SHOPPING for groceries can be a very dull affair and I have never been very good at doing a weekly shop – especially when there are so many fab restaurants and take-aways to choose from – but in an attempt to embrace the ‘domestic goddess’ within (which I am assured we all have) I am on my way to Tesco on Portobello Road.
As I close my front door, I am confronted by two hairy, black strangers staring me in the eye.
Checking her mail is a young woman who introduces herself to me as the new neighbour in flat 5. “Stop staring!” she yells. “I’m sorry they can be SO rude! Come on girls!”
She is still talking to her two Scottish Terriers (Molly and Scout )as she smiles and walks up the stairs. Off they go, sniffing away at the banister as they follow her up.
I, too, have a pet, he is a goldfish called Tango. He’s named after the orange fizzy drink but I must say, he does the name justice when he wiggles his hips like a true tango dancer. His life is rather dull: the closest he ever got to going for a walk was when I crossed the square with him to take him to a neighbour who had agreed to feed him in my absence.
On that occasion a passer-by asked me what I was doing, to which I replied: “What does it look like? I’m taking my fish for a walk!”
The stranger suggested I get a dog, but I told him it wouldn’t fit in my bowl…
(Perhaps it’s time to spice up his bowl with some plants.)
In Tesco the queue is SO long that I decide to pick up some bits at the market instead and, inspired by my new neighbour, make a trip to the pet shop at the of the road. There are fish, hamsters treading away desperately and some rabbits looking very content in a corner. There is a whole tank full of plants and I roll up my sleeve to pick a couple. Dripping, I take them to the counter where they are packed in a plastic bag.
Then my phone rings and it’s my agent: the shoot you are styling for Italian Vogue’s bridal magazine Vogue Sposa has been confirmed for Tuesday. I need to get my skates on and organise a casting and some jewellery. Back to the office it is then, to hit the phones and get onto it but not before a stop at the Fish Bar on Goldbourne Road – sorry Tango but all this talk of fish has whet my appetite.
Pies, cod, fries… it’s all going on at the Fish Bar. The queue gives me time to decide and I finally settle for cod and chips well soaked in vinegar and lightly salted and wander back home. Good old fish and chips – guaranteed never to let you down. I’m sure I spotted Jamie Oliver once at the Fish Bar…
I contact Designers at Debenhams, Lalique, Butler and Wilson and Swarovski for jewellery and call a casting at Bookings model Agency for tomorrow at 1.30pm.
I got so caught up in the shoot preparations that I almost forgot about Tango’s plants. I set them up for him, carefully placing them between his bridge and feed him. I could swear he just smiled at me, or then again perhaps he is just pouting and living up to his fashionable living space …
