I’ve never been as proud of my country as I was today. I saw our capital city host the Olympics back in 2012, I saw our boys get to the World Cup semi finals in 2018 and I was watching Strictly Come Dancing live when Ed Balls took on Gangnam Style. But as the heavens […]
As instructed, the time has come to ease into ‘the new normal’ we were promised. Three foreign words we once said with a cringe or a roll of the eyes, not confident we were using them right, around about a year ago. The new normal we were told would come in time, if we were […]
Yesterday, I used the word ‘bougie’ for the first time. It turns out I don’t really know what ‘bougie’ means. In the last month, as another lockdown has continued in the UK, I have: Mastered the piña colada (and decided I’m not into yoga) Invested in a new, semi-professional frisbee Learnt all the words to […]
Yes, I miss catching up with a coffee and a friend; the background soundtrack consisting of the clatter of trays and the gaggles of girls giggling, playing grown ups, asking for a takeaway hot chocolate, just like we used to. And we still do. I miss trying to get away with my friends believing I […]
It’s November 30th and I’m sat, cross-legged on the sofa, admiring my Santa-red Christmas-pudding print pyjama bottoms, happily acknowledging the smudgy glow of yellowy fairy lights in my peripheral vision. Yes, it’s November and for the first time in my life, the Christmas tree is up, not just before December, but before December 12th. If […]
It’s a Saturday and it’s lockdown number two and plans for a socially distanced walk have been scuppered by the tentative, British November weather. The tentative, British November weather that means, by the time you’ve finished writing a message to your friend to say ‘It’s stopped raining!’, you’re interrupted by the pitter patter I used […]
“We’re here now,” Aaron muttered; glum, dejected, the coast of the postcard-ready town of St Ives spread before us, just like our holiday. “Don’t sound too happy about it,” I said. Or something similar. Whilst suppressing the bubbling urge to tell him off. Or at least roll my eyes. “It’s just,” Aaron explained, not for […]
The disc slices through the air and I marvel as it travels towards the sun, disappearing for a second, before it begins its downward journey and lands in my brother’s expecting hands. “99,” I announce, my eyes wide. The air around us is still as we silently postpone our celebrations with goofy smiles and clammy, […]
The anticipation of waiting for an Amazon parcel has stepped up a notch since lockdown begun. Before, if I ended up being out somewhere or at work when a parcel was due, it was no biggie. The contents of that package was not the be all and end all. It was not the highlight of […]
06:45: Just ignore your alarm. You set that before you spent two hours and twenty-seven minutes chastising yourself for retiring from cart-wheeling and bending your body into a ‘crab’ every day back when you were nine. Had you continued your infant gymnastics, you wouldn’t have pulled the whole of your lower body while practicing the […]