Innocent - the big knit.

Got one of the little Innocent smoothies hats sitting on your desk? G'waan – take a picture of it and upload it to Facebook. It takes 2 minutes and every time you upload you donate 10p to Age UK, as well as being in with the chance of winning £500 worth of Amazon vouchers. Click here to upload. You've got until Friday (2 December) to take part! And, 10p might not sound like a lot, but pennies make pounds, as my grandma used to say...

Recent pictures.

I haven't done one of these posts for ages: random pictures from my iPhone. Spans the summer, getting married, moving house...I can't believe it's nearly December. Thank goodness it has been really bright in London since the summer; it has made the onslaught of winter much more pleasurable. I'm definitely a summer person. Seeing these sunny pictures is making me feel quite sad; anyone got a lightbox I can borrow?

Parliament Hill Lido just after closing time.

Wedding photos outside The Trafalgar in Greenwich.

Ladies Day at York Races.

Train station in York. I'd been visiting my mum to steal all her jewellery for my 'something borrowed'.

From York to New York. The sunset that greeted us back in September. (Sigh.)

Pictures from a bike ride along the Thames Path between Greenwich and Woolwich.

London, from Greenwich Park.

Honky tonk pianna at the best pub in London, aka The Southampton Arms. 

Dungeness by night.

Dungeness.

Tatou the dog and me, at Kenwood.

Isabelle's Cookie Monster cupcakes.

Moving day celebration at The Spaghetti House. (Must blog about this place.)

Sneak peek of new flat. Must blog about this place too! When it's all sorted. Still need shelves.

Hoops the cat. Last weekend.

Penny Dreadful Vintage.

Penny Dreadful Vintage is an online vintage shop unfailingly stocked with desirable high-end pieces. It's particularly on fire at the moment; Penny has been hard at work sourcing and updating the site. These coats would all be great sensible seasonal buys – and bargains, compared to buying a winter coat on the high street. She also does a mean line in cocktail dresses and unique pieces you never knew you wanted. Buying vintage clothes online made simple.

1. Striped wool poncho. Straight out of the 1970s, how fun are these colours? This would be so cute for a walk on the heath.

2. 1960s cream mohair coat with woven buttons. How luxurious, go-with-anything and winter-wonderland is this? Answer: VERY. Reminds me of something Rosamund Pike's character might have worn in An Education.

3. Shearling coat with mouton collar. How warm would this be? Just a gorgeous coat and so modern looking.

4. Wool mohair plaid belted coat. So au courant with that check and belted styles are always so flattering. And comforting to wrap around you on a cold winter's morn.

Winter whites and sparkles.

It must be the double trouble Gemini in me that's loving this curious mix of garish sparkles and minimal whites. These are a few of my current favourite things.

1) I've seen this OPI polish on some fashionable fingers recently. It's as mad as a hatter but festive and fun. OPI - The Rainbow Connection.

2) Cos city charm bracelet. Buildings, a lady walking a dog, trams and cars; all dangling from your wrist.

3) Can't stop thinking about this Alexander Wang Diego bag. It's just so perfect. Thick studded pebbled black leather. Buy me it from Selfridges.

4) I tried on these Repetto shoes but the price tag was problematic to me. They are truly beautiful; softest goatskin with a low wooden heel, as worn by Serge Gainsbourg. I found similars in American Apparel; still expensive but still great quality. (And I had a giftcard, yay.)

5) Inspired by this picture. Is it Sally Singer? I love her watch. Good old fashioned Timex.

6) Sparkling gold sequins. This Zara clutch has got to be the perfect way to ward off the gloomy November Monday blues.

Beverley bonfire night.

I went to my home town of Beverley over the weekend, to visit the fam. Happily, it was bonfire night, so we could go to see the bonfire and fireworks on the old Westwood. I've not been for years, ever since my mum's straw bag caught fire from a stray ember. A day of happy chazza shopping (only purchase was a book of Joan Baez's Christmas songs) was followed by a drink at Nellies.



Then back home to change into wellies. Borrowed of course, these city folk would've just gone along in our Converse. (Which would've been a massive fail. I was up to my calves in a mixture of mud and cow pat at one point.)



The narrow roads up to the Westwood were absolutely mobbed with welly-wearing townsfolk, trudging up for the display.



The bonfire was huge. The crowd got all excited when it was lit, but excitement gave way to a lull as everyone became transfixed by the flames.

Then the fireworks. I generally hate things that go bang, but they were at a safe distance. There were some groovy twirly ones, some that sort of sang a tune (really, it was weird) and then the big starburst ones that look as though they're coming towards you. Totally pretended I was in a scene from Melancholia. (Have you seen it? I loved it, personally. That final scene had the cinema in a stunned silence as the credits rolled!)







We walked the smoke out of our lungs the next day with a walk up to the Black Mill; a mill on the Westwood that everyone walks towards hypnotically.













We had such a nice weekend that I can't stop looking at houses for sale up in Beverley. This lovely 3 bedroom house costs £145,000, and overlooks a green and a church. I grew up right around the corner. So tempting, after years of London flat living...