This is now irrelevant because its been published so late…
Since I haven’t updated this little online journal/messy recipe/restaurant rant page for well over a month, I thought I should spill my recent thoughts and activities in one neat entry.
So, since coming back from Budapest, I have been faced with the harsh reality of the actor blues. Taping, sending things off in to the ether and driving myself mad waiting for any feedback, calls or just a “hello, are you doing okay?” from my agent (which, in fairness he is very good at). But career aside, I have been trying my best to distract myself from what has probably been the most emotionally stressful few months of my life. I refuse to write a long essay as to what has gone wrong, as putting it on paper would just be boring, so here is an equation that can sum it all up:
good old feminine guilt + family illnesses + scammers + cost of living fuckery = not a very Boujee Student
However every cloud, and when one door shuts and all that. I have actually had some fun over the past month and a bit.
Since the start of November I have been the most insufferable Christmas obsessive you ever have met. I hate people like me. But this year I couldn’t help it, and started taking myself on very important Christmas prep days to buy presents, try out recipes and do the whole “my life is a Richard Curtis film” montage most days when I come out of hibernation to go to a bookshop, charity shop or coffee shop.
I finally went to the Notting Hill bookshop, which was pretty much hell on earth. Listen, the area is charming, but I honestly don’t think its worth hour of shoving through the slew of influencers and tourists to get yourself a tote bag. There are so many cute bookshops around London with the same vibe, fair enough if you’ve never been before like me and just want to see it. Go. But it is quite stressful, and not life changing.
Some other book shop recommendations with a 90’s rom-com feel are as follows:
Brick Lane Bookshop 166 Brick Ln, London E1 6RU
Word on the Water Regent's Canal Towpath, London N1C 4LW
Libreria Bookshop 65 Hanbury St, London E1 5JL
Bookmongers 439 Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8LN
Christmas shopping wise, I have been ON IT this year. I’ve had everyone’s presents wrapped by November 19th, but now i’m at the stage of just seeing little things everywhere that I know people would like and impulse buying. As Marge Simpson once said “it’ll be good for the economy”. Of course I had to have a peek in to Liberty as it is a London Institution. The most underrated part of the whole shop is the vintage designer collection on the third floor I think. Its a wearable museum of all the clothes you ever dreamed of wearing if you were a child who loved any film starring Gene Kelley/Vera Ellen in. Sadly my pockets couldn’t stretch to buying a 1960’s £9000 Chanel suit, so instead I went downstairs and sprayed myself with some very niche designer perfume and spent the rest of the day smelling like my late Grandmother Brenda.
My brother’s made a visit! Nick, Alex and Diana (Alex’s girlfriend) came to London to see My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican and try out some restaurants they’d been wanting to go to. The show was unbelievably good, the puppetry, the ensemble work, movement and music was so delicate and classy. You do come out of it feeling like a big kid. The cast were brilliant, and the actors who played the two sisters Satsuki and Mei were effervescent.
I will be updating my restaurant review page with a few recommendations very soon.
Stay warm please.
