I’m back! My month in off-grid heaven is over. The days of using the same tin mug for coffee, soup and wine is done. Jill asked if I’d had a revelation about the pointlessness of consumerism. The answer is… sort of. The day we got back to the mainland I got the fella to drive me to Glasgow Ikea, so I guess my relationship with buying things is still being worked out. There was a good reason for this however. I’m returning to a(n even more) dusty (than usual) house. While I’ve been away a man has sanded the floors and taken out the kitchen, so I have to make some decorating decisions fast! I might need your help.

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Trend or travesty: Being inspired by mega stars?

Please find below a blog post that reveals the mind set of a 16 year old fan girl. For I seem to have developed a fixation with Kanye West. It started innocently enough with a rekindled obsession with Chris Rock and the discovery that they were friends. Then Showstudio announced that Lou Stoppard was to […]

Exhibition: Artists in their studios

There’s an exhibition on at the London Sofitel hotel, Revealed, which has been curated by Picasso’s grandson Olivier Widmaier Picasso. It shows legendary artists at work either in their studios or in unusual locations. We’ve long run a Pinterest board on this topic and have been aware that the obsession with the subject is widely […]

Exclusive: Inside the coal drops at Kings Cross

If you live in, work in or have had to pass through Kings Cross at any point in the last eight or so years, you’ll have seen the area’s extraordinary transformation from industrial waste land / looks like where the bodies are dug up by unknowing construction workers in a grim BBC1 Drama, to a […]

A letter about island life

Dear Jill as promised I am finally sending a dispatch to you and the blog about life on the island – just as it’s coming to an end. Let’s get the most galling aspect out of the way first – the weather has been amazing, with daily swims – our wet suits are as yet […]