The first of The Love Lists is here, and just in time for Valentines Day!
Here’s a round up of all my favourite and best things that kept me entertained throughout an otherwise dreary January in lockdown. Let me know your thoughts on all or any of the features and send me suggestions for the months to come. Enjoy x
I loved watching.... I May Destroy You.
Did you watch it? Did you watch it? Wasn’t it beautiful and brave and shocking and brilliantly cool all at the same time? I’ve never seen anything like it and I couldn’t watch it fast enough. If you haven’t seen it, and don’t know anything about it, be warned - the subject matter is sobering; the series explores the aftermath of a woman’s rape in a pub toilet (based on the writer’s own experience). But this is a vital story to be told and heard. The main characters were brutally flawed - and awful at times - but I was always on their side even though they did things that made me hide behind my hands. The trauma was real, but the friendships were joyous and this was the take away for me. How it didn’t win a Golden Globe is beyond me - I think Michaela Coel is a phenomenal human to have made this programme.
In much less cool TV news, I also watched 2 episodes of The Serpent on iPlayer before binning it off (though it did make me want to go travelling again) and the whole series of Trying with Esther Smith and Rafe Spall, which I loved for the sweet story about adoption and pointing out the geographic location inaccuracies around Camden and Kentish Town.
I loved reading... I Am Not Your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite.
You may know Candice Brathwaite from the ‘Make Motherhood Diverse’ podcast, which was a project she started with a friend when she found herself completely unrepresented in the online world of motherhood as a black, first-time mother. Her blog and podcast lead to this book which, amongst many other things, explores the shocking statistic that black women are five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. It is an urgent and unflinching account of what life as a black mother is like in Britain, and an important read for mothers and fathers everywhere, regardless of race. I loved it and learnt a lot.
I loved eating....Almond Croissants from St J’s
My biggest lockdown addiction has been pastry - in all its glorious forms - but mainly in almond croissant form. The fact that we now have to pass by St J’s cafe on the way to drop Rudy at nursery has not helped this addiction one bit. If you love marzipan and you love patisserie goods then these bad boys are for you - providing you’re local, of course. The best part is they’re also deliciously dairy free. SEND HELP (or more croissants).
I loved listening to.... Dancy Indie tunes by Jake Bugg and Sports Team
The thing I’ve missed most about lockdown (after hugs) is dancing. Dancing at weddings, dancing in pubs, dancing at parties, dancing at gigs. Two songs that have made me pine for this even more recently is Jake Bugg’s single of 2020, ‘All I need’, and Sports Team’s ‘Here’s the Thing’. They both remind me about all of the dancing I cannot wait to do again with other human beings.
I loved visiting... Highams Park Lake
I wish I could tell you about somewhere wildly exciting that I’ve been but I’m afraid a lake is all I’ve got for you. A beautiful lake though, on the edge of woodlands, we visited Highams Park on the muddiest day of the year in mid January. We watched our son splashing around in muddy puddles, and remarked more than once that he wasn’t really dressed for the weather. Did he fall over? Of course he did - within the first ten minutes - face first into the deepest puddle after the lake itself. He was so distraught and frozen that we had to head back to the car. So it was perhaps the shortest visit in history, but it sure was nice to leave E17 for a while.