Who goes there? I am The Gatekeeper. You may pass.

I just danced my ass off to a load of drum n bass. It was faster than I’ve ever danced before ha! I love getting into new genres. I’m super interested in uplifting dnb and am on a quest to find the best there is to offer. I’m feeling alive like a heartbeat.

I love looking at other people’s book collections. You never know what you’re going to find. This book transported me back to my happy childhood playing trains with dad. We built the track (it was fiddly sometimes), the trains sometimes worked, sometimes didn’t. It was exciting when they did. I was elated watching them whizz round. One was fast, I liked that one. The big blue one took it’s time and made lots of noise. It was temperamental. There were carriages transporting coal that hooked onto the fast one. I loved hooking them on and watching them go. I put bridges over tracks (the trains would go under the bridges - heeeee how exciting and fun), a tree would go here or there, maybe even a person dotted about. It wasn’t a big collection but the adrenaline of being there with my dad, being together in shared joy and conversation aged 7, will make that train set worth a thousand smiles.

Beauty I see

Action cat

I am so elated to be here right now, in this green garden, surrounded by songbirds, kissed by the sun, accompanied by a special cat, on this warm day.

Donkies and Ponies are free spirits in The New Forest. It’s their land. I love that they have the power and we have to wait for them. I love that they’re free.

Yo! Sushi is my happy place. It’s a place where my inner child comes out to play. Yummy food whizzes by on a train full of colourful dishes, fluffy rice, explosively satisfying dishes and yummy puds. Zooming to me in bubbles of love, this food is vibrant. The sushi chef in this video sings as he works. I adore all the taste sensations. I feel like I’m eating zingy creamy sparkles. I feel like I’m in some kind of paradise.

Little Miss Tally is the quintessential lounge cat. She doesn’t even lounge in the lounge. She freestyles where she feels fit to sit.

I’m not one for malls. Or I thought I wasn’t until I came to this one. I’m sitting in Westquay in Southampton, drinking my freshly made juice on a comfy sofa in-between shops. This is a once a year thing. I’ve no summer clothes. It was a necessity which has turned into a pleasure. I love the space, the scene, the colour, the accessibility, the architecture. Today people are happy. Families are looking after eachother and having fun. I’m listening to deep house as I try on cute denim shorts. I’m in my own wonderful world funking it up. I love buying things that make me feel good. I’m not going mad like I used to, but just buying the essentials. Keeping it real. It’s a beautiful experience watching children running around laughing. It makes the whole experience even better than it already is.

She’s only gone and bought herself a snapback skater cap….well two actually 🤗 Last year I was a rainbow fairy, this year I’m a skater spy.

I’m outside, rocking gently in a hammock. My feet rest on lush green grass, on a beautifully laid lawn. New birds sing sweet, syrupy, lilting songs. The sky is hazy in the sunlight. I love the beginning of a new house-sit. Especially when the weather is warming up and life is becoming, post hibernation. Every year I forget what spring feels like and every year I remember again. I’m a child learning something new each day. The excited feeling of seeing a purple magnolia in flower, heavy blossoms laden with petals bobbing in the breeze, the sound of bees waking up, songbirds returning to their trees. I like to think as everything begins to grow, I get some of spring’s power too, to create, write, sing and compose. The newness of spring feels like I’m a baby listening to my mother singing a lullaby. Healing and bright.

Meet Tally. A fluffy ball of loveliness. She loves cuddles and attention. I’m so happy to get to know her.

I’m sitting in the Garden of Eden aka The New Forest in Dorset. The depth of birdsong is heady. The butterflies flutter, green grass abounds, scented flowers hold me in a springtime embrace. Last night we feasted with our new house-sit friends. I love getting to know new folk who we would never usually meet. Conversation flowed, deep and meaningful. Everyone has a story. So much poignancy, struggle and inspiration. We’re staying in a creative household full of writing, directing and editing. It’s the house of a BAFTA judge so a high tech movie room is delightfully essential. 3D specs will be used and my eyes will feel oddly independent of eachother. We’re here to look after darling Tally. She’s a beautiful thing with a high pitched meow. Her chatter makes me melt into a pool of cuteness. This is an exciting sit in a place of paradise. I’m elated to be back in one of my favourite forests 🌲

Unintended - Muse (cover) end of song with the floaty swirly bit 😃

Baywatch? No Bournemouth. New York? No Bournemouth again! (with just about the cleanest NY cab ever) Who was fooled? No one? Thought so.

Freedom

Yesterday a fearless seagull lady, today a delighted pigeon man lying down sprinkling food on his legs watching the birds feed off him. Reminds me of St Paul’s Square where I poured seed on my own head and waited enthusiastically for pigeons to land. In my defense, I was 9.

A feast of crows.

Flying seagulls and a brave lady.

Hanging out with bigger kitties today.

This bandstand was important to me in 1998. I was seventeen, in a musical theatre group and ready for the limelight. I sang Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music and Bright Eyes by Simon and Garfunkel. I sang to people in deckchairs eating ice-creams and I remembered all my words 🥳

I was always obsessed with arcades growing up. More the slot machines than the gaming areas. Whether it was a seaside or a theme park, neither visit would be complete without winning a cuddly toy or gaining a pocket full of 10ps. I went on a cruise once (aged 10 - with parents) where me and my newfound ship friends would sneak down to the deserted casino in the morning and play the fruit machines. They had fantastically flashy buttons (I think that’s where my button pressing fetish began).

Today at Bournemouth Pier I had a £1 budget but didn’t spend any of it. I realised it was more about watching others and enjoying when they won. So I watched and hoped as a lovely dad tried to win a sparkly whale unicorn for his daughter on the cranes. He tried. Nope. Getting nervous and excited. He tried again, it picked up and dropped but still rolled down into the hole….YAY! She was over the moon. So joyous. She said ‘I’m going to sleep with it every night’ and reminded me of me as a kid winning something special and professing my eternal love for it. It made their moment. It made mine too 😃

Here follows a fair amount of photos celebrating arcade madness in all its glory. From the child’s eye view of shiny coins to the trapped sparkly animals waiting to find new homes. Here’s to the vibrant madness of the arcade.

Love is in the air 💞

Bournemouth Prom. Windy. Sandy. Sunny. Wet. Flat. Loooong stretches of expanse. 9.2 km of walking. Got sand in my shoes and a zingy feeling in my body as waves crashed on rocks and ripples sparkled in sand. Love the wind and its pushiness to get you from place to place.