Some things I need to get off my chest - by Francesca

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My New Year list - by Francesca

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Random thoughts in my head right now - by Francesca

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Songs that make me happy - by Francesca

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I really miss - by Francesca

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Things I collect - by Francesca

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Things that make me feel grown up - by Francesca

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Fran's favourite smells

Rain on a hot day
Freshly cut grass
Driving past a pig farm
Roasting chestnuts on the street at Christmas
Making those toffee nuts in Montese
Snow coming
Granny's biscuits in the oven
Campari
My timber merchant (the place, not the man)
Nonna's kitchen cupboards
Nonna's washing on the line
A real fire
Walking into 20 St Mary's Mansions
Striking a match
Coming home

Fran's guilty pleasures

Loose women (picture me frantically trying to get Isi to sleep before 12.30).

Maltesers (i don't know what's wrong with me).

Grazia or OK Magazine, not often, but when I do it's oh so good.

Getting paid for a few things and then spending all at etsy (sorry, a little advert there).

My pre-season Top Shop frenzy when I spend quite a lot on all my 'new season pieces' but then I don't have to go shopping for another few months.

At 8pm, on what seems to be every night, there is a show on TMF or FTN or TCM or whatever called All Access ( i think). If Ben is out, I watch this. It lasts an hour, it's usually about Lyndsay Lohan but I love it.

Reading blog after blog and leaving comments on them when I should be working.

Lindt 70%. We keep it in a Tupperware pot in the freezer. We get through approx 4 bars a week. It's an addiction.

If we are out of 70% and Maltesers (rare) I have been known to get a teaspoon full of chocolate powder and lick it. Or dip it in my tea so it melts...and lick it.

Fran's town...(big town, long list. Sorry)

St Paul's Churchyard, Covent Garden. Benny and I had a lot of lunches in this little courtyard when we worked round the corner from each other. It's so lovely in the spring, although there isn't a spare inch of grass in the summer.

Match Bar, Clerkenwell. When benny and I had a life, before Isi, we used to go here and drink Mitch Martinis. I would be drunk after about 3 sips.

Cheshire Street, E2. Such a great street off Brick Lane with lovely shops including Shelf.

The Tate Modern. Always have such a lovely time whether to see a particular exhibition or just to mooch around the shop. The top floor restaurant is very good too with great views of London.

Family Tree and Exmouth Market, EC1. Another lovely shopping street and it’s cobbled! Family Tree is one of the most gorjois shops in London.

Paperchase, Tottenham Court Road. I quite often faint when entering this shop for all the stationery delights.

Hidden Art open studios weekend. Towards Christmas, the Hidden Art organisation has an event when artists all over London open their studios. It's wonderful to see artists at work and a chance to pick up a special pressie or two.

The South Bank. I absolutely love the South Bank, just walking over the bridge from The Embankment and looking down river to see how exciting all the development has been over the last few years. It makes me very happy. There's the poetry library and the Hayward Gallery and the great lunchtime jazz and free exhibitions they have at the Festival Hall. Not to mention the great walk you can do to the Tate and further down to the Design Museum.
And of course it has the NFT.

The Everyman. Ahhh...memories. I've had some great times here, Bee and I used to come to the Woody Allen double bills and I do believe that once, I saw a silent film with a real live pianist playing along!

To'sho. Who would've thought that I would use a phrase coined by June Sarpong but Topshop is the very best shop ever in the world. Yes and that beats urban suburban (outfitters) coz it's cheaper.

The V&A. Good old Mrs Da Silva...she was obsessed with the Islamic ceramics. I just like walking around. The only problem with the V&A is that if you suddenly get that thing when you have to read everything or 'something bad will happen', you can be in there a very, very long time.

Bungees Folk Cellar. ok, it doesn't exist anymore but I have very happy memories of sitting drinking tea with bee, wearing black polo-necks and talking about e.e cummings or Campbell Scott or both.

Stroud green. I have never looked back. Not least because of the magic shop, which is not literally magic or even a shop that sells tricks but just a very good Londis! If you don't believe, come see!

x
p.s. ooh, ooh, can i add liberty? it's special.

Fran's coulda woulda shoulda

coulda thought of a better list if i coulda been arsed.

woulda sat down and had a good old think with xanna if february didn't only have 28 days and march hadn't suddenly appeared.

shoulda put it out there to the a-listers to get some ideas...oh well next time.

here's a picture of faye dunaway for no reason.

Fran's "I secretly love..."

Fran's Desert Island Discs

Wanna be startin' somethin' - Michael Jackson. This is the happiest, danciest song in the world. I never ever get sick of it. It's the best.

Carey - Joni Mitchell. I wouldn't go anywhere without Joni. This is one of my favourites. It was tough though.

If I were a bell - from the original 1982 cast recording of Guys and Dolls. I went to see it when I was 9. I know all the words. This is my favourite. It's so happy.

I am the black gold of the sun - NuYorican Soul. Reminds me of travelling round the world. It's a great car track. And it's very long, so good for a desert island.

Summertime - The Sundays. If Ben and I had a song, this would be it.

I just wasn't made for these times - The Beach Boys. I wouldn't go anywhere without Pet Sounds either. And it may be the most beautiful song I've ever heard.

Your time is gonna come - Led Zeppelin. I love it when the beat comes in at the beginning, it makes me swoon.

Walk on By - Dionne Warwick. I think this is my favourite Burt Bacharach song. But it was very hard to choose.

I would save Wanna be startin' somethin' just coz it's so darn happy.

My book would be A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe because it's an epic and you can get lost in it and it's very, very long.

My luxury item would be a mac laptop with broadband and I don't care what Ben says about reception. Then I could write, design, email, watch DVDs...I wouldn't need to go home.

Fran's "All I want for Christmas is..."

Isi's two front teeth (they seem to have stopped half way)
For TV Quick to ring me up and say they really need a new Coronation Street reviewer
For Clive Bull not to move slots from 8pm to 10pm
No comedy presents
A really good thesaurus
For it to stay this mild
A large, unexpected windfall
To casually work the phrase "Let's unpack that" into a conversation
One of those beautiful, crisp, sunny mornings favoured by me, Rosie and my mum
Some time
The house with the green window frames on Mount Pleasant Road
For Led Zeppelin to reform and play a gig in my garden
Comfort...and Joy
x

Fran's 'some things you may not know about me...'

Some things you may not know about me are...
That laurel and hardy crack me up
That william shatner’s last album is one of my favourites
That I secretly fancy simon cowell a tiny little bit
That I have a note on my fridge that says “kill richard and therese” and another one underneath that says “yes, wring their scrawny little necks”
That I have an etsy shop CLICK AND VISIT!
That I have an alter-ego CLICK AND VISIT!
That we call the 210 ‘the poor bus’
That we have a running score for university challenge and ben’s probably winning by a small margin
That when I’m on the computer, I play masquerade by the carpenters over and over again and sing very loudly into a pen
That I hate see-saws
That I collect vintage sewing patterns and vintage teacups
That I’m a slow reader mainly due to an OCD, which requires that I take in every word absolutely thoroughly
That I have a pathological fear of lateness, which manifests itself in recurring dreams
That I have a pathological fear of parties (the grown-up kind not children’s…although, that’s another story).
That I am fiercely competitive in a passive aggressive way.

Fran's 'i don't understand...'

Fran's i like list