The Simple Things...

One of my favourite films of all time is the french film Amelie. Amelie tells the story of Amelie Poulain, a whimsical, romantic character who decides to take small steps to improve the lives of those around her, while battling with her own isloation she has felt since childhood. She finds great pleasure in everyday things, like the cracking of a creme brulee or the sound of a porcelain cat bowl being placed onto tiles. Set in modern Paris, she goes through life embracing these small moments herself, and attempting to create larger ones for others.

The world wide web is the home of so many wonderful and whimsical things. Through the internet, we can express our inner Amelie to hundreds and thousands of people. Suddenly there is a space where people can share their thoughts, and dreams, and not have to hoard them all in a journal that no one else will ever get to read. Some people set out to see the world in a better light and help others do so aswell, and Neil Pasricha is one of these people. He writes the 1000 Awesome Things blog, which updates every weekday with another awesome thing. These things range from the obscure to the mundane, but generally I agree with what he calls Awesome. He tends to write a reasonable length post on each thing, and they are all archived. He is counting backwards and so far is on #520 - almost halfway.

I like to think I find small pleasures in everyday things, much like Amelie and her skipping stones and dipping her fingers into bags of grain, but alas I just don't think I am quite upbeat enough to think of something awesome everyday (sad but true) - hence I am going to try and sporadically come up with something that I find to be a simple pleasure.

So here goes. It's an obvious one, but never-the-less an even that never fails to put me in a better mood. There is nothing better than fresh, crisp linen. Slipping into a bed made up with clean cotton, all smelling of lavender (I am a huge fan of lavender linen mist - is it possible for something to make you feel sleepy and reviatlised at the same time?) is the ultimate luxury. Since moving to the big city I have been sleeping in a small bed (go figure) and all my really soft cotton linen is still in SA, and suited for bigger beds anyway. But I dream of my big bed, swaddled in percale, sheets and duvet cool and floaty, and me all tucked up in the middle. I might just changes my sheets tonight now...

Got any simple pleasures of your own?

Mixed Tape - Extreme Edition

I nicked this idea from fellow blogger, Rhianna. I am using it as a bit of a spin on my usual Mixed Tape vibe. As my iPhone pretty much is one big mixed tape I think you will agree it works. Basically you put your iPod or whatever you are listening to on Shuffle, for each question you press the next button to get your answer... You will note that mine has a lot of Florence and the Machine (greatness - more on them soon, as I am seeing them live in May) and ABBA - it's another guilty pleasure, don't judge me!

So here are the questions, and my answer is linked in the cases were I could find a YouTube link for it. Underneath in some cases have posted some clarifying lyrics, or just a comment...

If someone asks 'Are you okay?' you say...

One of Us - ABBA

(lyrics: 'one of us is crying, one of us is dying...' Not great really)

How would you describe yourself?

Rabbit Heart - Florence and the Machine

(lyrics: 'Midas is King, he holds me so tight, turns me to gold in the sunlight...' )

What do you like in a guy/girl?

Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine

(lyrics: 'I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map, I knew that somehow, I could find my way back, Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too, so I stayed in the darkness with you)

How do you feel today?

Up the Spout - Mateo Messina (Juno OST)

(hmm, rather alarming - hopefully it's pregnant with possibility...)

What is your life's purpose?

Kiss with a Fist - Florence and the Machine

(I don't know about this one either - maybe it means I am here to give the tough love? Or domestic abuse...hmmm)

What is your motto?

Drive (orchestral version) - Incubus

(I dig it)

What do your friends think of you?

Fires - Band of Skulls

(lyrics 'Let us bathe you in our heart, 'cause we are fires in the night...')

What do your parents think of you?

The Winner Takes It All - ABBA

What do you think about very often?

I coulda been a contender - The Gaslight Anthem

What do you think of your best friend?

Hard to Explain - The Strokes

What do you think of the person you like?

Everyone's the Same Age - Hockey

What is your life story?

Dearest - Buddy Holly

What do you want to do when you grow up?

Work - Hockey

What do you think of when you see the person you like?

Heaven Knows I'm miserable now - The Smiths

(That's my favourite - couldn't have planned it better really, ha ha)

What will you dance to at your wedding?

Catch my Disease - Ben Lee

(Oh charming! Ha ha, not sure about that at all!)

What will they play at your funeral?

Curse this City - Hockey

(Looks like I'm coming back to haunt you bitches!)

What is your hobby/interest?

Be Somebody - Kings of Leon

(Note the link attached to this one - I was at that gig, so yes, that is my interest! Wow, it was amazing - still makes my heart beat a little faster!)

What is your biggest fear?

Trying your luck - The Strokes

What is your biggest secret?

Hurricane Drunk - Florence and the Machine

(I wish it was a secret that I am a natural disaster, an act of God, when I am drunk)

What do you think of your friends?

Major Tom - David Bowie

(Ha ha - they are all floating in a most peculiar way, and the stars look very different today...)

So those are mine...Play the game too, and if you have any hilarious ones I would love to hear about them.

One Award and Ten Things About Me

Oh *blush* I have been given an award by my lovely blogger buddy over at Pale and Pallor Princess. It's my first one, and apparently you don't just get to give a sappy acceptance speech along the lines of 'You love me, you really love me', but you actually have to do something...So here goes...

1) Thank and link the person who gave you the award.
2) Pass this award onto fabulous bloggers of your choice.
3) Contact said blogs and let them know they've won.

4) Re-post and state 10 things about yourself.

http://frocksandfroufrou.blogspot.com/

Lilli is my most regularly visited blogger. Her style is enviable, to say the least, her knowledge of online shopping vast, and her ability to constantly inject her readers with positive body image is incredible. She also has the fabulous gifts of being succinct and being able to photograph herself in a way which doesn't add a family of chins - both areas were I fail dismally! I salute you Lilli!

http://conspiracyinctattoo.blogspot.com/

I do rather enjoy ink, having three tattoos myself (I will be elaborating on these later, as part of the fourth criteria listed above...) and in my wandering for great artists and lovely tattoos I stumbled on the wonderous, Coppenhagen based ConspiracyInc. It is meticulously updated by Amalie (when they are based in Coppenhagen) and I love her homely style of writing, the way she gives such a sense of the shop, and the odd flash of life in Coppenhagen. I have long wished to visit the Danish Capital, and now will have to try and secure an appointment for a little bit of body art at the same time. I salute you Amalie and ConspiracyInc!

And now for ten things about me:

One

I get silly TV crushes all the time. McDreamy from Greys, Pacey from Dawson's Creek, Hyde from That 70s Show, House from House, Eric from True Blood.

Two

When I was little I was pretty sure all my soft toys and teddies were alive. I was obsessed with treating them fairly, so I used to sleep with all of them on my bed at one time, which meant there was barely any room for me.

Three

I am a home body. I can be quite the social butterfly, and struggle to go home after my third glass of wine, I love travelling and seeing new things, but I need to have a home - a centre where I can hibernate, and a space that is mine. Without a little bit of own time, surrounded by my own things I go mad!

Four

I am a little scared of heights, but only when there is no guard rail. I just kind of want to jump. Not in a sad, depro way, just to see what it feels like to be that free for a moment.

Five

My entire childhood I wanted to be an actress. I am not sure when I grew out of it. Must have been around the time that reality set in.

Six

I hope to live in Edinburgh, Mexico and Berlin before I die. I want to visit India, Brazil, New Orleans, Morroco and Israel before I die.

Seven

I studied Journalism and Media Studies. The media fascinates me - its prevalence in our daily lives, its democratic power, its attempts at impartiality that usually result in the further entrenching of ideology and stereotypes. I love blogs because by reading a wide variety you get such a good cross section of opinions and lifestyles.

Eight

I am a Gleek! I am a total sucker for musicals...give me cheesy families singing on mountain tops, the merry murderesses of Chicago, Parisian love of Nicole and Euan, Christine and the Phantom. And to now receive this sort of high every week! Singing and dancing should be compulsory - it just makes happiness! This week was the Madonna episode which brings me to...

Nine

Guilty Pleasures! I have a few of these - that make me wince a little when I get caught out on them, but I know everyone has a few. I can't let them all slip (a girl should have her secrets) but for example, I long to see Madonna in concert - the woman may be a total pain in the arse, but you can't knock her hits, or her massive impact on popular culture, and bottom line is, I just love singing along to her in the car!

Ten

I want to write a book, I want to write a few books in fact... I don't need to be a best selling author, I am quite happy to be the writer of one of those books where you go into the book store, like the blurb on the back, and when you start reading it you find something in there you want to write down, because you couldn't have said it better yourself.

The Tune of the Traveller...Barcelona

I am a nomad by nature. I have been spread over two continents, and my friends are spread between a few more. The upshot is that there are pieces of my heart all over the globe. This is a modern condition. The more we travel, the more we learn, the more we have to leave behind. I am a puppy - I become unconditionally attached to people, and I ache when I leave them. Because of this sensitivity, I sometimes query what I am doing so far away from these people of my heart. They live in Durban, Thailand and Toronto, Scotland and Johannesburg, Korea and Cape Town, and I am working towards seeing some of them in the next twelve months. However, when I get a little blue, I remember why I am here... Because Europe is wonderful! Because London is a moving, living metropolis that beats and throbs, and is the centre of so much culture. Because from here the world is a small leap away, geographically and financially.

I have not yet blogged about my experience in Barcelona. I cannot hope to encapsulate a city in a post, a city I have visited for a mere 5 days. All I can offer are my impressions and my sense of the place. Nothing so greatly impressed on me than Sagrada Familia.

For me Barcelona was about the holy spaces, areas for commune with your own spiritual consciousness. The churches and cathedrals of Barcelona seemed to echo through me, reminding me of my need for spirituality - for something sacred, something pure. I was struck most profoundly by the hallowed ground of Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is the altar at which Antonio Gaudi, an architect of the Modernist style, laid his religious fervour and obsession. His glorious unification of modern architecture, the imperfection of nature and the need to materialise our links to our deities make Sagrada Familia a revolutionary space for worship and contemplation in my eyes. Every inch of this edifice is perfectly planned, and the attention to detail is sublime. The natural beauty Gaudi channelled for the creation of his church, forgoing the inclusion of straight lines, and drawing on the natural world, serves as a reminder of the complexity and beauty that exists within our universe. Wandering around the cathedral, which continues to be under construction, I felt uplifted by his 100 year old dream. As the coloured glass temporarily stained my skin, and I heard my lonely footsteps in this giant vault of contemplation, the genius of Gaudi brought me closer to the idea of intelligent design than I have been in years.

Detailing on the doors at the main entrance to the Cathedral

Being in Barcelona, I once more scented the blood of the traveller. In so many instances the travellers quest appears to be to garner new knowledge. Knowledge of the city, its history and customs, as well as knowledge of the self when confronted by these things and given the time for thoughts to wander. This knowledge of self so often leads to a deeper wisdom of the place you are visiting, and people in general. And so, I plan to travel further this year, to see new places that might challenge me further, and to reunite with the people I so miss, just to remember once more who I am.

I wondered lonely as a cloud

My job can be incredibly dull, most of the time. However, today was one of those days that made it all worth while. On one of the first days of proper summer, I got to spend the day in a park with the sun on my face, looking up at the clouds with the smell of grass all around me. The students were learning stuff about bugs, and I was wondering around in the nature taking photographs. Generally photos of flowers can be a bit dull, in my opinion, however when you are the one shooting them they make you feel like a real photographer - and it's just because your subjects are so perfect.

My models were blossom, magnolia and daffodils, the sky, the water, the earth, the grass. The way light comes through the trees, the reflections on the surface of a stream, shadow and symmetry, translucence and solidity. No wonder nature was such a muse for the Romantics

I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud - William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed---and gazed---but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

Mixed Tape Track 5 -The songs you picked are dreamy

I seem to be experiencing a bit of bloggers block this week. I have scraps of paper with stubs of prose all over the place, and yet I am unable to complete any of them. My mind is filled with a myriad of half baked thoughts, none of which are capable of producing a coherent idea it seems - well, at least not worthy of you dear readers.

The last few months seem to have been lived at break neck speed, turning my life into an avalanche of experience and emotion, and it seems I found it easy to pluck subject matter out of that toss and tumble. As the everday comes into clearer focus, however, it seems it is losing its dreamy haze and once more looking a little too much like real life. Unfortunately, I have always performed better under pressure (serial procrastinator), and apparently this is also true of my leisure pursuits. So you better hope things get more interesting quickly over here - might pick up the quality here guys.

For inspiration I am turning to my Mixed Tape track. In her track Last Time I Saw Richard Joni Mitchell manages to capture the dream like quality of things remembered, and the resonance of final conversations and confrontations. She paints a mudane picture, and yet at its heart manages to establish a truth about herself and Richard. Amazing. Her lyrics so effectively conjure her scene that I feel like I was there, and combined with her dreamy, dissapearing voice these words will take you away...

Last Time I Saw Richard - Joni Mitchell

"Last time I saw Richard it was Detroit in '68,

And he told me, all Romantics meet the same fate,

They end up cynical, and drunk, and boring someone in some dark cafe.

You laugh, he said, you think you're immune,

Go look at your eyes they're full of moons,

They like roses and kisses and little boys to tell you all those pretty lies."

"He put a quarter in the wurlitzer,

And he pushed two buttons and the thing began to whirl,

And a barmaid came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie,

And said drink up now its getting on time for closing."

"Richard, you haven't really changed I said,

It's just that now you're romanticising some pain that's in your head.

You got blues in your eyes but the songs you picked are dreamy,

They sing of love so sweet, love can be so sweet."

** I cannot find an original version of this song :( - if anyone else can please post the link in comments **

Do-It-Yourself Class of 2010

Here are some pics from my wonderful prom birthday party. It was a wonderful mix of whimsy and romance - I love dress up for those reasons...You can be someone else, you can act like someone else, you get to surround yourself with things that you love but aren't necessarily for everyday or all the time! I wore a tutu, a tiara and fishnet gloves - would love to say this was my everyday attire, but alas I do not live in a fairytale (most of the time). So I have to take my Cinderella moments were I can get (or manufacture) them...

This party was a Do-It-Yourself extravaganza - all the decorations were made by my ever diligent friends, who cut out stars and made linked up paper chains, and made it a kitch/cool fiesta of epic proportions! Pink and purple, tinfoil stars - it was all totally indulgent! Everyone dressed up to the max - with an alarming amount of nerds, a few 80s throw backs, and even a bit of a tart... I was given a year book to commemorate the event - filled with ridiculous Captains Of and Most Likely Tos - will continue to give me many, many laughs!

In this case pictures are worth a thousand words, do feast your eyes on my silly theme and a handful of my ridiculous friends :) You are all wonderful!

You won't fool the Children of the Revolution

I really enjoy retrospective English films that go to great pains to capture the aesthetics and character of the age they are portraying. There have been a rush of them lately... Nowhere Boy, An Education, and most recently Cemetery Junction.

Cemetery Junction, like the others, explores the psyche of England in its chosen decade ( in this case early seventies) and explores the need for escape. Escape from the rigidity of the older generation, from expected norms, from damaging relationships, from prejudice, from class expectations, etc. Great care is taken to portray the struggle between old values and the expanding horizons of youth, and the film has a distinctly English flavour i.e. its honest. Instead of a glossed over glory days outlook, it instead works to portray an era as it is - the good, the bad the ugly.

Any age is not without its strengths and weaknesses, and any piece that is retrospective will always marvel at the innocence of days gone by. Hindsight is 20 20 as they say, and it is much easier to take a diagnose a societies ills post facto, however it is a shame that more film makers cannot make such incisive films about our own age.

Sometimes it seems as though the world we live in is spiralling out of control. With the media ever more prevelant in our societies the youtth of today live under the shadow of a bevy of big stories that are bandied about in a constant frenzy of fear and disappointment - dramatic financial upheaval, weak leadership, a dragging war, the shadow of terrorism cast across life in large cities, so called Broken Britain, the disengagement of youth from society, etc. I often here people say that our generation missed all the good stuff, we missed the change and we missed the party. Fuck that - the change is here, the party is happening!

With the proliferation of the mass media comes that more many chances to know. You can read mainstream media, or you can read blogs, or other people's tweets, or podcasts - you have an abundance of information you just need to learn how to filter. And if we are so dissatisfied with our leaders and the paths they have led us down in recent years, then do something about it. Register to vote, make yourself heard, discuss politics - we have a very well protected right in this country, to chose our own politicians and to make ourselves heard. The very same people I know who have bitched and moaned through the expenses scandal, the Afghanistan war, the recession, are now telling me they can't be bother to vote. Can't be bothered to register. You want to make a change? Now is the time. Don't wait for someone else to tell you what to do - go out there, read, talk to people, watch the debates...Engage!

And those of you who believe you missed the party... Travel has never been as popular or as possible. With the advent of Facebook, we are all keeping in contact with people we haven't seen for years, all over the world - Show up at their doorstep. There are countries all over the world waiting for you to visit. There are people to be met and things to be seen, and a million lessons to be learned. Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, a Full Moon party in Thailand, Hogmanay in Scotland, Carnival in Rio, Oktoberfest in Germany. Go diving in The Bahamas and feel the spray of Victoria Falls soak your skin in Zimbabwe, drink tequila in Mexico and have tea in Morocco. Hike the Inca trail, and see the Sistine Chapel, and have your own revolution... Go get a passport.

Sometimes these things are easier said than done, and there are a great many things from other eras that I wish I had been a part of...But the point is, those things had to happen so I could be here now, doing what I get to do. There is still a party, and we still have a chance to make a change...we just have to grab them both!

Rant over.

An Edinburgh Adventure

My Heart finds its home in Edinburgh. The sense of homecoming I felt on my first visit to the city has haunted me ever since - how is it possible to feel such sheer belonging in a space that is foreign. The familiarity is still there on all subsequent visits, and I continue to fall deeper and deeper in love.

This most recent visit was different as I was treated to the superior tour guide qualities of my dear friend Jen. A fellow history dork and pub enthusiast, she mingled facts fables and food, with a generous selection of watering holes. My stay was blessed with a surplus of sunshine, and so the slow meanders we took through the winding streets of the old town were warm and relaxed. A great portion of Jen's expertise seem to lie in affordable culinary outings, and thus one day we were treated to a gloriously over stuffed potato from a shop with a rather axiomatic name - The Potato Shop. We devoured these treats in the beautiful Princes Street Gardens at the foot of the castle (once this park was a lake of poo, but we weren't to be deterred). Later was a 4.95 feast of chicken fajitas at a trendy restaurant near the university. This wowed my London wallet, now used to being extorted for a mere muffin. We had steak ciabattas, peppered with political conversation, and fruit cider accompanied by reminiscence - I had forgotten the great luxury of catching up with long absent friends. Jen took me to do a little shopping, and I picked up a pair of perfect green button earrings, and a blue vintage bag (it was a necessary purchase as the strap on mine had gone). I was really pleased with the shopping options in Edinburgh though - Cockburn Street comes highly recommended.

Where I bought me lovely bag

The new (necessary) bag

The new green button earrings

Rory, Tiff, Jen and I indulged in some liquored hot chocolate, while basking in the golden glow off the setting sun streaming though the windows of The Elephant House. This is the bohemian coffee shop where JK Rowling famously penned her first two novels, having not enough money to heat her flat. From these windows she saw the castle, an elite, turretted boarding school, and the Greyfriars cemetry, one of whom's grave stones bares the name Tom Riddle - Enough inspiration me thinks...

Golden Jen, in the magical light of The Elephant House

Being a medieval city Edinburgh is dominated by its castle. A hulking figure huddled on a hill of volcanic rock, it looked unusually cheerful and care free with a spread of freshly sprung at its feet. Edinburgh Castle sits at the summit of the Royal Mile, an ancient pathway that cleaves through the Old City and comes to an end at the Holyrood Palace, the Queens official residence in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle

Deeper into the Old City lies the Graveyard, an historic burial ground filled with immense crypts and mausoleums that dwarf the insignificant remains they house. The site is home to the world's most well documented case of a poltergeist - The McKenzie Poltergeist. Poltergeists are believed to be formed from large concentrations of hormones such as pheromones. While pheromones are the 'sex hormone' they are also released with adrenalin, associated with fear and fright. In the case of the McKenzie Poltergeist, it was first documented after a rather terrifying incident where a tramp landed in a mass of embalmed bodies in the McKenzie mausoleum, which naturally scared the crap out of him. According to the guide, this might have been where the poltergeist originated. Needless to say, it has sent many a tourist screaming out of the cemetery with freaky appearances and aggressive behaviour.

Edinburgh once more overwhelmed me with its beauty and history, its buildings and natural surroundings. It was made all the better by having such a like minded (in most ways, lovely Jen) friend to share it with. The planning for a return during the festival is already under way.

An Open Letter to my Sixteen Year Old Self

I turned twenty six yesterday. It was birthday, and this time of the year always tends to rock my boat. Because it is a celebrated landmark, it inevitably draws attention to where you were this time last year, what you had hoped for and how far you have come. Inevitably I end up being underwhelmed by my progress and wallow in existential crises as long as anyone will let me. In the run up to the anniversary of my birth this year the usual anxieties surfaced, however yesterday I suddenly realised that I was 26! I had lived 10 years after my 16th birthday. This seemed such a milestone. Sixteen was a landmark year for me. It is when I started to realise who I was, forge my identity, become an adult. Looking back I was so remarkably like myself already, and yet there was an innocence that I dearly miss, and a self doubt that I do not. I think everyone has a few things that they would love to share with their younger selves, a few lessons you wish you hadn't had to learn the hard way. And so...

Dear Young Hayley

Some advice...

Playing dumb is not attractive. You have a brain. You have (strong) opinions. You love books, you look things up, you like using big words, you are interested in politics...These are all things that you will learn to be proud of, and will define who you are. Stop thinking anyone knowing that you are a clever girl will lead them to assume you are dull. Don't let people assume you are a bit of a giggly airhead, because you will waste much valuable time having silly conversations with silly people. Your brain is one of your most attractive qualities - use it, and show it!

Give people a break. You are arrogant and you think you can imagine every conceivable situation and how you would react...you have no idea. You cannot know a person until you have walked two moons in their moccasins. Judging people will get you nowhere, and sometimes you will wish you had asked more questions, because you will find yourself in the same situation.

Your parents are people too. They have all the same problems and hang ups and difficulties as you, so stop expecting them to be above human weakness. Mum is the best friend you will ever have, stop throwing tantrums and give her a break.

Teenagers are a hideous, mutant subspecies - try not to behave like one.

Don't drink that bottle of Malibu at 17 - it will put you off for life, and make cocktail choices very limited.

You are going to have more fun than you can imagine. Your life is not going to be boring, and everything happens after High School. But don't believe the bullshit Hollywood is selling - life isn't like that, and God you'd probably hate it if it was.

Stop blindly following fashion. You don't look like those girls, and who wants to look like everyone else anyway.

Some of the prettiest adolescents are unremarkable as adults, and you grow into your face, so don't worry too much on that account.

You will always miss dad, but you are so like him that he is still here.

This is not the worst day of your life, neither is tomorrow or the next day, or the one after that. Tough times are coming, so save the drama. You are strong and you can deal with it.

Stop fighting with your hair, stop brushing it, and please god, don't cut it again.

Tortured artists are overrated, and you are too high maintenance for their own self absorption. Move on, its never going to happen.

You have to learn to let go of things. Realise that things change, people change, you will change. Everything is not forever. Sometimes people are in your life for a short time, and that's okay. Don't flog a dead horse - you need to realise when its time to move on. By attaching yourself too firmly to people and places you will stagnate. Not every decision is life altering. Start going with the flow now - I need the practice. You will lose some people along the way, but never the things that you shared with them. Let them go.

You'll be fine, you'll see.

Love Old(er) Hayley

** I have finally figured out how to sort out the commenting feature on this blasted blog, and so you no longer need to be logged on or whatever to comment...give it a try, and let me know if its working!

Covent Garden - the Centre of my London

Covent Garden has long been the heart of my particular London. Every time I return to London it is one of the first places I visit to prove to myself that I am back.

There are so many aspects to Covent Garden. I love the street performers, from the folk singers, to magicians, to break dancers - everyday a new audience. The concealed Neal's Yard is like a hippy hideaway, unyeildingly cheerful despite whatever is happening beyond its walls. It harbours a host of hopeful humans who serve hummus and smiles in equal amounts. The streets are home to shops filled with hundreds of harajuku inspired knick knacks and stationary - all covered in kittys, pandas and frogs, and boutiques of beads, and outlets for the sale of Smartie inspired jewellery. DocMarten Mecca is filled with a mixture of floral, embroidered, metallic and patent boots that make my heart all a flutter. The thrift stores, spotted up and down Monmouth street, smell like old people and attics, and crowded on the rails are a multitude of frightening wardrobe throwbacks hiding the few vintage gems.

I have watched Noah and the Whale, through the windows of the closing Lastminute.com shop, and seen the irony of a homeless man dance to 'Streets of London' performed by a busker. At 18 I remember drinking Pina Colladas at the RoadHouse and thinking it was not possible to feel more grown up (and it probably isn't). On this most recent of missions, I happened to look up at the right moment and found a Space Invader, my first in LondonTown. In Neal's Yard we found a meter box covered in Fridge Poetry that anyone can rearrange, and a studio where much of Monty Python was written. Everytime there is something new, and so I will continue to return to the centre of my London.

Identity at the Wellcome Collection

I went to a fascinating exhibition at the Wellcome Collection with some of our Psychology students on Thursday. Called Identity: 8 Rooms, 9 Lives, it deals with concepts of the self and how we as people construct our identities. It contains a succession of rooms, each dealing with the issues arising from the chosen subjects struggle with the many different strands identity that make up the self. Some of the chosen case studies were truly fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the room about Claude Cahun. A woman before her time, her primitive and stark photography is strangely enthralling, dealing with notions of sexuality, gender, beauty, and logic. She looks at what constitutes a woman. This particular display I found so interesting because lately I have been reading a book about women (a somewhat feminist rant, I admit) and how sexualised they have become in our society. The books central premise looks at how our society has come to think that this is actually evidence of our equality in society, when in fact it is pretty much nothing more than the narrowing of people's ideas of sexuality and womanlyness, and the 'plasticising' of women. The prevalence of soft pornography in every aspect of our media means that sexiness now seems to be the sole jurisdiction of the porn star. I have to be honest, having seen Cahun's photography, as androgynous and bald as it appears, I still find it a more pleasing reflection of femininity than the Jordan wannabes that populate our local newstands, fetished, bronzed and remodeled to the hilt.

The Wellcome Collection also has a collection of modern art. Modern art is a strange one, always thought provoking yet often not visually pleasing. The large jelly baby featured, Jelly Baby 3, above was very appealing but not terribly thought provoking, while the I can't help the way I feel is incredibly unpleasing and disconcerting by immensely thought provoking. The accompanying text explained that the possibility of the emotional landscape of the body becomes manifest in its surface. The way in which the flesh grows can be seen as a metaphor of the way in which we become incapicitated by the emotional landscape in which we live and over which we have little control. Intense...