PinnedHave you seen my life?Excuse me, have you seen my life? I misplaced it somewhere, sometime last March. I miss it. It was cute — about yay long, moderately busy, full of train journeys and charity shops and overpriced lunch? Not the fanciest life, but it was mine and I’d just like it back…Pandemic3 min read
PinnedLove should be mundane: here’s what I know about long-term relationshipsFor years, we scoffed at ‘date night’. The idea that you’d need to synthetically jump-start your relationship through cocktails at a chain restaurant, or photographing yourselves in the living room like you’re off to a latter-day leaver’s disco. How basic. How mundane. Then we established our new tradition. On Fridays…Long Term Relationship4 min read
Nov 18, 2020In defence of the grown-up Christmas listMaking a list, checking it twice — but over the age of 10, are gift requests naughty, or nice? Around this time every year, I have conversations with friends that go like this: “Argh I have NO idea what to get Dad, he hates everything.” “What do you buy for…Christmas4 min read
Apr 12, 2020So here it is, hipster ChristmasThe first time I took my heathen boyfriend to church, it was Easter Sunday. “Skip straight to the good stuff”, I thought. “God’s greatest hits!” It’d be all daffodils and alleluias and egg hunts round the vestry, nothing too terrifying for an ecclesiastical virgin. It wasn’t until I looked down…Easter3 min read
Apr 2, 2020Times Like TheseThese Times These unprecedented times These unsettling times These strange and unsettling and worrying times These uncertain times These times of uncertainty These uncertain times of uncertainty These batshit times These turbulent times The Current Climate Current Happenings ‘Just now’ As we navigate unchartered territories As we sail these stormy seas As we walk trepidatiously into the dark abyssPoetry1 min read
Mar 22, 2020When all this is overWe’ll be good people when all this is over (they say) We’ll breathe deeper, love harder, hold closer We’ll notice the birdsong and block out the noise, make things with our hands, face problems with poise We’ll be good people when all this is over (they say) We’ll plant trees…World Poetry Day2 min read
Feb 14, 2020Cupid, draw back your bow…and let your cynicism go “In the fairground of the calendar year, Valentine’s Day is the waltzer,” I once wrote, in a column so embarrassing in its unenlightenedness that I can’t recycle any more of it here. …Valentines Day5 min read
Feb 12, 2020Feed a cold: what to eat when you’re under the weatherLurgy season is upon us. But at least it’s an excuse for some serious comfort eating. For all the common cold is a miserable ordeal — and it really is, she says in a pathetic rasp from deep within Tissue Mountain — you have to admit it does have some…Food4 min read
Dec 17, 2019The joy of ’Twixtmas eatingLet’s begin by stating the obvious: leftovers are better than Christmas dinner. It is, and this being 2019 I do not use the term lightly, an unequivocal fact. I have evidence; 65% of my Twitter followers agree, and the ones who voted ‘no’ are just being contrary. It’s part of…Food4 min read
Oct 9, 2019I spend money out of social awkwardness, and you probably do tooLast week I found myself in A Bit of a Situation. I’d gone to my local deli and picked up some bread (with tongs, calm down), but halfway through putting the loaf in the bag I remembered I didn’t actually need bread. I’d already bought bread that morning. Rather than…Food3 min read