Things that make me feel grown up - by Rosa

Rosie's Guilty Pleasures

Lindt 70% at least 2 bars a week, more if Scott gets to it first

Magazines, I buy them like they are pornographic, hide them until I get home and then devour them in minutes, cheap thrill, never as good as the cover promises (I think I am buying the wrong ones)

Big Brother - suckered in again

Saturday mornings - no alarm, little lie in, lazy breakfast (before shower) & luxurious read of the paper

Ebay shopping - Can you ever have enough pairs of shoes that don't fit properly?

Washing my feet in Max's bath, feels so good at the end of a long day

Love Bars from Pret a Manger - my word, I shouldn't even tell you about them, you won't thank me (my whole team is addicted, it's serious! Worse than that, if I haven't bought them for everyone I have to wolf it down before anyone sees)

Bookshop browsing - hours of precious me time wasted

Walking slowly home from the tube through Queens Park, should hurry (kids to feed, bath, put to bed, dinner to cook, washing to do) but nice to dawdle and soak in the fun

Cream teas - oh but I shouldn't

Rosie's town (Yarmouth, Isle of Wight)

Arriving by ferry to be greeted waving arms and smiling faces

The old pier and Granny Kiki's plank

The familiar walk through town and the anticipation of the first Mill sighting

Gossips café for Minghella's ice cream (cappuccino or banana flavour? ... it's
an endless dilemma)

The George, Bugle, Kings Head or Wheatsheaf? All happy haunts at some stage

Harwoods Chandlers shop - deck shoes, footballs, rope for hammocks or fishing
lines - it has it all

Nikaty-nakaty shops - plenty of different ones over the years - thousands of
useless ways to spend hard earned pocket money

Carnival - even now a highlight of my year - never matches expectation, but I
still look forward to the parade, the funfair, the harbour sports and the
races/dog show - something for everyone!

Walks along the railway line or up to the copse - can't be beat in my book,
especially with a toddler, there are adventures around every bush

Compton Beach - challenges the best of the rest of the world in my eyes

The WI in the Town Hall on Wednesday mornings during the summer - superb cakes
and jam, got to get there early though (it is all super cheap and I still spend
a fortune)

Quick dashes in the car over to Freshwater to the supermarket - quick stop at
the Red Lion on the way back

Horse riding if someone will go with me - fresh air and galloping across the
fields

The Mill - I can easily spend a weekend and not leave the house & grounds -
endless games of cards, dominos, backgammon, snooker, table tennis or lurky
('kick-the-can' to the uneducated), crabbing out the front, sun
bathing/reading/yoga out the back, fires in the yard in the evening, laughing at
Ellen/Scott struggling in the canoe, drinks out the front watching the sun set,
drinks out the back waiting for dinner to be ready

Not having Internet and proper mobile phone signal, not having channel 5 or even
a TV with remote control or outside aerial

Communal living, kitty purse and mass shopping and cooking

Finding a decent mattress and not telling anyone else about it

The big clean up and room inspections - leaving it like you would want to find
it

I could go on, but it has become 'My holiday house' rather than 'my town'

I thank you

Rosie's town (Wellington)

Petone - the in-laws house on Adelaide Street which seems to have an endless
supply of fine wine and good food, not to mention continual excuses to drink and
be merry

Petone beach - it's just too lovely having a beach at the end of the street

Pak 'n' save - ultimate food shopping

Jackson Street - for the nikaty-nakaty shops, the super cool cafes and the
abundant 'pre-loved' junk/clothes shops

Wellington harbour - boats, beers and amazing views

Te Papa - beautiful museum and gallery - always something brilliant on

Any number of nameless bars where nights slip by in drunken hazes

The Terrace - for the shops (and the exchange rates)

Cuba Street - all the funky bars and shops

Upper Hutt shopping centre - for sneaking off with Pamela for some serious
shopping action

Mount Vic tunnel - never understood why or where, but seems to feature in every
journey to anywhere in Welly

Island Bay - happy times at lovely friends houses

Rosie's Desert Island Discs

1. Gillian Welch - I dream a highway. Gillian always comes on my travels and this is the great value for money at 14 minutes of dreamy track

2. Nick Drake - Northern sky. Like Gillian, Nick is an old travelling friend and this is particularly beautiful

3. Mozart - Concerto for clarinet & orchestra in A major (adagio) - surely nothing in this world sounds more beautiful, I could listen to this forever and never get bored

4. The Rolling Stones - You can't always get what you want - so many reasons, youth, memories, stuck on an Island

5. Bob Dylan - I shall be released - inspired and inspiring. Something to keep my spirits and optimism going through the monsoons

6. Ben Folds Five - The Luckiest - so sad and beautiful, a reminder of those I love

7. Joni Mitchell - Both sides now - one of the few songs I know all the words too and don't sound too awful singing it, a happy childhood favourite

8. Prince Buster - Nothing takes the place of you. This was the toughest choice for me, the dance/happy number, I love this and it makes me smile

I would have to save Bob - I wouldn't last long without the constant reinforcement of the belief I was going to be freed from Island solitude

My book choice: War and Peace - Tolstoy. Always meant to read it and the 1500 pages would keep me going for a while, could even read it a few times and not get bored

Luxury item: A coffee plantation with roasting machine and percolator

Rosie's 'Some things you may not know about me...'

I have a scar from being chased by a barracuda

I would play cards until dawn, any game I don’t care, doesn’t even have to be cards, any game, except chess and that’s just because no one has taught me how to win yet

I am scared of driving in London, it’s not the driving that scares me, but other drivers

Sometimes I can’t resist the urge to bake

I hate the phone and in an ideal world would communicate without it

I’m a really good singer without an audience

I love hanging up washing in my garden, much less keen on taking it down

Given a choice (and the eradication of scurvy) I could live without vegetables

My legs tingle when I am tired

I see the world in numbers and shapes, everything has a pattern or dynamic, sometimes it is easy to see, sometimes it is more difficult to interpret