Abercrombie & Wills? Jack & Fitch?

Stuart & Tom naked showering but still selling clothing[/caption]

Okay pop quiz. Is the above picture from;

a) Abercrombie & Fitch
b) Jack & Fitch
c) Jack Wills
d) Abercrombie & Wills

I wear A&F almost exclusively. Most people who know me already know this. Whilst I was in Brighton at the weekend I stumbled into a store that looked like A&F, smelt like A&F yet wasn’t A&F.
Jack Wills has an almost identical visual identity to the large US based store. It’s even a very similar font style. The store has a very similar feel, white painted wood and rich carpeting. The website has a similar feel. Even the obligatory lifestyle section filled with beautiful semi naked models. In fact I’m failing to see what item of clothing Stuart and Tom are selling in the picture above ;o)

Anyway since the Abercrombie store is yet to open in Bond Street and it’s always nice to diversify ones wardrobe every now and then I’ve ordered myself a catalogue in case I see an item or two I’d like to purchase.

Daredevil

Nick and Dave from work came south of the river to play this evening. After we went for a quick one after work for Hugh’s Birthday that is. Although to be fair only Hugh and Tom had alcohol. It was like a meeting of AA. Really it was 🙂
So Nick, Dave and I went to the waterfront for pizza (which was excellent as usual) and then to Streatham Odeon to watch Daredevil (trailers).
It was good I enjoyed it – although action movies with cute guys running around in leather outfits always do it for me 🙂
I left Dave and Nick on the platform at Streatham Common awaiting a Victoria bound train. Hopefully they will make it home (well to one of them at least).

There’s Oil Six Feet Under Dallas

Tom has this theory that Six Feet Under is Dallas under any other name…
I kid you not. His reasoning behind this?

Tom: Two brothers
Tom: one is cool
Tom: one is not
Iain: LOL
Tom: one’s wife is a nightmare
Tom: from a dodgy family
Tom: they bicker about the family business
Tom: after the patriarch died
Tom: the mother is the stabilising force
Tom: the sister’s a pain in the arse who shags everything
Tom: tthere’s an evil company that they’re competing with
Tom: blah blah blah
Tom: and most significantly
Tom: we have an explanation for why JR was always so bitter and desperate to prop up his sexuality
Tom: because he was a big nellie.
Tom: THE END.

I’l still be taping it on September 9th for all the people who don’t have E4 though.

San Francisco

I arrived at SFO and met up with Mr P at the gate. We were both a bit concerned how easy it was to wander around into the allegedly secure gate side of the internal flight area.
He had to wait as I was a bit late – makes a change though! Then we managed to find out how to get downtown and arrived at the wrong hostel. Luckily the one we were booked into was only 6 blocks away. Unluckily it meant a walk down Ellis Street in Tenderloin. I think I saw more homeless people in ten minutes than I have in London in ten years. Seriously there is a big homeless population in San Fran.
It was cold and foggy when we arrived and stayed like that for the rest of the day. Not that either of us saw much of it. We ensconced ourselves in our room and stayed there until the next morning.
Thursday morning was again cold and foggy. We managed to venture out though and wandered along Ellis until we hit the shops in and around Union Square. We had brunch first at Cheesecake Factory. American portions are such a bad move on the first day you eat properly. I mean even the side salads were huge.
We wandered around the shops, The Levi Flagship store with it’s wierd top floor. Oh and of course we took in the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Market St [which had no stock at all].
I also succumbed and saw Spiderman. We were wandering around the Metreon as it was too foggy to go to the Golden Gate Bridge, and it has a cinema in the complex so we saw the matinee.
Friday was Dave’s 28th birthday and so we celebrated in the evening with champagne and a fantastic meal at the stylish Ozumo. Dave is convinced he needs to write down the recipe with mint and lemon or something. He kept muttering for the rest of the holiday about it 🙂
In the morning though we had gone over to Stonestown Galleria on an Abercrombie mission – the one in Market St was pants. The one in Stonestown was not much better. In between seasons and nothing in either Dave’s size or mine.
The meal we had was nice though at the Olive Garden.
Saturday we decided we really should do some sightseeing even if the weather was no better. Luckily for us though it was much better. The views of the bridge and the bay are awesome. [Pictures to follow] It was not super hot but enough for both Dave and I to burn [although we think it may have been a combination of sun and wind]. The afternoon was spent on a pleasant walking tour along from Ghiradelli Square through Fisherman’s Wharf to the Embarcadero. We also took in Lombard Street you know as we were doing the tourist bit.
That evening we had sushi at the Metreon and then watched Minority Report.
Sunday of course was SF Pride which was really nice. There were big gaps though which was a bit wierd – not quite so well planned as Sydney!
It also appeared as if any Tom, Dick and Harry could have a float. Politicians galore and local store advertisments too all very erm… boring really. The only decent float sadly was the Smirnoff promotion. [Pics to follow]
The party was brilliant. London should just do the same. Instead of shipping everyone off to some park miles away. Block off a few roads in soho and have a party there!
After all of that excitement we decided to go back to the sightseeing on Monday. Alcatraz! Unfortunately the next available trips were Wednesday 🙁 So we went for the rip off the tourists Angel Island and Alcatraz departing Tuesday instead. Now I know it is a rip off as we went to Alcatraz like just the Alcatraz tour but we had to go to Angel Island first and pay more – so how does that work?
Anyways that kind of threw our plans for the day out so we went on a cable car back to Union Square and Market Street after wandering around the wharf area.
That evening we went back to the Castro for dinner and drinks abd I have to say I was a little disappointed in the range of bars. The only one we liked was Badlands 🙂 [just like DC eh!]
We didn’t stay out too late though as we had to be up early for the Alcatraz tour in the morning.
As it hapens Angel Island was really nice so it worked out okay. The weather had turned though and it was back to cold and foggy. Luckily we had seen the bridge on Saturday already as it was not visible. Alcatraz was very scary but not as fearful as we anticipated. It’s famous for it’s inmates more than being a nasty prison really. After the trip we wandered back via Macondry Lane [where they filmed Tales of the City. Also we took in Alamo Square and St Mary’s Cathedral and then back to our room for the last night in SF.
There’s plenty more I’ve missed like that damn game, the Bingham Cup [the Kings Cross Steelers were playing and all the teams where in the parade [pics], but when Mr P gets back from his next two weeks of holiday in Portland and Vancouver though he can fill you in. I’ll need to edit the photo’s and then upload them too.
All in all though I had a really nice time, fabulous company great city.
So now I am off to bed again – melatonin here I come 🙂

Alcohol is NOT our friend

Saturday
Spence, and Glenn along with David [yes another one] and Benjy and I had dinner in Leicester Square. The table next to us managed to set their candle on fire – yes I know they are supposed to burn but not the entire thing all at once. The waiter casually opened the door to prevent the smoke alarms from activating ina a manner that suggested it may be a common occurence. We were joined later by Scally and the lovely Bruce for coffee before heading over to Barcode for a couple of drinks. Oh and meeting Chris again too.

Sunday
Pub lunch with alcohol and smutty comments about 20 year old waiters and 18 year old bar men, with Spence, Glenn and David [yes yet another david – common as muck that name] was followed by coffee back at mine and then yet more drinks and smutty conversation at bar ABV.
I then ventured into soho to meet up with Dave, Tom, Simon and Bart. Poor Bart I think was a little overwhelmed by the banter and it only got worse from there. We started in the Friendly Society which I must say must be one of the most stupidly expensive and dark bars in London. May as well have been in a dark room for the amount we could see. Low ambient lighting I can cope with but when someone lights a cigarette and the entire bar lights up you have to wonder if they have taken subtlety to the limits. Village was a stagger [well 2 or 3 steps] away. Dave decided to enlighten Tom about some of my history – thanks. I then decided to embark on making it worse. Somethings you should never discuss whilst drunk. Like job interviews for Bass pubs 😉
Swiftly moving along Compton Street to Manto’s where Tom and I read a smutty comic in fits of giggles to be scolded repeatedly by the ever mature Mrs Davo. We also leered at some cute guy for a while before practically begging him not to leave – well we sort of did it quiet enough so he couldn’t hear and he left anyways without noticing.
All in all a very pleasant weekend with good company and way too much alcohol.

I’m sure there was something I was supposed to blog about Tom but can’t remember now – will need to ask him to remind me later 😉