One Night Stanzas

Remember my 30 before 30 promise? #6? Get out more. I already started out pretty well… and I am keeping it up! I’m just home from two back-to-back autumnal jollies:

First, to York!

I’ve written about the magic of York — and my favourite places there — before. Unsurprisingly, I returned to all those places on this trip, too! I also scoffed my own weight in amazing vegan food, trawled the thrift shops (of course), and perused many a bookshop. Basically my typical weekend.

…then London!

I didn’t take many photos in London, and I’m kinda kicking myself. I wish I had photographed the super-cute sleeping pod-room we stayed in at Z Victoria, for example, or some of the millions of cute dogs we saw all over the place! Still, here’s a tiny taster of what I got up to…

This was the main reason we headed south in the first place: to see Speed-The-Plow. Yes, that is Lindsay Lohan’s face (and yes, I look like a madwoman). It’s her West End (in fact, her stage) debut. However, she is in no way the reason we went. The reason is her co-star, the amazing Richard Schiff, aka Toby Ziegler, my favourite character from my favourite show ever, The West Wing. Here’s my favourite nine seconds of Toby, to give you a flavour of his character:

Needless to say, he was bloody excellent in this role. I may be biased, but even in spite of my bias, he was excellent. I believe that critics have been needlessly snotty about the play — and especially backhandedly unpleasant about Lohan. (If your whole review boils down to “it wasn’t as good as when Kevin Spacey did it,” then you’re a shite critic — especially if only sentences beforehand you’ve been rude about the casting of movie stars as a ploy to get butts on seats.) Personally, I absolutely loved it. But then (perhaps surprisingly, for those of you who know me) I love Mamet. Not everyone does.

Many of the cute dogs we saw were in Kensington Gardens. I had never been to Kensington before but holy wow, it is swanky. Everyone there has really good shoes.
(I went there to have afternoon tea in a pOAsh hotel, wearing my moth-holed skirt and a charity shop t-shirt that I’d sawed the hem off. Fortunately, they seemed to take pity on me and did not throw me out.)

Finally, here is a photo of me with a plushie Moomin I found in Foyles on the South Bank. I really wanted him, but I’d already bought a megaton of poetry books and there was just no space in my hand-luggage. I will just have to stare sadly at this photograph instead.

What are YOU loving this week?

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Like shiny things? Check out Edinburgh Vintage, a totally unrelated ’sister site’ full of jewels, treasures and trinkets. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

This week, I have loved:

Re-reading my old copies of The International Times. This one’s from their special issue about Edinburgh counter-culture.

Greenery taking over. I’m on TEAM SPRING!

Vegan brunch. Always.

Being cosy.

Hanging out with the Lovely Boyfriend.

Getting FREE STUFF from the Forest Free Shop.

This brilliant collaborative poem the women of the Making It Home project wrote! (See it better in our forthcoming book!)

This freakin’ massive bouquet of flowers. (It wasn’t for me… it was for my neighbour, but they were out. So I got to look at them for a whole afternoon, and my living room smelled lovely!)

Subtle — but mighty — messages from the Universe.

Secret gardens. (There is A GATE BEHIND THERE! Mysterious…)

Hilarious student graffiti. (Seriously: you’ve got a bare wall, a pen, and a quiet corridor… and you write THAT.)

Cars who have their own personal mascots.

& finally, sunshine over Granton. (This amazing sight greeted me last night as I came out of work, exhausted, after my evening class. Thanks, Edinburgh.)

What are YOU loving this week?

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Budding writer? Creative person in need of a fun job? Check out the various resources and services at Bookworm Tutors. Alternatively, check out Edinburgh Vintage, our sister site. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

Things I’ve loved over the past seven days.

MY WEEK…
…which looked like this:

♥ Hawking the second print-run of my book ♥ Hula hooping in the sunny Meadows, learning some new tricks ♥ Visiting Barter Books, one of the UK’s biggest second-hand bookstores, and one of my favourite places, natch ♥ Going to pick up our supposedly-bog-standard ‘economy’ rental and getting a brand-spanking-new jet black Fiat 500 ♥ Paddling in an incredibly warm North Sea ♥ Visiting a major literary landmark and saying hi to Dracula ♥ Lovely Boyfriend being lovely ♥ Hanging out on the beach til late with beers and waves and a sunset ♥ KITTEHS ♥ One of my all-time favourite towns: Whitby ♥

Honourable mentions: Um, this! This this this this this! // I finally finished The Book of Men — I’ve been reading it slowly, savouring each poem. It is incredible. // Goes without saying, but… the sunshine. Oh my goodness, the sunshine. // Driving. I forget how much I enjoy it. Hooray for roadtrips! // Good sleep. Nuff said. // Lovely Boyfriend choosing to make his computer game avatars female. SERIOUSLY, this makes me so happy // Lending my flat to friends and coming home to find they’ve tidied up and left snacks! // Plotting big exciting future travels and possible mega life decisions // Tea, as always // Getting back into doing Wardrobe Remix. So good for my sporadic phases of BDD.

What are YOU loving this week?

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You can also visit Read This Press for more poetry (and typewriter paraphernalia!). Alternatively, check out Edinburgh Vintage, our sister site. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!