8 Tiny Escapades From My Week

lots of thoughts, lots of theatre

Writing slows things down. At the tail-end of 2023, I found myself deeply committed to the practice of slowing down. I was present and engaged, I had time to think and feel and later revisit those thoughts and feelings. However, it’s now March, not December and my life looks slightly different to how it did a few months back. I seek union with these changes, I choose not to revert things to their previous form (this is rarely wise), rather I’m experimenting with my new rhythm.

This new rhythm has been calling me to dance freely alongside those who are equally eager to do their own little dance. It’s calling me in closer and deeper with those around me. It’s calling me to release whatever isn’t working and accept that I know what is best for my mind/soul/body.

Pisces season has been full of all the emotions. I’d been avoiding my journal, afraid to put pen to paper and face my deepest current truths. This avoidance was curtailed the other day and I guess you could say I’m free. Writing slows things/thoughts/fears down. It steadily smoothes out creases of convoluted thought, allowing words to stretch across the page and stare me down with love — always with love.

Here are 8 tiny escapades from my week, Pisces Season Edition

1. A lot of books

   A babe has a big book-buying habit! I put a silent word out to the universe that I’d been wanting to read more Toni Morrison so when I saw her book on a charity shop shelf in Islington, I had to. When I saw the neighbouring books, Things Fall Apart, Chain-Gang All-Stars, and Love In The Time Of Cholera, I also had to. I’m currently reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo — highly recommend for a fun little time.

   

   secondhand selections plus 2 play texts I bought at the Bush Theatre

2. Heart-shaped vegan Moussaka 🍆🍆🍆

   I’ve been test-driving a few different recipes from Leon’s Fast Vegan book and boi, they are brill. V brill.

shoutout to my mum’s heart-shaped le creuset dish. v cute. v chic.

3. Shifters @ Bush Theatre

   Below is my lil notes app review of the play from when I couldn't stop thinking about it while riding the tube a few days after seeing it.

   My face can be incredibly honest, often revealing thoughts that are far from my lips — a blessing and a curse. After the show, the lead actress passed us on her way out and after congratulating her, she turned to me and said “I saw you”.

   

   I dabble in drama

   She saw me and every wince, laugh, tear, grimace that spread across my face. She saw me going through it, yum. It was a journey.

4. King Lear @ The Almeida Theatre

   It’s been a theatre-heavy week but I like to think this is me at my best— actually doing the thing I yearn to do more than most things. King Lear had an incredibly highly-decorated cast, Black leads and a lot of drama. It was 3 and a half hours long but it carried itself through, for the most part.

5. Exited my comfort zone for the hell of it.

   aka I joined a cycling club. Riding on the road in London is not for the faint of heart and my sweet lil shifty that I bought at the top of summer is delicately laced with cobwebs. The cycling club gave us very hot road bikes to ride (mine is called Rambo), and now we’re training for a few months until we tackle London to Brighton in the summer.

   

   Sweet Rambo

6. Erika De Casier’s new album.

   No skips! Erika’s talent is out of this world - her voice can only be compared to glitter, a black glitter perhaps. It reflects light in a brooding, mysterious way. Her ability to lyrically weave narrative feels so effortless and she is rapidly climbing up the rankings of my favourite artists. I’m seeing her when she comes to London in May and please know her album will be on repeat until then.

7. FRIENDSHIP

   I’ve started brewing a little project about friendship and in turn, have been thinking and engaging with my friends with a heightened sense of swoon, they truly are so so special. I’m v much down with the lovey-dovey essence that Pisces season has thrown my way (maybe this is just my nature). I’m looking forward to sharing my work with you in the coming months.

8. Started watching Ugly Betty

   I was slightly too young to appreciate the show when it aired on TV but I am now older, wiser, my tastebuds have sharpened and I finally see the show (still on season 1) for what it is — a masterpiece.

   

   Mmm yes, Lena Dunham, author of classics

Listen to: Jerrod by Solange

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Tiny Escapades is an exploration of life offline. Offline being, off of Instagram and TikTok (though I deleted my TikTok after having it for one day back in 2021). This break is an attempt to root myself in my immediate surroundings and answer to the emergent and serendipitous calls of life around me, to create distance between myself and joy that is crafted and performed by myself and others primarily via Instagram. Word of mouth and text/email invitations have kept my calendar full thus far and I’m simply curious about the things that find me when I’m disengaged from the constant white noise of social media. It’s also really important for me to strip my relationships back and see what comes of our interactions without a meme or story as a catalyst. I’m deepening my connections to others and equally strengthening my connection to myself. Tiny escapades, huge impact.