A weekly column in which Emily, Susannah and I contemplate life in our 20s
Alice
At the awkward late 20s stage, only minorly disillusioned by living and working in London
This week @thatcoat has been getting itself a little attention again (if you've not heard of #ThatCoat / having been living under a rock, you can read about it here and here). Zara have rehashed the design (added a frill) and brought it out a sassy red and classic blue version for Summer. It's still a classy coat, people are still buying it, and I got very excited when I passed a young style maven wearing it on her way to work this morning - keep sending us photos #CoatSquad (we love the new hashtag The Express) and Zara we'd still love to hear your thoughts...I met Paulien Riemis of Polienne blog fame and discovered something quite amazing for an instagram obsessive like myself - Paulien has TWO instagram accounts, one is her actual (you can see it here) and the other is a tester account. She puts all her photos up on a private account to double check how they will look before she puts them up on her actual one. Mind blown / what a great idea - the amount of times I think 'I'm sure that filter isn't quite right...)I have spent a lot of this week in Shoreditch - I really really like Shoreditch, there is so much going on, and it's perfect for exploring. I am slightly obsessed with concept stores - specifically coffee shop / boutique ones and found two really fun ones on Redchurch Street - Modern Society which has a really good selection of independent brands and trendy attire, and also Kit & Ace whose shop till area is also a coffee bar with seats - such fun.Going forward, I am going to be focusing the blog on all things British, and I wanted to start you off with 4 British brands I am loving right now, do click on them below.Alice xxx
Also do have a look at my Mother’s Day Gift Ideas on the menu drop down (3 little horizontal lines at the top right of the blog) 💐😍.
Emily
2 and a half years out of University, and the glamour of London working life is fading rapidly
This week I have been very disappointed that Spring didn’t arrive, had my umbrella actually turn inside out mid storm and tried sag aloo for the very first time (it was delicious). Also went all the way to Hogwarts (Watford) had some Butterbeer, loved the real Hogwarts Express and once again became sad about being a Muggle. Although I would almost certainly have been sorted into Ravenclaw ...It’s been a tough week for London but we keep calm and carry on. Is it just me, or when something like this happens, do people seem friendlier and kinder towards each other – especially on public transport?You will notice in my reference to public transport that I am still lurking in waiting list purgatory for my bike space at work … #notbitter(Literally as I am typing this, a friend sent me some bashed up selfies from a hospital bed in Rome – having been knocked off her bike! Starting to think perhaps the bike waiting list is trying to tell me something).I have also been thinking a lot about time. We think we have so much of it, it either drags or flies, we waste it or lose it, misuse it or are smug and incredibly productive with it. Ultimately it’s our time, and we should be using it to do what makes us happy. Easier said than done, but it’s about time we realised it. As youths in our twenties we are constantly being bombarded by inspirational Instagram quotes, Facebook posts and autobiographies of world-class entrepreneurs telling us what we SHOULD be doing. But what about what we could or even want to do?On the theme of time, the clocks go forward this weekend. I am incredibly resentful of losing an hour of sleep, but I love the prospect of longer evenings – one step closer to summer! Picnics, Pimms and pool parties (ok this isn’t the O.C but we can dream).Also despite the fact that supermarkets have been reminding us that Easter is on the way since New Year’s Day, as the big day approaches I for one am a huge fan of the orgy of chocolate on display. Crème Eggs, Malteaster Bunnies, Mini Eggs – there literally isn’t a weak link among them. Also if you haven’t tried the Mini Egg Easter cakes – with a lurid looking yellow cream inside, you absolutely must. They look hideous but taste delicious and are becoming increasingly elusive in the supermarkets of London. But if you track them down, it’s well worth the effort.It’s the small things …
Susannah
About to graduate from University, excited for intrepid adventures into the real world
This week Susannah has written a piece on her visit to the Tempietto in Rome during her university Spring break
A Harmonious Observance
Location: Rome, Italy.
The Morning of 12th March 2017.
This weekend I visited Roma, to see a friend who happens to be working there. However, what I don’t think she expected was me to force her to go and watch the sun rise at San Pietro in Montorio, or more famously the location is known to hold Bramante’s Tempietto.
The Tempietto is a highly underrated and almost entirely perfect part of Rome, and, as I discovered even better at dawn. One of the more fantastic parts about this purely simplistic and somewhat majestic building is that it is seems to avoid the draws of crowds of tourists. Leaving a visit to be one of reflective calm as you look back over the glory of Rome. As yet, I have failed to mention, the San Pietro in Montorio also holds one of the best views of Rome, although not one of the highest, and I am sure there are more majestic ones, to be able to hold Casel Sant’Angelo, St Peter’s and slightly controversial ‘Wedding Cake’ all in one eye range is truly remarkable. And, even more an ode to Bramante, when you see the various Dome’s peeking above the Roman roofs.
I have been before, but determinedly feel as if a trip to Rome without a visit is incomplete. However, this time I was determined to see the structure at dawn. And, even with danger of beginning to sound monotonous, it really was well worth the visit.
To precede such an occasion my friend whom I was visiting in Rome, Cosima, spent the evening out accompanied by various others. However, when the time came to head home, around 4 o’clock in the morning I suggested a visit to Piazza Navona to delight in the empty Piazza at night. Already ticking through my mind was the possibility of making it to 6.30am for dawn, I may have craftily looked up the time of the rising sun- so my aim was to fill the time until then. Piazza Navona soon led to a 24 hour cafe, where we revived ourselves on cups of tea and speck sandwiches. And such we found ourselves wondering home, where I informed Cosima that we would be climbing the up to visit the Tempietto and the sun. After slight protestations, I persuaded her that as we were already awake it would be silly not to. And, as we found out it really wasn’t very far away as we were staying in Trastevere. So with full energy restored we bounced, with quite a large amount of running up to the top of San Montorio. Upon the hill we were greeted by a fantastic view and were able to wish Good Morning to the Tempietto. Not a soul in sight we sat on the wall and waited around ten minutes for the sun to come up over the eastern hills. We found at that point not, much necessity to talk and instead listened to the tolling half hour bells, and the whizzing of vespas of those winding their way on early work routes through the city. To confirm, it was certainly worth it, and both of us had a sense of achievement when lazily strolling back down the hill towards the warm comfort of bed, being greeted on the way down by those tending to dogs early morning needs, where, half an hour previously had not been a soul inside, suddenly found single figures with their furry friends on mass. Sad to report on the option of another mass, that although we made plans to attend in Piazza Navona, we blissfully slept through the 11am starting time- leaving our sins for another week.
A bit about:
The Tempietto, is regarded as the epitome of the High Renaissance, for its simplistic and symmetrical form, commissioned by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The Spaniards still hold this part of Rome as the structure abuts the Spanish embassy. What made it unique in 1502, was the use of the hemispherical dome. Dome making, perfected by the Ancient Roman’s was an lost art form, until Brunelleschi, applied it to Santi Maria del Firori in Florence about a third of the way through the 15th century. It was not until Bramante that the hemispherical Dome that, now makes up most of the Roman skyline, was rediscovered in his formation of the Tempietto. The structure was built to mark the spot where upon St Peter was martyred, however, in a Renaissance and Classical mix up, they sadly got the wrong hill.
