This month, I...

Travelled to...
Paris with Tamsyn. We spent four days eating cheese, taking boat trips down the Seine and pushing boundaries (note - going to the top of the Eiffel Tower is not the best idea for those with vertigo/claustrophobia). My phone was stolen five minutes into the trip, but the anguish was somewhat lessened when we discovered an excellent chocolaterie five minutes' walk from our hotel. Without a phone, I was forced to heft my weighty Canon AL-1 around with me, but the photos I got out of it were worth it. High points That apple and salted caramel crepe from Breizh cafe / Getting complimented on my French (admittedly just by men) / Discovering Ladurée hot chocolate / Taking a stroll down the road to Trocadéro at night / Shivering in the park with a picnic of cheeses from La Grande Epicerie Low points My phone getting stolen / Stepping on a decapitated chicken head in the market and feeling it crunch and roll beneath my boot
Worked/partied hard...
In Bath, at the UK Society of Behavioural Medicine conference. Every single one of my bosses seemed to be there - two out of three of my PhD supervisors, my line-manager at work, the Head of our team, plus two of my former line-managers. The research idols were also not in short supply. Oh, the networking opportunities... It would have been a good idea to not get ridiculously drunk at the conference dinner and spend the night thrashing around enthusiastically to the finest beats from various decades before ending up in a karaoke bar with the people who decide whether or not I get a job next financial year and apparently beg my fellow researchers to buy me "the cheapest tequila" before waking up after 5 hours sleep and literally forget how to get ready for the day... but I did. Needless to say, I skipped one of the sessions on the second day for a head-clearing walk with a fellow cheap-tequila-drinker...

Celebrated...
My 28th birthday! Considering that I said that I couldn't be bothered to do anything for it, I seem to have spent a lot of time doing birthday-related shenanigans this month. It started with a trip back to Thanet for lunch with my family, then Michele took me out to Club Gascon for a very fancy dinner with lots of courses of both food and wine. I think the last few courses may have been lost on me, although I do remember some kind of Michelin-star version of tarte tatin that came with this salty, almost cheesy, ice cream. When I checked my phone at the end of the meal, I discovered that one of my good friends Anna had won the Costa short story award - cue much excited screaming on the pavements/in the Uber/in the bathroom... I also took a couple of days off to show a friend around my favourite city (which left my feet and joints in tatters after 50,000 steps), featuring the strongest rum cocktails there ever were and generous helpings of Chin Chin's cookie dough. Then, at a Brexit pity party, the ever-excellent Andrea had baked a showstopper of a gluten-free/vegan chocolate cake for my birthday/Anna's award/new jobs and PhD submissions. The week finished off with board games and beers at Draughts with lots of old friends from various times in my life.

 Listened to...

  • High as Hope - Florence + the Machine (over and over and over and over again...)
  • Dopamine - BØRNS
  • Get Lifted - John Legend
  • Heavy is the Head - Stormzy
Read...
  • One More Croissant for the Road - Felicity Cloake
    I am now planning my own European cycling trip (although I may need to organise a bike first...)
  • Melmoth - Sarah Perry
    Just the right level of slightly creepy to ease me out of the Christmas ghost story season - subtly haunting, although the ending sends shivers through the bones...
  • Ordinary People - Diana Evans
    A love letter to life in London; the kind of intelligent, compassionate writing about humans that I want to read more of