One of my favourite spots to sit and watch life go by is on the southbank of the Thames. Just on the left side of the Hungerford bridge, there are some cafe’s, a bookshop, it’s close to the National Film Theatre, and they have some excellent banks to sit on. The perfect spot for people watching. The perfect spot to see the sun go down, silhoueting the London skyline. The perfect spot to get rid of some stress after a hard day of work. The perfect spot to read. The perfect spot to eat an icecream, if I had one.
I had taken the train to London Bridge station right after work. I wanted to walk along the Thames path to take some pictures, and that’s what I did. The weather was perfect, and so was the light. There was only one thing missing to make this a more than perfect evening : an icecream. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted one. But incredibly enough there was not a single spot where I could get one. Unbelievable.
I ended on the southbank anyway, and started reading in my book. After a short while, a girl comes and sits beside me.
She has a large cup of, well what is it ? It definetely looks very delicious and good to me, and a reasonable alternative for the icecream I wasn’t able to find. It looked like a milkshake but frutier and better. I think smoothie is the trendy word for it.
I looked around me to see if I could spot the place where she got it.
She in stead thinks I am waiting for someone. Well I wasn’t, or maybe I was, I always am, but he definetly would not show up right here, right now.
“Oh was this place taken ?” she asks me.
“No, no go on, sit down” I tell her. “I was just looking around to see where you got that cup of, well stuff you have”.
“Oh this ?” she says “I bought it in the EAT, I was actually going for a frappacino (I never drink coffee so don’t ask me what that is), but then I saw this and wanted to give it a try. But it is way too sweet for me, I don’t like it at all.”
And here it comes:
“Would you like to have it ?” she asks me, “I was actually going to throw it out.”
The cup was filled to the top, and man did it look good. And one part of me just wanted to say, Oh yeah, thanks, and indulge it right away. That’s my lawless part. My not so lawless part managed to stop me from doing that. I managed to say “Oh really ?” and that was about what I could come up with.
“Yes really” she said, smiling at me.
I didn’t know what to do, so I continued reading, while she was concentrating on her sudoko puzzle book.
With every page I turned, I had to look at it. It was saying – taste me I am delicious – but I simply didn’t dare to.
The sun was going down, the girl was taking her sweater on. I read on.
She made a few phonecalls. She turned out to be Italian.
I read on.
After what seemed a lifetime – she packed her sudoko book in her bag, stood up, said “Bye !” to me in a very friendly way.I said “Bye !” back in a very friendly way.
Alone at last, me and the cup of deliciousness.
I waited 5 minutes more, as I didn’t want her to come back for anything she had forgotten.
She didn’t come back.
I picked up the cup, and tasted.
Holy cow, it was so good. The best smoothie I have tasted in London until now, and I had to be careful not to drool. I slurped it all until the very last drop of it.
The next day I want back to the same spot, stepped directly into the EAT and ordered one.
They are called Mango Blasters (and they are surely much less dangerous than their Pan Galactic Gargle brothers, so don’t worry) and they are heavenly. Try one for yourself if you are in London. There are EAT’s all over this city. But be careful, they are very addictive …
(And the icecream I couldn’t find just then, I found it today …)
What a lovely story ;-)