March and her simple pleasures...

 Don't worry. This one isn't going to be as woe is me as the last two. Mind you, I do love a bit of a self-preservation moan once a month. Partly because I'd go mad if I couldn't; partly because I'm about as self-absorbed as Carrie Bradshaw is throughout series 2 (apologies).

Recently, I've gotten into the habit of having folded eggs in the morning. Though my breakfast preference will always be a hot almond croissant with a scalding flan centre, I have just spent £62 on underwear, so it's probably best that I remain faithful to the eggs for now. Before you judge me, I'm one of those women who still has knickers floating around in her drawer from 2013. Most women have at least one pair they can't seem to part with. Mine exist as personal allies; working together as a result of our mutual agreement:

"To sit just below my boobs and allow enough elasticity for me to eat a medium portion of prawn fried rice, chips, and curry sauce"

 - Harriet's pants treaty, 2021. 

Nevertheless, its been nice to have a new morning routine. Especially as I can now potter about in my new flat. I allow time for the cafetiere to brew, I listen to a podcast, and also have a good poke at the new spots on my chin who appeared overnight (I blame the mask wearing). I don't want to rhapsodize over the weekday morning too much. Obviously it's still shit. There are far better things I could be doing (or rather, not doing) at 5am on a Tuesday morning, but it's a marked improvement. You have no idea how grateful I am to have revoked my status as a 217 bus-rider. Au revior you hot box of sweat and bad breath. See you never.

BoJo announced through his limp fringe a 'roadmap' last week. Not too sure if he's chatting bollocks again, or if by some miracle it could actually come into fruition. Regardless, it still gives me enough time to decide if I want to go blonde again. I think I do? But I'm also on day 21 of my cycle, so I'm a little dubious about whether or not the sky is even really blue at this point. For now though, my life still feels a little small: an overdue electricity bill left to pay, food shop at the big Tesco's after work, an ASOS parcel I ordered at 2am that needs to be returned etc. But that's not to say I'm not enjoying it. There have been a few tiny joys that I've discovered recently. I'll leave them here with you:

Nigella's Eggs in Purgatory: https://www.nigella.com/recipes/eggs-in-purgatory

Her Food for Thought interview on Radio 4: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mtvgt 

Caroline O'Donaghue's mini series, featuring Dolly Alderton's infinite wisdom Sentimental in the City : https://play.acast.com/s/sentimentalgarbage/introducing-sentimentalinthecity-withdollyalderton 

Maya Angelou's Come, and Be my Baby poem: https://www.poeticous.com/maya-angelou/come-and-be-my-baby

Another call to arms from Jack Monroe; fighting against the consequences of poverty, hunger, and capitalism in Vogue: https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/jack-monroe

Things I'm looking forward to this month:

The Food Behind Bars podcast launch, March 8th. Lucy Vincent is a power house for change, and I'm so excited to listen to those at the forefront of such an amazing initiative. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/food-behind-bars/id1555038579