Shop: Phoenix on Golborne

Another new shop on Goldborne that is keeping the spirit of the area alive, whilst giving me (lots of) things I want! Phoenix stocks rustic, 'shabby-chic' furniture, china and accessories, which have been brought back to life. It's pretty owner, Jess who arranges wildflowers in vases and uses beautiful chalky paints, to do what we always think we could do ourselves, but never do. She also stocks paints and offer lessons, just in case you might one day.

A former marketing chick, she followed her father into the antiques trade and is doing what she always wanted. A lesson to us all.

Phoenix on Golborne

67 Golborne Road

London W10 5NP

Tel: +44 208 8964 8123

Hampstead Women's Pond

One of my most favourite places is the Womens Pond on Hampstead Heath. Its such a special, almost secret place and it makes me know I'm at home when I visit. When I lived in London, I came often, summer and winter. A quick dip in winter gets your heart pumping and staves off colds like nothing else. I always tried to shy off, but then saw the older ladies who braved the ice and realised I had no excuse. Summer is pure delight. Kingfishers early in the morning. Ducks, moorhens and geese nesting messily on the life rings, then proudly showing off their young, who trailed behind them across the meadows.

I love the wildflowers on the paths and the heathrobinson-esque shower arrangement, involving a hot water tap and buckets when the warm shower stops. I love the chat of the regulars in the mornings and the welcomeness they show to newcomers, offering spare costumes and towels. I even love the school girls in large groups who lounge lazily on the meadows in the summer holidays, talking at the top of their voices then shriek as they enter the water.

My favourite thing to do is come early, with a friend and, after a big stomp around the Heath, and catch our breath every time at the top of Parliament Hill, use our swim as a good catch up. Then scrambled egg breakfast at either Kalendar (was Cafe Mozart) on Swains Lane, or a walk to Kenwood to sit outside in the pretty garden and read the paper in the sun.

Shop: Kokon Tozai

My beloved collects toys. Small Japanese dolls in plastic bottles, china rabbits, little kissing dutch kids, anything really that is bright and ever so slightly unusual. Out shopping with my sister then on Golborne Road couldn't say no to the brightly coloured Pluto which was made in 1962. After an earthquake in Macedonia around that time, the Americans apparently sent lots of toys and he had been wrapped in tissue ever since.

From the same collection, I bought my nephew Pinocchio, with strict instructions to his mother that he be placed on a high shelf with no Sharpies to hand.

What a great shop though - housed in an old oxblood red tiled butchers, a marble counter runs from one end to another, filled with treasures. China, jewellery and antique lamps. There are also hand crocheted shawls and spectacular sparkly clothing which is the mainstay of what they do.

This part of Portobello is still my favourite and whilst the shops are changing slowly, places like Kokon Tozai are welcome. There's still not a chain in sight.

Kokon Tozai

86 Goldborne Road

London W10 5PS

Tel + 44 208 960 3736

http://www.kokontozai.co.uk

Dont stop til you get enough!

So, Mark Tuckey has opened a new homewares shop in Avalon. Perfect furniture, perfect goey stuff, perfect bags, etc etc. Yet another reason to not have to leave, ever. I'll take it all, thanks!

Special people

Every evening, before going to bed, Rikki Beadle Blair writes a status update on Facebook, about what he has learned today. Every single day, Rikki's post is insightful and appropriate, and always seems to be relevant to whatever I'm doing or feeling that day. This means that even from the other side of the world, Rikki continues to be an inspiration.

I know him because for many years, I've been getting up on a Sunday morning to dance my ass off at his aerobics classes. Attended by all many of all shapes and sizes, Rikki's classes are renound throughout London, and many a time I've met somebody at a party on the other side of town who is also planning to get up the next morning and come. I also know many people who won't move out of the area because its too far from 'going to Rikki's'.

Whenever I'm feeling a bit lazy or tired, its the best thing to cheer me up and make me feel better about myself. After all, he's quite a bit older than me and his springs never seem to stop - if he can do it, so can I!

Rikki is one of those people in life who uses his talents to give back. In association with the Drill Hall, he wrote and directed a play called FIT which was developed to tackle the growing problem of homophobic bullying in British schools. It was later turned into a film which was distributed to secondary schools around the UK. The Drill Hall have also laid on a series of workshops designed to help teachers dealing with the issues.

He's always up to something new, be it mental, physical or creativity and he's a powerhouse of energy and inspiration. We've urged him to collate his daily updates in a book but he's happy just to share them and its worth checking them out on a daily basis to give you a tiny bit of positivity each morning.

Thank you to whoever took the pic!

Today's colour

Blue is typically my colour of choice, quickly followed by green, but today, with all that rain, I feel I need a little injection of energy.

Red is the colour of the beautiful king parrots that now sit on our deck with their gentle personalities and tiny cry - although none are in existence today! Red is also the colour of the triangle on the giant slug I've just found on our mail box. Red is the colour of the little meditating statue that I've unpacked from the endless boxes, more of which I'll do today, and there is even a tiny bit of red on one of M's paintings I hung up last night.

Give me Mohr

I love fish and chips! Perfectly cooked white, flaky fish in batter with big fat chips and vinegar. Best of course, eaten from paper, on some cold and windswept beach, feeding seagulls with the remains, which is what I do with my grandma when I get the chance. They seem to cheer up the spirits no end and even at 98, give her a spring in her step and on the last occasion, seriously asked a, rather surprised, young windsurfer if she could have a go.

They suit the outdoors, the casual and the spontaneous. I can recall great fish and chip moments on climbing weekend trips on the Dorset sea cliffs. Growing up in a seaside town, I had insider knowledge as to the best available, served by over sized, middle aged waitresses with greasy fingers and lots of gold.

Fish and chips are good, cheap honest fayre. Not right for fancy restaurants trussed up in boxes. In London I regularly ate at Geales in Notting Hill. Although it has been done up of late, the wet-fish style white tiled environment was just right. The choice was simple, cod, haddock, or rock in batter with tartar sauce (extra) and mushy peas. Pickled eggs or onions on the side, served from jars behind the counter. If you fancied a tipple with your food you ordered from a separate cash bar. A very 'London' experience, and liked the jellied eel stall on the Roman Road, or the bagel shop in Columbia Road, something that doesn't travel well.

And then we went to Mohr Fish. A very unassuming shop on a corner of Devonshire Street, Sydney, which is tiled with years of fish history. Sitting at the counter or at one of the poseur tables, you could easily think you were back in the East End - aside of course from the clientelle and the slightly more glamorous ingredients than I'm used, but its all relative.

I'm not sure if its a family restaurant, but it 'feels' like it is. On a busy Friday night, the waitress behind the counter took all the orders, answered the phone, served and cleared. Somehow she even managed to haul out waiting patrons from the adjacent pub as their name came up on her list. It was all very entertaining. On our visit, stylish couples mingled with the over-inebriated and a man and his squawking green parrot provided the background music as they waited for a takeaway salad (for the parrot). If you fancy a drink, you can bring your own with no corkage and they will chill it for you as you wait for a table, or you can buy a glass from the pub. Fish and chips served the best way yet, this side of the equator.

Mohr Fish

202 Devonshire Street

Surry Hills 2010