[Long Read]

It’s September already.

I went out last night and by 8pm it was dark and a chill was in the air. Whilst I’m trying (failing) to hold on to the last remnants of summer – the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (as Keats once described it) is most definitely upon us. It’s been a good summer – Sardinia, Mexico, Istanbul, Canada, Switzerland, and other places I’m sure I’ve forgotten. They say travel broadens the mind but I don’t agree – you could be in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, and there would still be someone frantically asking where the nearest Starbucks is. What travel has done for me though is to make me a more happy and confident person. One of my favourite books: The Art Of Travel talks a lot about how journeys themselves – being on an airplane, train, boat etc can often be more beneficial than the travel itself – it’s removing yourself from your immediate environment – (by the way, this blog isn’t chat GPT. Using dashes has been part of my writing style since forever and I refuse to change it) – removing yourself from your immediate environment – from nosey neighbours, irritating colleagues, and dare I say, even from our families and spouses. A lot of my early travels were to Italy, one of the greatest countries on earth and I remember so fondly the streets of Rome and canals of Venice – yes they were magical but I also felt magical within myself, enjoying the opportunity to be someone else for a few days – to be more curious, more open to new things. I feel anxious when I am not productive, but away from home, why not have a peach Bellini made with fresh white peaches (my absolute favourite!) and then a couple more…. Hopefully there are some juicy green olives too… it’s 4pm and there are no plans until 9 anyway. I refuse to stay in touch with the British news when I’m travelling. If anything major happens, someone will message me. Otherwise I won’t have my 3 hour hike or 90mins massage interrupted by tax reform and other such boring things.

Where was I… anyway yes it’s basically winter now if you haven’t noticed. I have a massive wardrobe so in early October I pack up a lot of my summer things and put them in storage, and out of storage comes my fur coats (did you know fur is “back”. Turns out real fur that will last several lifetimes is actually better than fake fur (plastic). Well, I always wore fur – obviously I’m not talking about having the skin of some rare albino leopard on my back – I mean rabbit, fox, and other furs than until recent decades were extremely popular in most of Europe. In Eastern Europe, where it gets much colder of course, they still produce many of the coats, hats and so on. Most of mine are from Ukraine.) I’ve digressed again… So yes, out of storage comes my fur coats, my thick sweaters (if the moths haven’t destroyed them), my ski boots and my leather gloves. Sadly I didn’t get to ski last season for the first time in several years, but I’m hoping for better luck this year. I’ll be honest: I cannot promise you an off-piste adventure. However I have (somehow, finally) managed to get down black runs, something I’m very proud of as when I started skiing I was terrified (2000ft above sea level in -5 degree weather is not the natural habitat of a glamorous black woman). I’m getting down black runs in a slow and steady way, and enjoying all others. I’ll never be that person who’s up at 7am to get on the first ski lift, but like so many areas of my life, what I lack in talent I make up for with enthusiasm and great outfits. My selection of one piece ski suits (Bond Girl style), fur mittens, and curiously sexy thermals will conspire to distract you from my 1mph snow plough down a black run (that I’m only even doing because there’s a good restaurant down there and I’m dying for a tartiflette and an Aperol).

I’m also hoping for some winter sun. The last few years I’ve gone to the Caribbean and I love it there so much. I used to go to Dubai (I won’t pretend to hate Dubai just because everyone else does – it’s nice enough, sun, good restaurants, great service nobody stealing your phone etc. No, you’re not at the cultural centre of the universe, but that’s not what it’s pretending to be), but in recent years I realised that for just a few hours extra flight time you can be in the Caribbean. Beautiful beaches! Fresh lobster! Rum punch! Whilst I’m very much a British girl, I still have half Caribbean ancestry and I really find myself to be so comfortable and at home there. I’d also like to explore South America; Argentina seems to have many things that can make you happy: red wine, red meat, walking and dancing. But perhaps the ultimate place is Uruguay. Once, a stranger told me that if everything gets crazy, you *must* flee to Uruguay which is apparently one of the most safe countries to be in the event of any sort of nuclear (or other) disaster. Apparently as a country it’s totally self sufficient for water, energy, and agriculture. Land is fairly cheap… I’m not suggesting we elope to Uruguay (though I’ve had worse ideas) I’m just saying if it all goes wrong you’ll be glad you read this blog and I’ll see you there 😂

I’ve been doing some fantastic dining. I’m such a big fine dining enthusiast and although it appears in London at least the industry is dying (many big name restaurants shutting down – very recently Claude Bosi’s restaurant Bibendum became the latest fine dining restaurant to announce almost immediate closure), but I still love it and it’s an essential part of my travels (obviously doesn’t make sense everywhere – nobody wants a white tablecloth or 8 course tasting menu when on holiday in Barbados). I eat therefore I am! My 6 favourite fine dining restaurants in London are, in no particular order:

1. Da Terra
2. The Ritz
3. The Cocochine
4. A.Wong
5. The Ledbury
6. Pavyllon 

And my 6 that I’d like to try with you are:

1. Humble Chicken
2. Dining room at The Goring
3. Aulis (hard to book)
4. Sushi Kanesaka (hard to book)
5. Anglothai
6. Oma

I have a list as long as my arm for casual places too! A result of this has been my home cooking has stagnated. I love cooking and it’s a big passion of mine, but dining out so often, in combination with 2 of my friends that I cook for the most having moved out of the uk, means that I’ve become one of those drastically boring people when eating at home. At Fortnums I found these little 200g bavette steaks which they sell in a truffle marinade (omg so delicious!) I have this with some spinach. Or chicken and veggies and that’s about it. Life is about balance I suppose – some days it’s the Four Seasons, other days it’s chicken breast with Four Season(ings) (please laugh at my bad joke 😂)

My upcoming travels are to Morocco, Switzerland, Spain, France, and Zanzibar. I’m particularly looking forward to Zanzibar, which I will be visiting with friends. As a teenager I was an avid reader of Vogue and I remember so clearly the two page feature on Zanzibar. My eyes widened – I thought one day I must visit this beautiful place. Well, as obvious as it sounds…. It’s easy to forget you can just…. Do the things you want to do. Once at a bar I heard someone point to a 25 year old bottle of whisky behind the bar and say wistfully “that’s really good stuff”. I had to remind them that they do have free will and an Amex. I find it hard to understand this approach to life – quibbling over things like this. Always choose enjoyment! What better use of free will can there be but to imagine, plan, and execute a great experience for yourself. Although I believe in luck, I never rely on it. I think it’s important to ask for what you want and get what you want. This is your wake-up call. Let’s plan something.

I remember I was going to talk about plastics. How lucky are you! You came here hoping for some light sexy chat and now you’re reading about microplastics 🥳😂 I don’t know if anyone else has heard about this but I will give you a brief synopsis: 

Microplastics are everywhere, they’re killing us all bla bla. Plastic bottles aren’t great but glass bottles are (wait for it….) even worse(!) It’s a bit like when they said Diesel cars are better than Petrol cars and then changed their mind. The issue with glass bottles is that the caps are usually metal, covered in paint. The paint is (you’ve guessed it) plastic, and during the bottling, and drinking process, hundreds of tiny flecks of paint go into the water. They found the plastic in glass bottles to be significantly higher than in plastic bottles, and realised it was the caps because under a microscope, the glass bottle with a blue cap has blue coloured microplastics, the bottle with the red cap has red and so on. Anyway what I mean to say is despite the fact that is live in central London and therefore my internal organs are probably more or less entirely plastic anyway, I now only drink VOSS water at home (the bottles are great, and crucially have plastic caps and  as an extra bonus if you’re having visitors you don’t like that much you can just put tap water in the VOSS bottle and they won’t notice I’m sure). This has become a silly luxury I have at home, which I’m sure balances out all the pollution, alcohol consumption, chemically enhanced food and so on.

Sorry if the abrupt end to this blog has depressed you. It was intentional. Now you’re feeling sad and bored, you’ll need… a gorgeous and enchanting date to cheer you up. As Gandhi once said “The best way to find yourself is to receive a blowjob”**

B ❤️

**he didn’t actually say this but it was implied