The Extreme Staycation

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak World Vegan Day 🌍🍃🐄🐔🐖 The 1st November is World Vegan Day. I have two thoughts on that - firstly, that every day seems to be National or World something day and secondly that for me, every day is VEGAN DAY 😁 As I have alluded to my veganism in this blog,  I thought   I'd let you know what lead me to this point. At the age of 8, I connected the dots that the meat on my plate and the animal in the field were very much connected and I couldn't bear the idea of an animal dying just so I could eat it.  Although I now have many more reasons which support my choices, animals dying was and still is my primary motivator for being vegetarian/vegan. I used to eat fish for a long time, but I could never eat a fish if it still looked like one and gradually I found I couldn't face the idea any longer. In 2014 I decided that for Lent that year it would be a good challenge to go vegan - I loved and ate dairy on a dai...

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown The advert below came out this week and sent the internet into meltdown. At a time when us artistic folk are feeling a bit taken advantage of and undervalued, this was the cherry on top. The advert was ostensibly to encourage young people to think about applying for jobs in cyber but all it did was to underline the idea that jobs in the arts are frivolous and not "proper" jobs.  This came the week after we were advised by the government to consider re-training. Without the arts, we would all be poorer - culturally, emotionally and as a country, financially.  The arts are what has kept us all going during this unending pandemic and anyone who claims otherwise is a liar.  If you have watched TV, a film, listened to music, read a book, looked at any art - you've enjoyed the fruits of someone's labour, often many years of study and hard work. The arts should never be seen as "not a viable job". I w...

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak September - how is it already September? September was the month when everyone really tried to "go back to normal" Started off the month with a cast screening of Love & Information which we decided to really go for big style - everyone dusted off their black ties and ballgowns and we had a fabulous evening! It was my birthday - celebrated with a family walk and  Papa John's vegan pizza  which was great!  Lockdown birthdays kinda suck but also I feel like people make more of an effort to reach out as the circumstances are so strange. I went back to weekly ballet classes, first since March.  It has been lovely to stretch my muscles and my dance brain. Went to the cinema for the first time - my cinema of choice is the BFI, partly because I'm a member and partly because I like the way they do things.  Saw two excellent films (in a socially distanced cinema where masks were required through...

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Certain people have always been a bit disgusting in the way in which they treat their surrounding. The number of surgical masks I see lying on the street every day is quite revolting.  Not only is it an act of pure sloth to just throw it on the floor without a care in the world for your environment, but surely in times when we are being asked repeatedly to wash our hands and use hand sanitiser it's an almost an act of aggression to disgard something potentially infectious in such a disdainful way? A plea therefore - please throw your salived filled masks in the bin, not on the floor.  Astonishing to have to ask really!

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Exciting day today.  I had my first Starbucks in 12 weeks.  It was actually my third attempt at getting one... First try, I got there just as they were closing.  Second, I realised that I had to order via the app and mine kept crashing, but today, post 5km run, I got my coffee. A small, simple little slice of "normality" which felt good.