P A R I S

Freeze Frame

My new favourite thing on the internet is Freeze Frame, the online database of the Scott Polar Research Institute's images of Arctic and Antarctic explorations. The database lets you browse over a century's worth of expeditions, taking you from Shackleton to Ranulph Fiennes via dead polar bears, tropical uniforms, inuit women and gramaphone-listening dogs. Plus there are plenty of images of breathtaking polar beauty, the kind I've never ever seen before, that have made me go downstairs twice to check I've switched all the lights off.

A LIST OF THINGS THAT I SHOULD PROBABLY DO NOW I'M SINGLE AND NOT A STUDENT ANYMORE

1. FOLLOW EVERYTHING UP

2. STOP WATCHING ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT EVERYDAY

3. BE NICE TO PEOPLE WHO AREN’T NECESSARY IN MY TOP FIVE FAVOURITE PEOPLE

4. REPLY TO TEXTS FROM PEOPLE WHO AREN’T NECESSARILY IN MY TOP FIVE FAVOURITE PEOPLE

5. STOP FANCYING BOYS AS SOON AS I FIND OUT THEY FANCY ME

6. STOP FANCYING BOYS AS SOON AS I SAY I FANCY THEM

7. START FANCYING MORE BOYS

8. STOP FINDING INSECURE/ VULNERABLE/AWKWARD ATTRACTIVE

9. START FINDING SMART/ CONFIDENT/ NORMAL ATTRACTIVE

10. STOP MAKING EXCUSES

11. STOP TALKING ABOUT MISSING AMERICA AND JUST GO BACK THERE

12. FINISH MORE NOVELS

13. WRITE MORE

14. FLOSS MORE

15. WEAR LESS BLACK/ GREY/ LIBERTY PRINT

16. BE BETTER AT KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH PEOPLE

17. SWIM MORE

18. SPEND LESS MONEY

19. CALL HOME MORE OFTEN

20. EAT LESS

Hills Like White Elephants

The girl looked across at the hills.

'They're lovely hills,' she said. 'They don't really look like white elephants. I just meant the colouring of their skin through the trees.'

'Should we have another drink?'

'All right.'

The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.

'The beer's nice and cool,' the man said.

'It's lovely,' the girl said.

Ernest + Spain (Dree + Cos) = Bliss

Barcelona

I always think about getting away from London at this time of year. Today I've been dreaming of Barcelona. The colours red and purple, the fairytale towers of La Sagrada Familia, the cooing caged pigeons lining the Ramblas, the embodiment of la movida make Barcelona a magical city. My favourite view is from the Olympic swimming pools at Montjuic (location of the Slow video, pictured), where you can dive off the mountain and down into the city.

A Little Boy in Search of God/ A Young Man in Search of Love

Get your hands on 'Isaac in America', a wonderful documentary about an incredible man, Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.

I Am

My Grandad brought round photographs of our ancestors.

It's strange to see my face in the faces of Victorians and soldiers and flapper girls. The Great Depression, the 40s and 50s: times I read about and romanticise, imagine and wish I was there, but I was, in a way, I was made there, we all were. It's still living memory.

And the stories! The stories...