Hello London

Soo happy to be back in London for a few days. Love the eccentric vibe and the crooked cool of this city it took me 18 years to get to. The view from NYC is pretty different to the view from Hull though.

Arrived last night and my sister treated me to the first episode of Scousewives. Beyond hooked!! They are fabulous and are as real as the jersey shore cast. I love that no one is pretending to be rich or posh, everyone is just down there with their hair extensions. I detest pretentiousness of any kind. New York is full of pretending- to -be posh Brits, who get rumbled by me. So that's why I love 'Scousewives' because nobody on that show is the slightest bit concerned about The concept of poSh. Excuse my iPad ttyping

CATS IN THE CRADLE

Happened to walk past the TV the other day while 'The Office' was on - American version. The bloke with the glasses who plays the Mackenzie Crook character - (soz about my bad research!) suddenly launched into a chorus of this song, 'Cat's in the Cradle', by Harry Chapin. It was a pure comedy moment for me because this song has always encapsulated a certain kind of middle-American oddness. The tune & lyrics combo is a bit 'out there' and trippy in a strange, folky-beardy but not trendy way.  C's in the C then just came on the radio while I was out looking for shops to panic buy stuff out of, seeing as it's Black Friday. I didn't buy anything but oh, the riches, wealth and imaginative opportunities listening to Harry Chapin afforded me. I was transported even deeper into this continent, pine forests looming on either side of the road. Not a soul in sight. Dusk was falling, a truck passed by with a dead stag in the back, all wrapped in plastic but for his head sticking out.  New England is gorgeous but sometimes my kids say it's spooky. This afternoon, I got the distinct feeling of there being Something in the trees. Brrrr.........

Anyway, yesterday spent my first Thanksgiving properly here. Made a vat of soup and took it over to some pals, who didn't mind at all that I had forgotten the roast potatoes. We had so much food anyway nobody noticed. I could hardly move last night. Got to do it all again in 4 weeks...the Goddess willing. I have to go all the way, literally, around the world and back before then. Fingers xxxed xxxx



...I've creeped myself out now!!

VERUSCHKA

This is a favourite pic of model Veruschka from the late 60s.  I love wintery glamour, everyone looks gorgeous in crispy weather and Thanksgiving Day in the USA is officially the start of winter. Even though I don't resemble Veruschka in any way and have no garments that faintly resemble the thing she is wrapped in, this is the image I will be mentally channeling this winter.  I might pop to the mini-mart in my late-night tracky and Uggs, but in my head I'll be looking like the above pic. Here's to an ultra-glam winter....x

PS: Looking forward to foraging in the local vintage stores for some Veruschka-inspiration this weekend. Our village in Connecticut has an amazing store, Grape In The Shade, where costume folk from Sex and the City and Mad Men seek inspiration and where you can buy original Halston for nowhere near city prices. There are gorgeous stores dotted all over the district with the most amazing stuff..so I'm starting my xmas shopping now. 

HAIR 'EM, SCARE 'EM!

The Republican candidates on last night's CNN debate.

The more hair you got, the more outrageous you can be, capiche?

What struck me most about this debate last night was the proliferation of man-hair. While Michelle Bachmann had slicked hers down, the men were in full pompadour mode.  From the 1950s crooner-quiff of Jon Huntsman, to Mitt Romney's untrustworthy-ladies-man-mess, via Rick Perry's too-much-like-a-schoolboy's wig, there was just too much hair. They all need a haircut. Get rid of it all, it's just horrible. Ditto the old guys, even Ron Paul (seems SO grumpy but not as odd and grumpy as his ultra-weird son, Rand) and Newt had too much hair. Great big helmet-pelts of white, it just looks vain and out of touch with the human race. Something slightly inter-galactic about all that white hair on old men, a touch of the Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek. At least Herman Cain has a grip on his hair. Maybe after last night though, he will wonder if that is where he is going wrong. Perhaps we will see him with a giant Afro at the next debate. I hope so, because he is cool enough to carry it off. He's just funny and makes bluddy great TV.

The Republican race is just about the most entertaining TV I've ever come across in the USA. From the audience goons who get up to ask questions, to the genuinely talented moderator-news-anchors, via the stage set, it is better than X Factor. Which I hate by the way, so it wouldn't take much for me to think that...however, it's solid TV entertainment because a) it's live and b) you never know what they will come out with next! Last night there was some harum-scarum talk from Romney and Perry about Arab terrorists in Mexico! Sheesh-a-sombrero, what? That's pushing even my conspiracy theory-warped mind into the 7th dimension of disbelief.

Leaving the city this afty for Thanksgiving. We'll be going to Connecticut, I'm taking the truck so I will be the embarrassed-looking woman in the massive white F150 on the West Side Highway later, gimme a wave.  This week, we've heard a fair bit of bad news from friends on both sides of the Atlantic. So this weekend, me and my little tribe will be giving thanks and feeling very, very grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all xxx

Gaga and bully shock

This is Gaga at the launch of her Gaga Workshop at Barneys last night. The superstar lady has collaborated with Barneys to produce a range of Christmas tut that anyone would be proud to own. From yo-yos to snowglobes and  fake fingernails. It's all available online and will make Christmas perfect for fans and fashiony birds everywhere.

On a different level, I just love Gaga for her efforts to hi-light teenage troubles and for trying to bring some of that angst that lonely and confused young people suffer, into the spotlight. A friend of my youngest son, a beautiful, talented, 15 year old killed herself this week. She was being bullied via social networking, by a group led by boys. In fact, while girls get such bad publicity for bitchiness, often boys' activities go unnoticed. Their savagery can be equally, if not more destructive.

There need to be some changes to the law with serious consequences for parents who do not, if their child is proven to be a bully, take action. Also, the rules on what constitutes bullying should be squared up into black and white. Everyone in a community knows when it is happening and to whom. Along with inappropriate touching by adults, what constitutes bullying needs to be brought out, written large and hung out to freaking dry. 

STARS ON LEX

3 CATS, 1 GUINEA PIG ON A FAKE PUPPY, ANOTHER GUINEA PIG TRYING TO MOUNT A FAKE PUPPY, ONE REAL PUPPY AND SOMETHING THAT COULD BE A CAPPY (half puppy, half cat)

Had to get this picture for you yesterday whilst on school safety patrol. All the school moms take it in turns, via a rota, to walk around the blocks near the school for an hour after it finishes, just to make sure there are no kids in trouble/having an accident/taking drugs. Actually, probably not the last bit that's just my natural British cynicism oozing out... I took the above pic after coming across this little menagerie outside Bloomingdales. (Our safety walk takes us past Bloomies and Barneys which is unfortunate because we have to wear fluorescent green, motorway-repairman jackets).

My friend Angela, walking with me, pointed out that the puppy beneath the guinea pigs was a toy. A bit disappointing really because it certainly looked like a sweet little sleeping puppy. The man in charge was trying to encourage the cats to perform some kind of dance which of course, they refused to do. The puppy just pulled on it's leash in quite a sad way. Although there was a hat to drop money into, not many people bothered because a) it wasn't really enough of a spectacle on it's own and b) none of the creatures were actually doing anything entertaining. Unlike another school mom friend of mine who has run away to LA to become a lingerie model and entertainer. She's the same age as me, so watch this space for some exciting new self-portaits soon in my bid to relaunch my own career as a bikini-fitness instructor and Face of Fashion..

By the way, watched the movie 'Bridesmaids' last night.  Absolutely no relation to the trailer at all, an entirely different movie in the end, about a sad un-believeable, un-real, slightly-elderly woman. Better than 'The Help' though, as in 'Give me The Help I need to get out of this cinema.'

SWEEPING GENERALS

I know, as in my last post, I am prone to sweeping generalisations. Left unchecked, they run riot around my brain, sometimes bursting out as can be seen on this blog.

It's jolly good then, that I am an Expert on all Subjects, according to my best friend Jane WK who is one too. My husband also agrees and this reminds me of a joke, wish I could remember where I heard it. Somewhere on excellent BBC Radio 4 I believe - in fact it was....someone was reading out a spoof advert that went like this:

FOR SALE:
One full set of Encyclopedia Britannica. One careful male owner, no longer needed due to MARRIAGE.