Spring hits

Prince, Mumbai, picnic tumblers, best self-tan, good telly

OK, quite a random mix coming up but it’s been a while since I’ve written on here and I’ve enjoyed sitting on my sofa putting it all together…

First up: My sister and I went to see a candlelight concert of Prince’s music in Oxford this week. Have you ever heard of such a thing? It was one of those late night Instagram buys and I wondered for some weeks what an earth I had done but it turned out to be such good fun. My sister insisted we dress up in our best purplish spangles (I didn’t need much persusading tbh) and it turned out we were pretty much the only ones to do this… The event was seated but we just couldn’t not dance, so we shimmied down the aisle to the front and I think our glitz was such the audience assumed we were a surprise element to the show because a cheer went up….(Loved it. Gave an extra shimmy.)

Me and my sis, spangling.

What was very clever about the evening was that it was a proper band with four wonderful singers, but none of them imitating Prince. They chose some quite obscure songs, as well as the hits, and gave them a slight twist of their own. It’s a format run by Xperience Live, held all over the country – you don’t have to dress up but you can definitely dance!

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Last week, I was in Mumbai. I KNOW. Husband and I were there for a shockingly brief amount of time (work trip) and most of that time was spent touring the The Cricket Club of India (not seen my husband happier than this ever – forget wedding days, births of children etc), although I admit I was also thrilled to be taken to their (very beautiful) library and find my books in there. Never gets old. And they had those old-fashioned date stamps inside, proving that not only my books are there, they are getting borrowed. Namaste, Cricket Club readers. Mumbai was noisy, busy, both urban and urbane, hot, full of colour and friendly. I felt very safe there, which seems like an odd thing to say, perhaps, but it was noticeable. We are returning once or twice later this year, so I will compile a proper list of places to stay, eat and visit.

But for now – England. I’m home on the range for the next few months, and delighted about it. There’s nowhere better than England after British Summer Time has kicked in.

A BST sunset from the balcony of the Peninsula hotel in London, next to Hyde Park roundabout… I was there for a swanky party. (It’s a very swank place. The lift to the top is decked out like a hot air balloon basket, complete with the noise of gas burning as you rise to the top. Madly silly but good fun.)

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I want to be the kind of person who looks ‘summer ready’ as soon as the sun is out, with golden limbs instead of legs that look like oven-ready chicken. This self-tanner works. Bondi Sands Aero Self-Tanning Foam Liquid Gold (why such a long name?). It’s v v easy to apply, smells faintly of coconuts and not biscuits, gives you the perfect glow for this time of year – not too intensely like a tan, more like a healthy look. Once a week is enough, dries super quickly but does not dry your skin out. My sister and I went to a dip-and-sauna thing and she thought I’d been out there destroying my skin in the sun. Ha. Hard recommend. I’ve put the link here from Look Fantastic because it’s on special offer, but it also sells in Boots and Superdrug.

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Thoughts of cricket and summer meant I bought four of these little fellers from Tesco – picnic tumblers, only £2.50 each. They’re a more subtle green IRL, look like they could be made of glass. I live in hope that one day I will be that elegant person who pitches up to the boundary with a wicker basket, a large rug that isn’t plastic-backed and home-cooked food that has been packed in gorgeous yet portable ceramic dishes, instead of fighting with squashed baguettes and M&S cellophane, all packed in a bag-for-life. Perhaps these will be my turning point.

Credit: Tesco

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I don’t do spring cleaning but I’ll do this. Pink Stuff Miracle Paste. I am not a happy housekeeper – I like doing the tidying and organising side of things but dusting and cleaning bores me. Occasionally, there’s a proper before/after aspect to housework, which can make it a tiiiiny bit more enticing. (I quite like cleaning up after a massive party, even better if done while still drunk.) There were loads of greyish marks on my white butler sink, which I kind of assumed were permanent, but Pink Stuff got them off and now it’s gleaming. Which is pleasing. It’s strong stuff so I think the tub must last a lifetime. On sale pretty much everywhere for next to nothing – £1.50 at Tesco.

Proper white sink! If this is clean, your whole kitchen looks clean. Promise.

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Been watching Landman on Amazon Prime. Great acting (especially Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter), very dryly funny, and it’s helped me understand the price of oil. It’s written by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone), and an American media commentator told me that Hollywood is very sniffy about him, but he understands MAGA’s people, and if Hollywood wants to get Trump out, they should watch his shows…You can just watch the show for fun, but there is this deeper level to it which makes it even more compelling, I think.

Working my way through Platonic (Apple TV), which I have thoroughly enjoyed, even if I have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to start jumping the shark towards the end of season two. My son and I are very happy to see the return of Love on the Spectrum (Netflix) – such a well made, thoughtful series. It’s positive, without being Pollyanna-ish and emphasises the point that we need all types to make this world a good place. (If you like this kind of discussion, then I highly recommend an old but good book –Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon, in which he investigates how it feels to have children that culturally are very different from ones own – whether deaf, a genius, Down’s Syndrome, gay and so on – and what this means on a wide societal level now that we are approaching the means to eliminate these differences.)

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I’m off now to have a glass of wine and contemplate which way I’m going to (very) slowly roast my leg of lamb for lunch tomorrow…. We have friends old and new coming, which is my favourite kind of combination. I hope you have a very happy Easter Sunday, too.

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Jess xx