9 nice things | September and October

9 nice things September

Vassos Alexander, of the Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 Breakfast show which attempts to ease me out of bed each morning, says that September is by far his favourite month. (Yeah, lets just gloss over that I am the only twenty something in England to listen to radio 2. Apart from Will, who is forced to listen to it too*.) For a long time I have not been a fan of September, because it means my birthday is over, as are my summer holidays. But now I don't get a cushty 6 week plus summer holiday anymore (waaaa) I sort of see what he means. September is a pretty good month, it is sort of the best of Summer and Autumn - you can still wear sandals, and can maybe host the odd barbecue, but you don't feel sweaty 40% of the time, and in the evenings the dark outside makes you feel all cosy, and that you can sit inside watching TV and drinking a hot chocolate with marshmallows while getting excited for Christmas, if you wanted.

So without further adieu, here are the 9 things that put the cherry on top of my September:

When I grow up I would like to live in Whitstable (you should go there)

I first visited Whitstable 2 years ago. I went for my pal Gita's hen do, and even through the blur of apple sours and prosecco drunk in pyjamas (not together, I don't think) I knew I wanted to live in that little Kentish coastal town when I became a fully fledged grown up. Ok, perhaps that feeling was in part because of the aforementioned apple sours and prosecco, but even the next morning as I got on a train to travel the 1 hour and 23 minutes back to London Victoria in a slightly delicate state, the feelings, unlike my hungover-and-about-to-get-on-public-transport face, had not paled.

Quick! 2 barbecues to squeeze in before summer ends (and a recipe for a chilli tequila cocktail)

Those bacon skewer things have scallops in the middle of them.

So a large part of the reason I have fallen off the blogging band wagon again is because this summer with the help, blood and sweat of my generous and long suffering parents my boyfriend and I have replaced the deck in our garden. We had one before, but it was rotten with nails sticking out of it and bits you couldn't stand on for fear of falling through and the NHS advised you have an extra tetanus shot before walking on it, so it was not the place to host barbecues and citronella candle lit al fresco soires. But now, 45,640 metres (not the real figure) of decking and 1000 screws (genuinely the real figure) later, boom chacka lacka lacka boom, I have a new deck. And I am the first person to write boom chacka lacka lacka boom in text, probably.