The whole picture: May 2018

Catch up with my April round-up.

What I've done in May

May has absolutely rinsed me, financially speaking. Pay day cannot come soon enough.

My birthday came early in the month. I'm SUCH a birthday person, I absolutely cannot get enough of birthdays. Combine that with the fact that my troublesome living situation made last year's birthday a bit of a let down, I was doubly determined to have a good time this year. I took the day off work and ventured down to Brighton with a friend. We played games on the pier, wandered the back streets, and had lunch - and, more importantly, milkshakes - at JB's Diner on the seafront. It was one of my favourite birthdays yet.

Later in the month, I appeased my inner adrenaline junkie with a go on London's new zip wire. I make a brief cameo about halfway through this video, kicking my legs furiously in a bid to go faster.

After April's Krispy Kreme behind-the-scenes tour, I managed to go behind the scenes at Doughnut Time on Shaftesbury Avenue this month. The Aussie doughnut brand has opened a few London stores in the past year, and is now launching its Doughnut Academy, where you can learn to decorate them. I got a preview of an academy workshop, and I'm pleased to say that I decorated all of the doughnuts pictured above myself.

Where I've been in May

Other than that day trip to Brighton, my main excursion was a weekend in Chester with a friend. It was very much a whistle-stop tour of the city; we arrived late on Friday night after heading there straight from work, and Saturday was spent mainly at Chester Zoo (cute baby elephant alert). We headed out into the town for dinner on Saturday night, but were shattered from walking 7km (!) around the zoo, so grabbed a quick pizza and headed back to the hotel. We managed to pack all our exploring in on Sunday, walking the entirety of the city walls (major York flashback) and seeing most of the sights before hopping on a train back down south.

Closer to home, we got up early one Sunday morning to visit Columbia Road Flower Market. It's one of my favourite things to do in London - an east London street closed to traffic comes alive with the colours and smells of flowers and plants, and the shouts of old-school market traders trying to flog them.

What I've eaten in May

My favourite new foodie discovery this month was the Mad Hatter's Tea Rooms in Chester. Situated inside one of the beautiful Tudor buildings that the city's famous for, the cafe is Alice in Wonderland themed. We found ourselves there for breakfast on the Sunday morning, and indulged in the full English, plus a couple of cakes to take away. Good food, an excellent theme, and dog-friendly - what more could you want in a cafe? (I'll write a full blog post on it soon, just as soon as I find the time).

It's not a new discovery - it's actually a bit of an obsession of mine - but my other favourite meal this month was at JB's Diner in Brighton. The American-diner style food is pretty good (the portions are huge, leaving us rolling down the road) but for anyone in the know, the real draw is the milkshakes.

I wouldn't be me if I'd gone a whole month without afternoon tea. This month's extremely photogenic offering came in the form of Dominique Ansel Bakery's new plant afternoon tea. It's very cleverly pt together, each piece of food designed to look like a stage in the life cycle of a flower, from seed to blossom - and it's served up in a stunningly flowery conservatory. Not only did we try the afternoon tea, but we went behind the scenes in the kitchens where the famous Cronut is made.

Other meals this month have included a trip to the new Miller & Carter steakhouse in Sevenoaks, a highly confusing burger at Coin Laundry, and a salad - a rather left field choice for me - at Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch.

What's coming up in June

I managed to get myself a ticket for #BlogConLDN2018, a blogging convention in east London where I hope to learn some tips and tricks from the workshops and panel talks. I'm a bit nervous about going by myself as it sometimes feels like everyone else in the blogging world knows each other - so if you're going too, drop me a line on Twitter and say hi.

It's Father's Day in the middle of the month, so I'll be heading over to Essex for the weekend - perhaps there'll be a repeat of last year's beach hut extravaganza? Watch this space. 

See also - what I got up to in:

• April 2018 (Abbeys, doughnuts and pizza)
• March 2018 (Skyscrapers, scuba diving and Winnie the Pooh)
• January 2018 (Fondue, freakshakes and light festivals)
• December 2017 (Lions, lanterns and buffalo chicken)
• November 2017 (Christmas at Kew and the BT Tower)
• October 2017 (Lake District, Harry Potter cocktails and Alice in Wonderland)
• September 2017 (Doughnuts, dolphins and Bulgaria)
• August 2017 (Canal boats, zipwires and tiger shoes)

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter 

The whole picture: April 2018

Catch up with my March round-up.

Being tourists at Fountain Abbey

What I've done in April

April simultaneously feels like it's been very long and like it's gone very quickly. I spent the best part of a week incapacitated by a stomach bug early in the month, which was not conducive to getting much done. But I more than made up for it later in the month...

I was lucky enough to be invited on the first ever behind the scenes tour of a Krispy Kreme doughnut factory, and saw how the doughnuts are mixed, shaped, fried and decorated - there's a waterfall of chocolate for goodness sake, more people need to know about this!

Inside a Krispy Kreme factory

Two of my favourite people-to-follow-on-Twitter (who are also very successful journalists, writers, businesswomen and all round kickass ladies) came together for a live recording of a podcast. Dolly Alderton and Emma Gannon took over the basement of Tottenham Court Road Waterstones (which is *not* the same as Gower Street Waterstones, as I found to my detriment, arriving hot and sweaty at the wrong branch, 20 minutes before the event was due to start...)

Two very witty women took to the stage, and all I got was this lousy picture

Where I've been in April

My main excursion was a weekend in Leeds with an old uni friend who lives there now. As well as having a good catch-up, we ate and drank our way round the city, and managed to swing by Harrogate and other parts of Yorkshire as well. Read about the first part of the weekend, including tea rooms and monkey fingers - the second part is on its way. 

Leeeeeeeeeds

Chartwell, a National Trust property not too far from where I live, is one of my favourite places in Kent, so I was pretty chuffed when I convinced my boss to let me cover it for work. I spent a lovely morning wandering around the gardens in the early part of that heatwave, and even managed to hold my own pretty well when I spotted a snake (my arch nemesis, FYI) slithering through a bush just a couple of feet away.

Getting comfy at Chartwell

What I've eaten in April

Three afternoon teas, two restaurant reviews for work and an American diner trip made for a pretty filling April.

Absolute highlight was the press preview of the Potions Room afternoon tea at Cutter & Squidge. Those wizards have managed to pull off the best afternoon tea I've ever had - read my full review.

Skylon's space-themed afternoon tea

The other two teas were a bit hit and miss - Skylon's space-themed Gravitea was fantastic, sticking to the theme brilliantly, and serving up some fantastic food with views over the Thames. At the other end of the scale was the Theatre Not Afternoon Tea at Oxo Tower. It also had views over the Thames, but the similarities end there. I intended to review it for this blog but the stomach bug rendered me incapable of even thinking about food for a few days, let alone writing about it, so you'll have to make do with my Londonist review to find out what was wrong with it.

Back in the savoury lane, I discovered what I believe is the best pizza I've had in London. Buongiorno e Buonasera is an Italian deli-style restaurant that's just opened on Baker Street and, oh my god, I still dream about the generous dollops of bufala mozzarella that topped my pizza.

London's best pizza? Possibly

My hunt for London's best buffalo chicken continued when American chain Slim Chickens opened near Bond Street. The buffalo burger's not quite up to Brewdog standards, the restaurant as a whole is an ideal spot if you're after greasy, dirty chicken at somewhere a bit classier than your local Morleys.

Finally, I should point out that I do sometimes eat for fun, rather than just reviewing for work, which is how I found myself tucking into generous portions of burger, fries and onion loaf at 7 Hotel Diner near Sevenoaks. The Americana theme is strong, and the food's pretty good, although I regret not leaving room to try out the dessert bar. I'll be back.

What's coming up in May

It's my birthday early in May, and I'm planning to spend it with a friend in Brighton. I haven't had a good old day trip to Brighton for at least four years, so we're planning to go all out, ice cream on the pier, ice hockey in the arcades, plus the obligatory Lucky Charms milkshake at JB's Diner, and a pilgrimage to one of my favourite clothes stores, Sugarhill Brighton (known as Sugarhill Boutique until recently).

While everyone else is tuned into the Royal Wedding/FA Cup final, I plan to be sightseeing my way around Chester Zoo. The timing wasn't intentional, but we booked our weekend in Chester before we realised it was the Royal Wedding day... hopefully, everyone else will stay at home watching it, and we'll have all those lovely lions to ourselves. On that note, if you have any tips for things to see/do/eat/drink on a very whistlestop weekend in Chester, let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

See also - what I got up to in:

• March 2018 (Skyscrapers, scuba diving and Winnie the Pooh)
• January 2018 (Fondue, freakshakes and light festivals)
• December 2017 (Lions, lanterns and buffalo chicken)
• November 2017 (Christmas at Kew and the BT Tower)
• October 2017 (Lake District, Harry Potter cocktails and Alice in Wonderland)
• September 2017 (Doughnuts, dolphins and Bulgaria)
• August 2017 (Canal boats, zipwires and tiger shoes)

The whole picture: March 2018

Catch up with my January round-up. There was no February round-up as I was busy sunning myself in Cuba. #Sorrynotsorry.

What I've done in March

My first March adventure came in the form of snorkelling in the Atlantic, just off the coast of Varadero. We took a catamaran out to a reef where many fish gather, and spent a jolly hour splashing about in top of the waves. Suffice to say I've now added 'fish-botherer' to the hobbies and skills section of my CV. Next stop: scuba diving.

The end of the holiday was doubly painful because not only was I saying goodbye to sunshine for the foreseeable future, I was coming back to face the challenge of racing up a skyscraper. Six days after I packed my bikini away, I took part in Vertical Rush in Tower 42. I've never understood the phrase "my lungs are burning" until that day, and altough I only ran up eight or so floors, I got to the top in 14 minutes and 10 seconds. There's still time to donate to my fundraising page, if you're so inclined - oh, and here's a video of me doing it.

The view over Lewes from... a hill, somewhere

After speeding up a skyscraper, a light walk up a Sussex hill seemed like a doddle, so I took on the hills that I've been eyeing up outside my nan's house for years, walking from Ringmer to Lewes via cows, wind turbines and golf courses - ending in a pub, naturally.

Where I've been in March

Cuba, obviously. I've been banging on about it for weeks. But I've been back for three weeks now, and have managed to squeeze a few other bits and pieces in.

I was desperate to see the V&A's Winnie the Pooh exhibition (which ties in with this afternoon tea), and it didn't disappoint. Seeing the process of both the writing and the illustrations explained really brings home how clever AA Milne and EH Shepard's books are - and of course, there are plenty of cute touches, including a chance to have your photo taken on a replica of the Poohsticks Bridge. Side note: if you're into Winnie the Pooh, watch the film Goodbye Christopher Robin. I watched it on the plane, and while it's cute, it also gives a lot of the backstory to the characters, some of which is darker than you might expect.

I was back in South Kensington a couple of weeks later for the press launch of the Natural History Museum's annual Sensational Butterflies exhibition. Press calls with professional photographers are always fraught to the point of violence as everyone grapples for that perfect shot, and as a twenty-something woman in an industry saturated with middle-aged men, their disdain and patronising attitude towards me is always obvious. At first it intimidated me, but now I just get my shot and get out, leaving them to their macho mind games.

Last but not least of my activities this month was a trip to the press launch of Swingers, a crazy golf course that's opened in the old BHS on Oxford Street (top tip: don't Google 'Swingers' - you won't find what you're looking for - or perhaps you will... - and it'll ruin your Google ads for life). I've racked up a few fair London crazy golf courses through my job, this one being the most sophisticated by far. You've still got your street food and your bars in there, but it feels like the more grown-up sibling of the like of Junkyard Golf. Oh, and the holes here are a lot harder...

What I've eaten in March

You didn't think I'd let a month go by without an afternoon tea, did you? Celebrating the birthday of a very good friend, we combined our two favourite things and headed for afternoon tea in a bookshop. Full review here.

I've had to go cold turkey - pun intended - on my buffalo chicken addiction for a few months since it got out of hand, but I returned for one of Meat Mission's bundles of deliciousness after completing that skyscraper challenge. It's dangerous to know that it's so close to me office, I can head over there, order a burger to take away, and be back sitting at my desk within 34 minutes. The temptation is strong every single day.

What's coming up

My plans for April so far consist of a weekend in Leeds with a uni friend, and possibly a trip to Columbia Road Flower Market. Foodwise, there's an American diner I plan to try out, and I'm reviewing a couple of restaurants and an afternoon tea or two for work - perk of the job.

You may also notice a couple of minor changes on this blog. There's now a whole section dedicated to afternoon tea, another about UK travel, and one specifically about South East England. If you've got any suggestions for what I should cover in these areas, get in touch.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with next month's antics as they happen.

See also - what I got up to in:

• January 2018 (Fondue, freakshakes and light festivals)
• December 2017 (Lions, lanterns and buffalo chicken)
• November 2017 (Christmas at Kew and the BT Tower)
• October 2017 (Lake District, Harry Potter cocktails and Alice in Wonderland)
• September 2017 (Doughnuts, dolphins and Bulgaria)
• August 2017 (Canal boats, zipwires and tiger shoes)

Please, just one more day...

Wishing this were my office for just one more day...

What I'm about to write is going to come across as very much a first-world problem, a middle-class indulgence if you will, but that's just how I feel right now. I'm sitting here in my room on a chilly Sunday in Match, a blanket wrapped around me to stave off the omnipresent chill, contemplating my impending return to civilian life.

OK, 'civilian' may be a bit strong - I've been in Cuba for two weeks, not on army manoeuvres, but that's the word that fits the feeling of getting back to normal life after a holiday.

For me, a holiday begins about a week before I actually take off, not just with packing and planning, but at work too; whenever anyone approaches you with a task, you look up with a face of joy thinly veiled with regret, that you won't be able to take on the task as you'll be on annual leave. A couple of days before you go, you just want to stick a note on your forehead: "Don't ask me - going on holiday". From that moment on, you're well and truly in the Holiday Bubble, an invisible force which, unfortunately, only you can feel. Life goes on for everyone else as normal, and yet, you feel like you should have a neon sign above your head, reminded everyone of your impending travels.

Wishing this was my everyday commute...

Your first day back in the office, everyone greets you, comments on your tan, asks the pre-requisite questions about your holiday. And then it's heads down and back to work as usual, as you crawl through your backlog of emails, wondering why no-one paid any attention to your Out Of Office, your tan fading before your eyes under the harsh strip-lighting. Halfway through the morning, someone asks you a question. 'Yes!', you think. 'This is my chance!'

"I don't know", you reply sweetly, "I was on holiday."

"Oh yeah, right", your colleague mumbles, and you wait. You wait for your chance to tell them again how blue the sea was, how luxurious the hotel, how strong the cocktails. You're wondering which anecdote to start with, but they've already bumbled off to ask Sue from accounts the same question they've just asked you, because Sue knows everything.

Just like that, your holiday is over. The bubble is burst. It's as if it never happened at all.

*Insert your own pithy caption about watching the sun set on your holiday*

That's where I am right about now. Thankfully I'm still ensconced cosily in the Holiday Bubble, but I know that soon, I've got to reunite myself with the paraphernalia that oils the cogs of day-to-day life. I've got to get my Oyster Card and diary out of the drawer I eagerly cast them into a couple of weeks ago. Was it really only two weeks ago? I'll have to set my alarm for 6.30am and be back on the 8.14am train. I'll jostle my way through the City, naively hoping the suits and umbrellas of its streets will go just a little gentle on me as it's my first day back, while really knowing that it's just another day for everyone else.

But for now, my notebook, my camera and my mind are full of Cuba, so please let me wallow in my bubble a little longer.

The whole picture: January 2018

Catch up with my December round-up, and take a look back at my 2017.

Not my new abode, unfortunately.

What I've done in January

Well that's 1/12 of 2018 over, and in the true January spirit of being broke and going into hibernation, it doesn't feel like much has happened. I've made headway on approximately half of my 2018 to-do list. I've tackled the running by running a couple of miles on a few different nights, and although I'm not at the 10k stage yet, I'm getting there.

In an additional flurry of fitness optimism, I've signed up to Vertical Rush. If you're not familiar with what that is, you can find out more (and have a laugh at my expense).

Where I've been in January

My big trip this month was to Rochester. When I say 'big', I'm talking big by January standards - it's only an hour away on the train, far enough to feel like a proper day trip, but close enough to spend four hours on a Sunday wandering around and still be home in time for a Sunday roast. My motivation for going was to tick off the 'visit a new place each month' part of my 2018 plan, and I'm already glad I wrote that plan out and shared it with the world, otherwise I may well have been tempted to stay in bed instead.

Other than that, I've been lugging my trust camera around London for run-ins with Lumiere and Winter Lights, two excellent free light festivals that went some way into lifting the gloom out of January. I also saw my first proper improv comedy show at The Comedy Store in Leicester Square. I went in feeling dubious and came out converted, my ribs aching.

What I've eaten in January

As I write this, my most recent food adventure was a return trip to Maxwell's in Covent Garden, where I finally had one of their salted caramel freakshakes. It's an improvement on the vile Unicorn freakshake they were serving up last year, but (top tip!) there are better freakshakes to be had at BRGR.CO in Soho.

Sticking with the sweet tooth theme, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea at One Aldwych was something of a disappointment, failing to deliver on the quality, quantity and substance fronts, which is impressive in itself.

The chocolate fondue @jazandjuls in Islington is completely delish - and #vegetarian too 🍫

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Jan 23, 2018 at 11:33pm PST

A perk of the job presented itself in the form of the chocolate fondue at Jaz and Jul's Chocolate House in Islington, which I was tasked with filming for a short video. Heaps of strawberries and marshmallows, and one chocolate-dipped scarf later, I waddled back to the office on something of a sugar high.

I've also revisited a couple of local places, including the excellent Basil in Tonbridge (go for the chocolate flapjack, you won't regret it) and an extremely satisfying sausage sandwich brunch at Teal in Hildenborough, a highly-underrated former roadside diner which has been transformed into an inviting upmarket cafe.

What's coming up

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Dec 8, 2017 at 8:58am PST

You'll (hopefully) notice me upping my game significantly on this blog in the next few months. I'm really keen to grow it in terms of number of posts, and hopefully, followers. If you like what I'm doing, please share it with someone else. If you have comments or suggestions, please let me know in the comment, chat to me on social media (details below), or contact me.

Other than that, the next big plan is a two-week trip to Cuba, split between Havana and Varadero. If you've got any tips for either of these locations, hit me up with them.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with next month's antics as they happen.

See also - what I got up to in:

• December 2017 (Lions, lanterns and buffalo chicken)
• November 2017 (Christmas at Kew and the BT Tower)
• October 2017 (Lake District, Harry Potter cocktails and Alice in Wonderland)
• September 2017 (Doughnuts, dolphins and Bulgaria)
• August 2017 (Canal boats, zipwires and tiger shoes)

I've done something rather silly

When will I learn? When I overhear my name in the office, when will I learn to keep quiet and keep my head below the parapet? When will I learn that when I hear the phrase "That sounds like something for Laura", I should find out what "that" is before agreeing that yes, it does indeed sound like something for Laura?*

What I've done, is I've signed up to take part in Shelter's Vertical Rush in March. That's a run up the 932 stairs of Tower 42, a skyscraper in the City of London. Here it is:

That one in the middle - that's the blighter.

Looks nice and shiny and high, doesn't it? Lovely. What's more, I've signed up to do that hefty fight against gravity less than a week after I come back from a lovely (hopefully) relaxing all-inclusive holiday. To say that I won't be in the peak of my physical fitness would be an understatement.

The plot thickens. Not only have I agreed to do this, but I've agreed to do this while being filmed for a video for Londonist. That video will be shared on the Facebook and Twitter pages, which have a combined following of more than 2 million people. 2 MILLION people could see my suffering.

That's gotta be worth a couple of quid, right? If you reckon so, please consider donating to my fundraising page. All of the money raised will go straight to homelessness charity Shelter. Thanks in advance for anything you're able to donate.

*I should add that my colleagues in no way bullied me into this, although I maintain that anything requiring physical exertion, height or adrenaline finds its way onto my desk a lot quicker than it finds its way onto anyone else's.

Fed up with being told to stop going to Pret? Yeah, me too

(Four money-saving tips that I've found actually work... because can you even call yourself a blogger if you've never written a post with money-saving tips?)

My friends and I are at that stage of our lives (yep, I feel old just writing that) where we're all desperately trying to save money and make it go further for house deposits, weddings or once-in-a-lifetime trips. I fall in the middle of these; I'm trying to find my own flat, and also trying to see more of the world (next stop: Cuba). Plenty of us are in the same situation, which is why there are so many articles and blog posts out there with money-saving tips. Y'know, things like:

• Give up buying a coffee on the way to work each morning.
• Make your own lunch instead of going to Pret every day.

But what if you're already doing these things? My coffee equivalent is a Costa hot chocolate, something I buy maybe twice a year on my way to work, on days when it's so cold I need the heat of that ridged maroon cup just to defrost my fingers. I buy my lunch on average once a month - the rest of the time it's sarnies and cup-a-soups all the way.

I know plenty of you are in the same boat, so I've shared four tips for saving money that have actually worked for me. I'm not claiming that they're original or groundbreaking, but they're all things that I've managed to fit easily into my day-to-day (or month-to-month) life.

Pay yourself

You'll need more than one bank account and a regular income for this one - the one you get paid into, and the one you're saving money into. Set up a standing order so that a certain amount of your salary is automatically transferred into your savings the day you get paid. It's gone before you even knew it was there, so you won't miss it (too much...). 

Tidy up your account

This is something I've been doing for a couple of months now, and is the idea that's saved me the most money so far. Last thing each evening, I log into my bank account and see how much money is in there, then round it off to the nearest £5 by transferring the money into a savings account. So if I have £453.36 at the end of the day, that £3.36 goes into my savings. If you're feeling particularly flush, round to the nearest £10 instead. If towards the end of the month funds are getting a little low and you think you might need the cash, hold off transferring for a few days.

Pay for things in cash

Not always easy these days when it feels like everything is bought online. Once you've worked out how much you need each month for rent, bills, travel, food and all the other basics, plus how much you'd ideally like to be putting in your savings, give yourself a weekly budget for other things. That's meals out, trips to the pub, buying things in shops... all that has to come out of the weekly budget.

Yeah, my piggy bank is a campervan, what of it?

Once you've set your weekly budget, go to a cash machine (remember those?) and take it out in cash. I do this on a Sunday night or a Monday morning so I can see in my purse exactly how much I've got left for the week. Plus, handing over cash to pay for things makes you think twice about spending it - waving a plastic card at a card reader never has the same effect, somehow.

If you've got money left, choose whether to roll it over so you've got more to spend next week (a good way to entice yourself into saving up for medium-sized purchases such as clothes) or put it into your savings.

Write everything down

Find yourself a notebook or journal (the prettier the better - Paperchase has some corkers at the moment) and start writing down everything you spend - every single penny. The big things, like rent, bills and the food shop, and the smaller things like that cheeky chocolate bar or Pepsi you pick up on the way home some nights. Make yourself write everything down as soon as you buy it, even if that's outside the shop on the pavement in the rain.

Usually when people recommend this, it's so that you can see exactly what you're spending where and make cutbacks accordingly (I refer you back to the whole buying-a-coffee-a-day thing). But when I tried this a couple of years ago, I found it such a faff to carry the notebook and pen everywhere, and to be whipping it out to record every little thing, that I soon stopped the impulse buys because I just couldn't be bothered with writing them all down.

So there you have it, my top 4 tips for saving money, in a blog post that I hope comes across as helpful rather than patronising. If you've got any other tips that work for you, let us know in the comments below.

An ode to...

You've been in my life for over four years now. You still seem new to me, a bit of a novelty, but at the same time, I can't imagine my life without you.

We had our first fight two months after we met. It was late on Christmas Eve, lashing down with rain, somewhere near Thornton Heath. You seemed to give up, making undecipherable noises - I didn't know what you wanted, or how I could help. We didn't get home until 4am on Christmas morning - a man had to help us back, there's no way you would have made it otherwise.

We've had other ups and downs since. I thought our trip to the New Forest in July 2015 would be the end of us. I was so gentle with you that holiday, treading carefully so as not to push you too far, and it worked - just.

Sometimes I get cross with you, but only because I'm stressed. I don't mean to take it out on you.  Guildford's one-way system has got to be the ultimate relationship test - how many times did we go round in the end?!? If we survived that, I reckon we can survive pretty much anything.

There've been good times too; that time we went to Basingstoke for a wedding. The monkey that took a liking to you at Longleat. Belting out tunes as we whizz round the M25. You take me places I couldn't go otherwise.

I try to look after you, but it's not always easy, especially at this time of year. Some people - one in particular - reckon I should trade you in for a shinier, younger model. But you're my first car, and I'm sentimentally attached to you. I gave you a name - Pepper - on the first day I got you, and although I forget the reasons behind it now, the name itself has stuck.

That Christmas Eve breakdown was stressful at the time, but it makes an excellent story now. I really thought you'd break down again on the way back from the New Forest - I had the radio up so loud just so that I didn't have to hear the awful clunking noise you made. And as for the monkey chewing your aerial... well, that one I was laughing at even at the time.

My 2018 to-do list

I've done my look back at the year but in reality, I'm already looking forward to 2018, plotting and making plans. I'm not one for new year's resolutions - the way I see it, if you want to change something about yourself, why wait until 1 January? Why have your last cigarette, or piece of cake, or pint of beer on 31 December, if it's something you've wanted to give up since September? (Important note: I don't indulge in two out of these three things, and I'm certainly not planning to give up the third).

Instead, I prefer to have goals - a solid list of goals that can be ticked off one by one, because really, is there anything more motivating than a to-do list waiting to be ticked off? Here's my list as it looks at the start of 2018:

Find a new flat

I'm almost 27 years old and I currently live with my mum.  My mum is lovely and I enjoy living there, but I refer you back to my first point: I'm almost 27 years old. I shouldn't be living with family any more. It's a temporary situation, born out of having to get out of an unhappy living situation in London, but it's in danger of becoming permanent.

So, I'm hoping to find my own flat to rent in the area in the early part of this year. I'm past the stage of living with flatmates, and am really looking forward to having my own space. What's more, now that I feel a lot more settled, I'd like it to be a long-term home, not just another temporary space. I've viewed a couple of flats already, but they weren't quite suitable - come on 2018, do your thing.

Start running again

Ha. Cast your minds back to 2015 and you may remember that I signed up for a half marathon. I did a few solid months of training, staying more committed than I thought I would, and was building up my distance ready to take on the half marathon. And best of all, I was (whisper it)... enjoying it.

Then some personal stuff happened and I gave up running very suddenly - that half marathon never happened. Since then, I've only been running occasionally, on days when I've got excess energy I need to burn off, or I need to relieve some stress by pounding the pavements.

I'd like to be able to run a solid 10k by the end of 2018. I was almost up to that distance when I gave up last time, so I'd like to get there again. No time pressures or goals, just running that far without collapsing. If I can do that at least once this year, that's a big tick on the 2018 list.

Take a trip to Edinburgh

I've wanted to take a solo trip to Edinburgh for a few years now, an idea that came out of wanting to see the pandas at Edinburgh Zoo. I did some research, and there are plenty of other things I'd like to do in Edinburgh too, but for one reason and another (money, time, the decision between getting the train or flying) I've been putting it off.

Why solo? Because the me that flew to South Africa alone five years ago doesn't seem to exist anymore. I had an absolute ball on that trip, and was proud of myself for doing it alone, so I'm easing myself back into the idea of solo travel gently. If Edinburgh goes well, who knows what solo trips will be on my 2019 list?

Visit a new place each month

You know what baffles me? People who claim to love travelling, but have barely seen any of their own country. They've been to the Maldives, but not Manchester, Barbados, but not Bath. I don't want to be one of those people, so I'm making it my goal this year to visit a new town or city every month. Some will be daytrips, others may be weekend breaks. Hopefully Edinburgh will be one of them. They may not be the most glamorous or far-flung of places (budget and free time will be a huge factor), but they'll be towns I haven't visited before. I'll be documenting it all on here, and on Twitter and Instagram - and I'm open to suggestions too.

A trip to Hertford in 2016. More of the same in 2018 please.

Visit the Harry Potter Studios

This is another one that's been on my list for years. The plan is to read all of the Harry Potter books, then watch all the films, then go to the Studios. Hands up: this was also my plan last year, but I read about a quarter of the first book, then got distracted by other books, and never came back to it. #MustTryHarder.

So there you have it - my 2018 checklist:

* Find a flat
* Visit Edinburgh
* Run 10k
* Visit 12 new places (including Edinburgh)
* Visit the Harry Potter studios

 Follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to see how I'm getting on, and fire over any suggestions for places to visit in the UK.

The whole picture: a look back at my 2017

As I come to write that old blogger cliche end of year post, I had a look at what I'd posted as my goals for the start of the year - and it turns out I didn't write any. For someone as list-loving and goal-oriented as me, this seems surprising, but hey ho.

So much has changed this year, it's hard to think back to what I was thinking and how I was feeling on 1 January, and guess what my goals might have been. I certainly wouldn't have visualised that I would have moved twice, and be back living in Tonbridge now. By this time last year, I hadn't even thought about moving out of where I was living then, in Peckham. The first move was to Nunhead, to a flat that I thought might be a bit more permanent, but for several reasons, it wasn't to be. That triggered my decision to move back to Kent. And six months later, here I am still.

There were two main lows of 2017 for me. The first was having my phone snatched right out of my hand by thieves on bikes on a busy street in Peckham. It's now nine months since that happened and I've been though a whole spectrum of emotions about it; shock, sadness at losing photos, gratitude that they didn't pull a knife on me. I've mainly let it go now and written it off as one of those things, but on the odd occasion that it does cross my mind, I mainly feel anger; anger at the fact that they felt they had the right to help themselves to something I'd worked hard too pay for - but when that happens, I visualise myself kicking them right off their bikes and into the road. Petty, but it helps.

The second low was a long, drawn-out battle with a dodgy landlord to get a deposit back. It's a long story involving sleepless nights, hundreds of pounds that was rightfully mine, and the threat of a legal battle, but I won in the end - not before it had cast an omipresent shadow over almost three months of my year though.

Reading back what I've written here so far, I realise it sounds like I've had a pretty rubbish 2017, but that's not the case. So often, what we see on blogs and social media is the polished, unblemished half of the story. I just think it's important to be honest and tell the whole truth, warts, muggings and all.

So moving around has been a big part of my year, but what else has happened? There's not been one big thing - no new job, or buying a flat, or Lottery win, or taking six months off to go travelling. My Prince Charming has yet to make his appearance (if you're reading this, I'd be grateful if you could make yourself known sooner rather than later), but that's all OK.

The joy in this year has been about the little things: posing for photos with an inflatable flamingo called Merlin on a bridge in Amsterdam; going off-grid in the Lake District for three days with friends I've known for more than half my life; spotting dolphins in the wild.  But if you're looking for one big achievement of the year, it's this: I've got a far better idea of what I want out of life than I did this time last year. I know where I want to live, what sort of job makes me happy (pretty much what I'm doing now, which is handy), who my real friends are, and what I'm doing with this blog. I know that the London life isn't for me, but I'd miss London too much if I didn't work there. I know that I'm not one for big nights out, but meals with close friends in a favourite restaurant is one of the best ways to spend an evening.

So 2017 may not have been a year in which I ticked many boxes - at least not the conventional ones - but I end the year in a better place than I started it, which has given me a good, solid base to begin one heck of a 2018.

See also: My 2017 in 13 Instagram posts

The whole picture: December 2017

Miss my November round-up? Catch up here.

Enjoying the work Christmas party. Photo by Matt Brown.

What I've done in December

December was a month of two halves: the first half was busy busy with Christmas drinks, parties, work events and the like. Then, the week before Christmas I turned the page of my diary to a very welcome fortnight of near nothingness.

The busy-ness involved going to two different lantern festivals; Glow Wild at Wakehurst Place was a late birthday present for my mum, a gentle wander through the botanical gardens, complete with floating laterns and a fire river. A little further afield, a weekend away at Longleat combined two of my favourite things: lions and lanterns:

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Dec 13, 2017 at 12:09am PST

Elsewhere it was Christmas parties and drinks with friends and former colleagues, a quiet weekend away with family and a bit of Christmas shopping.

I have a bit of a tradition for that weird period between Christmas and New Year, where I have a good old clean out, tidy up, polish and clear out of my room .We're talking two our three solid days of scrubbing skirting boards and dusting shelves trying clothes on and donating old ones to charity, and generally getting rid of all the old junk accumulated throughout the year. I like to see in the new year with a clean, uncluttered room and a clean, uncluttered mind.

What I've eaten in December

What haven't I eaten (she wrote, stuffing her face with the Christmas cheese)?  The month kicked off with a trip to Bodeans, a smokehouse restaurant that I've wanted to try for ages, predominantly in my continued quest for London's best buffalo chicken. Don't get too excited lads, this definitely wasn't it - the dried, unbattered bit of meat that was served up barely deserves to be called buffalo chicken. As you were.

The most exciting thing I've eaten this month is the ostrich I had at my work Christmas meal at Shaka Zulu in Camden. The restaurant itself is... bizarre. Think African tribal meets Las Vegas tat, and you're about there. The ostrich was beautifully cooked in a peppercorn crust, but I was so distracted by what was going on around me (Dancers! Fire eaters!) that I didn't even think about taking a photo (#terribleblogger).

What's coming up?

Sunset over Tonbridge on one of the last days of 2017. Insert your own cliche about watching the sun set on another year.

New year, new start. I'm not one for new year's resolutions - the way I see it, if you want to make a change, why wait until 1 January to get on with it? I do, however, have a few things I'd like to do in 2018, and I'll be sharing them on a blog post over the next few days, so watch this space.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with next month's antics as they happen.

My 2017 in 13 Instagram posts

Well that's a wrap on another year. Another year of pizzas and cakes, sunsets and city breaks - or so my Instagram feed would have you believe. You can follow me here for the full picture, but here are the edited highlights of my 2017 on Instagram.

January

The year began with a trip to Chiswick House on a freezing cold night to see the much talked-about Lantern Festival. The event was a bit of a mixed bag, but the lanterns themselves were beautiful:

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Jan 23, 2017 at 11:53pm PST

February

February's highlight was a fortnight in Agadir, on the coast of Morocco. Apart from a minor earthquake, it was a relaxing holiday in a gorgeous hotel, the highlight of which was the nightly sunset. The beach which our hotel was on faced due west, meaning fantastic sunsets every evening. I'm seriously considering booking all future holidays based on which way the hotel faces.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Mar 1, 2017 at 12:08am PST

March

Until 2017, autumn was always my favourite season, but this year the bright colours of spring won me over. This one was taken on my first proper lunch break of spring, when I wandered up to Shoreditch Park and snapped away among the daffodils. It's always a good day when I wear my Batman shoes.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Mar 17, 2017 at 12:44am PDT

On a less bright note, March was also the month I got mugged, and this here is the last photo I posted from the phone I had stolen.

April

Amsterdam was the highlight of April. It's somewhere I'd wanted to go for a while, and we chose April when the flowers were at their best. This was probably my favourite snap from the holiday though - I can never resist a camper van.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Apr 11, 2017 at 11:45pm PDT

May

By May, I'd realised that my love-hate relationship with London was extremely complicated and had decided to move out of the city. Then, on the way back from an evening out, this stunning sunset presented itself to me, and I remembered all over again why I love London.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on May 22, 2017 at 2:15pm PDT

June

Knowing I was moving out of London really piled the pressure on to do all the things I'd wanted to do while living there. One of them was a trip to God's Own Junkyard, a neon art warehouse right out on the end of the Victoria line in Walthamstow.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Jun 16, 2017 at 12:36am PDT

July

The first weekend of July saw me combining two of my passions - big cats and photography - for a photography day at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden, Kent. I'd been shooting on my camera all day, but my favourite photo was this one, taken on my phone just minutes before I left, after I'd packed my camera away.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Jul 1, 2017 at 10:59am PDT

I'm gonna cheat and throw two pictures in for July. It was a big month for me, the month I finally moved out of London and back to Tonbridge, where I now know I want to be. This photo here is one of my favourites I took this year, partly because it was completely unplanned - I was just shooting pictures of the lavender fields when this kid ran down one of the aisles and opened the umbrella.

But I've also put this picture in here because it reminds me of how I was feeling back then - free, after living in a rather repressive situation for three months, full of hope and excitement about what was next - and how I wish I could've bottled a bit of that feeling for times when I could do with reminding of it.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Jul 15, 2017 at 9:33am PDT

August

On a boat, with a dog. What could possibly go wrong? (Thankfully, the worst that happened was the sudden, torrential downpour that roared into sight as we were settling down for a picnic lunch on the river bank. Cue a mad dash for the safety of the boat).

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Aug 5, 2017 at 1:24am PDT

September

September's big adventure was a trip to Bulgaria. A few problems with the hotel put a minor dampener on the holiday, but the highlight was a trip to Nessebar (including seeing dolphins swimming wild in the Black Sea).

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Sep 26, 2017 at 11:24pm PDT

October

Just when I thought my travels for the year were done, I was invited to spend a weekend in the Lake District with some friends. I cannot believe I've never been to this part of my own country before - it really is as stunning as everyone says. Mental note to go back for longer, with a car to see more, in the very near future. In the mean time, here's the extremely impressive hot chocolate I had in Granny Dowbekin's cafe in Pooley Bridge on the last morning. Yes, those are Maltesers, and yes, that is a spoon made of chocolate.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Oct 24, 2017 at 11:22pm PDT

November

One of my favourite things about Christmas in London is Christmas at Kew. Every year, those wizards at Kew Gardens put on a spectacular light festival, and this year was the best yet. Each installation is synchronised and choreographed perfectly to music - see more photos here.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Nov 21, 2017 at 2:27pm PST

December

Ah, December, you've been a mad one, what with weekends away, Christmas parties, lantern festivals, drinks with friends, and then the big day itself. But I've spent a lot of time looking forward to 2018, including a trip to Cuba. Now things have calmed down a bit, I must sit down and do some proper planning. Any tips for things to see and do in Havana or Varadero? Let me know in the comments or tweet me.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Dec 8, 2017 at 8:58am PST