Wednesday, 27 May 2009

• If Wishes Were Horses

  I would be by the sea somewhere, somewhere warm and suitably far flung. Somewhere wild and a little untamed, away from the world and all worldly worries. If wishes were horses mine would be a grey Arabian stallion with a fine head and a high stepping gait. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride and the world would be entirely too topsy-turvy to make any sense of.

  Time has a trick of flying by like lightning just when you want it to stop. Time crawls when you least want it to, it slows right down to a murderous trickle designed to test your patience. If wishes were horses, time would stop and rewind back a week and stay forever there, which would be pleasing but after awhile, I think, a little too boring at least for me.

  
  Lunching at La Fromagerie with the happy family

  My bestie, her husband and their Tyrone was in town recently and it was amazing hanging out with them all as usual. Some friendships need no maintenance - they are as fresh and close as ever without the intricacies of the everyday. We went to eat at a Pakistani restaurant called Tayyabs, which serves up amazing lamb chops and spice-laden karahis. I also brought Jeff there last week and he, of course, loved it.

  
  A spread of amazing food at Tayyabs

  Another bank holiday weekend - the first one since I moved to London when I didn't leave the UK. Insane, but true. It was a pleasure to just have three days off and not do anything, have no plane to catch, no hotels to check into. It was also lovely and sunny and hot - a weird sort of sensation for Londoners - so we hopped a train to Brighton, London-by-the-Sea, where the beaches are rocky but the soft serve ice-creams as delicious as they should be.

  Last weekend the girls strapped on their dancing shoes and we all traipsed past the red velvet ropes to party at Kitts. Sadly, no Prince Harry in sight (word on the street is that he goes midweek nights) but there were crazy people-watching to be done and some good songs cutting it loose on the floor. I love warm weather because it gives me an excuse to dust off the the shorts and short(er) skirts and acres of bare, honeyed skin that haven't been aired all winter!

  
  The whole crew out at Kitts

  There is a gorgeous, Dickensian pub along Narrow Street called The Grapes. Charles Dickens used to frequent it, and the walls are dark wood panelled, with a tiny deck over the Thames, and narrow stairs leading up to the restaurant, famous for its fresh fish. Jeff wishes we'd discovered it sooner, but what's done cannot be undone. What's definite is that we'll be haunting the narrow confines of The Grapes a lot more over the next few months. It's cosier than the Narrows, with a more eclectic, settled-in feel. Less civilised, if you will. My kind of place.

  I am still writing and the writing is going well. After the private commission ended I was worried that the articles I wrote on-spec wouldn't sell, but the majority of them have actually gone to other buyers. I think it's a numbers game, and the more I write, the higher the chances of selling. I am actually looking forward to some time off from work to just sit tiptapping on the laptop while at the Finger Lakes in New York, come August.

  
  Down to the seaside we go! L-r: The Royal Pavillion, chilling on a deckchair,
  jellied eels, anyone? And lastly our lunch menu.

  A few weekends ago some girlfriends and I headed to The Berkeley for high tea. Pret a Portea here costs about £35 per head and its only claim to fame is the cutesy, brightly coloured little cakes and pastries that are inspired by the latest fashion of the season. Unfortunately, however, the service here was atrocious. Go elsewhere for better value high tea. If interested in the details, I've encapsulated the entire negative experience in a review.

  
  Pret a Portea at the Berkeley Hotel

  I'm looking forward to: Belfast, in a fortnight; Jo coming back to London; sending off my visa to be renewed (okay I'm not really looking forward to that but I'm trying to psych myself up!); tripping around the UK with my family next month; Cornwall in July and finally, chowing down on a long list of must-eat food in NYC (pancakes at IHOP, soul food in Harlem, cheesecake slices, seafood at the Oyster Bar, 24/7 Korean downtown, chocolate at Serendipity, hotdogs from Papaya Express, KFC - yes, seriously! No one does fried chicken better than the US of A); followed by a blissful week outdoors in a lakeside cottage, sitting in the sun, barbequeing fresh seafood, heading out on the jetski and boat, drinking Moet by a full moon and starlight - my heart is looking forward very muchly to New York right now.

  If wishes were horses, that's where, I think, I would want to be in this moment.

  
  Smokin' on the dancefloor, Kitts

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