Five Items Of Note

A list of things for discussion this month. Raging rivers, themed dinners, tubular furniture and adjusting your ideas to your budget. Plus why I f**king HATE Connections and HRT options post cancer.

Hola, my friends, and as I write this, here in the UK we are about to enter a heatwave. Yes, a heatwave! Glorious, warm, Vitamin D rays which should be enjoyed outdoors or at the very least in the pub garden with a large cold glass of Whispering Angel and a packet of Seabrooks. Or lazing in the garden with a book, all weekend. Unfortunately, this update in the weather has coincided with two things. The first, me realising that I have under two weeks to pack up our entire house to move to a much smaller one, meaning that I will need to spend the entirety of said heatwave in the dark, gloomy cellar with a stack of cardboard, a packing tape dispenser and ten years worth of utter rubbish that no one has looked at forever and is unlikely to look at again. Oh, with the occasional trip to the tip or to the front door to hand something over to a Facebook Marketplace buyer. FML.

And the second, my son Leo finishing his GCSE’s and basically leaving the house to spend the rest of the summer next to a river 20 minutes away in Strensall with his friends, which is basically pushing me RIGHT over the edge. Mostly, it’s the word ‘river’. I don’t want to know - or care, really - what a large group of 16 year olds who have just completed school and have been given two and a half months off DO by the river, but I just don’t want them to fall into it. I know, I know, this sounds a little dramatic. But, freak currents! Dark, murky depths! I know it’s only the River Foss but EVEN SO. I’m in this terrible mid land where I really want him to go out, live his life and enjoy himself, but also, still want him to want to come to the shops with me or watch a film, safe from unpredictable water patterns and the wrath of Mother Nature (the drama of it, honestly, sorry). I am trying to forget the river and get with the programme; today, I offered him a picnic blanket to take with him for comfort and he laughed in my face. Sigh.

But enough of my exaggerated parenting woes and again, as always, I have managed to write way over the word count so well done if you get to the end. Here are five items of note that I have been contemplating this month and that I think you need to know about.

1. Themed Dinners For The Win.

Since we’ve moved house, our socialising agenda has changed, big time. Whereas before we invited lots of friends for big dinners that took me two days to prepare, now we have dropped it down a notch and keep it far more casual. This is partly because now we are two minutes from the City Centre we are able to frequent ALL the restaurants and pubs but also, we have kind of taken a step back from one person doing all the work which is very refreshing. This has applied to all of our friends, too - we’ve all started to share the load of catering (there are a few of us) and it’s not only fun, but also much more budget friendly. Anyway, last week we invited 14 friends over and I themed it. You know I like a theme.

Everyone brought one dish in the style of Food Of The Mediterranean. This, if I may say so myself, was an excellent theme. We had France, Greece, Middle East, Spain and Italy and we allocated two starter plates, a couple of main courses and a dessert. There was a platter of Italian antipasti (yay for Lidl and Italian week) and mezze, Greek meatballs and salad, vegan paella, potato tortilla and stromboli (recipe on my post from Wednesday) and we finished with apple tahini crumble that was amazing. And then, French cheese. It was a bit like going on holiday to those all inclusive restaurant buffets and it worked brilliantly. And also so much more fun and relaxed than one person doing all the work. I’ll show you photos of the boards for inspiration but would highly recommend, mostly because they involve little more opening a packet or jar and arranging. Easy peasy.

Sharons mezze board. LOVE a mezze board - easy to prepare but always looks super impressive.

My antipasti board. Side note: this board is HUGE and super handy - it’s from North Home, I’ll link.

Plus another top entertaining tip - last year I invested in a Polaroid camera. I like a photo, as you know, and I really do miss having ‘in hand’ ones instead of digital. I spend so much of my time - as we all do - taking photos, endless photos of the same thing as one is never enough, now. When I was at school, I was always the person with the camera snapping away and have books and books of them. In fact, you can tell the exact year that phones took over for me - around 2007 - as that’s when the books stop. So I bought a Polaroid and when we have friends over we discard our phones in favour of real life that can’t be altered or filtered or taken again as you weren’t happy with the result and it’s SO much more fun. When we move, I’m going to do a full wall of them in the downstairs loo.

You can’t take these again, one shot and that’s it. SO much more fun.

2. For The Love Of Tubular (Furniture, Not Bells).

Last week I was lucky enough to be taken to Paris for the day to view the new La Redoute Interieurs collection. Paris, for the day! I know, so decadent. We ate broccoli dips and burrata salad on the rooftop of Galerie Lafayette and it was baking hot and utter heaven. Anyway, the new collection coming this Autumn Winter is off the scale fabulous (keep an eye on the website as it’s coming in slowly) but the main design feature that stood out to me was the resurgence of tubular furniture on to the High Street.

Now, if you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I have more than a slight obsession with tubular chrome furniture. I have a smoked glass top coffee table which I sourced on eBay after my parents had similar (stolen by my sister, ffs) when we were kids and I LOVE it. I love the clean lines, the finish, the curves and the simplicity of this style and I was beyond excited to see the new stuff that was en route at the show. It’s not new, of course. Tubular furniture was first introduced back in the twenties and thirties during the Bauhaus movement - think Marcel Breuer and the Cesca chair which was actually first produced almost 100 years ago, or Breuers Wassily chair which was designed in 1925. Absolutely classic design that lasts and lasts and has no bearing on trends or fashion.

Anyway, Paris was dreamy, full of super chic Parisians and even chicer homeware, including a smoked glass and chrome shelving unit which I showed on Wednesdays post and which I am planning in to my new home as I type. I’ve shown a selection of what’s currently online at the moment (there’s a 40% code SUMMER at the moment too) but there is more en route so keep a look out. But you can also head to eBay - a quick search of ‘chrome furniture’ brings up some absolute gems. Try search terms such as tubular chrome, Merrow Associates, Bauhaus chrome, tubular furniture - there’s much excellence to be found.

1.Vincenzo smoked glass drinks trolley; 2. Ramcel dining table; 3. Giorgio sideboard; 4 Giorgio planter; 5. Socer desk; 6. Winset chair; 7. Agathilda table lamp; 8. Abby candle holder. All La Redoute.

3. Big Ideas vs No Actual Idea.

We’ve had the keys to our new house for just two weeks but already I am reassessing what needs to be done. When we first went to view, I had endless ideas and thoughts on what I was going to do. Rip off the roof and replace it with glass! Out with the fitted wardrobes! Move the toilet to under the stairs! Make the windows bigger! ALL THE STUFF. A fortnight of ownership and I’ve realised that I might have overestimated what really needs to be done and also, what is achievable in a four bedroomed terrace without taking it well over the ceiling height of the road. Sigh. Big dreams, little knowledge. That’s me.

First of all, my glass roof kitchen plans. There’s two large Velux across what would have been the side return and in my head, they were a lot smaller than they actually are. Got the key, checked them out and they’re actually huge and also, they open. To remove them and replace with glass would not only be expensive but also, as my builder has now told me, require additional heating elements in the room. It would be beyond financially wasteful to remove them - the moment I said this to Joe he agreed entirely and gave me no opportunity to go back on that statement (sometimes I forget that I have to edit what I say to my husband; the slightest sign of me leaning towards frugality, he’s on it). So no. Au revoir, glass roof. We’ll keep the Velux, save the cash (you can read my full kitchen plans here, btw).

Okay, they need a clean but they’re big enough to let in loads of light and they open which is a massive benefit.

Next, the built in wardrobes. Okay, they’re not really up my street if I’m being honest and the plan was to whip them out. Until we completed and I realised that they’re solidly built, well made, plastered in and actually contain shed loads of storage. Why would I take them out? So I’m not. I’m going to - eventually - swap the door fronts for something more in line with my style and that, my friends, will be it. Oh, and the downstairs loo. Knock down the outhouse, she said. Move the loo to under the stairs, she said. Until I realised that in order to get the loo to the understairs cupboard, we will need to dig up the entire kitchen floor to put the sewage pipe in. Expensive, but also, a massive faff. So no, maybe not. It’s now going to be shifted along two metres to sit at the end of the kitchen instead.

Whip off the doors, add new ones. Much cheaper, also quite nice.

Then, the kitchen windows. The kitchen is the main focus of our new home and is where the work is going to be done. What is the utility room will be opened into the kitchen and then the sink will overlook the little courtyard. Nice big picture window, please, to replace the smaller one that’s there now. No. Sadly not, as that involves putting a steel in as the lintel isn’t wide enough. Ditto French doors. Widen them! Let in the light! Lots of glass! No, no no. That’ll be more steels required. Realised they are actually perfectly normal size as they are, I just don’t like what’s there. Solution: replace them with ones that I do.

I can absolutely see how it would be possible to plough cash into a house indefinitely and not press the stop button. The opportunities when faced with a blank canvas are SO huge that it’s hard to not get carried away. But, I have a strict budget for making changes and this is because a) that’s what we’ve got, but mostly b) it’s the maximum we can spend on the house without it going over the absolute top level value of what it’ll be worth. So my big ideas have become smaller ideas that cost less, ha. All part of the learning curve, every day is a school day in the world of home renovation, etc etc.

4. Connections Is My Nemesis.

After quite a long hiatus, I have recently rejoined the Wordle Losers WhatsApp group. I would imagine that there are few of you are not members of similar; there are seven in ours and mostly, we all submit daily. We have friends who stay up late and submit past midnight (MADNESS), friends who submit at 6am, friends who submit after work and friends (Joe) who submits once he has looked over my shoulder whilst I’m doing it. I always submit at the same time - approximately 8am as Leo eats his breakfast (a very extravagant term for half a piece of toast and often squash as I forget to buy fruit juice); at weekends, around 7.30 am whilst lying in bed. My win rate is 95%, my longest streak is 39 and the current is 9 (I lost the plot during the weekend that we bought our house and ruined everything by forgetting to do it - am still fuming).

I have used the same starting word since the very first time I did it and the same second word if the starting word comes up blank. Sometimes I feel like I should step out and try another, but everyone knows that the SECOND you do that then your original start word will be word of the day, you’re basically just asking for it. Anyway, I like Wordle. It’s a good way to start the day, it makes my fogged up brain work and also, I do not think I am speaking out of turn when I say I am quite good at it.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for Connections, a second daily quiz group that I have recently joined. It’s also on the NY Times but I am sure that it is devised by absolute mentalists because that is the ONLY reason that I can see why it would be so godawfully difficult. The ‘connections’ are often so extreme and so random that you would have to be high on hallucinatory drugs to be able to concoct an answer. Unless you are in my Connections group, of course. There is no Loser added on to the rear of this title; there are two teachers and an art historian in the mix and the only one who is equal to my failure here is Joe.

Always such a good sport.

In comparison to Wordle Losers, this group has eight people, all of whom are very clever. Except me (and Joe). My win rate is 43%, my maximum streak 4 and I am absolutely SHIT at it. I think, actually, that you have to have a certain type of brain to do puzzles like this. I was never, ever able to do the Magic Eye (where you had to ‘see’ the picture in a load of bloody dots) or Sudoku, or even cryptic crosswords. But I CANNOT stop myself still trying daily, even though my average number of rows submitted is almost always the maximum of seven. But still, I persevere. Thank god for Wordle or I might be tempted to sack it off completely. Character building, but GODAMMIT I wish I was better at it.

5. No HRT, No Problem.

This month, I have attempted to address the fact that I am not allowed to go on HRT by taking action. I am not one to dwell on menopause - I am always really peeved by people who talk about it all the time, it’s one of those things that is common to all and it’s really quite bloody boring. However, twelve years ago, I had an oestrogen driven breast cancer and as a result, I am persona non grata in the HRT stakes which is a constant source of annoyance to me (yes, yes, it’s for my own good and I’m lucky to be alive, etc, but STILL). I was never really sure whether I went through the menopause during chemo - I was 41 and had every single symptom so kind of presumed that I did, plus have never had a period since (although I had had an endometrial ablation due to horrific periods a year before I was diagnosed so WHO KNOWS. Sorry, this is a lot of info if you’re reading this first thing in the morning but, you know, background). I didn’t know if I’d had the menopause early, but I did know that being restricted from taking something that all of my friends were able to yet having ALL the symptoms and not being able to manage them was frustrating. I also know I’m not alone in this quest - breast cancer affects 1 in 7 in the UK alone so there are loads of us in this bracket.

Anyway, I made a GP appointment to discuss and pled my case hard. Bastard hot flushes! Inability to drink wine! (okay maybe not a game changer) Sleep anxiety! (this is the actual worst of the lot; is there anything that is more annoying than waking up at 2am in a mass panic for no reason and then being unable to go back to sleep?) Aching limbs! (yes age, but also, annoying) Inability to manage weight! (she immediately kindly offered me a 12 week free gym membership at which point I was forced to concede that I was a size 10 and did Pilates so probably would be abusing this - actually amazing - resource). She said that she’d go away and check with the Head Of HRT (not the official title, but basically someone who was expert) that I definitely couldn’t take it and come back to me. Which she did and I couldn’t. Obvs.

BUT they gave me something else to try which I AM allowed to take and that’s fluoxetine, officially an antidepressant (actually Prozac in small doses) but which will stop the hot flushes (a big one for me) and also the sleep anxiety levels. I investigated hard before I decided to give it a try - when you are unable to boost your oestrogen levels, this is commonly prescribed to deal with the other symptoms that arise. I currently take a massive handful daily of natural remedies which don’t seem to have made much difference although the magnesium has improved my sleep quality (according to my Sleep App). PS: One thing that has also definitely made a difference remedy wise is taking 200mg of peppermint oil in a gel capsule daily - it has massively reduced bloating which I’ve suffered from for years (alleged IBS but, you know, when I was diagnosed if you ticked three boxes out of the five symptoms they immediately labelled you). Will report back but if you are also in my non HRT anti oestrogen boat, then solidarity and do let me know below if you have any tips!

These are massive great gels but they have really made a difference and have a nice minty aftertaste like toothpaste.

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