November/December

As usual, I'm sliding towards the end of the year at breakneck-speed and no time to blog, so here are a few things I've been up recently. There was me thinking I'd been a total hermit...

• In the spirit of joyless efficency I'm going for a kind of head girl look this autumn, which really comes from only wearing cardigans and collars. Last week I worked out my Krakow misery holiday memoir cardigan matches my M&S mini. Add in the disco polka dots, wayward hair and dorky specs and I feel like I should be marking spelling tests. 

• Last week I went to see Wild Flag. Cor, they were good, and way better live than on record (I also went to see Rihanna. Soz, Ri-ri, but I think it's the other way round for you). 

• I found Chelsea Dream Boots in the Clarks sale, and I've been tootling round town in 'em ever since. 

• Also found: the last Angela Carter book I hadn't read, in one of Crouch End's charity shops. It was the cover that caught my eye but the inside's pretty spectacular too. 

• John Waters at the Southbank Centre kicked off my festive season. His book Role Models is the perfect stocking filler for the precocious pre-teens and rockabilly grandpops who love his schtick - my personal highlight of the night was hearing Justin Bieber's first words to Waters after they were introduced: "Your 'stache is the jam". 

• December's birthday season for a few of my closest friends so we went up to Derbyshire for a weekend away. This was Dr K's forfeit after she lost another game of cards. 

• And, as is traditional, found some jolie laide Xmas decorations from Paperchase with which to torment my housemates. Soz. Nothing does say Christmas like sparkly French fries, does it? The Xmas hols; my chance to catch up on bloggers and blogging.