RECENTLY came across an old story in GQ about the last true hermit, who had zero communication with the outside world (with two very brief exceptions between 1986 and 2013) for 27 years.
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...
THERE ARE literally over four thousand photos on my phone at the moment, many of which I'd meant to sort through and file away into digital memory boxes but forgot about when new photos took their place. I may be feeling crushed by their spatial weight as an unfinished task in my mind, so I've decided to share a few a them here in a series of Life Lately photo diaries...
I believe in fully immersing myself in places when I live there. When we lived in Edinburgh, I embraced warm pubs on rainy days and long walks in the New Town.
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.
WE ARE FINALLY back with the fourth instalment of our popular series, Talking Points, and before we delve into this edition’s topics, I should tell you that I began compiling this list way back in late December 2022...
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.
LATELY ALL my dreams have been the same: a car careering out of control that I can't stop, a car that I can't start if my life depended on it (and it usually does). Apparently, according to Claude (yes, I tell my dreams to bots now), the unconscious mind often uses cars to express thoughts and feelings about our control, power, independence and ability to progress in life.
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.
OUR FIRST visit to Mc & Sons was actually by chance. We were walking out of Vauxhall station and passed the pub along the way, P thinking it was the one he’d been telling me about that serves Thai food...
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.
THIS WEEKEND was all about the tennis: the Women's Final on Saturday (heartbreaking), and the Men's on Sunday (thrilling). Before all of that, on Friday, we made our way to Kensington to meet a old mate of P's from another lifetime.
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.
