Not nesting but waiting

I was going to write about nesting: ie, what we do with the dog (he doesn’t really like being covered with his blankets but does enjoy having them coiled round him like he’s in a nest) and what we people do when we want comfort. But I wasn’t really feeling it. Also, the review of the new-to-me house based on the 10-sample set a friend sent at Xmas is for later. It’s going to take me a bit to get through 10 new perfumes.

Mostly I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to do once travel feels sane again and other loose desires

I think this is all about being sick of being constrained even though I still believe it’s the right thing to do (wear mask, be careful, be aware of other people’s needs relating to health issues).

So, not very organised. No particular theme.

I’ve always wanted to smell Luctor et Emergo by the Peoples of the Labyrinths. This had a huge moment on the Makeup Alley Fragrance Board years ago (quoted on the website: “very modern with a nineties attitude”) and I never got round to it then. Now, this is really only possible at the lifestyle shop in Amsterdam. Which is fine by me as I want to return to Amsterdam at some point soonish. That journey can be done by train from London. I love long train trips. Really look forward to travelling on the Eurostar again.

I would like to visit the JAR shop in Paris after having read Tom’s post on Friday. I can’t imagine buying any of the perfumes simply because they are so pricey, but I would make it a stop while in the Palais Royale, after visiting Uncle Serge (I’m still thinking about Tubereuse Criminelle which is sadly no longer offered in a Belle Jar – just a weird oblong bottle …). I’m also hankering after a visit to the Divine shop. It used to be possible to smell these at Liberty in London but I’m not sure they are still stocked. Plus, I really just want to visit the shop and have done for years.

I need in that loose way we need lovely things periodically to have an Ispahan macaroon (big macaroon cut in half with rose crème and raspberries inside) at the main Laduree salon on the Champs-Elysees. The last time we visited was with my father and his then twit of a girlfriend (she was not a fun person). Someone who managed to drain all the pleasure and colour out of anything she was involved in. So, a visit needs to be made where no one is tense because she’s being so brittle, controlling and negative. Big pot of tea, something savoury, then macaroons.

I want to eat crepes in the square in Montmarte with all the other tourists.

I want to do what Portia and Jin do when waking in the middle of the night due to journey time differences: just get up and wander. Then go back to sleep for a few hours and start the day. Years ago, we stayed in the Hotel Le Crillon – old style fancy – as I got a deep discount through work. One of the highlights of that visit was room service. Could do that again …

I want to go to the Musee d’Orsay again and find the tiny, explicit Courbet painting the Origin of the World which I found once but never again since – and then eat a mediocre lunch in the gloriously beautiful restaurant. It doesn’t really matter that the food is only ok — the room makes up for it.

I want to meet friends in London which I haven’t been able to do for years. I want lunches and dinners and coffee and cake. I want walks through Covent Garden being snarky about the tat. I want breakfast at Dishoom and Abuelo; a big pasta lunch at an outside table at Padella in Shoreditch; a walk through Chinatown; a walk up Hampstead Heath and then ice cream outside the café; dinners that goes on forever at some small plates place and at a Turkish bbq restaurant in Walthamstow or Dalston.

I don’t believe we’re going to return to normal as it was. I think we need to build a new normal. I’m all for change – it’s never been something that makes me twitchy or uncomfortable. It does us good: messes with the synapses, gives us tizzies, opens our eyes to new things.