What up people. It’s about time I provided you with details of my
whereabouts because otherwise HOW WILL YOU KNOW how I’ve been spending my time?
We can’t have life events going undocumented because I’ve got less than a year
til I’m 30 and from then on I anticipate my memory declining and basically for
me to be living at all times in close proximity to a packet of biscuits and my
cat.
So let’s roll. In August, still on a Fringe high, I made my way to
Copenhagen for a few days of pastries and walking and pastries and yet more
walking with my dear friend Helen. Highlights included afternoon tea at the top
of a tower, Kierkegaard’s grave, getting the train over the Oresund to
Sweden, two boat trips, riverside fish n
chips n wine, patting the Little Mermaid, accidentally riding the oldest
rollercoaster in Europe at Tivoli, Lego lions, Moomin mugs, ALL the goddamn
pastries and being given a free chocolate milk by a newsagent. A dream of a
trip, I highly recommend Copenhagz to you all.
A mini 6 year Durham reunion for three of us on the August bank holiday
included excessive prosecco drinking in the gazebo, drunken Sworkit, river
walks, brunching and general revelling in the beauty of our second home town. I
also get to spend a lot of my time back in Durham now thanks to signing up to
be a mentor for one of the colleges, looking after undergrads and plying them
with free soft drinks, it’s all very exciting.
My birthday weekend featured extremes of tragedy and great joy, in the
form of two Greek plays and an incredible pigsty cake. After another lovely
manicure at the delight that is London
Grace in Putney and celebrating our friend Jo’s engagement with some fizz,
we headed to the Almeida for the Bakkhai (starring Ben Wishaw and Bertie Cavel)
which featured some intriguing choral singing, a lot of general campery and a
startlingly unconvincing head on a stick. Lots of good acting though. Sunday
involved Konditor & Cook meringue and brownies in the groundling queue for
the Oresteia at the Globe, which was pretty impressive, very bloody and
featured a massive golden phallus parading through the audience at the end so
everyone’s a winner.
Recent gigs:
Florence and the Machine – attended with my uncle Sean who has
excellent taste in music and enjoys a little dance. Florence was absolutely the
best I’ve seen her and put on a
massively energetic show with perfect vocals. So much joy. Supported by the
Staves who I am now a fan of! Good folky stuff.
The Proclaimers – CLAP ALONG PROCLAIMERS. My palms were literally
bruised after this gig, but they were so energetically insistent on clapping
along that you just get swept up and before you know it you’ve got no
fingerprints. I have to stress how beautiful some of their songs are too and
how cracking the band were – Sunshine on
Leith was a high point. So much audience love for the boys, an absolute
roar of sound and energetic singing along, including actual marching during 500 miles, made it a super fun evening.
I finally got to welcome my uni girls to the north for a weekend of
eating and fun. I dragged them to the beauteous Armstrong Bridge food market
(wild boar pizza anyone?), Pleased to Meet You for copious gins, Lady Grey’s
for copious ales, and the Fat Hippo for ultimate burger challenge. Quotes from
the Fat Hippo experience include: “Delicious but at the same time horrendous”,
“I just want to pay and I just want to die”, and “More of a personal battle
than the Great North Run”. So in summary: highly recommended. As well as excessive
consumption we also spent all our spare money on make up in the newly opened
Kiko store, wandered round Tynemouth market and caused divisions with a game of
Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit (it’s not for everyone).In other burger news, I’ve been to the new Byron burger twice already – once for its opening night and a free burger (the rarebit burger, oh my lord) and once for a 25p burger accompanied by the epic chocolate milkshake. They’ve done a great job on the décor – the green tiles are a bit Ministry of Magic which I love – plus for those of us who remember it as a H&M there’s the novelty of trying to work out what section you’re eating in (I think I was in the casual t-shirts bit).
Miscellaneous:
A few weeks ago I buzzed off down south for two friends’ birthdays and
experienced the Bombay Sapphire distillery which is a cracking day out. Lots of
ingredient sniffing and awkward crouching by info loudspeakers, a talk about
the gin making process and a free gin cocktail at the end. Next time you find
yourself near Basingstoke (and let’s face it it’s just a matter of time) I
suggest you drop in.
Further good news in the form of the birth of my dear school friend’s
first baby, little Layton. Welcome to the world, tiny one.
The Gruffalo has been published in LATIN. I haven’t been this excited
since… well, since Harry Potter was
published in Latin. Eheu! Gruffalo!
Could not be happier that Gogglebox is back (favourite quote so far –
“If a squirrel was in your house you would lose your mind”, oh Siddiquis I love
you all), plus Dowton obv, and have also decided to get into Strictly this
year, mainly on the basis that Jay McGuinness is amazing and I cannot stop
watching his Pulp Fiction jive.
Ok that’s it, no more spewing of my calendar entries for now. More
regular stuff to come – particularly because I’m soon heading to one of the TWO
cat cafes that Newcastle now has. Welcome to our new furry overlords.
Brixpig x
Brixpig x
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