31 Dec 2018

My Favourite Moments of 2018

My Favourite Moments of 2018
@abellyfullofwords Instagram Top Nine

G and I are heading to the pub (where else?) tonight to welcome in 2019, and celebrate a whole year of being engaged. I’m planning on dressing up but have a feeling all the cheese/chocolate/mince pies are going to come back and haunt me when I attempt to put my dress on. Pray for Kate.

The last time I sat down to write this post – on 30th December 2017 – I wrote ‘admittedly there’s still some of 2017 to go so if my absolute favourite moment happens in the next 24 hours, I’ll let ya know’. 

And then, the next day, G proposed.

So I’m going to try and avoid any accidental premonitions this year, for fear I may trigger an unexpected pregnancy or summin’.

I started the year with a brand-new fiancé, planned a wedding, scribbled away in cafes and travelled more than I thought possible within 27 days annual leave. From the most northerly point of mainland Britain to the southernmost point of continental Asia and everywhere in between, you’ve been a ball 2018. Here’s my favourite moments from the last 12 months:

Waking up on New Year’s Day and remembering the events of the previous evening. Holy shit we’re engaged. 

All the little exciting moments in January when we booked our wedding venue/photographer/band and particularly the day we chose my engagement ring. It’s a sparkly beauty and I bloody adore it. 

Celebrating three years with G by chilling on the sofa, drinking wine and planning a wedding playlist.  

Spending my 26th birthday in Singapore. It was our first day there, after booking the trip just a few weeks beforehand, and we were unbelievably hot and jet lagged. And yet, what a birthday. We tried local food, saw the Supertrees (which have been on my bucket list for so long), tried a Singapore Sling cocktail and generally soaked up the wonder of the whole bay area. It was a fabulous day. 

Seeing the supertree light show and then the Spectra light show in Singapore and everything feeling a little bit magical. 

Drinking mango lassis on the streets of Little India in Singapore just before flying home and feeling pretty darn lucky that I got to visit such an amazing place.   

Seeing one of my oldest and best friends get married surround by a snow-covered landscape. 

Sat in the Prae Wood Arms garden with G in April eating posh crisps and enjoying the little preview of summer. 

The many, many moments I giggled during our trip to Ireland, particularly the moment we propped up an empty bar at 2 in the morning and knocked back the baileys. 

Watching the most epic lightning storm over St Albans cathedral. 

Sat on a secluded beach in Dartmouth, Devon enjoying the peace and chatting to a guy about where his dogs came from. 

Discovering the town we’re pretty certain we want to move to in 2019.  

Going to my Grandma’s house for the final time before she moved; it was bittersweet but I’m glad my final memories of her house are being sat in the sunshine watching the youngest member of our family totter about. 

Coming across a zipwire stretched high above a beach during our North Coast 500 road trip and spontaneously deciding that, hell yes, I was going to do that, and five minutes later flying through the air. 

So many other moments from our NC500 trip – the most wonderful gin tour, eating pasta on a picnic bench in the evening sun with chickens running around us and a view of the sea, highland brie pizzas, the endless amount of stunning views we saw day in and day out, and so many more.  

Finding my wedding dress and the whole experience being lovely, proving all my doubts wrong.

Seeing Baby Wants Candy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – a completely improvised comedy musical based on a title the audience shout out at the beginning. Ours was ‘Haggis, neeps and titties’ – it was hilarious. 

Panicking that we were going to run out of wine whilst in the Peak District with my gals and deciding we were going to walk to the local pub down the pitch-black country road. In the pouring rain. With the very real possibility of being hit by cars…. And then banging on the door of the pub after it had closed. I mostly remember a lot of hysterical laughter. 

Sat in the square under the bell tower in Split, Croatia, drinking wine and eating cheese with G in the most unusual bar and just watching the world go by. 

Seeing the beautiful Nyhavn in Copenhagen after imagining it for so long; I insisted on going back a few times a day. My favourite time was probably when we were there really early in the morning when it was practically empty and the light was beautiful.  

Wandering around Kew Gardens and seeing all the Christmas lights whilst reminiscing about the first few weeks of uni with Alice. 

Playing the Friends edition of Heads Up with my sister on Christmas Day and laughing so hard that a) I couldn’t say the word ‘Yemen’ and b) a little bit of pee came out. 

Every little every-day moment with G, family and friends that one is unlikely to remember specifically but that made the year, and life, that bit more joyous. 

Happy new year folks – and here’s to an excellent 2019. 

30 Dec 2018

Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

At the end of 2017, I declared that I wanted 2018 to be ‘the year of the travel’. I wanted to squeeze as much travel as possible within 27 days annual leave, with an eye for ‘bigger’ trips rather than weekend city breaks.

I went to Singapore, Ireland, Croatia, Copenhagen and did the North Coast 500 road trip around the Scottish highlands. In between, I also (finally) went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, spent a few days in Devon and took a quick jaunt to the Peak District.

It. Has. Been. A. Ball.

Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

The countries? Singapore was one of the most interesting places I have ever been to and I am so glad I want there as a standalone trip rather than using it as the stopover it often is. The Irish countryside was a beauty and I would love to see more one day; however, I found Dublin underwhelming. The North Coast 500 road trip was one of the best things I have ever done and I would highly recommend everyone add the Scottish highlands to their bucket list. Whilst I had a lovely time in Croatia and would recommend, I didn’t quite get the hype that seems to be building around it. Copenhagen was everything I imagined it would be and I’d go back in a heartbeat.

The planning? Both Singapore and Copenhagen were booked just a few weeks in advance, somewhat spontaneously, whereas our NC500 road trip, Croatia and Ireland were booked several months in advance. There are so many perks to trips planned spontaneously and trips planned meticulously that I think a healthy balance of both is the best way to get the most from travelling. As someone who can suffer from anxiety, over-planning can be my way of dealing with things. And yet, I think a bit of spontaneity – particularly when one has to get on a long-haul flight – prevents me from thinking too much of the things that could go wrong and embrace the moment. On the other hand, I would not recommend doing the North Coast 500 without a solid plan. Seriously, get yourself a spreadsheet.

Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

I thought this year would sate my desire to travel and have adventures, at least for a while, but it seems to have done the exact opposite.

I will admit, when I got home from a last-minute trip to Copenhagen in October, I didn’t want to be back in an airport anytime soon. I’d spent half of February in Singapore and then from May to October, I went away every month. I’d had such a good time but, quite frankly, I was also knackered; I felt like a stranger with my own bed and was craving time at home. I thought I was sated.

It didn’t last long.

The world is big and there are so many places I want to see. My desire to travel is urgent, like the world’s countries are going to disappear if I don’t reach them asap. But I’m not really sure why I have this urgency. Sure, I think it’s good to have some urgency because otherwise I’d never go anywhere but sometimes my internet searches would imply I was about to pop my clogs and was trying to visit as many places as possible before I get hit by a bus.

But I’m learning to control my urgency. Because, what this year hasn’t done is make me want to throw in the job and spend a year or longer continuously travelling. Don’t get me wrong, if I won the lottery, this would be high up on my list of things to do. But doing a lot of travelling in 2018 has also made me very aware that there are plenty of other things that I also want to do now, and I don’t want to give these things up.

Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

I’ve actually realised how much I love being at home, just as much as I love heading off on an adventure. Being home may not be as exciting or as exotic but it brings me a level of contentment that I wouldn’t be without for anything. I want to buy a house and I want to do it soon. I want to marry G and spend Saturdays in Ikea picking out a new bathroom. Spend Sunday mornings writing and hell, start an actual family. A different kind of adventure. And, despite all the ‘travel whilst you’re young’ stuff that is thrown around, I’ve realised that it doesn’t have to be one and then the other. A desire to travel can be a part of who I am for the rest of my life; I don’t need to visit everywhere now. Cos let’s face it, if I did, there’d be no where left for the rest of my life. And so, my wanderlust and my liking for home have learnt to sit relatively comfortably side by side. They still tug at each other a lot but I’m learning to take a deep breath and remember that it’s about appreciating each place fully, rather than trying to squeeze in as many countries as possible.

Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

I have been incredibly lucky to visit all the places I’ve been to in 2018. But, based on a lot of things I see on social media/the media in general, you’d think the four new countries I had the opportunity to visit were nothing. Everyone loves to travel these days and I often feel like I am bombarded with the idea that travel is about ticking off as many countries as possible; that visiting four new countries in one year is now only visiting four new countries in one year. As though many of us have forgotten the funds required to travel. Then there’s this sense that unless you give up your job, fly long-haul and bungee jump over a canyon, you’re not having a proper adventure, not proper travelling. Apart from the fact that this sounds unbelievably wanky, it also makes travel and adventures seem very elitist. And I hate that.

So whilst my adventures abroad over the best year have been incredible, and I know I will travel abroad again in 2019; as we move into the new year, I will also strive to embrace more microadventures. My favourite definition of a microadventure is ‘an adventure that is short, simple, local, cheap – yet still fun, exciting, challenging, refreshing and rewarding’. In my eyes, a microadventure can be anything you want it to be and can bring just as much joy as an experience that required travelling half way around the world for. One of my favourite adventures in the last year? Probably making my way down a pitch-black country lane in the rain, with speeding cars, just for the sake of giggles and wine. I didn’t leave the country. I barely needed to get dressed. But it filled me with laughs and adrenaline and I won’t forget it anytime soon.

Adventures can be swift, they can be small and they are most definitely subjective. They can be the tiniest step outside your everyday routine. An adventure is any new undertaking that quickens the pulse. Adventure has a broad definition, and we should fight to keep it so. All true adventure is an inner adventure. It’s our emotional response to a change in our physical circumstances. If it’s an adventure to you, it’s an adventure. – Anna Hart


Thoughts On A Year Of Travel

28 Dec 2018

The Best Books I Read In 2018

The Best Books I Read In 2018

Hope you had a lovely Christmas, dear reader. I am home after a festive week spent around the country with family, and yes I am approximately 90% cheese. I got a delicious looking pile of books for Christmas and it made me realise that it’s been over a year since I’ve mentioned books on this blog, and I’m not sure how or why that happened.

So here are my favourite books from 2018. Books I read stuck on a hot commuter train, on a beach in Croatia, in the depths of the Scottish highlands and everywhere else in between:

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend 

Would highly recommend if you’re a Harry Potter fan. I was almost immediately hooked by the Nevermoor world; it was barmy, magical and really witty. I raced through it and went out to grab the squeal straight away. I also genuinely had post-book blues upon finishing and can’t wait for the next in the series. A real joy to read.

Dietland by Sarai Walker 

I’ve raved about this book before; it’s life changing. A feminist revenge fantasy novel about one fat woman’s fight against the diet industry and sexism. The message is unapologetically loud and clear, and it’s wickedly funny. I forced a lot of people to read this after I’d finished, to delve into Plum Kettle’s story and come out a changed woman. I will be reading again and again.

Still Me by Jojo Moyes 

The third novel in the Me Before You series. I really enjoyed this, and thought it was better than the second one. I particularly loved how well it captured New York and the lovely ending to Lou’s story.

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan 

This story starts at the end. When we first meet the two main characters, they are floating in space with ninety minutes of air left. The entire novel flashes between these ninety minutes and the love story of the couple. The writing was really visual – you could just imagine it as a film – and the ending was very unusual; the reader is presented with three possible endings, left to decide for themselves what happened.

Places I stopped on the way home by Meg Fee 

Another one I imagine I will pick up to thumb through time and time again. I love Meg’s way with words. A beautiful collection of essays based on the author’s twenties spent living in New York.

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig 

The concept is a guy who ages incredibly slowly and uh it was beautiful. It’s about the main characters adventures through time but also what it means to be alive and how important people are.

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

I thought this book went off a bit towards the end but I was a big fan of the concept and the way the story was told. Tom, who lives in an alternate 2016 where all the sci-fi fantasies of the 1950s are a reality, suddenly finds himself stranded in our 2016. Our world is backward compared to his but in our world, the love of his life is still alive and his family are very different.

The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer 

I do love a Stephanie Meyer story and this one races along. A thriller about a government agent on the run, who falls in love with the very man she is supposed to kill.

Departures by Anna Hart 

A light-hearted travel memoir of Anna’s adventures growing up in far-flung places. Full of great stories and lessons on travel from an expert, it’s hard not to immediately start looking up flights after reading.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed 

I raced through this memoir, and couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. When she was 26, Cheryl Strayed decided to walk part of the Pacific Crest Trial, the 2,653 mile route that starts on the Mexican boarder and finishes at the Canadian boarder, in response to a series of traumatic events in her early twenties. I found her story really moving, as well as the actual realities of walking such a long way really fascinating.

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith 

I love the Strike series and so had my paws on this the day it came out. As with all of JK's books, it was a long one but I’d finished within a couple of days because I struggle to put down the stories of Robin and Strike. I adore their relationship and the way the mystery is always so detailed.

The Tyranny of Lost Things by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett 

Set during a long hot summer in London, this was a perfect one to read during the 2018 heatwave. Harmony has dropped out of university and returns back to the urban commune where she lived as a child, now divided into flats. She wants to uncover the source of her nightmares about a redheaded woman and her obsession with lost objects from her childhood. I found the setting and the characters really vivid, and thought it was quite an unusual book.

Life Honestly by The Pool 

I click onto The Pool every day so it was somewhat inevitable that I was going to buy their book. Full of articles written by women about everything from age milestones, friendships and weddings to parenting, sexism and fashion. A complete modern guide for women and can be read all in one go or picked up for a few minutes when you fancy.

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer 

A personal account of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. The author is a journalist who was sent to join an expedition to climb Everest by a magazine. Despite the climbing expertise of the guides, eight people would die in one day after three expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds and the effects of altitude. It was the worst single-season death toll in the peak’s history and made headlines around the world (and has since been turned into a major film). I read this after seeing the film Everest and found it a really, really fascinating read. You really felt like you are on the mountain with the author, and his own anguish over what happened.

This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay 

There was hype around this book for a reason; it’s brilliantly funny and yet incredibly sad. Based on his diaries as a junior doctor, it’s a don’t-hold-back look at the realities of working as a doctor in the NHS. I laughed aloud a lot but was also really moved by the ending.

Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh 

What a lovely little book. It’s all about celebrating the joy and pleasure of food, arming the reader against fad diets and bad science that can make eating guilt-laden, and encouraging you to fall in love with all types of food and the lovely rituals that come with eating.

Happy reading folks x 

9 Dec 2018

25 Moments I Love During The Festive Season

Moments I Love During The Festive Season


That moment when you open your advent calendar on 1st December. IT’S TIIIIIIIIME 

The first time I hear Christmas music. Excellent, time to listen to a song about two drug addicts who ruined each other’s lives on repeat. 

London lights. My aim is to always see the giant Christmas tree at St Pancras and the lights on Oxford Street and Covent garden at the very least. After my first visit to Christmas at Kew, I think that’s going to become a yearly occurrence as well. 

The first visit to a Christmas market. I will eat bratwurst in the pissing rain god dammit; it’s Christmas

Putting the festive bedding on. This is my second year of having festive bedding during December and I am astounded it took me so long to acquire. 

Lush bath bombs. Come at me sparkly over-priced goodness. 

Putting up the Christmas tree with G, accompanied by prosecco, Christmas music and a festive buffet which is mostly made up of sausage rolls and a baked camembert. Living the dream. 

Buying a yearly decoration and putting up the family Christmas tree back at my rents. Accompanied by mum's cooking and a Love Actually viewing because MUST NOT DEVIATE FROM TRADITION. 

Christmas baking. G makes the best mince pies ever and as I write this, he’s whipping up a batch of festive sausage rolls. Hell yeah. 

Hanging a wreath on the front door. This is about as far as I can go with outside decorations but one day, I probably will have outside lights. I’ll save that battle with G for when we live in a house. 

The sound of a brass band playing Christmas songs. I mean, seriously, is there anything more festive? 

The smell of Yankee’s Christmas Cookie candle. Nuff said. 

A tub of chocolates ‘for under the tree’. Christmas is just the world’s best excuse to buy an enormous box of chocolates for no other reason than ‘because’. Celebrations for breakfast anyone? Along with your advent calendar choc obvs. 

Festive pubs! With fairy lights, open fires, garlands and – if you’re lucky – an actual Christmas tree. Oh and baileys because obvs. 

The permanent feeling of being mildly hungover. I don’t love the feeling per se, more the feeling of all the celebrations recently had. 

Present wrapping. I try to wrap all my presents in one afternoon in a slightly frenzied fashion. There will be paper, ribbons, glitter and anything else that makes me feel like I now live in Santa’s workshop. 

Arriving in Sheffield to stay with my dad for the few days before Christmas, knowing that work is finished and I can now lie in a tinsel-covered heap as much as I wish. 

Watching Christmas films curled up under approx. 14 blankets and surrounded by séance-levels of candles. 

Abbeydale Park Rise Christmas lights in Sheffield. Right near where my dad lives, there’s a street that transforms itself into a winter wonderland. Every tree, every front garden, is covered in lights and decorations; there’s so many lights that it looks like a landing strip when looking at it from the top of the valley. We have to go see it every year, otherwise it’s not Christmas. 

The moment I arrive at my mum & step-dads on Christmas eve. Walking straight into the kitchen to the smells of mum's cooking and pulling off my jumper because she has the heating, fire and about a million candles going. 

Christmas morning and my mum still going ‘shall we see if Santa’s been?” despite the fact that her youngest child is 22.  

Mum’s Christmas dinner. Homemade stuffing, gravy, actual Yorkshire pudding (a slab of; don’t give me this Aunt Bessie crap)…  yeah, my whole mouth just filled with saliva. 

Chicken and stuffing left over sandwiches. Sweet diggity. 

That weird limbo between Christmas and new year where you live on the sofa, surrounded by blankets and leftover food, with Chicken Run playing on ITV. 

When everywhere and everyone just looks like a more chipper, sparklier version of themselves. 



7 Dec 2018

Wedding Chat (#3) | Six Month Countdown

Six months until the wedding

Invites have gone out, dress is being made, several deposits have been paid and there’s now less than six months to go; shit is getting real lads.

It baffles me that it is nearly one year since we got engaged. We seem to have officially moved out of the stage of ‘we’ve got aaaaages’ and into the ‘shit, we probably should start thinking about things otherwise we’ll get to May and be totally screwed’; a point emphasised by the fact that suddenly people keep saying ‘it will come around sooner than you think’ to me.

All of which has led to us having a wedding project plan. Not sure if I’m proud or embarrassed tbh.

Aside from our supercool spreadsheet, I guess the biggest wedding update is that we have actually changed our ceremony venue. This came about for a variety of reasons but the biggest motivator was that we always felt a little like we had ‘settled’ for getting married in the registry office because so many venues don’t allow you to hire them just for a ceremony. But our new venue does and it can seat everybody so we don’t have to restrict the number of people we can invite to the ceremony. Plus it’s just a lot nicer. It’s newly opened so we had to wait for them to get their marriage licence and there was a fair bit of back and forth, but eventually we were able to confirm and pay the deposit.

This also meant we had to give notice again which is not only dull but also costs us 70 quid each time, so that’s £140 we’ll never see again *eye roll*.

Once all that was sorted, we could send out invites. We used the same website and design as our save-the-dates and so far, they seem to have all arrived at the correct addresses and addressed to the correct people which is an achievement because I may have been drinking wine whilst writing out all the envelopes...

Other big news: I found my dress (full story here) and the honeymoon is booked! We shall be spending just under three weeks in the US of A and I’m so excited. Third trip to America and this time I will actually see places outside of NYC – although we’re still going to New York of course; I’m not an animal.

And that’s where we’re at. Don’t judge me for the wedding project plan; I’m marrying a data guy. Excel was bound to sneak in at some point.

6 Dec 2018

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I usually find that I only ever have one weekend free in December. The annual family gathering in York always takes up one and I’m always in Sheffield for the final weekend before Christmas, and some kind of other Christmas-related event always comes along and fills the third. But that fourth weekend, I do my damn hardest to keep free so I can do all those little festive things that make me feel like I’m basically a real-life elf. 

Friday 

Despite a shocking amount of cancelled trains, I headed into London to meet my friend Beth in Covent Garden. I’d deliberately suggested Covent Garden because boy, does that area of London know how to do Christmas. We met at Seven Dials, which was an absolutely glorious sight of Christmas merriment, and settled into the Two Brewers pub for a drink. As is typical of us, 3 hours passed alarmingly fast and we were soon on the hunt for food. We went to by Chloe which is a super cute, plant-based fast food restaurant; I would recommend the guac burger. Whilst munching on dairy-free choc chip cookies, we took a wander around Covent Garden to see the Christmas tree and lights. There was a giant lit-up reindeer. Need I say more?

Saturday 

I was up bright an early in the morning to go get my nails done. I always really fancy festive nails at this time of year and 1st December was obviously the perfect time to get red, sparkly nails. G and I went to check out the St Albans Christmas market which has opened right next to our flat again. We had bratwurst and doughnuts for lunch, along with a little mooch, and then I braved the Saturday crowds in town to do some Christmas shopping. We spent the evening in the pub, spontaneously joined by my friend Jordan, for dinner and plenty of drinks. Mash with gravy man. One of life’s true joys. 

Sunday 

Christmas tree day!! I always think this should be a mini celebration in itself so once we’d bought our yearly decoration for the tree, we headed to Sainsbury’s to stock up on goodies. The afternoon was full of the smell of G’s homemade sausage rolls baking and the sound of Christmas music. We put up our small, slightly chaotic tree (what a joy) and covered the flat in fairy lights and tinsel. I had a bath with an epic Lush Christmas bath bomb and we then enjoyed a feast which included baked camembert, hummus, olives, honey glazed chorizo & padron peppers. Oh and watched Everest which, er, wasn’t remotely Christmassy. There was snow in it though… 

Christmas, we're ready for ya!

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Weekend | It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas


1 Dec 2018

Three Goals For December

Three Goals For December

Happy December! My Saturday started with getting my nails painted a delightful shade of glittery red, a cinnamon bun and a healthy dose of Christmas music. Not even the rain lashing down outside is going to ruin my festive mood.

Just 31 days left of 2018. I am having to work hard to not say something about how fast the year has gone; I swear I say it about once a day atm like some broken cliché-record.

BUT IT HAS GONE SO FAST.

Anyway, along with everything being glittery and not being able to escape the sound of Slade, December usually incites some reflection on the previous twelve months. But before I hit my period of reflection, I thought I’d note down the things I want to squeeze in before those fireworks explode around the London Eye. Just a couple of little mini-goals before I breeze into 2019 intoxicated on prosecco.

Run 30 minutes straight 

So I think I’ve finally found my exercise niche. After dabbling with running on a more consistent basis over the last year or two but it still never really sticking, I joined the gym with G. I can’t avoid running during the winter because ‘the park has no lighting’ (a legitimate but frustrating excuse) if I’m running on the treadmill. Inside exercise can be done in any weather. Twice a week, I get on that treadmill, stick on the couch to 5k app and a YouTube video and just GO. And it’s working. I can now run continuously for longer than I have ever been able to and I am tantalisingly close to being able to run for half an hour straight (this is a Big Deal for an exercise-hating asthmatic like myself). I’m really hoping I’ll manage it just before I break for Christmas.

Have five full chapters completed 

Back in January, I set myself the goal of having the first draft of my novel written by the end of the year. HA HA HA HA. Admittedly, this was a goal I never actually took that seriously; I was just hoping that it might give me a bit of a kick up the arse. And it did. I’ve written more of my novel this year than I have in a long time. But I write out of order; random scraps of chapters all over the shop. By the end of the December, I’d like to have the first five chapters assembled and at least vaguely coherent. This is definitely possible but I will need to carve out a few full days of solid writing time. In December. My busiest month of the year. Not sure why I like to make things hard for myself but hey ho.

Those bloody photos  

If I had a pound for every time I said ‘I need to put my photo albums together’, no saving would be required for my wedding and honeymoon. It’s not that I constantly say and never do anything; it’s just that there’s SO MANY PHOTOS. It is a never-ending task. Anyway, I have a big pile of photos that I borrowed off my dad forever ago which I’m determined to scan asap so I can return them to him when I go visit at Christmas, and I’d quite like to have the first-year-of-mine-and-G’s-relationship album finished as well.

Other goals include listening to Christmas music all the damn time, eating my weight in all forms of festive food and losing my shit every time I see some epic Christmas lights.

30 Nov 2018

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

I recently went to Denmark, my fourth Nordic country, and it’s made me all nostalgic for my other three Nordic adventures… and they really were adventures! 


My first adventure to a Nordic country was Norway in August 2010. It was the summer before I went to university and I spent most of the trip wearing my bright red school-leavers hoodie, displaying the CLASS OF 2010 names for all of a remote Norwegian island to see.

Naturally, all of these words will be based on my memory of events from nearly eight (what the…) years ago but there will still be a big collection of photos. I was just as snap happy at the age of 18 as I am now, although camera quality has definitely improved since then.

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

It took us 3 different flights to get to our first destination of the trip, the final plane being a tiny thing with propellers. The locals on the plane were wearing waterproofs and woolly hats making me reassess my choice of converse and jacket.

We’d arrived on the Lofoten Islands; known for fishing, connections to the Viking age and stunning scenery.

I think the first thing that struck me when we came out of the teeny tiny ‘airport’ (basically a shed), apart from those dramatic mountain peaks of course, was the colour. Glittering turquoise water, bright orange seaweed, pristine white beaches and deep, comforting greens. Even when the clouds hung low, those colours were still distinctive; although when the sun shone, they were absolutely glorious.

It was easy to forget we were within the arctic circle when the sun came to say hello but a cloudy day was equally as beautiful, creating an air of mystic about the place; I was fascinated with the way the clouds rolled low over the mountain tops.

We stayed in Svolvær, a small town and fishing harbour and in many ways the capital of the region. It was full of burgundy and white cabins, precariously balanced on stilts over the water. We’d hired a little white cabin on the water’s edge in the harbour area. I particularly remember looking out the bedroom window at the view of mountains and sea, as well as walking along the harbour on our first night. There were so many fish-drying racks, like the skeleton structure of buildings. There were no fish on them whilst we were there but we heard how thousands of fish would be hauled in from the sea and hung out to dry on them. Right at the end of the harbour was the statue of the Fisherman’s wife, waiting for her husband’s safe return from the sea.

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

There was no darkness in the entire time we were there, it was the first time I’d ever been in a restaurant with ‘whale’ and ‘reindeer’ on the menu and I’d never seen mountains like the ones I was surrounded by. It truly was an adventure – ‘close your eyes and hope for the best’ was our motto for the four days we spent on the islands.

I remember the ice bar, full of ice tunnels and sculptures, and drinking a (blue?) drink out of an ice glass. I remember the mini Viking festival with Viking boats, fire juggling and market stalls. I remember the village of Henningsvær, dubbed the ‘Venice of the Lofotens’ (‘they bigged that up’ – direct quote from my dad). I remember the beaches that looked like they would fit right in the Mediterranean.

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

A highlight of the trip was definitely our fjords boat trip. We geared up (I seem to spend a lot of my trips to Nordic countries wearing puffy boiler suits) and hopped (cough stumbled/wobbled) onto a speed boat. We then bounced on the water, weaving through the fjords at high speed. I honestly have no recollection as to what the guide was telling us, but I was stunned by the scenery; the pockets of snow dotted along the mountains, the tiny inaccessible beaches, the waterfalls cascading down the rock faces, the snake-like path of water curving in front of us. It was breath-taking.

The darker side to our adventure was driving across a bridge one evening and finding a young woman on the wrong side of the barrier, ready to jump into the water a long, long distance below. Thankfully, between my dad talking to her and a police woman intervening, she came back over to the safe side of the barrier but the image of her stood there is not something I will ever forget; it made me wonder what the realities of living in such a remote location are.

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo
Taken at midnight

After Lofoten, we flew to Oslo for our final two days. My memories of Oslo are much vaguer; I think because the Lofotens were such a unique experience. My diaries describe Oslo as central London, a seaside town and a French village all in one. Make of that what you will.

I do remember coming out of Oslo station and seeing a man injecting heroin. Needle, vein, everything. I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto. 

A slightly odd introduction to a city we otherwise enjoyed. My overwhelming memory is that of the opera house. I adored that building. It had gentle slopes, appearing to rise from the water and stretching all around the roof, giving you the opportunity to walk all over the building and take in the amazing 360-degree views. Inside, the lobby was made up of 15m high glass windows with timber ramps wrapping around the auditorium in the heart of the building. The sun beaming through the windows created lots of little rainbows dancing on the marble floor.

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

I also remember the genuine bemusement at seeing the sky get dark after being in continuous daylight for four days. I remember the Vigeland sculpture park; more than 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland and the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist. And I remember some kind of festival on the waterfront; music and dancing against a back drop of the sea and mountains.

Fun fact: the novel that I have been writing on and off since I was 18 was profoundly influenced by my six-day trip to Norway; so in a way I have been writing about this place ever since.

Norway was my first introduction to the Nordic countries and it kick-started a dear love for them.

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

Norway: The Lofoten Islands & Oslo

25 Nov 2018

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

The time has come lads. It's Sunday morning, I’m sat in bed with the remains of an almond croissant on a plate next to me and, for the first time this year, I have crept into my iTunes, nervously looked around and hit PLAY on the Christmas album. That’s right, Wham has just finished and was immediately followed by The Pogues. I am grinning like a loon.

Last night, I took a mosey on down to Kew which I quickly decided was a place I could happily live should I happen to stumble across a million quid or two. What a large range of gorgeous houses and fairy-lit cafes; I am here for it. Alice and I had an early dinner in Ask and then, of course, headed to Kew Gardens to kick off the festive season.

I have been wanting to go to Kew Gardens for their dreamy Christmas lights trail for ages and it did not disappoint.

Christmas music was playing, the smell of mulled wine was well and truly in the air and the lights were spectacular. We walked through them, under them, in them. There were live flames, lasers and glittering disco balls. There were lights covering the trees, bobbing on the water, projected onto the pathway. There were enormous Christmas trees and a whole load of amazing displays; the best one probably being the finale across the water in front of the greenhouse. The greenhouse lit up in hundreds of different colours, there was music from Love Actually and Frozen and images projected onto water spray; similar to what we saw in Singapore. Who needs to travel half way round the world eh? 

It was so blady festive and, yes, a little bit magical.

A few pictures:

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew

Christmas At Kew