I don’t believe in ghosts, but I like to imagine that we leave something of ourselves in every place that’s meaningful to us. That something of us bleeds into the walls and floors of treasured spaces, invisible streaks of joy and laughter and tears soaked into brick and wood. I like to imagine our ghost-selves… Continue reading The flat that made me
Category: essential life advice
Everything I know about drinking
It feels kind of embarrassing to say, ‘yes, I enjoy drinking, actually’. To state it as a fact, no qualifications or caveats. It feels a bit dirty, a tiny bit shameful. We’re not supposed to just straight-up like it. We’re supposed to water down our desires like whisky, put limits on our appetites. Drinking seems… Continue reading Everything I know about drinking
On love and panic
I woke early this morning – who’s on a healthy sleep schedule these days, anyway? – and looking for something quick and digestible to read, stumbled across this New York Times opinion piece. And it needled me more than it should have done, possibly because I had a conversation with a friend a few days… Continue reading On love and panic
Bookcase detective
Judging people on a specific behaviour or habit of theirs is obviously fairly limiting; I for one would not come off well if judged on the speed with which I reply to WhatsApp messages. I would be found wanting. But we all have our methods, our metrics for ascertaining whether a new acquaintance will become… Continue reading Bookcase detective
A change of decade
A big birthday makes self-important fools of us all, so I wrote 20-year-old Kirsten a rough guide to the decade she was about to embark upon, from the wise and lofty heights of 30. Hello, 20-year-old Kirsten – student, flibbertigibbet, mere child – it’s Kirsten at 30. Fuck off, 30’s not old. Have a read of… Continue reading A change of decade
Secret madness
It was the tea towels that clued me in. Printed with little dachshunds and the words “home is where the dog is”, I didn’t realise I was pre-menstrual until I found myself in Sainsburys thinking I might buy them for my kitchen. Fortunately, I came to my senses – though I cannot deny, home… Continue reading Secret madness
One of the guys
I don’t watch Love Island, but round at a friend’s last week, I caught a bit of it and frankly, it just caused me considerable distress. I’m perfectly capable of mustering up enough heartbreak in my own life; I have no desire to watch other people being hurt in the name of entertainment. But while… Continue reading One of the guys
The greatest adventure
Recently, I’ve stopped looking at men. When I’m pottering round the Lanes at the weekend, on the bus to work, or in the park with the dog, it’s not men that catch my eye. Sure, I can still clock a stylish pair of glasses on a whippet-boned face at twenty paces – like the most… Continue reading The greatest adventure
The necessity of being alone
The second series of the inimitable Derry Girls opens with Erin monologuing in the bath and Orla crashing in with the line, “she’s pretending she’s on Parkinson again!” I cannot tell you how much I love and, as will come as no surprise, relate to that moment. Except when I do it, it’s not Parkinson, it’s Woman’s Hour or… Continue reading The necessity of being alone
In this body
There’s nothing like a heatwave to make you painfully aware of your body, is there? After months of jeans and jumpers, a few days of delicious golden heat forces you to pull the shorts and t-shirts from where they’ve been stashed since last August, and suddenly you’re confronted with inches of pale thigh and arm. You… Continue reading In this body
Inbetween Girl 