SPUD

After having my dose of culture for the day at the National Portrait Gallery to see the BP Portrait Awards (http://www.npg.org.uk/index.php?id=6757) with my fiend Libby we bimbled along towards Covent Garden in search of coffee but were not feeling up for somewhere generic, so we stopped at the newly opened Spud.

And nice coffee it was too, with a mix of mosaic / antiquey tables...

...To modern / fun chairs that POP against the grey streets.

We were met with a rather furious blast of rain, and felt smug in Spud as people rushed by!

It had a really nice atmosphere and they were really friendly - not to mention the aubergine dish looked delicious and although I wasn't hungry at the time I wish I'd eaten it! So check Spud out at http://www.ilovespud.com/ or go and see it in the flesh at 26 New Row, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4LA.

A Little Bit of Norfolk (Always Necessary)

As someone who lives in Norfolk, I sometimes forget how lovely it actually is and how lucky I am to live close to a beautiful coast, or pretty little towns such as...Fakenham?

The Lady Iris at Weybourne.

I like the contrast of these two tractors, and the yellow against the leaden sky.

Lara gets a blast of fresh air on the eve of her birthday!

A family brave the notoriously windy and grey weather that seems to haunt the Norfolk coast, even at the height of summer.

...And from a rather bleak looking Weybounrne, to a surprisingly picturesque Fakenham:

A hidden walkway - I think the man thought I was rather weird when he saw me taking photographs: teenage girl photographs old man, now there's an inverted story.

Natural 'break-up gobos'.

There's an odd tension between the pleasant landscaping of the grave yard, aided by the stunning weather, and the redundant headstones lined up against the wall.

Above...? Just to be pretentious!

The Book List

Although this Summer has consisted of a great deal partying and "letting down of hair" as it's the first holidays that is not book-ended by school, I have also taken time this Summer to indulge in some reading - yes, OK, I did reread the Harry Potters in the week proceeding the film, but that's just common sense! In the days spent catching up on my health, following nights of appropriate fun, I dive into all those book I have wanted to read, and/or feel I should read, before the next chapter of my education begins.

A good book is like watching an internal film, but you feel the story is only yours as no one else is watching.

My book list ranges from Classics (and Modern Classics), to contemporary best sellers, to pure holiday-book-trash, and I have to say I feel like I am quite the hussy of fiction, enjoying nearly everything I pick-up. 

People say that the books on your shelves say a lot about the type of person you are, this somewhat worried me as my bookshelf is in no way genre biased so I felt it may not reflect who I am very well; however, surely my full spectrum of books reflects that I am an open and unprejudiced person - I'd hope so anyway. 

(P.S. I have to admit I gave up on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, I know it's meant to be amazing, is spoken of very highly, and is on nearly every 'Must Read' list, but I just didn't get the thing.)