tea breaks

chocolate box

2011-10-02T16:12:00.001+01:00

A little while ago, the cutest little present arrived in the post for me. A black sleek box wrapped up in a bright red ribbon, I was definitely intrigued - and very pleasantly surprised when I opened it to find that it was full of lovely sweet things!
Something you should perhaps know about me is that I have the biggest sweet tooth you'll ever find; I don't think the word 'chocoholic' even begins to cover it. The lovely people from Gift Box Galore picked up on this and very kindly sent me a version of their Chocolate and Truffle Gift Box, packed full of tasty things for me to try. Amazing, right?
In my very lovely box, pictured above, was:

Ko-Koá Caramel & Milk Chocolate Truffles
Original Scottish Butter Tablet
Columba Cream Hand-made Cream Liqueur Fudge
Chocolate Crumbly Fudge

Of course, past taking a few photos and unpacking the box, I undertook the task of taste-testing all the products (what a hard life)... and I can say that it all tastes absolutely delicious - with my personal favourite being the Chocolate Crumbly Fudge.

A Scottish company, Gift Box Galore supplies hampers and gift boxes to customers all over the UK in what I think is a really novel idea. Sometimes you can feel a bit daunted at the prospect of someone's birthday or Christmas coming up when you're completely out of ideas, but Gift Box Galore have a range of loads of different gift boxes that you can order, personalise with a message or greeting, and send out to the lucky recipient - there's pretty much guaranteed to be something to suit everyone, catering for a range of different tastes and interests.
Of course, on account of my ridiculously sweet tooth I received a lovely chocolate and truffle gift box - but there are also gift boxes and hampers full of sweets, jewellery, cosmetics and toiletries and DVDs, as well as themed hampers, such as retro sweet selections and gifts 'for him' or 'for her'.
The best bit is that the prices are really quite reasonable too, considering that each box or hamper is packed full of goodies and is presented beautifully - prices for gifts start from £8.99.

Thanks to Gift Box Galore for sending me this gift box. Thoughts and comments are my own.

interior inspiration: royal victoria hotel, pisa

2011-09-17T10:00:00.000+01:00

These images are from the beautiful Royal Victoria Hotel, where I stayed in Italy last month. It's beautiful -quiet, right by the river, and full of antiques. It's a huge building with high ceilings, marble floors, big windows with wooden shutters and leaves hanging outside, and gorgeous art on the walls. These photos hardly do it justice, but suffice it to say it's one of the most beautiful buildings I've been to, and certainly that I've stayed in.

There's been a building there since the 10th century, being developed into a hotel in 1837 - so it's fair to say there's a fair amount of history!
One of the best things about the hotel is that, aside from the bedroom, you also have free use of the hotel's many communal rooms; and, when we were there, hardly anyone else seemed to know about or use them! We particularly loved the drawing room, above in the photos, with a balcony looking out over the river - the perfect place to sit and read, or write at one of the desks or on the old typewriter - and the quaint little piano room at the back of the hotel.

Is there anything much more inspiring than writing in such beautiful surroundings? I don't think there really is - I certainly came back planning a novel set in a gorgeous old Pisan building...

banoffee pie / recipe corner

2011-09-14T10:00:00.003+01:00

Mm, banoffee pie - don't you just love it? I've gone a bit crazy for it recently and so thought I'd share my banoffee pie recipe with you. It's a bit embarrassing, but up until a few months ago I always thought that banoffee pie was banana and coffee - which I hate - and which meant that I never even tried it. When I found a recipe and saw that instead of coffee, the magic ingredient was toffee, I knew I had to make it... and I'm glad I did! It's delicious (even if I do say so myself)!

Want to have a go at making it? Here's my easy recipe - and do let me know how you get on with it if you have a go!

To make banoffee pie, you'll need...

300g / 10oz butter

250g / 8oz digestive biscuits

175g / 6oz caster sugar

425g / 14oz can condensed milk

2 bananas

1 tablespoon lemon juice

150ml (1/4 pint) whipping cream

25g / 1oz dark chocolate, grated

And here's how you go about making the pie...

1. Start by making the crumb case. Weigh out the digestive biscuits and crush them with a rolling pin to make them into crumbs. Next, melt 125g / 4oz butter in a saucepan and stir in the crumbs.

2. Press the crumbs into the base of a 20cm (8 inch) round flan tin, and put it in the fridge until it firms - roughly for about an hour.

3. Next, the filling. Put the rest of the butter and the caster sugar in a saucepan and heat it gently, stirring it, until the butter's melted. Stir in the condensed milk and bring it to the boil; then let it simmer for around 10 minutes until the mixture's a deep caramel colour.

4. Pour the caramel into the basea and leave it to cool, then chill until it's set.

5. Slice the bananas and toss them in the lemon juice. Put a quarter of the bananas aside for decorating the pie, and spread the rest over the filling.

6. Whip the cream and spread it over the top; then decorate with the rest of the bananas and sprinkle with chocolate.

And you're done! Cut a slice of the pie, tuck in, and enjoy...

Mock Turtle

2011-09-06T10:00:00.004+01:00

Lovely readers, let me introduce you to my favourite tearoom. Regular browsers of this blog will know that I love my tea, and with that of course my tearooms, and go to a lot - and so my favourite one has to be pretty special. Well, the vintage-inspired Mock Turtle in Brighton really is.

Why? Here's a whole list of reasons...

Its location. It's in Brighton - my favourite quirky town and my old home for three wonderful university years - and two minutes away from the sea, so it's perfect for popping into before or after a trip to the beach. It's also near The Lanes, so perfectly positioned for a bit of vintage shopping around tea time too.

The colour scheme. Blue walls, dark wooden tables, blue and white china - it's a mix of seaside and vintage which works perfectly.

The tea. Lovely teasets and delicious loose leaf tea, and each teapot also comes with another jug full of hot water (and you can ask for more, still, if you want), so you don't have to worry about spending more money ordering another pot of tea if you want to have more than a few cups.

The cakes. There's a huge selection, from the traditionals like lemon and Victoria Sponge to the more unusual - think banana cake, apple and chocolate, and carrot and ginger. And they're all lovely and light.

The price - a pot of tea and a cake will set you back about £4, which really isn't too bad at all.

The atmosphere - finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Mock Turtle has a lovely, relaxed vibe to it; somewhere where you feel like you could sit all afternoon and completely switch off.

If you're ever in Brighton, do pay it a visit.

Where's your favourite place to get tea?

lavender

2011-09-04T14:33:00.004+01:00

It's lavender season in England; early Autumn is when they harvest the fields of sheaves and dry, distill and do a myriad of other clever things to them to make the lovely scented oils, incense sticks, soaps, sachets and so on.
I talk about London a lot, but I actually live a little outside the city, in Surrey. My home town, Carshalton, is relatively famous (at least, in the lavender industry) for growing the stuff - we have fields and fields of lavender here, and there's even a rather monstrous statue of some lavender sheaves in the town centre. (That may seem an odd choice of statue, and it is, but in actual fact, that's really Carshalton's only claim to fame - apart from having a well that Anne Boleyn was said to have stopped at once on her way to London, and being the birthplace of Bradley from S Club 7. Yep.)

One of my favourite summer Sunday afternoon pasttimes is walking in the lavender fields - they're planted in December and generally flower from July to late August, when they get harvested. This year, it's quite late - they're not harvesting until next weekend, the second weekend of September - and so I went for one last little walk in the fields.

Have you ever been walking in lavender fields? If so, you'll be able to understand me when I say I can't describe the smell. We're most probably all familiar with the scent of lavender, but when you're laying in fields surrounded by it, it's overwhelming - and gorgeous! It's so calming just to go for a slow wander or lie in the gaps between the rows in the afternoon with a good book.

If you're after some lavender products, may I suggest having a look at Mayfield Lavender's online shop - they're my most local lavender fields and their products are all local, organic and really, really lovely.

friday fives / just a minute: september

2011-09-02T15:30:00.000+01:00

These images felt quite autumnal to me, and so apt for the beginning of September - the beginning of autumn, already.

5 photos come this week from the amazing photographer Anna Amphigorously.

And it's that time again - here's Just a Minute for September...

This month, I am...

Reading... The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell, Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon van der Booy and Caitlin Moran's fantastic How to be a Woman.

Buying... silly amounts of dresses (I blame the bad shopping infleunce of my friend Lauren!)

Listening... to Ed Sheeran. I think I may be a little in love with his music.

Watching... can I say nothing? I hardly have time for TV at the moment!

Loving... exciting thoughts about the future...

Planning... fun weekends with friends :)

Do you want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's blog via August Street, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

left my heart in Lucca

2011-09-01T18:00:00.000+01:00

The beautiful medieval walled Italian town of Lucca - now one of my favourite places. On holiday in Italy last week, we decided to take a train inland from Pisa to Lucca - we'd heard good things about the town, and heard it was a little 'undiscovered' and less touristy, but really didn't know any more than that.

It's amazing; I can't put it much simpler than that. We loved it. We liked it so much that we went back a few times over the week, to wander round and soak the place up, try to commit it to memory. We had dinner there on the last night, sitting in a beautiful square, pondering on what a lovely holiday we'd had - and partly because we'd been lucky enough to find Lucca.

Why did we love it so much? Here's a brief guide to Lucca - hopefully it'll inspire you to visit, too...

Lucca was initially a Roman city - an important trading town - so its streets are uniformly laid out in squares and blocks, making it easy to navigate if you know where you're going, or pretty much like a maze to navigate if you're not used to the town, and don't have a map (which we didn't).
There are still many heavy influences from Roman history; Lucca has natural thermal springs, and there are still "Bagni Comunali" (communal baths) in the walls of the town itself, with lots of spas just outside the town, in the mountains.

Lucca is quiet and peaceful; imposing medieval walls enclose the whole city, which means that there are relatively few cars and vans inside Lucca itself; it feels a bit like a secret, and makes it easy to walk around at your leisure. The walls themselves are huge; there are even parks on top of them, which you can relax in, looking at the mountains in the distance, before venturing down into the city.

Inside the city, the buildings are beautiful; very typically Tuscan, with large imposing churches, cute cobbled squares and small rivers with fountains.

The main square is in the shape of the old Roman amphitheatre; now updated and lined with medieval buildings and rather more modern restaurants, the square has a unique elliptical shape and is lovely to gaze at and wander round; there are also some beautiful shops in the aptly named Piazza di Amfiteatro.

Markets - every Italian town has them, but in Lucca they're more than just your local fruit and veg stalls. Our favourite was the antiques market, selling anything from old books to furniture to old classical guitars and jewellery. Spreading over a few cobbled squares, it's great to wander around...

And for those of you who are after a bit of culture and music while you're away, Lucca is the perfect town. There are chic cheese and wine bars in squares, museums of contemporary art, and an abundance of music - there's a concert of some kind almost every night, either in a church or outside in a square for everyone to hear.

Lucca, as you can probably tell from this post, really swept us away; it's a beautiful place, and well worth a visit if you're ever in Tuscany. Tempted to go? ;)

mid-week inspiration: lissy elle

2011-08-31T09:07:00.000+01:00

Middle of the week already; how?! Here's some photography inspiration to appeal to the child in all of us from the hugely talented photographer Lissy Elle - I adore her work! Particularly love how carefree and relaxing these images are; the perfect balance to a hectic London lifestyle.

I went back to work yesterday after 10 wonderful days off and, of course, an amazing holiday - and wow, the lifestyle change really did hit me. Two delayed trains, a queue of heavy traffic and several rude people meant stress levels were the highest they'd been in a week and a half - and all before 9am, before I even got into the office. A little bit overwhelming! Don't get me wrong, I love London, and I love to be kept busy - but going away and remembering what it is to relax and take life slowly and then being thrown suddenly back into such a hectic mindset and lifestyle is a little bit daunting. I'll get used to it again, and not feel so tired, in a few days time - but in the meantime, I love the photos above for their relaxing inspiration :)

How do you destress from your busy lives, and make sure that you have time to unwind? I've been thinking of trying a bedtime ritual, like burning lavender incense, reading a book, having a bath or doing yoga. Do any of you have pre-bedtime relaxing rituals?

Touring Tuscany...

2011-08-29T11:13:00.000+01:00

Quaint little hilltop towns contrasted with large bustling passionate cities, tall medieval mustard yellow buildings with green shutters and iron railed balconies line cobbled streets.
Large, ancient squares with imposing statues and outdoor gelaterias, where locals eat ice cream all through the day and into the night.
Gorgeous medieval distinctive architecture in every cathedral, belltower and any other important building; off-white Carrera marble with flashes of green and white and red Tuscan columns, positioned on top of each other growing the towers further and further skywards.
The best pasta you've ever tasted; sitting in little family-run restaurants with a glass of wine, some buffalo mozzarella, crusty warmed bread and some amazing lasagna, gnocchi or even just simple spaghetti al pomodoro, twirling it around your fork and slopping it into your mouth Italian-style.
Beautiful undiscovered beaches with raked golden sand, bright orange parasols and almost crystal blue water; calm sea with gentle waves that sweep you out to look back at the beach, the hot sky and the cascading mountains in the distance as you float.
Hazy evenings spent sitting in Florentine squares amidst imposing buildings and Roman statues; listening to a man playing classical guitar, watching the night pass by under candelight.

Tuscany. I knew it would be beautiful - but I had no idea just how beautiful. I've had one of the most wonderful weeks exploring Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Tirrenia and the surrounding areas (including a little detour to Rome on the last day of the holiday), and absolutely fell in love with the area - as you most probably can tell from my descriptions.
I'll write a few posts about Italy, over the next couple of weeks - there were so many amazing experiences during my time away and lovely little places and shops that I really do need a good few posts to share everything with you.

Suffice it to say for the moment, then, that the Tuscany region of Italy is stunning, and that you must go there at least once in your life. And as for me? I feel so completely refreshed, re-energised and re-focused on life; a holiday was just what I needed after a hectic rollercoaster over the past 12 months!

friday fives: italia

2011-08-19T06:41:00.008+01:00

I'm off to Italia! I leave this morning, and will be spending a lovely week lazing about in the sun and exploring Tuscany - Florence, Pisa and the surrounding areas. I am so very excited!

Just a very quick post today, but hope you like these five photos of beautiful Italy - and more to follow when I get back from there myself! Have a lovely week, everyone.

5 photos

sweet charity

2011-08-17T08:47:00.002+01:00

Caritaz jewellery; have you heard of it? I came across the gorgeous range the other day, and loved its pieces and the concept behind it so much that I had to share it with you.

What makes Caritaz special? Not only is the jewellery itself really beautiful - as well as the pendants above, there's a whole range of charms, accessories, rings and and cuff links, all decorated with lovely Swarovski crystals - but it's all for an excellent cause.

Caritaz was founded in 2009 with the aim of raising funds and awareness for worldwide charities. Each piece of jewellery it sells is designed especially for and dedicated to one particular charity, and the company donate a large proportion of the sale of each piece to the cause. So you get a beautiful piece of jewellery, and help a charity at the same time - seems like a win-win situation!

So what is there to buy, and what cause does it help? The Swarovski Crystal Butterfly Pendant and the Swarovski Clover Crystal Pendants, above, have to be my favourite pieces from Caritaz. Made of silver, rhodium and, of course, Swarovski crystals, they both retail at £80, or £120 with a chain. Best of all, buy these pieces and you'll be helping children's hospices (the Butterfly Pendant) or domestic violence charities (the Clover Pendant) - a cause which is especially close to my heart.

I also love these charms; in a variety of colours and decorated with Swarovski crystals, they detail the name of the cause they're helping (eg skin cancer and liver disease) on the inside of the charm, and retail at £45. Very cute.

You can purchase Caritaz jewellery through their site, or at several stores across the UK.

whistle a happy tune

2011-08-15T10:28:00.000+01:00

Do you believe in karma? I do. I might not seem like it, really, or talk about it much, but I'm a very spiritual person, and most definitely believe that what goes around, comes around. I'm also a little superstitious, and I have this little thing where if something bad happens, or I feel negative, in any way - and not necessarily through my actions - I have to do something positive to counteract it. In my head, it's all about balancing it out; I feel like by doing something positive, and giving out good karma, there'll be a little bit of good karma that comes back to me, and to those around me, eventually.

And this is what happened the other day. Flowers always make me smile, and they make my mum smile, too. I bought her some when we were both feeling a little down about the riots, and put them in a pretty vase for her. She really liked them, which obviously made me happy for her, and soon enough things seemed a little less melancholy. And there's my kind of karma for you...

Aren't they pretty?

P.S. A little apology that there were no Friday Fives this week - it was a bit of an odd week by all accounts. Back with them next week :)

Travel Accessories - Julie Slater and Son

2011-08-11T15:00:00.001+01:00

When you commute nearly an hour and a half to and from work, as I do every weekday, you learn the importance of a good travel card holder really rather quickly. The standard National Rail card holder won't last anyone with a hint of a fashion sense very long at all as it's really rather dull, and it's really quite surpising how hard it is to find an alternative travel card holder that's not only good quality but actually looks nice too.
Over the past year in which I've been commuting to London every day from Surrey, I've bought a total of four travel card holders, all of which in turn have either fallen apart or lost all their prettiness a few weeks into use. My latest one, for example, I bought for its pretty pink floral pattern - which then rubbed off completely two weeks into use, leaving me with a plain grey travel card holder. Not exactly what I had in mind when I bought it.

So when Julie Slater and Son offered to send me one of their travel card holders, I was more than happy to give one a try. I'd heard good things about the company and the quality of their range of travel accessories before, and it turns out their travel card holders are no exception.

Knowing as you do my love for anything floral, it probably doesn't come as any surprise that I chose the Daisy Chain oyster card holder for its gorgeous print! It's beautifully made, as well - real leather on the outside (smells lovely!), two clear windows with matching printed fabric lining and a further leather pocket on the back of the card holder too. It's a perfect size too, of course, and the best bit is that this really feels like a travel card holder that will last - one that won't fall apart or have its pattern rub off a week into use! It's available to order from the Julie Slater and Son website for £13.50 - really very good value for a high quality, leather product.

If floral travel cards aren't really your thing, Julie Slater and Son have around nine other card holders with different prints to choose from - as well as a whole range of other travel accessories, bags and purses in various designs.

Disclaimer: I was sent a Daisy Chain Travel Card Holder by Julie Slater and Son to reviewand keep, free of charge. This post contains my honest and independent thoughts on the product I received.

London Riots: Croydon

2011-08-09T21:16:00.002+01:00

Over the course of the past four evenings, London, the city I live and grew up in, has been transformed into a place I can hardly relate to. The horrific violence which started in Tottenham over the weekend under the guise of a protest has quickly spread to other boroughs, bringing with it not only large groups of threatening people but extreme looting, arson and danger.

Many of you who read this blog will know that I commute to London every day from Greater London. What most of you won’t know is that I live just outside Croydon, the town which witnessed riots last night so harrowing that they were termed ‘the worst in Britain’s living history’.

As I sat at home, thankfully safe last night, I watched in utter disbelief as the town I’ve grown up in, the town that is home, was all but destroyed. I watched it on national news channels in a way that felt very out-of-touch, very untrue; it felt like it couldn’t actually be happening. Had that many people really taken to the streets? Were that many people really breaking into every single shop on the high street and beyond and looting it for all it was worth? Were so many really so lacking of any basic human compassion that they didn’t care about hurting those around them - police officers and fellow rioters alike?

Reeves Corner - pictured above, in flames - was a large furniture shop, taking up a whole corner plot in Central Croydon. It was incredibly famous, a landmark, and had been a family business since the 1800s; it had survived two world wars, including the blitz, and a multitude of other problems in the past. It was also razed to the ground last night by a gang of destructive individuals who decided they quite fancied a free sofa or two, and had better set fire to the place afterwards for good measure.

The owners of Reeves Corner are now predicted to be bankrupt, their staff out of work, and their livelihoods completely destroyed. Worst of all, though, must be the insult and disregard to the generations of hard-working men and women that struggled to keep Reeves Corner running - and the way centuries of work was destroyed in just a few hours. Where was the respect for a business which had never done anyone anything but good? What was the point to be made in creating a fire so huge at Reeves Corner that it not only destroyed the shop but also threatened the residential areas around it, causing people to jump from their windows to save their lives? How can there ever possibly be a justified reason for that?

Reeves Corner wasn’t the only fire in Croydon - or, indeed, in London - last night, but it was the biggest. It scared people; it scared my friends who live in Croydon, and my family. It scared me.

The thing is, I’ve always defended Croydon. I’ve joked about it in a negative way, but it’s been in an affectionate way; I’ve always had a soft spot for the place I grew up in, the place people criticise and attach such a strong reputation to, but the place I’ve always felt relatively safe in. After last night, I wasn’t so sure I’d ever be able to do that again; I felt betrayed by the actions of a group of people who had taken over and destroyed my town, who had even destroyed and injured each other - who had even killed a man. I was disgusted.

This morning, though, I saw hope. I woke up to a multitude of support messages for Croydon from Facebook friends and Twitter followers; and I read the plans for a clean-up Croydon support effort starting from 10am. I had to work, but I heard that hundreds of people who were able to turned out with brooms and brushes and other basic cleaning equipment and did their bit to clean up Croydon today. And yes, tonight there’s still a lot more work to be done to restore Croydon to a town which doesn’t look like it’s located in a war zone; and yes, there are bound to be further riot attempts from the mindless minority around the area. But I am comforted and reassured that the vast majority of people in Croydon are just as disgusted by this devastation as I am, and that people can and will pull together to help.

Just as a few came together to destroy the area last night, so will so many more pull together to clean-up and restore the town to what it was, for everyone who calls Croydon and the surrounding area home. As I’ve read and heard repeated so many times today by my friends and acquaintances, Croydon may have had a reputation as a bit of a dump, but it’s our dump, and no one had any right to damage it.

I know you don’t usually read this blog for long, sad stories about problems in London, or elsewhere. I know this is a corner of the internet usually reserved for things that are inspirational, and the problems in Croydon last night can hardly be called that. But I felt compelled to write this, because the resilience, determination and willingness to help that people in Croydon and beyond showed today - that truly was inspirational.

As I write this tonight, reports are coming in of violence spreading beyond London; to Birmingham, Manchester and even further afield. I hope, deeply, that this is untrue, and that the rioters will be dispersed before any more violent acts occur. To anyone who has been or will be affected in any way by the rioting across the UK, though: courage. Let’s not let a few spoil the towns and spirits of so many others. Let’s be strong, resilient and courageous. And instead of destruction, let’s show how inspirational our actions - and our clean-up efforts - can be.

If you'd like to help clean-up Croydon, and London, please visit the Riot Clean-Up site or follow the Riot Clean Up Twitter feed to find out more.

Photo credit

Just a Minute: August

2011-08-07T18:32:00.011+01:00

How on earth is it August already? This year is flying by! Proof of how oblivious I am at the moment to time passing comes with the fact that it's 7 days into the month and I've only just remembered to do Just a Minute for August... oh dear!

Anyway, here's a little round-up of my various flavours of the month.

This month, I am...

Reading... lots of blogs and magazines

Buying... sunhats, suncream, flights, a hotel and travel insurance - it's holiday month!

Listening... to ska, Chase & Status, Tinie Tempah, reggae, Einaudi and some old R&B... an eclectic mix, as ever.

Watching... Dynamo: Magician Impossible and Penn & Teller's Fool Us - I love magic and anything mysterious!

Loving... the glimpses of summer we're having, the fact I'm going on holiday soon and the fact I'm feeling contented with, and focused on, where life is heading for me at the moment

Planning... holiday outfits and itineraries!

Do you want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's blog via August Street, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

Above photo is taken from Rosemarie.'s flickr photostream, and is just beautiful, don't you think?

friday fives

2011-08-05T20:52:00.000+01:00

5 photos this week from wonderful flickr user A Twitch Upon The Thread's photostream. These images reflect what would basically make my perfect weekend - books and exploring the countyside. Love it.
I've had a real urge to go fruit-picking lately, hence the top photo; I think some fruit is still in season for the next few weeks, so I may well do a bit of research to find out where I can go to get my hands on some strawberries, raspberries, or whatever else they have. Not sure if there are really any fruit picking farms around London, though, so I may have to venture further out into the Surrey countryside... we'll see.

5 things that made me smile this week:

The most perfectly relaxing weekend with my boyfriend last weekend, including a delicious pub lunch on Sunday
A long walk in the countryside with the boy after said pub lunch
A very fun night out with my work colleagues on Thursday
A lovely lunch with work colleagues today
Booking a very gorgeous hotel for my holiday to Italy in two weeks' time!

5 things I'm looking forward to in the coming week:

A very lazy weekend at home, for the first time in a long time
Holiday shopping (anyone know where there are any nice hats on the high street at the moment?)
A few dinners and drinking sessions with lovely friends
Going wandering in lavender fields this weekend
A couple of secret, very exciting things going on at the moment - life is good...

H&M Home Collection 2011

2011-08-02T20:25:00.013+01:00

H&M - one of my favourite clothing stores - have just launched their Autumn/Winter 2011 Home collection, and I've spent ages poring over it! It's so inspiring; full of bright colours, floral patterns (which of course, I love), bold fruit motifs, words woven into fabrics and lovely complex textures.

On their website, H&M have broken the collection down into a few distinct categories, each with their own unique styling: Sharp Simplicity, Sweet Sensation, Always at Home, Industrial Modern and Bohemian Chic. The photos you see here are a mix of the last two categories - the bottom three images are from Industrial Modern which is definitely on trend in terms of current popular style, while the top five are from Bohemian Chic, reflecting styles that seem to be more core to H&M brand's design identity.

I'm definitely mostly a Bohemian Chic kind of person, I have to say (hello inner hippy)... I adore everything from that part of the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. It also seems to be the part which H&M themselves are leading with, appearing most prominently on the Home landing page.

Lovely collection - and very inspiring!

Images from here, here and here.

friday fives

2011-07-29T12:59:00.007+01:00

5 summer-inspired photos this week from flickr user f-fotografie - German photographer Julia Flot's flickr photostream. Have a look at more of Julia's work on her official website - she's incredibly talented!

Why the summer inspired photos? Because I've booked flights, and shortly will have booked a hotel too, for my summer holiday - to Italy!
I'm flying out to Pisa with one of my closest girl friends (who's currently living the dream, staying with a family over there by the sea near Rome and teaching them English - so jealous!). We're spending a week doing Pisa, Florence, Lucca as well as most likely a trip to the seaside... and I cannot wait!

5 things that made me smile this week:

Arranging holidays, of course

Cosy pub lunch with my family last Sunday

Taking the dog for walks in the lovely Buckinghamshire countryside last weekend

Getting a few exciting emails

Interviewing the fantastic photographer Chris Craymer this week

5 things that I'm looking forward to:

Seeing Carlos Acosta Premieres Plus in London tonight

An impromptu trip up to see my boyfriend this weekend

Drinks and fun nights planned for next week

Catching up with old friends next week, eventually!

My holiday... of course!

Love, Britain

2011-07-25T10:00:00.002+01:00

To be honest, the UK's had a bit of a hard time recently, hasn't it? Phone hacking scandals, the ongoing rather depressing economy and sporting failures (oh dear again, Murray) - not to mention the weather being distinctly more autumn/winter than spring/summer. We all seem to be giving Britain a pretty hard time, don't we?

Here's a little injection of patriotic affection in the form of a blog post, then. These images show some of the things I love the most about where I live - red telephone boxes (and their link to long-standing traditions and history); gorgeous nature and forests that have stood for hundreds of years; cosy old cottages in the countryside with windowseats, open fires and dark wood beams; and large open fields with rolling hills. So pretty, non?
It's so easy to forget all this, though, and I think we do, all too often. I think we tend to dwell on what's wrong with where we live, all the horrific news in the media, rather than focusing on the little things that make us smile, the things we take for granted, the ability these things have to pick us up when we need it; and, to me, all the little things mentioned above are very much to be enjoyed and celebrated. I think we tend to focus on the cities in Britain, the problems, dirt, crime, overcrowding and so on; and overlook - or dismiss - the countryside. But really, I've always found escaping to the countryside for a few days to be an instant pick-me-up; something to remind myself that I do really quite like Britain after all. The fact that I always think of going to the countryside as retreating - stealing myself away to a comforting, cosy kind of place - I think says it all.

I was feeling a little melancholy on Saturday morning; I'd received some not-so-great news and was feeling tired of London and the hustle and bustle of my life. I knew I had to shake myself out of the mood I was in. And so my solution? I drove through the Buckinghamshire countryside, amidst rolling hills, to my grandparents' house. I walked the dog in the woods that have been standing hundreds of years and enjoyed being surrounded by nature; I had a big, comforting Sunday lunch in an old, dark and cosy village pub. I visited a second-hand bookshop next to a village green and a duk pond where I could surround myself with books for hours, quietly browsing, and I drunk a ridiculous amount of tea along with a few too many jam cream biscuits. Little things, I know. Quintessentially British things, I suppose. But I felt - instantly - so much better.

Celebrating Britain a little bit more, I've written a blog post over at the lovely Cellardoor Magazine's blog this week on some of the best British-inspired exhibitions in London this year - do head over for a read if you fancy it!

These photos are from Flickr user Jakem's Polaroid set; do visit his photostream for more gorgoeus photos which will make you want to venture out to the British countryside too!

friday fives

2011-07-22T09:30:00.001+01:00

5 photos:
this week all from Flickr user Cristina Hoch's 'the forest' set, in celebration of the fact that I'll be going for lovely long walks in the countryside very soon - going to lovely rural Buckinghamshire for the weekend!

5 things that made me smile this week:

Securing an interview with the amazing photographer Chris Craymer - so excited to interview him!
Birthday celebrations with friends in London last Saturday
A lazy pub lunch last Sunday
Having today (Friday) off work!
Exciting thoughts and plans... :)

5 things that I'm looking forward to this week:

Getting out of London for walks in the Buckinghamshire countryside with the dog when I go to visit my grandparents this weekend
A rather fancy big family lunch planned on Sunday
Lazy evening in with the boy tonight
Catching up with friends I haven't seen in a very long time in the evenings next week
Seeing the amazing ballet dancer Carlos Acosta (for the second time in as many months!) in his new show next Friday

How have your weeks been?

two little ducks / 22

2011-07-20T22:31:00.016+01:00

So here it is; my first blog post as a 22 year old. It was my birthday and as always with these things, I don't feel any different, although apparently I'm now officially a year older (and, laughingly, wiser).

My birthday itself was on a Wednesday, so was a fairly quiet one - I went to work as normal and celebrated with a lovely Thai green curry with my parents in the evening, followed by a gorgeous chocolate birthday cake (with melted Cadbury's chocolate on top - such a guilty pleasure) to follow.
On Saturday, though, I made up for my quiet birthday with a gathering of 14 or so friends; it was so lovely to see everyone, including some people I hadn't caught up with in going on a year - can it really be that long since I finished university and moved away from Brighton now? Apparently so!
To celebrate, we went for tea and cake at a lovely vintage-inspired café in Soho, in the heart of London. We had our own private room, with records playing, old photos on the wall, a selection of old wooden tables and chairs to sit at and gorgeous tea sets - it was all very much like a typical grandmother's lounge, but in a very cute way. We had delicious cream teas and lemon cake, and the English breakfast tea was lovely, too; after all, nothing beats a cup of tea, and nothing beats loose leaf tea in particular.

After the rather civilised tea, we went for not-quite-so-civilised cocktails and wine in a bar nearby, where we all got rather merry. Lots of fun.

I've been so lucky this year. I've got some gorgeous presents from some wonderful people, and feel very spoilt and very happy. Here are a few gifts that I received:

Beautiful earrings from a lovely boyfriend:

A lovely floral Cath Kidston mug and little pot (biscuit tin?)

And amazing flowering tea:

A rather funny (and apt!) mug from work colleagues:

Pretty soaps and such:

Lush bath bombs:

And fancy chocolates:

Add to that tickets to see two ballets from my parents and money from other very kind relatives, and I really do think I did rather well for myself this year!

I feel like I'm settling, properly, into my 20s now. Not only does the number of my age now of course reflect that, but I'm starting to feel like a proper adult - like I've made the transition from teenage girl into young woman. I've been a graduate with a full-time job in PR for nearly a year now, and I'm just starting to develop my freelance writing too, something which I've wanted to do for a long time.
It's been quite an eventful time since my 21st birthday, in lots of ways; a graduation, a first full-time paid permenant job; a transition from a university relationship into singledom into a new early twenties relationship; a change in dynamics of several friendships, sometimes in the most unexpected of ways; a promotion and change of job title and some really very exciting plans for the future ahead.

21 was eventful - but ultimately, very positive. And now, you know what? I have a feeling 22 will be even better; I have a feeling it'll be one of the best years yet.

fives

2011-07-10T14:38:00.007+01:00

I have some news! I'm now contributing to the rather lovely Cellardoor Magazine's blog, hopefully on a weekly basis. I've written my first blog post for them this week on the best place to get a cocktail in London, and would love to hear your feedback! You can have a read of the blog post here. :)

Anyway, back to the weekly fives, which sneakily aren't on a Friday this week. The five photos this week from lovely Flickr user TeresaQ's photostream; such a great photographer - and I love the girl's white lace dress! I'm having a bit of a thing for lace at the moment...

And as for other fives:

Five things that made me smile this week:

Finding a very cute little tearoom and having tea there with one of my besties
Making birthday plans
A very lovely cocktail making session with a very good friend
Fun dancing after the cocktail making session!
Watching the Wimbledon final last Sunday - although am still a little sad that Rafa lost!

Five things I'm looking forward to this week:

My birthday. I am so very excited!
My birthday party next Saturday, joint with one of my closest friends and an opportunity to catch up with a lot of lovely people
Dinner and catch ups with an old friend on Monday
Further catch ups with friends on Thursday
My work's summer party - basically a half day off work and an excuse to enjoy a BBQ - on Friday. How exciting!

Restaurant Review: Samarqand

2011-07-06T21:06:00.006+01:00

Have you ever tried Uzbek food? Up until very recently, I can't say I ever had - or particularly had ever realised that I wanted to.
Finding myself standing outside restaurant Samarqand, though, I have to say that I was intrigued. Located near London's Bond Street station, it's an inconspicuous little place tucked away amidst the standard Italian chains, Indian restaurants and English pubs - and a welcome change.

With the menu positioned on a stand outside two large black double doors at street level, those deciding that the food takes their fancy then venture down a dark wooden staircase into the basement restaurant below. It's all rather mysterious and atmospheric.

Soft lighting, cushions, intricate patterns and wooden decorations all set a very calming scene, with impeccable and friendly service; but, of course, we were here for the food, the most important thing about any restaurant. And, luckily enough for Samarqand, their food is delicious.

Ordering a round of starters, we tried a variety of dishes, such as the Choochwara, aromatic grilled meat dumplings with soya dressing and mixed leaves, and the Funchoza, a spicy rice noodle dish with beef and carrots that delivered quite a kick.
Moving onto mains, we deliberated over the menu for quite a while - so much looked great, and the starters had really whetted our appetite. Despite very nearly going for the Manty - steamed lamb dumplings with Asian herbs and yoghurt dressing - and being incredibly tempted by the Alanga, fried minced meat laid on handmade pasta sheets served with yoghurt, the most traditional dish was the one that eventually caught my eye.
I have to admit that it was the name I saw at the top of the menu which made me laughingly choose it at first. Plov. I'd never heard of a plov, but the friendly waiter told me it was the most famous, most typical - and, best of all, most delicious - dish on the menu.Well, with that recommendation, how could I resist?

Half an hour and a glass of rather nice wine later, I was presented with a huge plate full of perfectly cooked rice, chunky lamb pieces, spiced onions, carrots and chillis and a cool refreshing tomato side salad. Beautifully presented on a gorgeous blue china dish - a rather novel step away from the usual plain white restaurant dining plate - it was a perfectly size portion and really did taste great.
Unusual in its flavour combinations, if there had to be a criticism of the dish it would have to be that it could have done with a sauce or something similar - it was a little dry, but perhaps that's just how the cuisine is (my experience of Uzbek food is, after all, really very limited). That, and perhaps also the fact that I mistakenly chewed and swallowed a whole chilli, which ruined my taste buds for the remainder of the dish (but I acknowledge that as my own stupid fault!)

Bond Street is notorious for being a bit pricy; and the fact that I was dining out with a selection of lawyers and bankers didn't exactly help keep the cost down to my media industry salary budget. However, sometimes paying a little more than you usually would is justified when it's a really unusual dining experience you're not bound to experience again too soon - and this is the case with Samarqand. Starters came in between £9 and £15 each, with mains averaging around the £14 mark, without sides.

Would I make Uzbek cuisine a regular choice of mine? I can't say I liked it quite that much, although it was really good, and definitely worth a try. And besides, it's always good to try something different; after all, when's the last time you tried Uzbek, Russian or Mongolian cuisine?

You can visit Samarqand's website - and find out more information including location and booking availability - here.

just a minute / (very exciting) friday fives

2011-07-01T22:01:00.008+01:00

So I start this month with some very exciting news - I've been promoted at work this month! I am now an Account Executive - and very pleased about it!

In other news, another month has apparently flown by; here are the friday fives for this week and Just a Minute for this month.

Five photos from my month

Banksy print I saw in Bristol last weekend
Cupcakes (an essential part of any month)
A ticket to the ballet Romeo and Juliet at the 02 Arena - amazing!
A little leaflet and goodie bag from the Life in a Day premiere I went to a few weeks ago
Ice cream - summer's here!

Five things that made me smile this week

Getting promoted!
Seeing two old friends together for the first time in a long time
A very nice weekend in Bristol
Sorting out birthday plans
Errr, can I say getting promoted again?!

Five things I'm looking forward to this coming week

Enjoying my boyfriend's birthday present (tickets to a show) with him tomorrow
Watching the Wimbledon final!
Seeing one of my besties for dinner early next week
Seeing another friend for dinner late next week
Booking a much-needed holiday!

And this month, I am...

Reading... Great House by Nicole Krauss, and some old Philippa Gregory novels again

Buying... Lots of dinners out, birthday treats and holidays

Listening... to Motown, my usual random selection and a variety of my boyfriend's car cds

Watching... the new series of True Blood - so excited that this is back!

Loving... my new job title ;)

Planning... the next few weekends, afternoon tea and birthday celebrations

Want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

balloons, butterflies, books and beauty

2011-06-29T22:18:00.010+01:00

A little bit of mid-week laid-back photography from flickr user _acido's today - balloons, butterflies, books and generally many beautiful images. Stumbled across her relaxed and atmospheric photography a few weeks ago and knew I had to post it - what a discovery! :)

Posting some lovely relaxing images while burning some lavender incense to a bid to help me chill out a little before trying to get some sleep tonight. I've been so so tired this week, but struggling to actually sleep - it's been impossibly hot and stuffy in London, and since I have a loft room here at home it seems to trap all the heat in (cold in the winter, warm in the summer, oh dear). I've had four windows open and a fan on and still have been lying on top of the bed for hours just waiting to get off to sleep... and it's resulted in me getting something like 6 hours of sleep for the past few nights. Yawn!

In other news, are any of you watching Wimbledon, and who are you supporting? I watch tennis religiously for these two weeks every year - I love it so much and always try to get tickets, although I didn't manage to get any this year. Very pleased in my most patriotic way that Andy Murray has got through to the semi-finals now, although anyone who knows me at all knows that my heart lies with Rafael Nadal (vamos Rafa!)... and so am struggling to know where my loyalties lie when it comes to the Murray vs Nadal match on Friday! Who gets your support - Murray or Nadal?!

a little bit awol / delayed fives

2011-06-21T14:00:00.000+01:00

Oh what a week...

Hello hello. I am sorry for a week's absence - I even missed posting the Friday Fives for the first week in ages, and I hold my hands up to being a bit of a rubbish blogger. Excuses? Well apart from running around London and working hard as usual, I was also feeling a little under the weather (bit of a cold), a little sad (long story) and just generally very very tired - I think my 12-hours-a-day-out-of-the-house and out-all-weekend-every-weekend lifestyle finally caught up with me.
In truth, I think I was just too tired to blog, and felt like all my inspiration had gone (and that right there is the problem with an inspiration-based blog... when you're tired and the inspiration in your life goes, so do your blog posts!)

But it wasn't all bad last week, as you'll see below - because here are a few very delayed Friday Fives, presented to you with a little apology for lateness and a promise to be back on form from now on :)

Five Photos

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Five things that made me smile last week

Going to a film premiere on Tuesday - lots of fun! Life in a Day is an amazing film; review to follow on the blog shortly :)

Going to the ballet! I saw the amazing Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Ballet at the 02 arena, and it was just beautiful. We had some impressive seats (right by the stage!) and it most definitely rekindled my love for ballet all over again.

My friend coming to stay with me for the night on Friday - was lovely to see her and catch up, gossip and giggle together

More cocktails in teacups! Another trip to lovely London bar Bourne & Hollingsworth with some uni friends - it was lovely to see them!

Making some very exciting plans with some very lovely friends - birthday plans, holiday plans, weekend mini-break plans...

5 things that I'm looking forward to this week:

Seeing the amazing-sounding Merchants of Bollywood at Sadlers Wells on Wednesday night

A little road-trip to Bristol this weekend to meet the boyfriend's parents. Ok, perhaps the meeting-the-parents part isn't exactly something I'm 'looking forward to', but Bristol itself should be fun?!

Two days off work, and a three day week!

Catching up with old close friends

Celebrating my boyfriend's birthday with him on Thursday evening :)

120 in my 20s: seventy-three

2011-06-13T22:30:00.011+01:00

For a while now, I've had a new tab at the top of my blog - 120 in my 20s. Many of you have even asked about it, but I've kept relatively quiet as to what it is and why it's there - in all honesty, I felt a bit embarrassed about it.

Here's why.

One day, a little disillusioned with my life for a variety of reasons and wondering where (if anywhere) it was going, my 21 year old self decided to make a bucket list of 120 things I really wanted to accomplish. I tapped them out really quickly, sitting in my room on my laptop, and was surprised that I could find 120 things just off the top of my head that I really, really wanted to do.

Some are physical experiences - attend a Wimbledon finals tennis match; make a dress; see a Matthew Bourne ballet; move back to Brighton. Some are educational - learn French enough to converse with a French person; learn to play the piano so that I can play Einaudi's Andare; get another qualification. Some are silly, small things - stargaze; walk hand-in-hand along a beach with someone, barefoot, at sunset; fly a kite. A great deal are food or travel related - do a Buddhist meditation in a Buddhist country; go to Berlin and touch the Berlin Wall; buy chocolates from a chocolatier in France.
And some are personal, spiritual, and meaningful to me - write a letter to myself and seal it, to open on my 30th birthday; find love again; learn to like myself and accept what has happened to me in the past.

Presented as I was with a mix of things written hurriedly and without any real thought as a page on this blog, I decided to publish the page but do nothing about it for a while. I kept checking it sometimes, usually when life got busy, and would be reminded of the amazing things I wanted to do but hadn't got round to; was too busy for.
And so I decided: it was time to start crossing things off the list. And, as an extra challenge, and ambitious as I am, I decided: I'd do all these things in my 20s.

And so here I am, a few weeks away from my 22nd birthday, and pleased to say that I've accomplished a few things on the list already, in no particular order. And so here is the first, of what I hope will be many, blog posts about my 120 in my 20s project.

SEVENTY THREE: VISIT THE COLOSSEUM IN ROME

When one of my closest friends suggested a long weekend in Rome, I immediately jumped at the chance. As a big fan of Roman history, the capital of Italy was somewhere I'd always longed to go to - and, in particular, I wanted to visit the Colosseum.

Why is a visit to the Colosseum on my bucket list, and not the Vatican, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain or any one of Rome's other staggeringly impressive sites? Because, I suppose, the Colosseum is such an iconic landmark of the city: to take photos of the Colosseum, to wander around the outside and gaze all the way up the sides and to stand inside and look over the vast expanse of the stadium and imagine all the people inside - that really represents Rome and all the history and myths and tales associated with it that no other landmark does in quite the same way.

Visiting the Colosseum was on my 120s in my 20s list, and was a very special one for me; and this is why. The first day I arrived in Rome, I was on my own; my friends were joining me later that evening, but I'd got an early flight out of London and had the day to explore the city on my own. I left my bags at the hotel and, at about midday on this particular day in February, I walked from my hotel, over some squares and towards the Colosseum. I felt like an explorer, like someone discovering something amazing for the first time - alone and intrigued and determined in this city. The building came into sight as I walked past the ancient Roman fora on both sides of me, and I instinctively sped up my pace as I rushed towards it. There was some kind of draw to the Colosseum, which I can't explain - perhaps I never will be able to.
I didn't pay to go in, that first day; I went inside the Colosseum with my friends the day after. Instead, I sat outside the Colosseum and stared up at it, memorising every line and curve and crevice in my mind and trying to take snapshots of it in my head, so that it would never fade.

I can't describe how or why I'd exactly wanted to visit the Colosseum all my life; I can't describe how, aside from it being an amazing building, it had somewhat more of a strong pull for me. I also can't describe how I found that sitting outside it on my own that day, for what I was surprised to find had been hours, was somehow profoundly moving.
What I do know, though, is that visiting the Colosseum - a lifetime goal for me - was the first of my one hundred and twenty goals that I ticked off the list. And one experience that I will never forget.

friday fives

2011-06-10T10:30:00.006+01:00

Flowers, sleep, dresses, books and tea... what else does anyone need for a perfect lazy weekend? Just a short friday fives this week as I'm still a little poorly :(

5 photos

5 highlights of the (unwell) week

My cousin's baby shower last Saturday, full of lovely Jamaican food and rum punch
A lazy Sunday evening takeaway with friends (though possible the source of the illness!)
Getting into an amazing book (Never Let Me Go - review to follow once I've finished!)
Feeling better
UK Tennis season starting - the best time of the year

5 things I'm looking forward to over the next week

Going to the Queen's Club tennis finals on Sunday!
Seeing my boyfriend
Going to see the new X-Men film (embracing my inner geek!)
Dinner with a friend (I feel like this is on my things-to-look-forward-to list every week, apologies for the repetition!)
Going to see the ballet Romeo and Juliet - now only just over a week away!

poorly / beach retreat

2011-06-08T21:34:00.002+01:00

Hello, how are you all? Apologies for the lack of update since Friday, but I've been quite unwell the past few days; I woke up on Monday morning with horrible stomach cramps, sickness, aching and dizziness. Just a stomach bug, I think, but it's really hit me hard, and I've only really been able to manage resting in bed or laying on the sofa sleepily.

I've been thinking about holidays lately, as I think I've mentioned here before; but being unwell has made me think about getting away even more. I stumbled across photos of this lovely little beach house in Seasalter, Kent, a while ago, and drafted a post with all the images saved - and, for a quick post, I thought it'd be perfect to share for a bit of interior and holiday inspiration.

I love the shade of blue inside the house, and, of course, the beautiful green of the countryside surrounding it. And the beach! I know it's always said that British beaches aren't a patch on beaches anywhere else, but I think they get a bit of a hard time of it - there are some lovely beaches over here (if you search hard enough for them...), very quiet and tranquil and with a British charm all of their own (!)

If you'd like to see more photos of the beach house, you can find them here.

just a minute: june / friday fives

2011-06-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

How is it Friday again already? And JUNE? The weeks are flying past at the moment!

I also have two weeks to catch up on with the Friday Fives, since Blogger was playing up again for me last week... hopefully this post will work though! :)

5 photos

5 links:

Penguin Beach - a new exhibit that's just opened at London Zoo!
An amazing panorama of Paris
Creative spaces - a gallery of art studios
The best 100 opening lines from books
A gallery of bookshelves from The Guardian

5 things that made me smile the past little while

A (rather messy) cocktail-making session with friends last weekend
A dinner date in London with my boyfriend incorporating, of course, cocktails in teacups
Lovely tapas in London and celebrating a bestie's birthday in Brighton
Two trips to comedy clubs in two weeks: one to see stand-up, and one to see an improvisation comedy group. Both amazing!

And another 5 things that have made me smile lately

Seeing Barack Obama's helicopter flying over London
Lazy dinner dates with friends
A four day week this week
Work going well :)
Treating myself to a few new dresses for payday!

And 5 things I'm looking forward to:

Summer!
My cousin's baby shower this weekend
Going out for a curry soon with friends - it's been too long!
Researching yoga and ballet classes to go to after work
Wimbledon and Queen's Club tennis starting

Since it's also (crazily!) the beginning of June, it's time for my little monthly blog feature, Just a Minute.

This month, I am:

Reading... Her Fearful Symmetry by Margaret Atwood. I've also loved The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox this month, and am moving on to Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert next.

Buying... lots of summer dresses, and lots of things in various shades of blue, apparently

Listening... to Einaudi, and Latin music, as always

Watching... The Apprentice, and new Louis Theroux documentaries

Loving... the fact it's nearly summer, and that I'm getting into writing again.

Planning... writing projects and summer plans

Want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

bourne & hollingsworth

2011-06-01T11:00:00.005+01:00

Unsuspecting but intriguing, Bourne and Hollingsworth has realised a goal that many cocktail bars strive for but rarely manage to achieve; it is, quite simply, different. Yes, it may be so small that there’s hardly enough room to swing a cat, let alone dance to a gramophone record - and yes, it may be teetering slightly on the worse side of shabby chic - but its dedication and enthusiasm for quirky cool in the heart of media London makes this a stand-out venue.

After several recommendations from friends and colleagues, and finding ourselves near Goodge Steet and in the mood for a cocktail one Friday night, we decided to pay the small bar on Rathbone Street a visit. Tucked away in a basement on a street corner next to a busy restaurant, it's very easy to miss completely; we ourselves had mistakenly wandered past twice, ending up, confused, near the BT tower or down some long-forgotten alleyway.

Realising after we ventured down the stairs to the Bourne & Hollingsworth basement that we'd be sharing the place with exactly eight others, we soon found that a situation which would have been off-putting in any other Central London bar at 10pm on a Friday actually felt strangely and intimately endearing at Bourne and Hollingsworth.

After all, set out like a crazed long-lost great Aunt’s lounge that was in need of a spot of decorating some 50 years ago, it’s definitely a step away from the loud pubs and booming music of the modern world outside. This place has a way of warmly luring you in, with teacups on tables, floral wallpaper, frilly lampshades and framed needlework on the walls. Oh, and the promise of a Jammie Dodger with your cocktail, of course.

Propped up against the bar, we listened to the DJ - a choice of entertainment which may seem slightly out of place, but, like everything in this strange juxtaposition of a Central London bar, it just works - and examined the origami-like folded paper menu. Pleasantly surprised by the variety of different and unique cocktails that were on offer, little symbols by each cocktail to show how it’s served is particularly appealing if you're someone who chooses drinks on appearances and names over the actual contents. Alongside the normal cocktail glass, there are drinks in an array of different objects, and we chose one in a jam jar and one in a tea cup - a floral tea cup, no less, with a saucer and a piece of shortbread. Impressive, and tasty, the cocktails themselves are strong and not really too expensive for London prices - we paid just under £15 for two.

Incredibly friendly barmen are also on hand to take pity on any bewildered first-timers gazing round in bemused wonder at the place, and it’s certainly good fun to watch staff who wouldn’t look out of place in a modern bar making cocktails next to plates of biscuits, paper napkins, cupcakes and china teapots.

This is all very quirky and endearing, but why, really, does Bourne & Hollingsworth work so well? Apart from its individuality and its good, strong cocktails, its best feature must be its immediate appeal to the latest craze for all things vintage-inspired; although, like similar venues elsewhere, it refrains from doing this in a pretentious way, and instead evokes a kind of effortless chic. It has the ability to feel like your own little secret hideaway, whilst being extremely popular and doing a very good trade; and that’s quite some paradox to pull off.

Is it any coincidence that almost everyone who’s recommended me to go to this place has, at some point, lived in Brighton? Not at all; it has a sense of the hippy eccentric about it, and you can’t help feeling that Central London could do with more naturally quirky places like Bourne and Hollingsworth amidst all its commercial chains.

Or maybe, instead, the point is that B&H really is one of a kind - maybe it is that, after all, which makes it one of Central London’s most effortlessly cool bars.

If you’d like to visit, have a look at Bourne & Hollingsworth’s website - it’s an extremely basic landing page, but, again, this is all part of the charm.

And a P.S: a little name check here for Alex, the first person to mention Bourne and Hollingsworth to me.

lazy monday

2011-05-30T07:34:00.008+01:00

It's a bank holiday here in the UK; another lovely day off work, and the first I've got booked up until August, although I think I'll be taking a few days off in July. It really makes all the difference having a three day weekend and a four day working week - a chance to relax a little bit more.
These photos envoke a sense of summer and laziness to me; found on Flickr user Luciecamp's photostream, I adore them.

I'm up bright and early today, because (surprise surprise) I'm off down to Brighton for the day. I have a meal out planned - Spanish tapas, one of my favourites - and then a comedy show in the evening. Should be fun! It's just a shame the sun isn't shining; the beach won't be half as nice when it's grey and cloudy...

As for the rest of this lovely long weekend? My boyfriend took me out for dinner on Friday night, which was delicious, and then, fancying a little cocktail, we went to a little place called Bourne & Hollingsworth - I would tell you more about it now, but I think it was such a great cocktail bar that it deserves its own post, so look out for it shortly. A little hidden gem tucked away in a basement, suffice it to say it was a great place and made for a lovely evening!

The cocktail theme of this weekend continued on to Saturday; it was a friend's birthday, and she'd arranged for ten of us girls to go cocktail making to celebrate. We took it in turns to learn how to make the cocktails, in pairs - and the one that I made was called (ahem) Pretty Pretty Bang Bang, made up of vodka, cranberry, raspberry and Red Bull. I have to say, it was surprisingly nice!
I'd definitely recommend learning to make cocktails as a lovely girly evening out, although perhaps book it for a little later than 5pm, when we went - we were all rather tipsy by the end, and it was still only 6pm, so we still had a whole evening ahead of us! Needless to say, it was a little messy...

How were your weekends?

~

A little P.S: apologies for no Friday Fives or The Sunday Read this week. Blogger seemed to be down for me again - I couldn't access my dashboard, so couldn't post! Did anyone else have that?!

seaside walks / comedy / pancakes

2011-05-24T22:34:00.001+01:00

Walking in the countryside is one of my absolute favourite things to do. I love the greenery, I love the wildlife, and I love just wandering and thinking and getting lost. Unfortunately, living in a London suburb and commuting to London everyday, I don't get much time to go for many picturesque walks - but Brighton, where I used to go to uni and where I go back to visit every few weeks, is surrounded by pretty countryside and the perfect place to explore. One of the loveliest places near Brighton is the Seven Sisters area - a series of seven chalky cliffs which are very high up and have fantastic views all around.

On Sunday, I went down to my old university town to visit friends and, in the mood for a walk in the countryside, we drove over to Beachy Head - the biggest and most impressive of the Seven Sisters cliffs - for a nice walk. Unfortunately though, it was more than a bit windy up there -we walked for a while but it all got a little too much and we ended up sheltering by a lighthouse at the top of the hill, eating chocolate muffins that one of us had brought along - I felt like something out an Enid Blyton story!
When we got a little bit sick of getting battered by the wind - see the last photo, above, with my crazy hair! - we decided it was time for some afternoon tea.

Have to say it was a little creepy in the café we found though... it was tucked away at the top of the cliff, looking out to sea, and it was getting battered by the wind, creaking like crazy, cobwebs everywhere, draughty, windows that hadn't been cleaned in years and some interesting characters in there too... Still, we managed to look quite cheerful enjoying a cup of tea anyway!

In the evening, four of us girls went to see amazing stand-up at Komedia, Brighton's comedy club and my absolute favourite place to watch comedy. Stephen Grant was the MC - as always, and he's a brilliant MC - and we saw two hilarious acts: Doc Brown and Chris Ramsey. Chris Ramsey is one of my absolute favourite comedians - I've seen him a few times now and love him, so I knew what to expect and certainly wasn't disappointed. I'd never seen Doc Brown before, though, and he was absolutely hilarious too - a new addition to my top 5 favourite comedians! We all laughed til our sides ached and we cried actual tears of laughter. Amazing.

Check out Chris Ramsey here and Doc Brown here - and let me know what you think!
Oh, and the rest of my weekend looked like this - my favourite lazy weekend breakfast :)

The Sunday Read: One Day by David Nicholls

2011-05-22T10:04:00.001+01:00

It starts with a fling; a hazy one night stand between two vague acquaintances on 15^th July 1988. The room is filled with the smell of smoke, the pair are hungover, and it’s the day of their graduation. They lie in a room with half-empty wine glasses, condoms and left-over joints surrounding them, and casually speculate about the future, about where they’ll be in twenty years’ time. It’s hardly a scene from Romeo and Juliet, but perhaps it’s a modern day romance, of sorts. Or perhaps not.

We revisit Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew on St Swithin’s Day every year for the next two decades, and we are shown how their lives entwine, how their friendship develops and - ultimately - how experiences shape and change them, for better or worse. And all this with a powerful injection of wit; take Dexter’s colleague who only speaks in capitals and whose favourite phrase is “WAHEY!”, for example, and Emma’s comedian boyfriend Ian, a head-in-hands unfunny man, whose face reminds Emma “of tractors” and who walks around the house in his “tracky botts”.

One Day is much-praised for its unique narrative concept; a structure which, with credit to David Nicholls, does not become wearing at all. The real charm, though, comes from the characters - their realness, their plausibility: because everyone knows an Emma Morley, or a Dexter Mayhew. A free-spirited, independent, working-class lefty who takes herself and her views on literature and politics very seriously and has a grudge against the world; and, the polar opposite: a handsome, popular and apolitical womaniser from a wealthy family who wants “to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random it would be a cool photograph”.

And this is the beauty of this book; it is the authenticity of the two main characters, moreso than the unusual structure, the humorous prose or even the twisting plot, which lingers long after the last page. In creating characters we can all relate to, in some way at least, the impressively observant One Day not only appeals to any reader in some way, but offers something deeper.

Indeed, although disguised as a laugh-out-loud coming-of-age drama with a hint of romance and rather a lot of sex, drugs, brilliant characters and wild parties, David Nicholls has, again, done what he does best; as with Starter for Ten, he’s taken a powerful message about today’s society - about prejudices, class barriers and regional divides, about loneliness and bright-eyed youthful aspirations succumbing to middle-aged acceptance - and has interwoven it so subtly in the text that you could reach the end without realising that what he has to say goes deeper than the comedic and, at times, touching, journeys of the protagonists.

In creating characters the reader can relate to, Emma and Dexter’s friendship becomes a microcosm of society and the opportunities we each have, the paths we take partly through choice and partly through compulsion. The novel begins with the pair leaving university as supposed equals, both with a degree and both with the idea that they can do anything they want to. Fast forward to 1991, though, and with Dexter living in a glamorous London apartment and working as a TV presenter after travelling the world for two years while Emma is a waitress in a cheap Tex-Mex restaurant and struggles to pay the rent, and some of what Nicholls wants to portray becomes alarmingly clear.

But it is not all serious; indeed, it’s hardly serious at all: it is secretly deep, with a read-between-the-lines kind of subtlety. This is a book, really, about friendship, about love, about the ups and the downs of life, and about coming-of-age in modern Britain - and it makes for a funny, addicting and actually quite profound read.

friday fives

2011-05-20T22:50:00.000+01:00

Wow, what a week. I won't go into too much detail but it's been hectic in quite a few ways - and I'm very glad it's Friday! Relaxing photos to go accompany how I feel about this weekend...

5 photos

5 interesting links of the week

The Burning House blog - little discovery of the week and well worth a read
Beautiful photography and article about Paris over at Dwell
Announcement of the Autumn 2011 season at Sadler's Wells
A tower made of books in Argentina
And another new favourite blog - Letters to my cat, Janit

And 5 more...

A video of 300,000 birds swarming over Denmark
Great interview with Tamara Rojo, amazing ballet dancer
A little article worth reading on the Ken Clarke rapegate
Urban Poetry art
How a single word can change a life

5 good things about this week

The fact it's over (am I allowed to say that or is that quite overly negative? Ok, it's overly negative. Sorry... here are 4 positive things:)
Lovely dinner and rather a lot of alcohol with a friend on Thursday night
Starting the 30 Day Shred and feeling optimistic aboout it
Frozen yoghurt from Snog
The release of Pirates of the Caribbean 4... can't wait to see it!

5 things that I'm looking forward to in the coming week

Laying in bed all day Saturday and doing absolutely nothing
Going to lovely Brighton (again, I know - I do unashamedly love it there)
Seeing Chris Ramsey and other no doubt brilliant comedians at Komedia on Sunday evening
Booking exciting theatre trips
A friend's birthday next Saturday which includes a cocktail making session!

pull & bear / a little catch up and project

2011-05-16T23:55:00.001+01:00

I've posted about Pull & Bear before - their lookbooks seem to be a weakness of mine, because I always love all of them. They're always beautifully shot and I love this hazy S/S 11 one in particular - the soft colours, the clothes, the composition... lovely!

Oh, and the photographer is the hugely talented Spaniard Txema Yeste - love all of his work. You can read more about him here, if you so wish!

~

How were your weekends? Mine was very lazy but lovely - it consisted mainly of eating lemon tart, watching Eurovision, eating pizza, drinking wine, eating quesadillas (yes, there was a lot of eating this weekend!), going to the cinema and going for nice walks around lakes. And generally lots of being lazy! I needed a relaxing weekend though, because this week's going to be hectic, with events and seeing friends and tutoring, oh and working of course...

I've also been booking time off for holidays this week, which means that I've been thinking about holiday outfits - which means I've been thinking about toning up a little bit. Let me clarify at this point that I'm not a girl who's obsessed with my weight or body - I don't weight myself or measure inches, typically - and I eat fairly healthily, although I do admit to being a chocoholic! Although I work 8 hours a day and am out of the house for a minimum of 11 hours a day during the week, I currently walk fifteen minutes each way to the station near me and then a further ten between the station in London and where I work at least one way, meaning that I get 40 minutes, at least, of exercise a day. Enough to be not completely unfit, probably, but hardly enough to tone up or make any real difference - but by the time I get home at 7:30pm at the earliest and eat, there's really no time to go to an exercise class or the gym (and I doubt I could be bothered to venture out the house again anyway, if I'm totally honest).

So. In an effort to tone up a little (emphasis here is, by the way, not on losing weight - I don't really care about that, but I just want to feel more toned and perhaps a little healthier), I've been inspired by the Where are my Knees girls and have decided to try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred this month. I've been looking for a good exercise DVD for a while, and the good thing about this one is that it's an intense 20 minute workout that burns calories really quickly and mixes up cardio, strength and abs - so you get a bit of everything and hopefully do some good in a really short space of time; perfect for my commuting lifestyle! Today was my first day doing it, and so far, so good - I started on Level 1 which I found manageable in terms of my legs (did ballet for years, they're very strong) but a bit of a workout for my arms! I'll be letting you know how I get on though - and, for the purposes of this little exercising experiment, I've also taken measurements, so I can also keep track of any potential inches lost over the next 30 days.
Have you ever tried it? What exercise would you recommend for a busy lifestyle?

(delayed) friday fives

2011-05-15T22:48:00.009+01:00

So I think everyone's well aware by now that Blogger was down for a few days - one of those days being Friday, and meaning that this scheduled post was not only not published when it was supposed to be, but also deleted from my list of posts, as were the comments I had on my two most recent posts. Great! Oh dear... Luckily though, I had a little emailed version of this post saved, so here are the Friday Fives from last Friday :) And if you commented on either of my two most recent posts and your comment got deleted, I'm sorry! Comment again if you had a question (I think someone did) or want me to get back to you.

5 photos:

5 things that have made me smile this week:

Dinner with my cousin and seeing her baby bump!
Trying Uzbek cuisine
A gossipy dinner with another cousin
Getting lots of reading done
The Apprentice being back on TV

5 things I’m looking forward to this coming week:

Going on a pedalo and playing crazy golf this weekend (hence the second photo!)
Little Eurovision party on Saturday (I’m sad, I know)
Catch ups planned for the evenings of next week
Going to a comedy show in Brighton next weekend
Booking holidays!

5 photography links:

Beautiful black and white photos of Paris
Same Hill, Different Day - brilliant creative project by Paul Octavious
Writers at their typewriters - one for the writer in me…
Emotion - an atmospheric gallery from Luis Beltran
A photo competition called World Views, which looks well worth entering!

5 interesting links:

Brighton’s Book Festival - I want to go to everything here
A peek inside the house of Jutta Rikola, for some colourful design inspiration
A gallery of the best ballet costumes from The Ballet Bag
A Postcard from Brighton - a very cool video all about my favourite town
twitter.com/teabreaksblog - yes, a Twitter link; my little blog has a Twitter all of its own now, so please follow!

mapesbury

2011-05-11T23:57:00.000+01:00

A little bit of mid-week interior design inspiration in the form of Mapesbury, a residential house in London's NW2 postcode.

Lovely, isn't it? What I love about this house is the neutral whites - the white floorboards of the living room, white walls, white furniture, mixed with splashes of colours - the red curtains and lamp of one of the bedrooms and the pale orange walls of another of the rooms, brought out by an orange dress hanging up on the back of the door and shoes lined up. I love white and neutrals in a house, but think a bit of colour is always needed - and they seem to have got it just right at Mapesbury. I particualrly love the use of blue in this house; a lovely calming and cooling colour when used correctly in interior design, it's certainly the case with Mapesbury - I love the striking feature wall and the couch.
My favourite image is definitely the second one of the series - I adore the staircase, the mosaic tiled floor, the elegant couch on the landing (and lovely cushions!), the patterned windows and the chandelier adding a further touch of colour to the room. Which is your favourite?

~

How is your week going? I'm in the middle of my first full week back at work after a series of 3 and 4 day weeks with bank holidays and a day off and trying to get back into the rhythm of normal working weeks!
Had a lovely few days, though - went out for dinner on Tuesday evening for my cousin's birthday to a restaurant called Samarqand, where I tried delicious Uzbek food for the first time (review to follow soon!), and then met another cousin this evening for another dinner, which was very lovely and filled with a lot of gossip and catching up.

Viola Cangi / Submarine

2011-05-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

Sometimes you see one image and absolutely fall in love with it - and just know that you'll love pretty much anything else by the photographer. Such is the case with the work of Italian photographer Viola Cangi - I found the top photo by chance while browsing Flickr one day, and then spent the next hour or so (I lost track of time, to tell the truth) just gazing through all her photos. Absolutely beautiful.

In other news, forgot to mention that I saw Submarine the other week - have any of you seen it? I really wanted to see it and so my boyfriend drove me the best part of an hour across the Buckinghamshire countryside to a town where it was showing (how lovely of him!) - it was worth it though! A really good British film, hilarious in places, seriously head-in-hands cringey in others - a mix of awkward moments that quite beautifully and yet clumsily describe growing up. Great film, showcasing brilliant British comedy - go and see it if you can while it's still showing!

friday fives

2011-05-06T11:20:00.007+01:00

Happy Friday! I've got the day off today and am going to be spending it relaxing with my friends by the seaside, hence the calm and leisurely feel of these photos!

5 photos:

5 photography links of the week:

Haitian women - amazing photos of the strong women in post-earthquake Haiti
Retratos - an atmospheric gallery from Carolina Navas
A must-see portfolio from Mark Tipple
Intimate portraits from Masha Demikhova
And, of course, you know me... have to have some gorgeous ballet-related photos too

5 other great links of the week

The amazing Alice in Wonderland restaurant in Tokyo which I simply have
to visit one day
The Five Stages of Relationships via bitchbuzz - thought-provoking...
The gorgeous home of textile designer Amy Butler
Amazing, social and innovative art project "The Sketchbook Project"
The scary reality of Barbie: what she would look like if she were a real woman - a must-read

5 things that have made me smile this week:

Chinese food with an old friend in Soho's Chinatown
Knowing that my grandfather was fine, post surgery this week
Working a second 3 day week in a row!
Lovely gossiping chats with best friends
Lazy days off, and enjoying the first full day I've had at home since February

5 things I'm looking forward to:

Enjoying the rest of my day off, with going to Brighton!
Seeing the show Avenue Q this afternoon
A relaxing day in the Buckinghamshire countryside planned on Sunday
A busy week next week to look forward to, filled with meals, drinks and fun after work
Seeing my boyfriend next weekend :)

just a minute: may / the last little while

2011-05-02T08:58:00.001+01:00

Just a Minute is back for May - but, before I give a little summary of what I'm up to now and what I'm looking forward to in the month to come, here's a little round-up of April!

It's been a busy month, but also a great one - we've had summer in spring this year, four bank holidays and it's been a hell of a lot of fun. April's highlights have included:

Basking in the sun in Brighton

Afternoon teas with friends

Enjoying delicious food (curry, left, and pub grub, right) and champagne (Veuve Clicquot and strawberries, mmm)

Nights out and fun with friends

...and laying on the beach to recover the morning after.

Days out in sunny London...

And more days out in Brighton...

Finding an alternative career path (ok, not actually!)

Finding treasures in vintage and bric-a-brac markets...

And finding the car of my dreams at Silverstone (a Ferrari, of course)...

Exploring Milton Keynes, finding some concrete cows - oh, and a lovely new boyfriend who lives there!

Dates in London in the sun, spending bank holidays lazing around in Greenwich Park...

Celebrating the beautiful Royal Wedding...

And eating rather a lot of yummy things!

So - all things considered, it's been a fairly busy month! And now onto May - how are we getting on for half-way through the year already?

This month, I am:

Reading... Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, and moving on to the intriguing Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert afterwards, after a recommendation from a good friend.

Buying... new brogues, shorts and suncream (hello summer!)

Listening... to Katy B's new album, and also to Jamie Woon and Adele

Watching... America's Next Top Model, The Only Way is Essex (I know, I know - I'm fully aware it's awful), the new series of Doctor Who, and the new series of the Apprentice which starts this month

Loving... the bank holiday weekends we've had, the fact that I've got another day off on Friday of this coming week, the sun, my lovely friends :)

Planning... summer holiday and weekend plans, evenings out and theatre trips

Want to join in with Just a Minute? I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and it's a lovely little monthly activity. Feel free to join in - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

royal wedding: experience

2011-05-01T17:22:00.004+01:00

“Oh great, darling, you’re here - take the sausage rolls, will you?” A disposable silver tray lined with party food is thrust into my hand as I stand in the porch of my grandmother’s house, the hostess dashing off to attend to guests and ‘the catering’, leaving the front door slightly ajar.

At this early point in the day, I must admit, I do have a brief look back towards the unsettlingly quiet street. There are no people walking their dogs along the pavement, no traffic roaring its way along the street, on its way to what has become an unusually quiet main road, a few feet away. There’s a slight breeze which makes the bunting of the house opposite - “yes, well, I’m surprised they have that up. Hardly expected it from them - royalists just when it suits”, comments my grandmother in a spout of patriotic smugness - flutter against the front door, and I can hear Huw Edwards’ voice booming out from one of the TV sets inside the house, family friends chattering away. Yes, it’s at this point that I take a brief look back towards the street, and, honestly, wonder why I’m here, why I’m bothering; but then, with a glance down to the sausage roll-lined tray in my hand, I take the step over the threshold. After all, this is April 29^th, 2011; the day of the Royal Wedding, and despite what may await inside the house, I can’t bring myself to miss it.

Almost walking into my grandfather, I know straight away that I’ll give him the mental title of best dressed man here today. Cobalt blue collared shirt, red waistcoat, white blue and red stripy tie and similarly striped cufflinks to match - perfect patriotism, in an outfit which has my-wife-told-me-to-wear-this written all over it. But still. “Hello Grandpa. Sausage roll?” (I’m getting good at my role as party food hander-outer already, it seems).

With a walk through the bunting-lined hallway and a brief hello to the front room filled with people transfixed already by the TV, I’m beckoned into the back room by my grandmother - a room which has been transformed into some kind of British extravaganza, large union jacks on the wall, hanging from the ceiling, covering the dining table as a rather gharish table cloth. And, of course, bunting - because no room in the house, apparently, would be complete without special Royal Wedding bunting.

After many introductions and hellos to various guests, I eventually manage to find myself without trays of party food, in the kitchen with my hostess grandmother who is making, at my request, “a nice cup of tea” - after all, it’s a day when surely I’m allowed to be a walking British cliché? Yellow and bright red teapots and teacups and saucers are scattered around the house, along with little sugar bowls, glass jugs of milk and - my particular favourite - various plates covered with floral napkins and an array of party food biscuits (hurray for Jammie Dodgers).

“How are you, Nan?” I say as she pours the weakest cup of tea I’ve ever seen and piles three sugars into it (I like my tea strong and without sugar, but, you know, never mind. I sense that this is a day not to complain.)

“Yes, well, you know - fine,” she says, in that voice which says I’m not fine at all. “Doing all this catering today has really taken it out of me. It’s just so stressful, you know?” I look at the trays of smoked salmon neatly laid out in regimented lines, plates of finest M&S quiche, cocktail sausages on sticks, finger sandwiches, bowls of salad - and, of course, those sausage rolls. I try one; they’re actually rather nice, and I tell my grandmother, who beams in appreciation. “Waitrose, darling,” she says, waltzing out the room to ‘attend’ to the guests. “Well, it is a special occasion.”

There are three rooms in the downstairs of my grandparents’ house - two sizeable reception rooms and a kitchen, each room with a television that’s switched on and is - loudly - broadcasting the BBC’s coverage of the big day. Out-of-sync, I stand in the hallway for a moment and hear, a second apart, each word of Huw Edwards’ toned-down Welsh lull announcing the arrival of the Prince of Wales and Camilla, three times over.

“Oh god, the horse has arrived!” announces a voice loudly from the front room, with six or so other voices agreeing, with tuts and nods and, yes, the odd comment about Diana. “And what is she wearing?” It’s all rather Daily Express.

I take my seat in the front room next to my parents, grabbing a party ring and a custard cream for some comfort as I listen to the mutterings of my family and their friends. The Queen arrives, dressed in canary yellow, prompting my Nan to leave the smoked salmon and run in from the kitchen - “I said she’d wear yellow! I just had this feeling!” We all nod and agree, while it occurs to me that she must just be pleased that her tea sets now match the Queen’s outfit - after all, that is quite an achievement.

I sit and listen to my parents’ comments on the guests’ attire: “What on earth has Beatrice got on her head?”, “Doesn’t David Beckham look handsome?” and, finally, as Kate Middleton’s dress is finally revealed, we all utter a stunned “Wow”. The first thing we agree on, I think.

And, you see, here’s the thing. Young and old, whatever opinion of the Royal Family, there is, with Kate Middleton emerging from that car, something we all agree on: that the wedding is simply beautiful. We all sit there, suddenly quiet, suddenly mesmerised; and I realise, then, that amidst the ages, the stress and the Waitrose sausage rolls, this day really is special. Yes, there is the kerfuffle after the ceremony itself; the sitting down to eat around the flag-adorned table, the fuss that my grandmother’s silver salad forks haven’t been polished properly by my grandfather and now can’t possibly be used, the hours of regurgitated comments and opinions and debates on what could or should or would have been done differently, had my Nan’s Royal Wedding party guests been the organisers. There’s the guest who drinks too much, the guest who doesn’t drink at all and is made to feel awkward for it, the guest who falls asleep in the front room and starts snoring. And, predictably, there’s the smugness of my grandmother as she recalls the moment that she met the Queen, when she did silver service waitressing at an event she attended once. “Just lovely, she was. Lovely.”

Yes, amidst all this, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge emerge from Westminster Abbey, I’m aware that this is a very special day. After all, this is a day which has caused my Nan to turn to Waitrose for her cocktail sausages instead of Sainsbury’s; a day which has made my Grandpa pick out his finest red waistcoat; a day which has prompted my father to stay up the night before making four varieties of cheesecakes in celebration. It’s a day which has pulled us, this weird mix of family and friends and opinions and habits, together, to enjoy something communally, something which everyone thinks deserves special attention. It’s a day where we’ve each taken some time out of our normal busy everyday lives, a few moments, to be united. I can only speak for myself, but as I sit there watching Kate and William say their vows, I’m acutely aware that this is a day which feels like it’s united Britain. A day which I’m glad I didn’t miss, despite my hesitation on the doorstep. And, for better or worse, a day that I already know I won’t ever forget.

Want to read more musings, comments and articles by me? Visit my other blog - http://clairemarieslight.wordpress.com, for more of my writing.

(rather regal) friday fives

2011-04-29T21:32:00.007+01:00

In-keeping with the royal wedding mania today, here's a rather regal friday fives post...

5 photos of the day

Patriotic bunting and flags at my family's royal wedding party
Similarly patriotic dinner table
Celebratory homemade cheesecakes
Celebratory afternoon tea
The kiss, of course

5 big highlights of the royal wedding today

Kate's dress - WOW
That first kiss on the balcony
The amazing carriages
The vows
The huge roar of the crowd outside when they were pronounced man and wife

5 little highlights of the royal wedding today

Prince William to Kate on seeing her for the first time today: "You're beautiful"
Prince Harry to Prince William on seeing Kate for the first time, walking up the aisle: "Just wait til you see her"
Kate on stepping out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace: "Wow"
Prince Harry in the carriage with the bridesmaids and pageboys - bless
The look on Kate Middleton's father's face as he led her up the aisle
(sorry, there are 6 definite highlights): the couple driving back to Clarence House in the vintage Aston Martin, like any newly married couple

5 best-dressed attendees

Kate (obviously)
Prince William and Prince Harry (obviously)
The Queen - love the canary yellow
Carole Middleton - very classy choice of dress
Pippa Middleton, maid of honour - beautiful classic bridesmaid dress

5 not-so-well-dressed attendees

Princess Beatrice - what was she thinking?
Princess Eugenie - see above
Chelsy Davy - had potential, but oh so wrong
Camilla - just don't love it at all
SamCam - fatal faux pas of not wearing a hat!

friday fives

2011-03-25T21:00:00.011Z

Five photos:
All five photos this week are from www.heartit.com

Five links of the week:

Evolving English at the British Library - go and see this in London quickly, before it closes!
Dear Blank Please Blank - hilarious
This photo of the Supermoon
Horribly scary image of all the earthquakes Japan experienced - please do donate to help
Damn you auto correct - for all you iPhone users

Five inspirational quotes of the week:

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle
To believe a thing is impossible is to make it so
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself
We do not remember days. We remember moments

Five things that have made me smile recently:

A very lovely girly weekend with my closest friends
Going to a comedy show in London
Many dinners with lovely friends
Going to exhibitions on Linguistics and on Ancient Egypt (I know, I'm a geek)
A big heart to heart with a very old friend

Five things I'm looking forward to:

A weekend in BRIGHTON - going back there tomorrow (yay!) for the weekend with lots of my friends, and so very excited about it
My friend Lauren moving back to England after living in France for a year - I've missed her!
Planning moving into London - will be a good few months until I do this, but it's fun to plan all the same!
The onset of summer - it's been warm this week at last and I'm hoping that the nice weather is here to stay!
Long chats tonight with a good friend

busy busy / breathe

2011-03-23T23:39:00.001Z

Aren't these gorgeous photos?

Anna Aden is absolutely one of my favourite photographers, and one whose beautiful images I've included on the blog before - but I thought it was definitely time for her to have her own post. These photos are mainly from her Plainness set, with the first and fourth image from the Longing set. I just love the gorgeous colour of the girl's hair, which just makes me wish mine was a titian shade!

And I love how dreamy and relaxed these photos are - makes me want a quiet weekend tucked away in a little cottage somewhere, with time to read and paint and write and sleep. I never get enough sleep these days!

So anyway - I know I haven't updated in a little while; I'm sorry. Things have been crazy busy - I know I always say that, but this time, they really have. I've been so desperate to make sure that I don't have time to myself to just think that I've ended up being out all day, every day; every evening after work, every spare minute - and the past few weeks have blurred past with a lovely but hectic mix of dinners, wine, comedy shows, dancing, exhibitions, breaks, work events, more dinners and wine, tea and shopping. And more...

Particular highlights have included my amazing friend coming over to stay from France for a few very lovely girly days, going to an exhibition with some uni people I don't see enough, a very fun second date with a boy I met, and lots of dining out in lovely restaurants with family and friends. Oh, and not to mention Rome, which was amazing as briefly mentioned before, and which I still need to blog about. I will do it, I promise :)

Also, just wanted to say a quick hello to my lovely new followers - great to see you here, and thanks so much for the follow :)

just a minute / march

2011-03-07T22:48:00.006Z

Another month, another Just a Minute :)

Oh I know this is very delayed, what with it being 7^th of the month already, and I'm sorry, but I like to think I have some valid excuses this month: for a start, I went to Rome last week!! I will write some proper posts with lots of information and photos very soon, because it's an amazing city and really deserves a lot more than a small mention here at the beginning of a longer post. Suffice it to say that I loved it there, had a great time with lovely friends, and would go back in a heartbeat!
And aside from Rome, work's been busy, and I spent a lot of time after I got back from Rome last week hanging out with my friends and my cousin having lots of drinks and long chats. I also went to the British Museum on Saturday too, to see the fantastic Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead exhibition. And plus - I say this in whispered italics - I went on a date on Sunday. But more on that some other time, maybe...!

Anyway, back to Just a Minute. As mentioned every month, I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and found it to be a really lovely little monthly activity.
Want to join in? Feel free - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

So, this month I am:

Reading...... The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and Marie Claire magazine, of course

Buying........ lots of dinners out in London and lots of bottles of wine to accompany it

Listening......... to Charlotte Martin, who I’ve got back into recently.

Watching...... The Tudors, Take Me Out, and that’s pretty much it. I haven’t had time to watch TV for ages!

Loving.......... well, my life, actually, as clichéd as that is. I have an amazing family, amazing friends, a good job and I've actually realised recently how lucky I am to have everything that I do. I'm making the most of it, seeing friends every day, keeping very busy and am honestly, truly, happy with how things are going for me right now :)

Planning...... summer holidays (already), the logistics of living in Brighton for a few weeks over summer and commuting into London from there, and many fun and exciting days and nights out

~

What are your plans for this month?

all images from weheartit.com

friday fives

2011-02-25T11:22:00.000Z

5 photos

high street love

2011-02-22T11:50:00.000Z

Floral Stud Dress, Topshop; Red Swallow Print Dress, River Island; Navy Stripe Dress, Topshop; Navy Print Kimono Dress, River Island; White Tights, Topshop; Lace-up Brogues, River Island; Flower Tooled X-Body Bag, Urban Outfitters; Jewellery, various.

Here are a few recent buys - I decided that it was time to treat myself, and so rather predictably ended up buying dresses, tights, bags and some pretty jewellery.

And a few little things I quite fancy getting (is it wrong that I really want a pair of dungarees...?)

Jersey Dress, Topshop; Floral dress, Miss Selfridge; Denim dungarees, Urban Outfitters; Crochet bag, River Island; Grey feather trilby, River Island; Headband, Accessorize

What have you bought yourself on the high street lately?

The Sunday Read: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

2011-02-20T14:29:00.001Z

I’ve been debating whether to review this one for a while. To review this book means me revealing, quite publicly, my weakness for a particular genre - namely historical, romantic fiction. No, I hasten to add now, not the Mills and Boon kind of historical fiction, but real authentic, richly described historical settings mixed with strong characters and good storylines - and, inevitably, there’s some sort of romance in there too, although this isn’t something I necessarily seek out. It may not be the hard-hitting, high-brow stuff with political and philosophical undertones and layers of symbolism that I (perhaps rather annoyingly) usually read, but it has to be said, I love historical fiction for its relaxing escapism - and, while Philippa Gregory has made it ‘ok’ to like historical fiction, I don’t often admit to reading much of the genre beyond that. But when I saw Mistress of Rome on the shelf, I knew that, as someone who loves Roman history, I had to read it…

Thea is a slave girl from Judea, a tough and strong character who serves her master’s daughter, an obnoxious young girl of a similar age to the teenage slave, named Lepida Pollia. We learn about her life as a slave girl first, and then we see her visit the arena to see the latest, most popular gladiator in the city - Arius. Nicknamed “The Barbarian”, Thea ends up having a chance and forbidden meeting with the gladiator at a dinner party hosted by Lepida Pollia and her family (…can you see where this is going by any chance?)

Yes, no matter how it’s described, the opening few chapters seem like a predictable cliché - and it would have been just that and nothing more had it not been for a few saving graces that encourage the reader to work past the predictability to discover some powerful, twisting plotlines further into the book.

One of these is Thea herself. She is a strong heroine, a little foolish but determined, and while she may be again a little clichéd, she has a convincing edge to her character. Thea has had a hard life, and she is a product of all that she has experienced, which get quite delicately touched upon throughout the book. And then there is the book’s opening scene, which make this a different read to your average historical fiction; we see Thea, crouched over a bowl, cutting her wrist to make herself bleed, to comfort herself and regain some control over her world. Yes - this book just got quite interesting, at least in terms of the subtleties of the character of Thea.

And so throughout the first half of the book, we see Thea and Arius develop a clumsy, intense and actually quite touching relationship; and then the book twists and turns as they are separated by a jealous Lepida Pollia who wants the gladiator for herself and decides that if she can’t have him, Thea certainly can’t - well, of course, any good romance would demand that the characters have to undergo the pain of forced separation, so that’s no great surprise. We watch as the years go on and Thea becomes Athena, a singer to and then Mistress of the cruel emperor Domitian, who slowly destroys her soul and sanity. And all the while, of course, she longs for her lost love, Arius, and wonders if there can ever be a way out of the life she has been sucked into.

Not an intellectual read, no, but I don’t want this to seem a negative review at all; I enjoyed this book, and it exquisitely described the city of Rome in such vivid detail that I actually could half believe I was there. Thea seemed, albeit a little clichéd, believable in the main, and just so eminently likeable that I wanted to know what happened to her; add to that Arius, an enigmatic character who, although deserving of more individual attention than he was given, was intriguing throughout.

There were negative aspects of the book, of course - the predictability at times, and in particular the character Lepida Pollia, who was thoroughly unlikeable and one-dimensional, portrayed without a flicker of a redeemable quality. But, in general, this was an atmospheric read; captivating and easy, reading Mistress of Rome is something akin to a guilty pleasure - great fun, not entirely serious or meaningful, but addictive and ultimately feel-good.

Would I recommend this book for anyone after a serious read? Not particularly; it is well-written, enjoyable, but there seems to be little meaning beyond the last page. I read this book on holiday, managing to absorb all 529 pages of this book, cover to cover, in around 48 hours while relaxing at the poolside - I just couldn’t put it down once I’d started.

My conclusion: read this for a healthy dose of escapism, a dash of romance and some beautiful descriptions - don’t expect much more than that, and you’ll find a very enjoyable read in Quinn’s Mistress of Rome.

4/5

friday fives

2011-02-18T22:52:00.001Z

5 photos

5 links

What ya wearing world - a new global style campaign
New York Cliche - a new blog I've found that I love, filled with New York life and anectodes about NYFW
A beautiful Tumblr account packed with lovely photography
Live streaming of LFW
Gorgeous Spanish photographer's blog

5 books currently on my to-read list

One Way - David Nicholls
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Ok, so here's the thing. I've been wondering whether to keep up my Friday Fives at the moment - only due to the two following sections which I included before: "5 highlights of the week" and "5 things to look forward to next week". The truth is, I've been feeling a little melancholy lately due to recent events in my life, and I thought it would be hard to find 10 things over the period of about 7 days which I could actually feel positive about.
Turns out I was wrong, though... and it's actually a very positive and worthwhile thing for me to focus on and appreciate the good things that have happened over the last little while, instead of dwelling on some not-so-great events.
So, with that said...

5 highlights of the week

1. Seeing three of my closest friends for a girly weekend in London
2. Afternoon tea in Liberty's on said girly weekend (loose leaf tea, in a beautiful tea pot, with chocolate cake - heaven)
3. Going out dancing on said girly weekend
4. Enjoying rather too much wine with an old friend after work one evening; an old friend who has the ability to make me feel better whenever I see her
5. The ongoing, amazing support from those around me

5 things to look forward to next week

1. In a word: ROME. I'm flying out on Thursday and staying there until Monday - should be amazing and I really can't wait.
2. A friend's housewarming party on Saturday evening
3. Seeing an old, close friend all day Sunday, and doing some shopping and a lot of chatting together
4. A lovely long lie-in on Saturday morning
5. Am I allowed to say ROME again? (I am just so excited...)

~

How has your week been? What are you up to this weekend?

brick lane sundays

2011-02-17T11:52:00.001Z

I'm going to be a total London-based blogger cliché now, but it has to be said: I love Brick Lane market on Sundays.

So as mentioned in my previous post, last weekend my friend flew over to London from France and me and her, along with two of our close friends, had an amazing girly weekend in London. We went shopping on Oxford Street, had delicious pizza, a great night out with lots of cocktails and afternoon tea at Liberty's (seriously amazing - look here for proof!)

On Sunday, we somewhat drowsily made our way around Brick Lane market - the perfect place to browse when you're feeling a little delicate and just want to look at pretty and interesting things. For those of you not native to London/the UK, Brick Lane is an area in East London which, aside from having an amazing range of curry restaurants, also has so many interesting vintage-inspired shops and a must-see market on Sunday mornings. Visit to find clothes, art, crafts, vintage goods, jewellery, photography and, well, a lot of other things too. It has such a great atmosphere, very chilled and relaxed (quite like Brighton in that way, actually - very refreshing compared to the normal hustle and bustle of Central London) and brings with it a unique and multi-cultural experience.

While I was extremely good and refrained from buying anything at the market (due to massively overspending on Oxford Street the day before), the main things that caught my eye at the market on Sunday included lots of vintage white lace dresses, beautiful pendants and little pocketwatches on chains, brown vintage briefcases and some really gorgeous bow headbands. Lovely - and, honestly, the perfect hangover cure!

What's your favourite place to buy vintage finds? Have you ever been to Brick Lane? And can you recommend anywhere amazing around there?

anew

2011-02-15T22:51:00.011Z

This is now an archived post. Thank you for all your comments, and all your support; it really meant a lot to me.

10 days on.

It's been a week and a half since my relationship ended; one of the most difficult and painful times of my life so far. I can't deny there were moments where I didn't know how I was going to go on; that's not to say that I knew I could and would go on, strong, independently, but I just didn't see the way forward.
But this is not a post to mope about what happened, to dwell on the past; no, this is a post to celebrate friendship and support, and real affection from those around you, that all too often can get, even accidentally, overlooked when you're in a relationship.
Because here's the thing: for every moment when I felt like I was empty and lost and alone, I've found that someone was there to inspire me, give me hope, pick me back up and help me to be strong again. I've found that I have the most amazing friends and family that I could ever ask for. Honestly. Here is just a snippet of the support I've been offered:

My parents have listened to me talk and mull over everything repeatedly, not once complaining. My grandparents have been there to offer hugs and opinions and I had a comforting chat with my cousin. Family friends have been in touch to offer support. One of my closest friends flew over from the south of France - yes, really; a good eight-hour journey - to spend a girly weekend over here with me and our other friends (and we had so much fun - photos to follow soon). Another one of my closest friends has been in constant contact every day since it happened, offering to travel down to London from rural Bucks to see me and always on the other end of the phone - and came along to the London girly weekend, offering so much support and love. Another friend is helping me to drown my sorrows with a string of nights out at cocktail bars and long chats. Another good friend sent one of the sweetest messages I've ever read, offered to meet up whenever I want, and has called and texted every few days. On top of that, I've met concerned old university friends for drinks in London who offered hugs and laughs, and have been invited down to Brighton with other uni friends for future girly feel-good weekends. One of my oldest friends is coming back to London this weekend from where she now lives, quite far away, partly just to hang out with me and offer support. Old friends who I've drifted apart from over the last few months or years have rallied around with texts and offers to meet up and chat. Everyone at work has been kind and I've received some lovely messages of regret and support from people I wouldn't even necessarily have expected to hear from - old acquaintances and now distant friends, offering help and chats if they were needed.
Add to that, lovely readers, the amazing comments you left on my previous blog post - which really blew me away in the level of care and concern you showed, and some of the inspirational things you said - and, all in all, I hope you can agree that I am a very lucky girl to have such amazing people in my life in all these different ways. (And I will reply to your comments very soon, I promise! They meant a lot, each and every one.)

I haven't posted for 10 days because I've felt lost and completely uninspired. I knew that February 14th would be a hard day to get through; not only Valentine's Day, it was also his birthday, and so I spent the day being painfully reminded of both occasions. Hard, yes, but it turned out that even yesterday wasn't as bad as it could well have been; the end of the girly weekend, I woke up with my friend in our hotel room in London and received a gorgeous Valentine's Day card from her which almost made me tear up and made me feel strong enough to power on through the day at work, aided by supportive chats with some friends and family in the evening.
The most painful, challenging days are over now, I think; I've got through the first tough patch, and I've got through the double whammy of his birthday/Valentine's - and so, I know, it's onwards and upwards from here.

And that's not to say that I won't have days, hours, moments, where I think of him and feel that familiar tightening in my chest and that stab of painful reality running through me; but now, I know that I can be strong, and that horrible heartbreak is - very, very slowly - beginning to edge away.
Because I realised for the first time this year that Valentine's is about showing people, romantic relation or not, that you care for them; letting those around you know that you love them and realising that you are loved. And, single I may be, but if I have learnt one thing in the past 10 days, it is that I am loved by those around me more than I ever knew or appreciated.

How was your Valentine's? Who are the people you care about the most, and that care about you the most? Do you think you appreciate them enough?

images via weheartit.com

alone

2011-02-06T08:33:00.015Z

This is now an archived post, from February 2011. Thanks for all your comments and support; it has really meant a lot to me. Life is now amazing!

All images via weheartit.com

friday fives

2011-02-04T23:09:00.001Z

5 photos

1. link
2. link
3. link
4. link
5. link

5 links

1. The UK Curiosity Blog
2. Very cool artist Willy Rojas
3. Daydreaming of going to this place
4. Treat Someone Special this Valentine's Day and help to tackle human trafficking.
5. The Battersea Affordable Art Fair, which looks amazing and I'm definitely attending in March

5 of the best... amazing period properties in England (in my opinion)

1. Chatsworth House
2. Montacute House
3. Ightham Mote
4. Waddesdon Manor
5. Hampton Court

5 highlights of the week

1. Seeing old university friends on Friday night
2. Lazy days in Oxford
3. Making the most of the last of the sales
4. An amusing karaoke session with work colleagues
5. Writing a little article for The Times online

5 things to look forward to next week

1. Taking my boyfriend Richard out to dinner for an early birthday present
2. A big family dinner out on Sunday
3. West End show with my parents on Tuesday
4. Planning a summer holiday
5. Booking tickets to see new film Brighton Rock

~

How has your week been? What are you up to this weekend?

just a minute / february

2011-02-01T22:01:00.009Z

Photo credit

Just a Minute is back for 2011. I found this on Daydream Lily's lovely blog via August Street, late last year, and found it to be a really lovely little monthly activity.
Want to join in? Feel free - and make sure to send me a link if you do though, so I can see what you're up to at the moment!

So, this month I am:

Reading...... Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood. I'm a huge Atwood fan so I'm hoping it'll be a great read. I'm also reading A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield - so totally inspirational.

Buying........ summer dresses (optimistically)

Listening......... to Augustito by Ketamba, old school No Doubt, A Tu Lado by Juanes and Antonio Carmona, Jamie Woon, James Blake and Wonderman by Tinie Tempah

Watching...... Tribe by Bruce Parry. Over and over, with such fascination. And, for something lighter, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

Loving.......... discovering new music, making plans for the future and exploring meditation and yoga

Planning...... my Rome itinerary - so very exciting!

~

How gorgeous are those photos, by the way? Stumbled across the photographer Cristina Hoch the other day and fell in love with her work! Love the first photo in particular - it describes exactly where I feel like I am in life at the moment; walking meaningfully and purposefully in the direction of something really special.

The Sunday Read: Room by Emma Donoghue

2011-01-31T22:35:00.002Z

A young girl kidnapped, repeatedly raped by her captor, and imprisoned in a modified garden shed. It’s hard to imagine a more grim start to a book, and certainly the narrative situation that you find yourself placed in hits hard from the very first page. But then, so it should - inspired by the case of Josef and Elizabeth Fritzl, this a story of desperation, of near-insanity and a deep exploration into the effects of abuse combined with a lack of freedom; and this is a book which utterly deserves its Man Booker prize nomination.

With such a hopeless and disturbing subject matter, Room could easily have been a step too far; a subject just that bit too uncomfortable to face for 400 pages. Donoghue, though, approached her seventh novel from an interesting perspective that made it all the more intriguing and, ultimately, haunting: it was narrated by the kidnapped woman’s five year old son, Jack.

And what a narrator he is. Guiding the reader through the entirety of the novel, Jack brings a heart-breaking viewpoint to the desperate situation that the voice of ‘Ma’, the only other human he has ever spoken to, would have struggled to have done to quite the same effect. And this is not because Jack has suffered at the hands of his captor more than Ma, no; this is because through Jack we see what it would be like never to have known freedom, and that is a concept which has a potential to seriously disturb any reader.

He refers to everything in the room in the singular - not because he is linguistically delayed (in fact, quite the opposite), but because he has only ever seen one of any object - and so he speaks of Bed, of Blanket and of Rug. He and Ma do have a TV set, but, to Jack, everything he sees there - from Dora the Explorer to war documentaries - are ‘TV’ only, and belong in his mind to some kind of cruel, parallel, pretend world. He doesn’t think, even for a moment, that anything exists out of Room, equating ‘Outside’ with Outer Space; and he doesn’t believe that anyone else is real or exists apart from him, Ma, and the man he names ‘Old Nick’ - their captor.
Jack doesn’t know what it is to have choices, variation or, indeed, any kind of freedom; and it is that, and his growing realisation that the world contains more than just Room, that turns the book from an intriguing concept to a haunting read.

Narrating from Jack’s point of view also makes dealing with Old Nick, their captor and Jack’s biological father, particularly poignant. Jack, of course, views the situation at first with a childish acceptance, tinged with apprehension; he speaks of being shut away in Wardrobe at night, hearing the Beep Beep of Door and hearing Bed creak, and then: "I always have to count till he makes that gaspy sound and stops." Old Nick certainly does disturb Jack - but, it has to be said, no more than the wrong kind of vegetables at dinner does, for example. Because for Jack, of course, this is normality; and what would have made the read unbearable and grotesque from Ma’s point of view makes it, although not quite, almost so from Jack’s too, because of his faithful acceptance that this is normality; this is the only life that he has ever known.

Of course, it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that, as with the Josef Fritzl case, the captives finally escape mid-way through the book; and here we then see through a very confused five-year-old’s eyes as Outside, a world which existed purely in TV, suddenly becomes a bewildering reality.

Donoghue’s novel can perhaps best be described as a claustrophobic read; it leaves you gasping for freedom from Room itself, and then just as overwhelmed by the sudden extreme freedom of Outside - a feeling which Ma herself struggles to come to terms with after seven years of captivity.

In as much as Room is an examination of freedom, it is also an intimate portrayal of mother-child relationships; it is only because she has Jack to care for that Ma has managed to hold on to some semblance of sanity; it is only because she longs for him to have some kind of normal childhood that they have a strict daily routine of exercises, reading, meal-times and bath-times. Jack is the only thing that means anything to Ma in the world; although they never explicitly say I love you, it is imprinted in their every word and every gesture.
More than freedom, these two characters need each other; and so, ultimately, Room goes one level deeper than showing the importance of freedom; it shows the importance of strength and capacity of love in the face of adversity, and of the tests and tortures - such as removal of freedom - that can be survived through strong, loving bonds.

A claustrophobic and seemingly realistic portrayal of what it must be like to experience a true lack of freedom, Room is a powerful and profound novel, narrated exquisitely, and one that, beyond its recent hype and accolades, offers a unique viewpoint which will leave you feeling affected by the story long after the last page.

5/5

The observant of those among you will realise that it's actually Monday I'm posting this, and not Sunday - sorry about that, but it's been a hectic week and a hectic weekend and this is the first chance I've had to write a review. Still, I hope you like it! Back to Sunday next week.