We got a yellow cab from JFK and towards Manhattan – already a very American sentence. I was experiencing sensory overload following the flight and all of this new stuff wasn’t helping. We were both wiped out so the journey was made in near-silence. It was only as the taxi pulled up outside our apartment [...]
New York – Day Five
Wednesdays are for the International House of Pancakes (IHOP), a mecca I have only been fortunate enough to frequent once before. Imagine a Little Chef on acid, with chicken and waffles. We lost our shit over the menu. I had eggs, sausage and waffles. Jaz had sausages, potatoes, bacon, eggs and pancakes. I did what [...]
NaNoWriMo 19
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 [...]
