#65 A Slow Sunday Scroll ☕️
#65 A Slow Sunday Scroll ☕️
it's a jam-packed one. london diary, comfy socks & wisdom from a 96-year-old
For those who are new around here — welcome to The Hyphen! I send out a 'Sunday Scroll’ email every other weekend and it’s full of things I’m reading, loving, inspired by. It’s only available to paid subscribers as it takes me quite a while to pull everything together. For just £1.30p a week (if you subscribe annually, you can read everything behind the paywall!) All the best bits. :)
Many of you seemed to enjoy my New York diaries instalments (here and here) — so I thought I’d do a similar thing for a week in London. My NYC diaries felt more exciting tbh, because a) I was away from home and b) on holiday and hardly working.
However my month in NYC did make me realise the power of injecting a little bit of main character energy into day-to-day life. I’ve lived in London for 15 years and unsurprisingly I’ve gotten into the habit of staying within the confines of my postcode. I frequent my local bakery, coffee shop, post office, park and often forget that I live in such a sprawling, exciting city that has so much to offer. It’s been a slow, enjoyable August in London.
Monday
My Mondays are usually a bit dull (which is just how I like it). I like an empty day in the calendar on Mondays; absolutely no calls or meetings. I write, clear my inbox and get some admin done. This morning I work from a local café from 8am and order a decaf iced latte and a fruit salad. I sort all my admin, accounting stuff, emailing my agent, forms, invoices, and write 1,000 words of a new book. In the early evening, Paul and I go for a run in the Hackney Marshes. We jog and walk for most of it. Paul runs backwards while encouraging me to keep going (it’s been a while and the weather is humid.)
Tuesday
A call with my book agent about my new novel that’s coming out next year, all exciting stuff. Then I have a meeting in St John’s Wood and we have breakfast at Soutine and then I do a bit of work there. In the afternoon I meet up with one of my best friends who now lives in California — we lived together for five years in our twenties. She is back in London visiting family. We go to Queen Mary’s Gardens (so beautiful, so many flowers!), we sit and have a pink lemonade in the Regent’s Bar and Kitchen, a lovely little spot. We pop into Selfridges as we both need to buy gifts for people. I hardly ever go into Central London to be honest, it’s too busy for me these days, but Selfridges is amazing. So many interesting departments, different experts manning each section, retail at its best.
Wednesday
A day trip to Bristol today to see my sister and my newest nephew! Only a shortish train journey from Paddington. He’s only a few weeks old and I’m absolutely obsessed. (My favourite things to do when visiting Bristol are: lunch and swim at the Bristol Lido, coffee/breakfast at Burra, browse the many Oxfam bookshops for second hand books and if it’s a Sunday, a roast on Grain Barge.) In the evening, I went for dinner with an old friend and former literary agent Abbie at Jolene in Newington Green.
Thursday
Breakfast in the garden and lots of cups of tea. More book writing and plotting some Substack ideas. Might take up a membership at Uncommon soon as I’m missing the co-working vibe for a few days a week. My friend Dannii pops over in the evening, she was one of the first people I met when we worked at our very first agency job (in 2010!) when we were interns. She makes me laugh so much, that special bond of knowing someone for years and getting through some difficult times together — we got pretty good at turning challenging times/strange bosses into a funny joke. In the evening, I work on something I can’t tell you about just yet, but it’s eating a lot of my time and I can’t wait to announce it soon.
Friday
I have a Reiki session at 10am in Wanstead with a woman called Claire. I have been to her sound-baths before and I liked the vibe. I feel really refreshed after the session, ready to step into a new era with the changing of the seasons. Dare I say it, I feel Autumn in the air already. (Bought two dopamine jumpers: this and this.) Paul and I take the afternoon off and have planned an ‘Artist Date’ kind of day. We rarely have a full day out in London because life’s been busy but today we’ve planned a perfect London day: breakfast at home, followed by an exhibition at The Hayward Gallery at Southbank, then Kew Gardens: wandering around all the greenhouses and lunch (also check out the Bread Stall bakery and Kew Bookshop). Then dinner at one of my favourite restaurants, Luca in Farringdon. When we walk home, the sky is pink.
Saturday
A slow, slow morning with eggs and cups of tea and the radio on. I pop out and get all the papers (I do the same on Sundays) I love reading physical newspapers, and catch up on all the emails saved in my “Substack” folder. Paul and I go and see Inside Out 2 — which is basically a super clever interpretation of Internal Family Systems therapy! Loved it. Then we had Nandos.
In case you missed it:
My 2024 creativity retreat in Wales: in November with Ease Retreats! If you’re interested in joining my creativity retreat in beautiful wintery Wales this November with some welcoming like-minded women, drop the lovely Tanya at hello@easeretreats.com a line.
My 2025 creativity retreat in Tuscany is 60% sold out! It’s going to be amazing, I cannot wait. Book directly here.
Book festivals:
Henley Book Festival: I am interviewing the one and only Michael Rosen on October 1st in Henley about his latest book — he is probably best known for his children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (which spookily I mentioned in my previous newsletter!) Tickets are available here.
Folkestone Book Festival: Come along to my book event! The topic is ‘modern day exhaustion’ lol. Looking forward to it. Few tickets left here.
Now for your reads and recommendations of the week: Your Slow Sunday Scroll ✨
I love pulling these round-ups together for you. Below are lots of juicy links, including: wisdom from a 96 year old, the importance of small joys, a new book on writing, podcasts I’m loving and my fave bath product.
