As My Mother Sings

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.

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A Paradise Garden

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 🌲

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

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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.

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 🥳

Flashing Vibrant Madness

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).

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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.

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Wonderful lady, lacking fear of being accosted (in any way, shape or form) by rabid seagulls, I salute you.

These are the Best Days of my Life.

As I dance round this house, getting high on energetic beats, working as a team with my love Simon to get our things in order, I realise something…. These are the best days of my life. I will always remember the love, freedom, exploration, laughs, cats, people, journeys, chocolate consumption and trampoline jumps. I’m loving life.

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I Need to Write

I’ve been longing to write. How amazing is that? To create imagery. To pour myself into words. This is a recent phenomena. I was a songwriter (a rhyming one) first. Now, with writing my blog, everyday feels like an old friend has come out to play as I scoot over the keyboard swishing and swirling (I use a Swype keyboard. It gets me into all sorts of auto-correct trouble but it’s a right laugh too). Today is our last full day in Warsash, next to the beautiful River Hamble which opens out onto the sea, with all its boats, sails, ropes and sparkles. I feel at peace by the water. I’m a mermaid at heart. The smell of the seashore is exciting and wistful. I walk easily here. It’s my favourite place - the flat. Today we pack up to pumping music and hope we haven’t mistimed our returning housesit’s arrival by a day. We sometimes imagine what it would be like if they came home early to discover us completely rocking out to their Sonos speakers. We’d have big smiles on our faces, a bunch of flowers on the table and food in their fridge so I imagine they’d be icebreakers enough 😃 Tomorrow we zoom to Bournemouth, a place where I lived as a teenager. The sand is golden, the sea clear. Magical giant conifers abound. I’m excited and thrilled about our little hotel getaway before our next sit. In a room with two single beds! New adventures and giggles are ready to be made.

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