ON SUNDAY WE went on a epic 50 km bicycle ride past Wimbledon and Clapham Common (where we stopped for a bit to lounge in the sun and nibble on the mini ice cream bars and pan au chocolat we picked up along the way) before heading into the city centre...
THIS WEEKEND, P recreated the sandwich we used to get in Valencia, complete with the salsa verde. It was marvellous. He also made Fideuà on Sunday, so we had a rather Spanish weekend. It's actually the last long weekend of the summer here and despite two days of overcast skies and rain, it did clear up today and was perfect.
ALTHOUGH I am never awake for them, I prefer sunrises to sunsets. Sunsets are an ending, and I love beginnings. Sunsets mean the end of another day, which means time away from all the things I love to do, at least until the next morning. I guess it’s a FOMO of sorts, a constant fear of missing out when my eyes are closed.
THERE IS a Japanese word, baka, that is used to describe the beauty of the changing seasons, especially the vibrant colours of autumn leaves. In theory, this word relays something beautiful, but when it appears to be occurring in the middle of August, perhaps decidedly less so. Yes, July was a washout (apparently the sixth wettest July on record), but August, well we had high hopes for August, which has continued to deliver more of the same.
READ IN BRITISH Vogue yesterday that Londoners are all in their autumn uniforms already⏤wooly jumpers and jackets and I can confirm that we are. That's because it's been raining for weeks on end and has been unseasonably chilly.
MY FAVOURITE earrings are these solid gold threaders that dangle prettily and glint in the light when I move. They were my lucky earrings because I've nearly lost them a million times, but they always turned up again, often in the most inexplicable places.
WE HAVE BEEN watching the tennis. Normally don't join in until the end of the second week, but we wanted to see the Andy Murray/Tsitsipas match, which began on Thursday night, and continued the next day. Since we were in town on Friday, we had to keep checking in on our phones to see how things were going, in between pub visits in Belgravia and drinks on hot terraces of quaint new-to-us pubs...
ON FRIDAY evening we had that pub thing in Vauxhall that had been telling you about. It turned out to be less of a business meeting, and more of a quick dinner and some drinks, all over in an hour and a half. Afterward, we wandered around, ended up in the quirkiest little Spanish bar with a juke a box playing Strawberry Fields and a hilarious clientele in various stages of drunkenness.
THE HEATWAVE has subsided, and now, instead of hot sticky air seeping through the walls, cool breezes are making gauzy white curtains flutter in every room and it's a little easier to breath at noon, when the sun is at its highest. It's also much easier to workout out now...
ON SATURDAY we stopped by the Farmers Market on Maple. It only happens once a month, and since we only moved here in the first week of May, we missed that one. It was charming and lively and there were dogs everywhere and stalls selling topiaries and Scotch eggs, craft beer and handmade soap, and oysters and Prosecco.
WE ARE IN the midst of a heatwave and it's intense. Even I, who is always cold, am overheating a little and during last night's cardio, it felt like I was in a sweat lodge. Of course, I've never actually been in a sweat lodge, but it felt like what I imagine being in what would feel like.
ON SATURDAY we embarked on an epic bicycle ride way past Wimbledon for a panini from a food truck run by an Italian couple. It was the latest episode in P's food frenzy since we've been here, and he has many more places that he's been dying to try.
I AM WRITING to you from my brand new desk, which is actually an enormous solid oak dining table that arrived from Paris this morning. It is enormously heavy and makes a dramatic statement in the dining-area-turned-office and I’ve been googling how to make the back of a computer look nice (or at least tidy), as that’s what you see when you first enter the room, when your dining table is now your office.
LAST WEEK was the first time in a very long time that I missed the Weekend Links. And if you're a TIG subscriber, you'll know that it was the first time in years that we took an unplanned week off. But it was all with good reason: we made a major life change...
IN GERMAN, the word lebensfreude refers to the joy of life, the love of living and enjoying life's pleasures, and the appreciation of the beauty of existence. An optimistic and positive term, the word reflects a happy and contented attitude towards life.
