover.

It was nearing the time she was expected to finish and so I made my way to the studio. When I arrived I found a lamppost and made myself comfortable leaning against it. For the next 20 minutes or so I watched people pass by - mostly tourists - and noticed that more than a few were staring. Just as I was tempted to take off my hat and hold it in front of me while singing and dancing to 'Froggy went a courtin' the door opened and she came out. She saw me immediately and smiled - but then widened and rolled her eyes. Behind her the door opened once more and a guy in a casual suit came out. He was half running in an attempt to catch up with her. He did so just as she reached my side. The conversation went like this:

Suit: "I wanted to have a word with you, but you left quickly"
Silje: "Oh, it's just that we're in a hurry"
*moment of awkward silence*
The suit looked at me.
Me: "Don't mind me, I'm just the taxi driver"

She told him that I wasn't the taxi driver, then took my hand and repeated that we were in a hurry. The suit looked at me, looked at her, then back at me again. I'm too secure to become involved in any jealousy BS, but as we turned to leave I gave him the once over and told him "Those are lovely shoes. I'd really like a pair like that." And it's true, they were indeed lovely shoes.
We walked and she told me that the suit was the client and that he and his colleague a more senior suit had both insisted on being present throughout the shoot, and during breaks made thinly disguised efforts at chatting up her and the other model. That's kind of pathetic at the best of times (on my own shoots I don't allow anyone who isn't involved to be in the studio) but was particularly creepy due to the fact she'd been modelling tights and stockings.

Back at the hotel I noticed a man sitting in the foyer. I don't know why but I knew for a fact he was rich. So for a brief moment I once again considered going into my hat held out while dancing/singing/Froggy went a courtin' routine with the hopes of getting a few quid from him, but decided against it because it was a nice establishment. 
The showers in hotels always seem to have low water pressure. But we made the most of it anyway. Then we went out to a cheap and humble cafe where I had a Desperate Dan style cowpie while Silje waved a leaf of romaine lettuce in front of her lips occasionally.

The following day we shopped and found an antiques arcade. I bought her a little vintage dress decorated with many tiny beads. Like her it goes straight up and down and shimmers. Unlike her it'll need to be altered, but when it is she'll look incredible in it. She bought me this because I wanted it but was too cheap to buy it for myself. It's an original programme for the Jose Ferrer stage production:








On the short flight home I managed to fall asleep. When I was wakened for us landing I had a sharp pain in my side like someone had been punching me there repeatedly. Sometimes I don't trust her.
The taxi driver who took us home from the airport was very talkative. He asked where we'd been and why we were there. She carefully nudged my aching side and shyly smiled because she's modest. So I told him "For fun, and not work".

Epilogue: every now and then after a shoot the model will be given a piece she was wearing or a sample from the line. So right now there is a pair of new expensive black stockings hanging in the kitchen, one of them storing garlic and the other, onions.


----------

