What have I been doing lately? Working myself into into the ground, that’s what. I was hoping that the end of the year would see things easing off but it turns out that the full-scale warfare which my life seems to consist of at the moment is going to go right to the wire. As Charlie Brown would say, Good Grief! I had a brief respite last week, showing some friends around London. It’s the best thing, showing someone how much you love a place; it’s like seeing it for the first time. We mooched around Oxford Street and I spent my time checking out the windows and planning what I can assure you will be some pretty superlative windowns when I get my own store. My favourite? Selfridges as usual for its bonkers windows which have nothing to do with Christmas really. Just pure creative mayhem. I also like John Lewis’ windows, much as I tend to totally ignore Christmas Ads. This year’s was pretty good.

My favourite pic of the week was one that I took at Earls Court. Line upon line of birds perched atop street lights, just watching what’s going on. It wasn’t as if there were no trees, although Earls Court is not exactly a verdant paradise. The contrary little varmints just like to sit on the lights, mainlining diesel fumes. True London birds, scorning oxygen and surviving on pure nitrous oxide. Makes you proud, it really does 🙂

What else? I had cause to stay at The Moxy at Heathrow lately and I have to say that I really like their whole design-obsessed vibe. The checking-in is a bit sketchy, the company trying to run a business on a shoestring, as usual. Give your overstretched staff a break, they may smile more, Marriott Group. Despite being overworked, everyone was pretty nice plus the restaurant will deliver to your room 24/7 which is awesome for a budget price. If you’re fairly laid back and don’t give a damn about fripperies, I highly recommend it. The bed is super-comfortable and the rooms are spotless. Most importantly, the bathroom is pristine. I am extremely particular about bathrooms. Yes, I’m in therapy for it, thanks for asking.

What else? I went for my first Christmas meal of the season. The food and service were so bad, it was hilarious. I am absolutely certain that the chef called in sick and the porter thought ‘any fool can cook a dinner, surely’, I won’t name the restaurant to protect the guilty but at one point we were considering using the crunchy brussels sprouts as bowling balls in a game of table skittles. It was on par with the fabulous ‘Liver in Lager’ conjured up by Timothy Spall in Mike Leigh’s terrific film, ‘Life Is Sweet’. Just imagine the worst school diner, ever. Luckily the company was so good that we stayed for nearly 3 hours anyway. In this spirit, I leave you with a cheesy food joke (see what I did there 🙂 )

“What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?” “Taking a bite and finding half a worm” Have a great week.