Afternoon tea obsession

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." Henry James

This morning, instead of working, I have been mostly shopping online for vintage tea sets - triggered by a facebook update from Katy Potts. Her website sells wonderful china teapots and cups - a perfect wedding gift for my vintage-loving friend Elizabeth, if I could stretch to more than a miniature espresso set!

Elizabeth is enchanted by the sophistication of a good old-fashioned English tea party. A forties-style garden gathering with G&T served by the pot awaits us Hens in August when her dad's lawn will be transformed with colourful bunting, picnic tables and pretty vintage china. It's an experience being sold for £17pp at Tea Party, a gorgeous north London venue fit for any girly get-together.

Hen party finery in Finchley, at Tea Party

London's tearooms range from high-end to hidden gems with an Alice in Wonderland themed experience at The Langham, to Sohos Secret Tea Room. Top of my list to try is Beas of Bloomsbury who are hiring out afternoon tea hampers for sunny picnics in the park (£15pp tea@beasofbloomsbury). Their deliciously naughty cupcakes smack of retro glamour and are served up on pin-up girl inspired china platters.

Devour a racy pin-up platter
at Beas of Bloomsbury

For those of us residing outside the Capital the traditional tearoom rules. The Polly Tearooms in Marlborough has a reputation won over several decades and an authenticity that surpasses any trendspot (High Tea for two £19.95). For a high-end (literally!) experience, head to the top of the UK where The Balmoral Edinburgh serves a wonderful champagne afternoon tea (£37pp). First class table service, Bolly and an endless finger buffet? It's a combination so divine you might just forget to catch your flight back, as my friend Marina and I nearly did at the end of our Scottish gastrotour last month!

Patisserie at its finest in the Polly Tearooms, Marlborough

For more ideas on where to go for afternoon tea, try: http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/. Or find out more about buying the vintage prettiness to host your own, at: http://antiques.lovetoknow.com/Antique_Tea_Cups.

Kebab TV

It seems I am enjoying a bit of a love hate relationship with reality TV. Wife Swap USA, Supernanny, Kerry Katona: The Next Chapter. You name it, I'll flop in front of it. Maybe it's the antedote to puzzling too hard over life decisions that always seem to be the massive ones: where to live, how to earn more, and who to do it all with!

Whatever the lure, it's bad for my cultural digestion. This is Kebab TV. One taste can have you hooked and a dodgy episode will turn your stomach. An 'off' week with The Only Way is Essex saw me literally ready to hurl at the disgusting way the men treated women - spearheaded by obnoxious nightclub owner Kirk Norcross.

A generous salting of unbelievable characters like Joey Essex - from the same 'too far removed from reality to be wrong' ilk as Peter Andre - are what make this genre seem so delicious (as TOWIE star, Lydia, would say). Slipping into a paralell universe to watch Joey applying his bizarre "flat n dumpy, tall n reem" logic as an excuse for buying plimsoles two sizes too small because "stretched canvas looks better", ironically makes the real world seem a million miles away.

Pop trivia: Joey's favourite word, "reem", is actually 1980's gay slang for a cute gay guy.

Rumour has it that the Essex dimwit will be 'coming out' as Harry Derbidge's love interest later in the series.

"OMG, really? Shut up!"

Reasons to be provincial: Part one!

London scooterists will need to ride out to the action for once next month, where off Junction 11 on the M4, Liam Gallagher's fashion label "Pretty Green" is sponsoring "Reading Steady Go - Life through the Eyes of a 1960s Mod". This exhibition is set to be the first major focus on the scene outside of London.

One of the brain's behind the Berkshire coo, is a forty-something Mod, active on the Modculture forums as "Smiler". The exhibition is said to be a precursor to the book Smiler's writing on Reading's history as a major hub for the original and 80s Mods.

Suzy Kendall smoulders in
"Up the Junction"

After being fascinated by Mod fashion and music for the last couple of decades, but spending most of that time in cities like Liverpool and London, I'm looking forward to seeing the scene from a provincial perspective. Not since Suzy Kendall went "Up the Junction" to find Dennis Waterman in Battersea, has a destination this gritty, looked so dead-set on turning into a mecca of sixties pretty.

See "Reading Steady Go..." at John Madjeski Art Gallery, Reading Museum & Town Hall, Reading, RG1 1QH from 9th April - 9th October 2011.

Beatific!

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

Jack Kerouac