Anita Darling - Rain

Anita Darling - Rain

Published: 25/11/2009 by Anita Darling

The month of October has officially been my busiest month of the year so far. With parties, concerts, dinners, lunches, birthdays and new friendships popping up all over the show, there has not been a minute to stop and think. The thisisvalencia.com Black and White Party was an absolute must on the social calendar, and caused great excitement in the Lolita Devine/Anita Darling household as we dug deep into the depths of our practically communal wardrobes during a Martini fuelled evening in with our girlfriends in search of the most incredible monochrome outfits imaginable. Lolita spend several hours under the heat of a table lamp sewing thousands of pearls onto a plain black tank top and I found a long-forgotton, ridiculously low-cut dress I once wore to a wedding with a ra-ra skirt and crazy flowers all over. Once teamed with a polka dot Eley Kishimoto blazer and super high black and white patent brogues I was ready to hit the floor. The girls and boys in charge were ecstatic to see all the punters turn up dressed accordingly to theme and brand new house music straight from London blasted out of the speakers keeping the party going well into the early hours. The free jelly shots on offer for those in colour-free get-up were deliciously addictive, but literally rather sticky to get out of the glass, and needed much poking avec straws. Much fun and we cannot wait for the next shindig, Saturday 7th November at the ultra chic 39º27N in the port, on a jetty looking across the Malvarossa just behind the Dockas building. The theme this time around is hats and masks, and the girls and I are already hard a working with superglue, sequins, beads and feathers trying to realise our Marie Antoinette Masquerade Ball dreams (referencing Sofia Coppola's incarnation, of course), and trying to not end up with something that looks like a preschooler made it for carnival. We shall hit Las Animas Puerto straight after in all our 18th Century regalia (probably paired with ultra skinny jeans and blazers, hardly very bourgeois, but that is how we roll) for a boogie afterwards, taking the party well into the night. If the Blue Peter style DIY sessions turn out to be a disaster, I have seen a bargainous bowler hat in Casa Picó, the Valencian fancy dress emporium, which is actually one of my favourite shops in the city. Lolita laughs at me and says my obsession with fancy dress is unhealthy and that I really should have grown out of it by this stage in my life, tut tut, etc., but however hard I try I am still endlessly thrilled at the sight of feather boas, angel wings, wigs and plastic jewellery. So a bowler hat it most likely will be, in the nature of Keira Knightley and Peaches Geldof, my current style icons.

On a whim, the girls from work and I decided to try our hands at sushi, and got together of an evening at my flat to see how easy it was. Which it wasn't. We ended up blackening three of my pots and pans in an attempt to make perfect sushi rice, completely misread the instructions for the tempura vegetable mix - err, what? It's SUPPOSED to be lumpy? - and ate dinner at 1.30 a.m., after Alfie (our cheeky kitten) got up on the table and ran away with several California rolls. The fact that we finally got together outside the office was worth it though, and we now know to start the process at 6 p.m. rather than half an hour before we plan on eating. Stumbling into the kitchen for breakfast the morning after I was repulsed as clumps of rice stuck to my wooly socks and the mystery of the avocado stuck all over the cooker hood remains unsolved - never have we made such a mess cooking a single meal for five people!

The next night we braved the ghastly weather, that awful rain that falls in a light mist and manages to get right under every layer of clothing despite one's best attempts with an umbrella, and headed over to the Plaza de Toros for a Back to University concert. None of us are actually students, and thought we might feel a little out of place, but the average age was probably about 50 as the vintage rocker group Tequila was set to play later on in the evening. We, on the other hand, were there for La Casa Azul, electronic music with a sugar overdose, and Orxata Soundsystem, a crazy mix of Drum'n'Bass, rap, and folk music - in Valenciano. We loved them, and even though we were too fussy and too worried about our suede booties to get down in the crowd with the hardcore fans, we found a spot in the first row up in the seating areas to dance our little feet off, getting completely drenched in the process. At midnight we set off, before Tequila started doing their thing -it was a school night, and we had to get to work in the morning!

Oh, work. Work has been hectic, a nightmare! All this "Crisis" talk has everybody's knickers in a complete and utter twist and observing things from inside The Bank has not been an all too pleasant experience. The big bosses seem to spend all day running from desk to desk - my colleague J and I have been in stitches imagining that their bonuses are calculated based on how fast they run and how many metres they cover per month. Our boss is definitely up there in the top three, she is going to wear her heels down soon if she's not careful. It's cruel I know, but we are waiting for one of them to slip over on a wet floor. It's only a matter of time! I wonder if they get penalised for accidents?

Piece of this!

· My new favourite artist, Lil Jackie - put Cryin' for the Queen on and I am ready to party, pronto.

· Italians. I have always had a bit of a thing for the stallions, and some friends brought two round to the flat the other day that were just the epitome of the Italian stereotype. Add a shaved head and a cheeky grin into the mix and I am all yours.

Diss on that!

· The rain. I am starting to feel responsible for the terrible weather. Were all my pleas for drops in the temperatures and silly here-comes-the-cold skips and prances around my bedroom interpreted as rain dances by mother nature? That's enough now, thanks. Not supposed to have monsoons in Valencia.