Things I’ve loved and loathed over the last few months…

Loved ❤️

• A week in Mallorca, one of my favourite islands with temperatures averaging 30°C. Cooking in the villa, relaxing, listening to music and enjoying the local markets
• Jamiroquai is releasing a new album after 10 years. Finally! Absolutely love his music.
• I ate zebra for the first time – surprisingly good.
• Finding an olive oil in Mallorca that’s got 20% more Polyphenols than the Bryan Johnson Snake Oil (if you’re not into the longevity stuff, just smile and nod)
• Visiting the late queens tribute garden in Regent’s Park. It’s only been open a few months but it is a stunning wild garden with gorgeous planting and such a peaceful atmosphere. I love beautiful gardens.
• Getting my first Birkin from the Hermes store.
• Seeing War horse at the National Theatre. Wow. The best play I’ve ever seen. Absolutely glorious production, this will be the first play I see twice.
• Lunch at Impala in Soho. What a lovely restaurant. If you like casual/sharing plates let’s definitely go there. 
• Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton. Started reading on holiday. The premise of the book is that even if you’re not religious there are so many practices, principles and ideas we can still adopt from religion. I do believe this. I love his writing and his perspective. 
• Being around people with excellent manners.
• When the football was on so it was easy to get restaurant reservations because all the men were indoors staring at the TV
• Portugal. Liked it before but love it now. I also discovered that Viennetta (that 90’s dessert that we all thought was the height of luxury and sophistication at the time) is still popular there. Very satisfying after peri peri chicken
• The Piano bar at the Corinthia.
• “Empire” podcast. If you enjoy history (or are like me and are trying to enjoy history) it’s excellent. It goes through the history of all different empires around the world. Great listening for a flight or morning walk.
• Working out in the park, on the beach, and in open air. 
• Exploring churches in my local area. I love all religious buildings and recently decided that whenever I see one I’ll walk in and have a look. The recent weather has prevented me from being brave enough to enter some of the Catholic Churches as I’m typically in a short dress and I’ve been badly scorned in the past. I can still remember the guy at the door screaming “COVER YOUR LEGS” at me when I tried to enter a church in Rome. (Apparently God doesn’t like booty shorts)
• Meeting new people. I don’t meet many new people as I’m picky and risk adverse. However, it’s been very nice.
• Taking the Orient Express train from Paris to Prague. This was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life. The train is so beautiful and historic, the service is excellent. I would LOVE to do this experience again. I didn’t want to get off it was so lovely 😅 the UK now has an alternative that’s less competitive to get onto but looks equally special. I’ll put the link here as you’ll definitely be in my good books if we can do this train together. There’s also an amazing one in Peru 😇 https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/britannic-explorer/journeys

Loathed 👎🏾

• Returning for the London “heatwave”. Currently in a state of no patience no aircon and no panties (please help!)
• The service at Hotel Costes in Paris. These people really want you to know that they hate you, even if you’re staying there 😂
• Half of my plants are dead. It’s been disheartening to see the fruits of my labour go down the drain… combination of sun when I was away (ironically my neighbour overwatered the plants to compensate and this killed them) and a pest issue has wiped out half of my crop. It’s not too late to start over to I’m going to clear the pots and have another go at it
• Oysters. Still convinced you’re a sick pervert if you enjoy them.
• Spotting Anna Wintour (chief editor of Vogue) outside Fortnums but being so poorly dressed that I missed my opportunity. 99% of my life I’m well dressed and of course the one day that your outfit is leggings and a Waitrose bag (I’d just had Pilates), you bump into the worlds most stylish woman. Decided not to say hello as I dont want my claim to fame to be that Anna Wintour once said “sorry I don’t have any spare change” to me when I approached her 😂
• Had a ring stolen from me. I know it’s just stuff but the thought of some woman wearing my treasure…. Alas.
• 4 days into a new regime at the gym and waking up with excruciating muscle soreness, then going for a Thai massage to ease the pain and instead getting beaten up by a very agressive Thai woman who kept saying “pain is good”
• Kids in the “Adults Only” pool. I don’t want to be that person but some of us are trying to take photos of our own backsides. Have some consideration.
• “Natural wine”. Should definitely be illegal.
• Luton airport. What fresh hell is this. This is the only airport I’ve ever been to that physically never has enough chairs for the amount of people in there. It’s factored into the airport design that 20% of people must sit on the floor. No lounge either. HELL.

B❤️