It’s 18th November, 2019. I have finished the first draft of my National Novel Writing Month project. It’s been an interesting two and a half weeks where I’ve had to carry my laptop with me at all times, desperately squirreling away when I get some time to myself to work. This was the first time [...]
Hangovers pass.
I was driving through central London at the weekend with a rip-roaring hangover when I noticed people were staring at me because there was a mysterious ticking noise under my bonnet. I pulled over in Bermondsey and got covered in an unholy amount of oil before discovering that my fan belt had split and was [...]
Copenhagen.
Copenhagen wasn’t at the top of my list of cities to visit, but when flights from the airport ten minutes from my flat came up for £18.00 return, it was suddenly promoted. This weekend, Jaz, Ross, Jess and I took on the city of pastries, Hans Christian Andersen and fancy dinnerware. Jaz and I stayed [...]
Southend Improvathon 2019.
My heart is very full. This weekend I got to work alongside some of the greatest and most depraved minds in Southend’s second 24-hour improvathon. For those of you who have not seen an improvathon, it’s a long-form improvised theatre production featuring the same cast and characters. Some did shifts, others did the full twenty-four. [...]
On Brothers
I feel distant from my brothers. That distance is approximately six miles and sixteen and a half miles respectively, assuming they are at home. I would like to think that I'm a good older brother. The only place I fall down is that I probably look younger than either of them. I did my fair [...]
Bowling With Toby
This weekend I was allowed to take my eight-year-old godson, Toby, out for the day. He is a great kid but we had never had to survive one another’s company without the help of some proper adult supervision. Desperate to make him love me, I decided that I would let him have whatever he wanted. [...]
A $250 cookie recipe.
This week I was let in on the secret of the legend of the $250 Neiman Marcus Cookie. The story goes that a woman was so impressed with a cookie she had in the cafe of the American department store in Dallas that she asked if it would be possible to purchase it. She was [...]
Iowa
Three years ago, I was enduring work when the new American guy on our team, Darren, asked if I would go for a pint and talk about writing. I am always up for conversations about writing but I couldn’t work out what he actually wanted. I was suspicious of his motives. It turned out he [...]
Drunk And Out in London and Paris (and then London again)
They say that the definition of insanity is repeating the same steps and expecting a different result. Eight years ago I took an overnight coach to Paris with my friend Lucy. The fallout from that horrific journey meant we didn’t speak to each other for several months. We are fine now. Knowing how much that [...]
It’s Already Out There
Sometimes it isn’t the content of the film itself, but instead the circumstances you watch it in. It is well recorded that I am prone to wild bouts of tears if I watch any film while on an aeroplane (I’m looking at you Amy, Inside Out, Instant Family, Lion, Infinity War, Adaptation). I had seen [...]
