All Aboard My Train Of Thought

Sunny Side Up #27

Good evening friends!

(Morning? Afternoon? Delete as applicable.)

I come to you from beneath my favourite Christmas present, my electric blanket, wearing an adult baby grow, listening to the best playlist I have ever curated based on romcoms from the 90s/00s. This is peak comfort!

Now playing: Torn by Natalie Imbruglia

I took a break from Substack over Christmas and honestly it’s like when you sit down and can’t bring yourself to get back up again, I tried to write a post last week and I’d completely forgotten how to spell so we go again tonight. I can’t promise you anything interesting, but I may yet surprise us all!

I wasn’t sure if I’d continue Sunny Side Up into 2025 but I really do credit this series with changing the way I think. In the midst of a little writer’s block, consider this post an elongated joy list, a train of thought that you are free to hop on.

1. A bookshop on the Thames, 2. The perfect winter's day, 3. First write of the year, first read of the year, 4. Pasta pasta pasta, 5. Embracing my natural hair, 6. Bakes for lunch.

Last week I wrote on a desk by the sea.

The weather that day was perfect winter: crisp, bright, bitter, and warm in the glow of the sun. We went for a walk along the seafront. The sky was nearly cloudless, a brilliant blue, seagulls apparently not feeling too aggressive because I managed to get through an entire hot chocolate without being attacked from behind. There was a general positive spirit about — we kept overhearing people talking about how beautiful the day was, how relaxed they were, how nice it all felt.

• A couple sat in their car, each reading the paper, front windscreen facing the waves.

• A man in blue lycra who must have lapped us about three times.

• A huge fluffy dog walking along the wall in the same way that a toddler does.

• A father and daughter marvelling at the fact that the dinosaurs used to walk here, too.

Now playing: Strange by Celeste

Just after Christmas I spent the day in London with one of my closest friends, Lucy. We felt very grown up because we had lunch at The Ivy. Lucy ordered fish and chips with coffee and cream, of course. We each had a Christmas cracker, and this ended with a (very) brief game of charades whereby I had to act out ‘Jurassic Park’ as subtly and as mindfully as possible. Lucy’s guess? Crab wobble, or something like that.

We had a very thoughtful chat, actually. Two people we know are doing super well at the minute — one was on the cover of Cosmo not long ago and is now in Cabaret on the West End and the other is in We Live In Time and is like new besties with Florence Pugh, so both winning at life. Two avenues we could have gone down here:

• We feel like complete failures in comparison

• We use them as fuel to believe amazing things can happen

Our new year’s resolutions are to not be bitter jealous wenches, so we went with the latter. These guys have done so well partly due to an incredible amount of talent, but also a hell of a lot of hard work. And niceness. It’s incredibly motivating to see good people achieve brilliant things.

Omg, then I nearly got scammed, guys. No don’t — I already feel like such an idiot. We encountered this bubbly girl and she was trying to get us to donate money to something - I can’t even remember what - and it was actually really intimidating, I’ve never been in that sort of situation before. Lucy even said to her face ‘I’m not sure this isn’t a scam’ and we tried to get away and we just couldn’t get out of the situation, which was alarming in itself. Anyhoo, to try and get us out of there I was like fine, have a fiver, and in that moment the scam goddesses were looking down on me because my card was immediately blocked, the transaction declined, and Fabian from the bank was on the line. All those ads with that ginger lady going ‘did you see what I did there?’ and I still failed. Nobody’s perfect.

Now Playing: Now I’m In It by HAIM

I cooked tonight. I made a chickpea and chorizo pasta in a marinara sauce. Very well received! Michelin stars at the ready! Pro tip: play a Nora Ephron/Nancy Meyers inspired playlist while you cook and you will curate the perfect cosy vibe for the evening. Bonus points if you light a candle and put a bunch of flowers in a vase for the table. One of my goals for the year is to cook more, and cook more new recipes. Whenever I cook I always gravitate towards the same things, but I need to surprise myself.

Now Playing: Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield

If there are two people who can write the perfect rom-com song it’s Natasha Beddingfield and Colbie Caillat.

The last thing that has really been giving me a spring in my step is my hair. This may sound a little vain, I don’t mean it to, but for years I have fried my hair by straightening it and resented my natural hair texture, which is some kind of wavy curly mess. At the end of last year my hairdresser retired (absolutely devastating, I trust nobody else with a pair of scissors near my head so where do I go from here?), and so I decided it was time that I began properly taking care of it. There is not a curly girl routine on TikTok that I haven’t seen. It’s funny because the bottom layer of my hair is all ringlets but the top is more waves. The picture above was my first ever time using a diffuser and it really does change the game! If anyone else has hair like this, I would love to know your tips and favourite products.

• The Rom-Com Rescue Podcast - I’m obsessed with this new find, looking at all your favourite romantic comedy films from a psychological perspective.

• Black Doves on Netflix - Loved it. For unique viewing, shut your eyes and imagine Paddington Bear is playing the assassin.

• My favourite show The Traitors is back and Substack is accommodating my obsession - The Traitor Trope by

  Sophie
  and The Traitors, Agatha Christie, and the Kierkegaard Edit by
  Joel Morris
  were two truly interesting and insightful reads that I’d recommend even if you don’t watch the show!

• Shoutout to my favourite album of last year which was Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande. I did go and see Wicked before Christmas but I am yet to understand why everyone is crying.

• The Writer’s Routine podcast is a new favourite, I can’t believe I hadn’t come across it before!! Highly recommend if you’re looking for inspiration or you’re just curious as to how your favourite writers go about their craft.

• The discourse surrounding aesthetics is fascinating me at the moment and there is so much to be said, but

  Maria Santa Poggi
  ’s How Class Insults Are Trending Under The Guise Of Beauty brought a whole other argument to the surface that hadn’t even occurred to me.

I’ll leave it here for today because I’ve rambled long enough. I’m so happy to have all of you here, I know there are some new readers so welcome! Here’s to another year of sunny moments. 🌤️