Yeah yeah, I know, I know. But, I have actually been going to places, I have the pictures all stored up, I still have hopes of getting them all done while we’re still in August. I’ve got a week. Come onnnnnnnn. OK so today I popped my Fringe cherry. Not watching: performing. I’m in Edinburgh …
Sometimes, oh best beloveds, you have a bit of a day, at the end of what became a bit of a month, in the midst of what’s turning into a bit of a year. And sometimes it turns out, at the end of that day, that you have inadvertently booked yourself for the night into …
Today I stood in a gazebo made of old tin cans, listened to folk music in a yurt, saw a sand snake (pictured), touched a live snake (not pictured) and spanked a man on the bottom with a 100-year-old truncheon. However, none of those things count, because they are new things, and, since I was …
That is a peach. It is gorgeous. You can’t smell it, but I could and it’s the kind of food that makes you think “if I eat this, it will become part of me, that’s just fantastic.” Bologna is famous for its food. Obviously they invented Bolognese sauce (served here over golden yellow buttery melt-in-the-mouth tagliatelle, …
Yes, I think we shall. I’ve had that feeling creeping over me for a few weeks now. Staring at places I pass by but have never been into, remembering places I’ve been recommended. The other day, driving back home from central London I almost drove straight past Regent’s Park and then I thought “I have …
Well, I did it. Went to wander around Hampstead today in a celebration of newness that is quite surprising when you consider that I was at school in Hampstead for seven years. First, to Fenton House, a National Trust property up a steep hill near Hampstead station, which has beautiful gardens you can look at …
The past few days I’ve been mentally composing the blog posts I might write when August is over, maybe summing up the project, picking my best-of and worst-of lists. And until today, the worst-of list was topped by The Warrington. But today hit a new low. I went for a wander around Camden Town. Which …
Spent most of today in a car on the way from Seaham back to London but… managed to stop off at The Blake Head, a very gorgeous vegetarian cafe/bookshop in York on the way home. Their risotto cakes are excellent, the cafe is very sunny and clearly popular. Here’s my mum going in: If I hadn’t …
I find it hard to throw things out. Other people love it – they gaily chuck stuff into the bin and then revel in all the beautiful space around them. Me, I find it hard. I don’t mean like, throwing out crisp packets. But things that have meant something to me. Or might have meant …
I am in Seaham, County Durham, for the first time in 14 years. It is peculiar. I feel like I’m in 1991. To explain more fully. In 1988 my parents bought a little two-up, two-down miner’s cottage in Seaham, at that time, one of the most depressed areas of the UK. My dad has links to …