A Short Of List Of Things Bringing Joie

What I've watched, bought, worn, eaten, read and lusted after this week including rattan trays, floaty dresses, cosy jumpers, the import tax lottery and being BFF with all the cast of My Mum Your Dad.

I have spent a lot of time on the train over the last few weeks and it has done me no favours financially. I’ve become slightly obsessed with SeatFrog, an app that bids for train upgrades from as little as £5 (in fairness, this outrageously low price only happened to me once, in the middle of the day) but which enables you, if you are a regular long journey traveller such as I from York to Kings Cross, to have complimentary tea, coffee and even a bacon sandwich or hot dinner served to you at your seat which cannot be underestimated. This is particularly applicable when I have to get the 11pm train - commonly known as The Train Of Utter Hell - which takes, inexplicably, almost twice as long than any other train that travels that route at any other time and that always makes me feel as though I need a shower, a pint of water and a full tub of body lotion applied before I get into bed.

There is something vaguely Stephen King like about sitting by yourself in an almost silent, flourescently lit carriage at midnight, the only sound the twisting of the cap of the mini bottles of train wine by a fellow tired traveller. There are few things that are worse than train wine. Experience has taught me that even if you have drunk nothing ALL NIGHT, one bottle of train wine can actually give you a hangover the next morning. Anyway, over the last fortnight, I SeatFrogged no less than five times over the course of four trips and I am now fully conversant with both the First Class breakfast and dinner menus. If you’re sitting for a minimum of four hours a day with the hit and miss LNER wifi, a cup of tea in a china cup, some Seabrooks Ready Salted and a packet of Walkers shortbread make the BIGGEST difference to your mood, I tell you.

But enough of my newly acquired train expertise and back to my list and there are plenty of things that have brought the joie over the last few weeks. Here’s a little run down of what I’ve watched, bought, worn, read, eaten and lusted after.

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