On the Sunny Side Up

Tall, caramel skinned gentleman. Looks like you could feature in a Western or Desert Ranger adventure scene. You have that slightly swarthy, streetwise look to you. Where do you come from? Your map is sharing with you your next location. Could it be a secret underground MI5 meeting? Or are you after the treasure stollen by your tomb raiding nemesis? Nope. You've swapped it for the Metro News. Obviously preparing for covert missions requires up to date knowledge on low level scandal and the next piece of over inflated bad news.

My 50 minute commute to work requires at least 25 minutes tube journey. One day I stopped where I was sitting (luckily this didn't require a huge change in momentum...) and looked at the situation. What a strange and rather comical situation I find myself in. Same time and place every morning, sharing this cramped metal tube that is shooting through tunnels deep under ground like a futuristic mole colony with many of the same faces day after day. In this strange and slightly romantic way, our lives which up until now have been so separate, intersect quite physically, sharing the space and air we breathe. The intimacy of this shared personal routine is not dissimilar from sharing a bathroom sink with a partner or flatmate. Each doing their own teeth but sharing a most intimate ritual. My curiosity thus piqued about the not-so-strange strangers around me, I started to wonder about their life stories and about what more their was to them than just this face sitting across from me. I...

My boyfriend and I love doing things together, but I have noticed we tend to approach them in quite different ways. He likes to break down and analyse what he is going to do first and then does it, whereas I like a quick overview and then go into the experience hands first. This stood out for me in a recent conversation about essential oils! I have always loved smells and often let my nose lead me into an experience. When I cook, all ingredients must be sniffed at first and when I walk through a garden I can't pass a plant without running my hands through it and inhaling deeply (or in the case of the thorny rose, delicately shoving my shnoz into the bed of petals after a quick check for any winged competitors). After my experience I reflect and think about how it felt when I inhaled the scent. Was it fresh and uplifting and lemony? Was it warm and soothing like a cinnamon hug? Perhaps it smelled like earth after the rains have fallen, which is called petrichor and is a result of ...