Away

I have been thinking about holidays... I have been thinking about holidays a lot.

For some reason what really ignited my interest in away was these Glass igloos in Finland. You can lay in bed looking up at the Northern Lights- coolest thing ever?

I'm normally far more of a hot weather holiday person- part of me really doesn't see the point in going somewhere colder than the UK- and certainly there is no point in going somewhere wetter- though it would perhaps be hard to find such a place.

I think this year I need to not travel too far, partly for personal reasons and partly long haul travel isn't really worth it for less than two weeks in my mind.

So I am thinking lots of mini breaks and for some reason I have also been thinking of a tree house! this one near Glastonbury looks like heaven.

Admittedly it's not cheap, but then how cheap could you expect it to be, it's a deluxe tree house!


 Canopy and Stars has lots of unusual properties, some more tree houses and some unusual yurts and caravans and things for the more adventurous sanitation wise (I'm not very adventurous and will only tolerate outside toilets for festivals- and even then I'd really rather not).

Then for us single types an activity holiday is perhaps better than something solitary (I tend to quite enjoy solitary but that is perhaps why I'm single!!). This yoga holiday on the West Coast of Scotland sounds pretty awesome, ecologically sound but with 'magical hidden hot tubs'.

Or if you want guaranteed heat then, at the other end of the spectrum cost wise perhaps, is a LUX yoga holiday on the Côte D’Azur.

Yes please.

Other ideas:
cookery at an Italian villa
horse riding (always wear a hat!)
or a  reading weekend I, of course, found a scent I loved on my reading weekend in Scotland a few years ago.

I'd also love to go on a perfume holiday but I struggle to find one!

Everywhere else

This Laura Marling interview blew my mind a bit, well that's strong, I was surprised certainly. It made me think about places we live, again.

That a person like Laura Marling could love LA in the way she clearly does was the shock to me- because aside from the hotel I stayed in- which I must say was lovely- I really didn't like LA (beyond thinking the shopping was quite fun and pretending to be in Pretty Woman for the afternoon on Rodeo Drive). You have to get in a taxi to go everywhere, or wait for a bus for a really long time; there are miles and miles of boring roads with traffic jams, life is just films and shops- but not good films, big blockbuster films that they clearly take very seriously. I'm sure my experience shows the difference between being a tourist somewhere and living there, I hear there are great gigs and bars but I didn't find them. I can see the weather would lift the mood- but I even found that a bit relentlessly pleasant.

I have often suspected that what Marling has clearly found to be true though- that we might find a happier or easier version of ourselves somewhere else. Or perhaps more accurately we would be a different person somewhere else. Is it losing the burden of people knowing things about you that makes that so? When you move to University it's a chance to reinvent the you from school, even if you liked that you, it's a chance for change- any kind of move is like that I suppose- be it from East London to West London or London to California.

I occasionally think about moving, I love London and I always knew I wanted to move here as a little girl. For the most part I absolutely love my life here and it would break my heart to have to leave- but I do find more and more when I leave London to go elsewhere in the UK it feels like I'm visiting a different country, I love both countries, or all of them if I'm visiting Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland- but there is an increasing gap. I think finding love anywhere but London is easier, I think you will work less anywhere else. People are very demanding in London in some ways, not considering you to be interesting if you don't have a certain handbag or live in a certain post code on the one hand- then on the other it's perhaps the most tolerant part of the UK and embraces all manner of glorious eccentricities. London is hard but I wouldn't be without it. Sometimes though, I just wonder, what would my life be like somewhere else? What if when I graduated I'd headed off to Brighton, or Scotland- or another country completely.

The Diary of a nose by Jean-Claude Ellena

The Diary of a Nose: A Year in the Life of a Parfumeur is a delightful publishing anomaly. This gem of a book was penned by Jean-Claude Ellena, a real artist in the world of perfume- in my opinion- and of course the Hermes in house perfumeur/ superstar.

This book isn't new but, as mentioned below, last year was something of a blur. Reading wasn't something I didn't do but I seemed to gravitate towards books I had read before and strangely perhaps to heavier books in terms of tone and content. I have read that the reason that the crime genre is so eternally popular isn't that we all like mystery but that we like the distraction from our own lives- well I certainly read a lot of Agatha Christie.

This book is a different and less intense kind of distraction- an utter delight for a perfume geek certainly- but probably also for anyone who appreciates reading the diary of someone who truly loves and is good at their work.

Ellena shares all kinds of anecdotes, from his early career to what he ate that day. For me it's like visiting a life I'd love to have, if I was a) any good at Chemistry and b) French- it's a pleasure to read.

The English edition comes in a small hardback book with a lovely dusk pink dust jacket that is about as pretty as a book can be- without being too feminine I hasten to add. I read this in virtually one go but I felt so happy and sophisticated having it in my hands on the bus, at the table in the cafe and lastly tucked up in bed.

My favourite Ellena perfume is Eau des Merveilles- and this book is a wonder, to me. 

Published by Penguin in the UK and available from Anthropology on Regent Street in London- and I'm sure other lovely book shops

Poor neglected blog

Despite the odd appearance to write about the odd dress or frivolity or for the occasional tweet I have been very absent online for quite a long time.

People are so lovely and kind online but I think to just announce something bad happened would also be rather strange- and of course it's not just your life you'd be writing about.

Still I have missed being online a lot- and now I hope things have settled enough to be back! I have been fine, continuing to do fun stuff yes but there was also a very difficult time where I worked 12 hours a day and then dashed to hospital every night. Suffice to say I've revised my thoughts on being an only child
and while I still think being an only is wonderful in many ways it is also a responsibility. It can also leave you feeling isolated

So anyway,back to the perfume- and the happy!

the doing wish list

I have a friend who is going to become an expat in March- leaving us in London behind for a sunnier climate and hopefully a sunshine filled work and private life.

She recently posted on the social network that I wish I wasn't on but still am (!) about what would everyone do if they only had one month left in London. That really got me thinking- leaving London wouldn't be for me anyway- but if I was for whatever reason what would my goodbye things be- and what are the things I've always meant to be but still not managed to in ten years of calling London home.

Well the things I said were a must if you were leaving, however many times you've done them, were Borough Market, Columbia Road market, walking the Southbank from Wesminster to Shad Thames (and stopping all the way for South bank food, for the Globe, Tate Modern, St Paul's, Borough again of course and up into the city past the Tower, Tower Bridge and beyond. I also thought at least one more theatre visit would have to be made and at least one more long park walk followed by a roast if it was Winter or at least one more picnic in the Summer- Kensington Gardens or London Fields are my favourites for different reasons.

The things I haven't yet done, well that's more interesting-I've never been inside the Houses of Parliament, nor have I climbed the Monument, I still haven't had tea or anything else at the Ritz (though frankly I've had pretty much every other tea in London and suspect that I have not missed a huge amount), I haven't ridden in Hyde Park, I haven't used a Boris bike (yes I know). There is an endless list of haven't, which is part of the reason London is never boring- but this year I intend to get on top of the things I haven't done and stop doing the same things, much as I love them ;-)

(As an aside don't get me started on the non London things I haven't done! Cheltenham festival, Goodwood (horses and cars versions), Hay on Wye, all of the Highlands (and islands)... so much to do... I might just have a little rest first.

Nigella's amazing dress

Nigella Lawson is one of my icons. She has made a great career, doing what she is good at and what she loves, do I both admire and rather envy her, in the best possible way.

Nigella is no fairweather or tv only cook, she's extremely knowledgeable, her recipes are easy to follow and work. I enjoy her writing style and what's more I enjoy her outlook on life- she doesn't take things too seriously, she appears to be a great Mother and handled public grief with enormous grace, not that her personal life is any of our business. Yes she probably had a good start in life in many ways, but so did lots of people who don't do anything meaningful with that start.

In my eyes she is going through a particularly fabulous phase- Nigellissima is a great book  for cooking, which might sound silly but lots of cook books are more lifestyle and less cooking. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy curling up and reading this, I have done so and thoroughly enjoyed it.

She also has some kind of new show in America, which we don't get, though maybe we will?

Anyway the whole point of this post is the billion dollar baby dress.

This seems to be the world's most flattering dress and to be not too cripplingly expensive, compared to say a Roland Mouret number (not that those aren't worth every penny I'm sure). Unfortunately the rest of the UK and north America seems to have noticed how flattering it is, but I still think I will get one and hope that it brings me some of Nigella's publishing success- and perhaps some man success also.

PS. I read the Nigella wears Coco Chanel perfume but I can't remember where I read that, so it's not exactly solid information!

What I'm really thinking

I came across the Guardian's What I'm Really Thinking thread for the first time yesterday- and I can't recommend it enough.

These articles are acute little gems of writing, sharp but succint and very very honest.

The first article I read was the single friend and my what an argument that piece is for people writing anonymously. I'm personally not on the same page about never having wanted to meet a Prince but we all know people who have settled and the accuracy, the pain and distain in the author's voice- umcomfortable and compelling writing.

They're not all so on the edge of your seat awkward, there is the quiet sadness of the short man, the interesting take on being a lesbian friend of a straight girl, the to me on the nose description of being a Londoner who sometimes looks down on Provincials.

These articles are exactly the kind of writing that make you cherish newspapers (online or print)- a little oasis of good writing on a lunch break, a sane word on the tube home- writing to make you feel that there is honesty in a world of pretending.