EARLY SUNDAY morning, we quietly lost an hour to British Summer Time. We would not know about it until much later in the day, when we suddenly remembered about the clocks changing, and it all made sense why we felt so tired. Last Friday we drove up to Scotland, armed with a Victoria Sponge cake to celebrate a 95th birthday. The drive was sunny and scenic and as always, we had a lot to talk about. We stopped by the new café in the market square for two flat whites (mine, oat; his, regular) before setting off.
THE RARE BEAUTY Blush. A Stanley Travel Tumbler. Olaplex shampoo. The Diesel Belt Skirt. Dior Lip Oil. L’Oreal Telescopic Lift Mascara. Any of the Skims Sets. While this might seem like a nonsensical list of products, on TikTok, each of these items has been the focus of a viral spending frenzy. Once known for dance videos, TikTok’s growing user rate has promoted the app from social media site to thriving marketplace — where a product can go from new offering to cult favorite in days, and drive thousands of dollars in sales.
I SOMETIMES wonder what happened to all the people who asked me for directions. Despite not ever really knowing where I’m going (or sometimes even where I am), I am often asked for directions, especially in cities that don’t belong to me, sometimes even moments after I’ve just arrived. Perhaps some of them are still driving around, taking the wrong turns that I inadvertently sent them on.
I am not a huge fan of aphorisms, but every once in a while I come across something that makes PERFECT SENSE and lately, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these words: Your energy is your currency. Spend it wisely. Invest it well. For the past week, I have been thinking a lot about where my energy is going and how I can spend it better and came to the realisation that still too much of my time and energy is spent on social media.
ON WEDNESDAY of last week, while in a book shop, discovered a new little photo book by a photographer named Steven Ahlgren called The Office (Hoxton Mini Press), which essentially began when the author was a disenchanted banker working in an office in Minneapolis. Inspired by a 1940 painting by Edward Hooper titled, Office at Night, which he would view frequently at the Walker Art Center, Ahlgren decided to leave office life behind to become a photographer. The photos, taken over a ten-year period between 1982-1992, chronicle a view of corporate life that can either be seen as tragic and sad, or heartfelt and thoughtful, depending on your own experiences with this world ...
WE HAVE BEEN eating salads and chick peas and tofu and taking many vitamins (especially B12) and tomorrow, it will be a month since we've had any alcohol. It's a reset of sorts, and it's been good to get things back on track after so many hot summery day indulgences. Last Wednesday we went up to Scotland to visit P's 94-year-old grandmother and on the way home, stopped for dinner in a small town in Cumbria that we'd been to once before, but only briefly ...
A FEW WEEKS ago, a past contributor at TIG asked for restuarant recommendations in London for her upcoming trip, and I had forgortten to mention Luca in Clerkenwell. Its tagline is "British seasonal ingredients through an Italian lens" and it is known for using high-quality ingredients from around the British Isles and Italy, including seasonal produce such as shrimps from Morecambe Bay, grouse from Yorkshire, langoustines from Scotland and cheeses from across the country ...
WE HAVE BEEN BACK to Edinburgh many times since we moved away in 2015, but it was not until this past visit in June did we notice how much things had changed in the city since we left, but more so, how much had changed just in the past year of lockdown. One of P's favourite pubs, Smithie's, where he would often go after playing football (soccer) on Thursday nights, closed forever, set to be turned into a block of flats ...
Early in 2004, a buoy was released into the waters off Argentina. Half of the buoy was dark and the other light, like a planet in relief. The buoy sailed east, accompanied by the vastness of the ocean and all the life it contains, the long-lived great humpback whales with their complex songs that carry for kilometers, and the short-lived Argentine shortfin squid. Along the way, many thousands of minuscule creatures were colonizing this new surface, which had appeared like a life raft in the open waters of the South Atlantic.
LAST WEEK, IT RAINED all day on Thursday and Friday, and by Saturday, cabin fever. So we walked in the sun, which finally came out, and joined a festive food stall set up outside the pub down the street where flatbreads, mulled wine, mince pies and caramel shortbread were on the menu. On Saturday night we watched the film ...
THIS WEEKEND we put up the Christmas lights and watched The Holiday with wine and popcorn. Yes, it might be a little soon, but this year needed cheering up, so we're beginning early. We're also wrapped up in the holiday mayhem that comes with tracking down missing packages and making sure everyone receives everything on time and are in the midst of beginning a brand new ...
Despite actually living it for the past year and a bit, only came across the term cottagecore recently. Cottagecore (also known as farmcore, countrycore, naturecore, honeycore or warmcore) is the internet aesthetic taking over our screens lately with its ultra-romanticised interpretation of rural and countryside life ...