Monday 22 February 2010

• Wrangling sheets - bed linen and paper.
• Chips and flatmate company for tea.
• Fresh pitta, freezer restocked.
• Catching up before the day is over.
• Taking refuge behind my ipod.

Sunday 21 February 2010

• A fry-up and crossword for breakfast.
• Bradley's Spanish Bar, finally.
• Backhanded compliments - all good, I think.
• Good conversation and great company.
• Dressing like a 16 year old boy.

Saturday 20 February 2010

• A new frock (size six and purple!). Oh so lady-like.
• A West London lunch avec ma soeur. A patisserie valerie croque monsieur and earl grey.
• Quiet at home.
• Green sauce.
• Coffee and spring air on the balcony.

Friday 19 February 2010

• Homemade Mexican food on the sitting room floor.
• White beer.
• Compliments in the changing room.
• A cashmere cardigan, light as a cloud. (Sadly, expensive as diamonds).
• Stumbling up the stairs in the half light, heading to bed like a homing pigeon.

Thursday 18 February 2010

• Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Oh, so delicious and oh, so refined.
• Frock shopping.
• They've significantly improved the 5th Floor bar at Waterstones. Hoorah.
• Bringing a 'vintage' handbag back to life.
• Good news in my inbox.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

• Pottering in the kitchen - handmade mushroom ravioli. Tasty.
• Living and working in a place that I can just stop in at Chinatown on the way home. No big deal.
• A kinderbueno!
• Stripey paperclips. Simple pleasures.
• Cushions, blanket, sleeeep.

Tuesday 16 February 2010

• Taking refuge from the rain with wine, pizza and talk of sofas (and other less civilised things).
• A new book - bought in 2008, started today. I love the fact that I can place when and where I bought every single book I own.
• Being benched early, to my benefit.
• Breton stripes.
• A handroll on the hop. Mmm - prawns and avocado.

Monday 15 February 2010

• Muddling around with the gang in Soho, culminating in musical antics.
• A supper solution.
• A raised eyebrow in response to untoward advances. Point proven.
• Genuine and uncontrollable laughter at the revelation of my plans. Hmm.
• La Hartwell's irrepressible good humour.

Sunday 14 February 2010

• Job done.
• I'm now in possession of my very own 'professional thinning shears'. Potentially a recipe for disaster, I suspect.
• Haggis and clapshot. Oodles of the stuff.
• The Bell Jar. A good book.
• Catching the last tube back out of town. Victory!

Saturday 13 February 2010

• Good art, good company. Can't beat a show with Hiorns, Hamilton and Hopper all together.
• A beautifully packaged 1950s board game, with fab career options - uranium mining, moon-exploration, 'big business' and Hollywood.
• Gentle teasing.
• A man in DMs. It's a good look.
• Ice cream and a mug of black coffee for breakfast. Shameful? I'm not so sure.

Friday 12 February 2010

• The Millennium Bridge after dark. Always a pleasure.
• Trapeze flying as a mutual interest. Can't be very often that circus arts are used successfully to smooth social intercourse.
• Reading on the tube on the way home.
• A Southbank evening - Tate, BFI, Oxo Tower.
• Victory over the sofa of doom.

Thursday 11 February 2010

• Finding perfect gloves (cashmere!) in the paltry selection, having dashed into M&S in sheer blue fingered desperation.
• An appointment at the police station.
• I'm a big fan of a reine panini.
• Learning dexterity.
• Blitzing a chore I'd not quite been able to get my head around.

Wednesday 10 February 2010

• A night off, indulging in domesticity and catching up with the boys.
• This week's wardrobe theme appears to be a 1980s Edward Gorey mashup. I'm quite enjoying it - stripes, dead doll hair and converse.
• A walk around the block at lunch time.
• Clear bright blue light reflecting off the balcony into the bedroom. Quickly replaced by pea-sized hailstones - but a mere flash of spring helped me clamber out from between the sheets.
• Coffee, coffee, coffee.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

• Poor behavior noted. It's not just me!
• Revealing the point of private views.
• Pretending to be a football aficionado.
• A man in a fantastic red coat.
• An impromptu catch up.

Monday 8 February 2010

• The slippery slide between gently tipsy and crazy drunk.
• A packet of hula hoops waiting for me at home.
• Sartorial advice.
• Meddling in love lives.
• So many blogs full of pretty design things. I want, I need, I lust.

Sunday 7 February 2010

• Good views with good company in a dubious pub.
• Popcorn, popcorn.
• Rocking the converse.
• A full house.
• The minor sense of achievement that accompanied clearing out the bathroom cabinet. So many empty toothpaste tubes!

Saturday 6 February 2010

• Erm. I cut my own hair, with dressmaking scissors. It's not bad.
• A Holloway day.
• New stripes.
• Scenes from Sons and Lovers.
• Midnight pizza, with avocado and a slight sense of shame.

Friday 5 February 2010

• Sleeping and sleeping and sleeping while the house was spring cleaned.
• New books, bought and consumed at a pace.
• Weekday dim sum, with the requisite 'smiley' service. I love indoctrinating new people to the joys of little dumplings.
• Breakfast on the balcony in bright sunlight.
• Beautiful cinematography. I want to be lit in graphic black and white.

Thursday 4 February 2010

• Giving a beautiful chair to someone who appreciates the beauty. Hee!
• Good curry.
• Learning about photography in the British Library.
• Wardrobe foresight paid off.
• Bar hopping and quiz machines on Upper Street.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

• Secret squirrel behaviour.
• A bag of hot and salty chips on the front door step.
• Catching up with la Hartwell.
• A late night log fire.
• I'm a convert to the joy of a sheepskin rug. So soft and warm.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

• Spot on timing for an early morning meeting.
• An interesting professional lead.
• Accidental frolicking in the comfortable standard of Le Beaujolais.
• My faith in the police has been cemented. Good follow up.
• My own bed, two nights in a row. Hoorah!
  

Monday 1 February 2010

• A big pot of chili with doritos.
• Photos marking the end of an era on the balcony, with views across Westminster.
• More hyacinths. Spring is a-comin', and January is dead.
• Pretty purple underwear.
• A croissant on the way to work.

Sunday 31 January 2010

• Good music and good company in the Nags Head.
• Cocoa pops.
• Secretly tinkering in the attic space. (Confidential to the owner of the attic space: don't even think about looking for Timmy up there.)
• A 7am scuttle to bed was made much sweeter by a glimpse of clear sky, streaked with flaming reds and oranges as dawn broke.
• Dozing on a sheepskin rug.
  

Saturday 30 January 2010

• A surfeit of oysters and champagne, followed by a swift perusal of Time Out and a dash to the movies.
• A bag strong enough to repel a ne'er-do-well.
  
• Gossiping with a rarely seen friend in the north, over coffee with cinnamon sticks.
• Lovely things in lovely Liberty. Oh, sweet lust.
  
• A boy with kind eyes, sensible advice and a bottle of wine to make it all better.
  

Friday 29 January 2010

• Cheesy wotsits for breakfast. Filth. FILTH. Am ashamed.
• Home, quickly. A smart decision.
  
• Oversharing underneath a patio heater.
• Good news from the smallest Pickard.
• Another log fire in the Pineapple.
  

Thursday 28 January 2010

• Doodling with a new pen on a new pad.
• Bath, pesto pasta, bed.
• A pret egg and tomato sandwich on the way to the office. First one in a long time.
• Giving into just five more minutes curled up in bed, despite the sounds of the amazon echoing through the heating and the helicopters circling overhead.
• Discovering a likeminded soul in the pub.

Wednesday 27 January 2010

• A gift of mascara.
• An evening of clever conversation, science and champagne.
• Nibbling Artisan du Chocolate chocolates and tangerines in front of the fire.
• Catching the DLR from Greenwich to Canary Wharf. Love it.
• I think I'm developing a strange affection for Liverpool.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

• A new phone. Back in communication (though, lesson learned: must stop dropping belongings).
• Soothing my grump with solitude and a bath.
• Sliding out in the middle of the day for a walk and a talk.
• Talking about boys in the canteen. Sometimes, I wonder if I've moved on at all from being fourteen.
• Sporting my new favourite necklace.

Monday 25 January 2010

• Payday. Hoo-fucking-rah!
• Shorts! Relatedly, realising that this month's wardrobe theme seems to be the circus. I think this is a good thing?
• An impromptu theatre trip.
• Plotting a chart from sober to dead, via steaming, buzzed, wasted and giddy (and some...). Gotta love a project manager on a mission.
• Bittersweetly, realising I'll never steal a gherkin again. Pro: Synchronicity. Con: I'll never steal a gherkin again.

Sunday 24 January 2010

• Robert Downey Jr. is hot. Very enjoyable.
• Having somewhere to turn when the water is shut off. Fortuitously, it came on just before I left the house - having left the shower open. Nothing like the sound of a phantom bather to make you realise the error of your ways.
• Clean sheets and a clean boy.
• Jeans. So warm. (Though, note to self: bare feet and ballet pumps is NOT suitable January attire.)
• Breakfast overlooking the garden.

Saturday 23 January 2010

• Toast and marmalade.
• RUNNING around the block. Concomittantly, getting the giggles as I RAN around the block.
• Broccoli rabe and parma ham. Not bad for a fridge meal.
• Indolence.
• Reading The Economist in the bath. Damply intellectual.

Friday 22 January 2010

• A vodka gimlet. Turns out, good vodka is quite nice - perhaps the self-imposed ban of nine years can be relaxed?
• A house full of people.
• Give up yer aul sins.
• Corralling excel to meet my demands.
• A unicorn on my cardigan.

Thursday 21 January 2010

• Slinking back home to curl up in the warm, cooking up a storm.
• A panini with mushrooms. Controversial.
• Olive oil and conditioner, overnight? Works though.
• A great new joke.
• The pleasure of finding a good gift (I hope!).

Wednesday 20 January 2010

• Bisto gravy for lunch. Filth. Fab.
• Wrangling nail varnish on the tube - seems like such a bad idea to pour from one bottle to the other on moving transport, but no harm done.
• Picking up Paul Auster again.
• A little whiskey before bed.
• This year's hyacinth is growing at a pace.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

• An hour long conversation with my Ma, whilst sitting (having ordered nothing) in the McDonalds by TCR. Any port in a storm?
• Frites and peppercorn sauce, unexpectedly.
• The moment at which we realised we were in the wrong place.
• Waking up to find that a) I'd been covered in a duvet and b) I hadn't taken anyone's eye out in the process.
• People-watching at the French House, for the second night in a row.

Monday 18 January 2010

• Laughter at my unexpected perch, glass in hand, on the sofa, rather than curled up between the sheets.
• Meeting someone who recognises the signs of a Stein shut down.
• Talk of books over red wine in the French House.
• Oh. My. God. Has anyone seen that dating programme where the girls pick the boy? It's so horrifically bad, I couldn't stop watching. I feel like an adequate human being having seen what's out there. Gah.
• An email from a friend resurfacing from a whole heap of stress.

Sunday 17 January 2010

• Smoked mackerel and crushed flageolet beans. Tasty garlicky goodness, followed by a cream bun.
• The birds were singing their little hearts out when I popped to the shop to get the papers. It felt positively spring-like outside.
• Revamping a pair of pink suede shoes - now a midnighty black black. (As are my fingers.)
• Beginning the challenge that is tidying my desk. I'm in for the longhaul, but I got rid of some bags of stuff.
• A postcard through my door, featuring Skate Moss.

Saturday 16 January 2010

• A Saturday night date. Quite a successful one at that.
• Pancakes for breakfast.
• Spreading the joy of magic tricks and shithead at 3 in the morning.
• Warming my sodden feet in front of a roaring log fire in the Pineapple. (Relatedly, discovering that it's actually only 10 minutes walk from my front door.)
• Coming home to a big pot of chili, consumed with poppadums picked up on the way.

Friday 15 January 2010

• I think I might love Henry Rollins. He's electrifying.
• Scrambling around, in dusty half light, on the back stage of a theatre that hadn't been used in 20 years.
• Scones and tea at a meeting in a 1930s wood panelled office.
• No room at the inn(s) resulted in champagne and pizza at 2am. Hee!
• I love London the most from the middle of a bridge in the dark.

Thursday 14 January 2010

• Mutual recognition after years.
• The adrenaline rush of working an event.
• Hash browns muddled through soup for my tea.
• I made a hair thing. It’s held together with superglue. I may have had to pull superglue from my hair, having tried it on too quickly.
• A child of darkness reference. Always a winner.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

• Googling the ugliest footballers. Oh, my eyes.
• Enchiladas and casual stereoptyped hate. The perfect sidedish.
• A new purse. So vintage looking, and quite purple.
• Finding my perfume, in a larger size, reduced not once but twice, and then again at the till point, making the big bottle significantly cheaper than the small bottle.
• A black cat on Stavordale Road.

Tuesday 12 January 2010

• A new pub, passed many times on the way home (A Sam Smiths to boot).
• Leaving at the right time.
• Paintings.
• Curious options for guide animals. Squirrels? Flies?
• A second round of beer. Thank god. Very inappropriate to run out at a private view.
  

Monday 11 January 2010

• A squirrel with a walnut in Russell Square. Whuh?
• I'm a little sparkly cloud of greyness today.
• Sitting on the floor with a pillow between my back and the radiator. Just like revising for my GSCEs, many years ago. All I needed was a parent shouting at me because I'll take the radiator off the wall. Oh so warm though.
• An indecent proposal.
• Reading half a book at my desk, illicitly. I work in literature, so it's almost justifiable, right?

Sunday 10 January 2010

• Cocktail hour at Skylon with a glamorous auntie, a Tom Selleck a-like and the middle Pickard. Fun.
• A vast collection of sauces and dishes accumulated between us and the encroachers on our shared table. A small fort was constructed, lined with defenses of dead eyed polite smiles.
• Quiet domesticity before the end of the day.
• The way my big grey scarf smells when it's just been washed.
• My ipod ran out of juice just as I took my keys out of my pocket to get in the house. Nice timing.
• A big mug of Barrys tea.

Saturday 9 January 2010

• A couple of hours in Tate Britain and the pub with a funny friend, on the spur of the moment. Walking through the snow from the Tate, past the Houses of Parliament, was far too remininscent of a Turner for anyone's good (and certainly far too cold and wet for my good). Still a thrill, despite quotidian familiarity.
• The joy that is spending an evening with a man clad in a wrinkle-free M&S shirt.
• Messing with the youth of Shoreditch. Did you hear that story? In the Ham and High? About that guy who died... and the hearse? Hours of fun and games.
• Cherry red and red cherries.
• The small things thing has gone analogue.

Friday 8 January 2009

• A morass of deep-fried Dutch barsnacks. Taste of my childhood. Also, fritesaus!
• An affectionate rub of my sleeping head.
• The Big Red, the Big Red!!
• A good streetfind - a (slightly grubby) large green mousemat in the shape of an M.
• Buttons down my spine.

Thursday 7 January 2010

• Not one but two compliments on my very frivolous shiny red wellies as I trudged through the slush.
• A new brooch, NOT named Horace. Very definitively not named Horace. Thanks for that, Helen.
• A sofa crammed full of smiley faces, waving at me.
• A pavlovian response to music that took me right back to Chicagos. Sound of my youth, makes me smile.
• Hotwater bottle on my feet, right now - as I type this. What more could I ask for?
  

Wednesday 6 January 2010

• Being indulged in my very bad behaviour. Turns out, I need to be walked like a small and restless labrador puppy. Snow days aren't good for me, or those around me.
• A gaggle of cheeky chappies in the pub. Got to love men who talk excusively in cliches and epithets.
  
• Highgate Village in the snow. So very pretty.
• Dominoes. Another game for which to learn machiavellian tactics (or, as the dear departed Jade would have said, tictacs).
• Filthmongery.
  

Tuesday 5 January 2010

• Pottering in the kitchen, while Ellie slaved over a hot laptop in the other room. A precursor to our domestic bliss of the future, perhaps?
• Mushroom soup and bacon butties with an erstwhile ersatz Antipodean.
• A new coffee place. A victory three times over: finding this fab new place my companion had been too; realising it was a place that I'd been meaning to go for ages; and, very good coffee.
• Being very, very silly.
  
• Such pretty snow - the Whitehall Park conservation area (!) looks like a gingerbread town.
  

Monday 4 January 2009

• The illicit giddiness that accompanies a holiday in London, while the rest of the world returns to the grindstone.
• Impromptu dim sum.
• Parkhurst offices.
• A familiar face judged a photography prize. Relatedly, it's such a pleasure to have the time to pop into galleries.
• Sliding into bed to find a sleepy body.
  

Sunday 3 January 2010

• Tea and carrot sticks in Highbury.
• Reading and reading and reading.
• Swingers on the sofa (the movie, not the proclivity).
• Waking up tangled between lavender-scented sheets.
• Fortuitous bus timing that allowed me to keep all my extremities.
  

Saturday 2 January 2010

• Fish chowder for tea, brought to the door.
  
• Indulgence in chocolate. Ill advised and filthy. Tasty though.
• Chattering to the man at the Archway bookstall. He appreciated my literary tastes. Relatedly, new books! (It's a sickness. Can't. Stop.)
• Hibernation.
• Popcorn and za'atar.
  

Friday 1 January 2010

• Crossing Archway Bridge, in bright crisp sunshine. The start of a good new year's day walk (complete with squaky voiced impressions of all the smug marrieds, to the delight of my companion).
• Card tricks and cider.
• Sweet nothings, underscored by accusations of danger.
• Nachos. Very good nachos.
• Three flukey but perfectly timed wins at snap. I'll take the small victories where I can.