Not Christmas themed, but if you have periods this is my main advent gift to you. I actually meant to put this up a FULL YEAR AGO. Where does the time go, eh? Sorry guys. Right. Obviously, suggesting that if you’re having period pains you should “do some nice yoga” is a smug and terrible […]
Blogmas Day 5 – Maple Butter Toffee
(Or “Salted Maple Christmas Caramels” if you insist). The internet is full of recipes for “Christmas caramels – ideal for gifting! 😀 <3 :D” and the like, but you know what all of them have in common? A) they refer to this confection as caramel when it is sodding CLEARLY toffee and B) they require […]
Blogmas Day 4 – My Favourite Ever Bookshops (Consumerism Isn’t All Bad)
I hang out mainly with people who do a lot of activism and/or yoga, so consumerism gets a bad rap round our way. “Who needs possessions anyway?” my friends will say, knitting themselves jumpers out of yak milk. “Money’s not what’s important in life. The only things that truly bring happiness are love, and a […]
Blogmas Day 3 -War On Earth (Goodwill To All Men)
I was going to do you a toffee recipe today, but then. I wasn’t shocked by the vote to bomb Syria, to be honest. I thought we were going to since the Paris attack. But it was, what, half an hour, between the result and us actually dropping bombs? So soon? I could list you […]
Blogmas Day 2 – Winter Cycling Tips
Around this time of year, the cycle commute I normally feel so smug about starts to really bite me in the ass. Ten miles a day sounds impressive, but on a balmy summer evening, it’s a real piece of piss if I’m honest with you. In winter though, all that changes, and the shortest of […]
Blogmas Day 1 – The Advent-ure So Far
Four years ago today, I started this blog. Here is my first post. I was so unhappy. In 2011 I’d been flailing about, trying to be a writer, and totally failing to write anything for three years. Starting and abandoning novels, over and over again. Sitting down at my laptop, and writing a sentence, and […]
Conditions Under Which I Will Happily Work For Free – an Exhaustive List
If you want to book a poet to perform at your night, you need to pay them from £50 for a newer, local poet, up to several hundred for an established name. There comes a point where poetry isn’t just a quirky hobby, it’s a job, and jobs need payment. You know this, though. Of […]
Queen of the Biscuits – on totally overthinking your food choices
I work in the kind of office where, at 11am every day, someone will come over and offer you a cup of coffee and a biscuit. It’s very civilised. Because I am British, I have extremely strong opinions about biscuits (and all kinds of baked goods). Because also I am trying to lose weight, I […]
How to Cure Readers Block
 I have, right now, three unfinished books piled up next to my bed. The last fiction book I finished, read all the way through, was in March. This happens to everyone occasionally, and it is so, so upsetting. I think readers block is so distressing because for a lot of people (ME) the idea […]
Emergency Store Cupboard Brownies
We have awoken to a bleak, bleak day. The Tories have won an outright majority – something we didn’t think was possible yesterday morning – and support for UKIP is climbing terrifyingly high. I’m not sure our beautiful welfare state, our NHS, can survive another five years of cuts. It’s the weakest who will suffer […]