Issue 46 - 'We become the places we love'
NOVEMBER 2022
On Saturday, I woke up away from home. Very early, unable to sleep. I chose a podcast to listen to with bleary eyes, purely based on the title - ‘We become the places we love.’
I loved it (though not so much the meditative element.) In many ways, it was a eulogy. Celebrating one man who helped another, when they were both living on a remote Welsh farm. It’s a story that takes the idea of a person becoming a place very literally - for one of the men tells the other ‘I have found the place I wish to die’ - and eventually, his ashes are scattered there.
It’s beautifully written, and celebrates Wales in all its romance- where ‘place-names are poetry and memories live long in the rolling hills.’
This idea - of loving somewhere so much you can become it - has stayed with me. And I happened to hear the story in the same week as I received an interview request. From an editorial site asking about splitting my time between London and Ynys Môn, and my favourite spots in each. What one can offer that the other cannot.
Answering the questions, it became clear to me. London is vast, exciting, full of opportunity, the freedom of anonymity, good times, and choices. Even now, when i head there, i feel that anything is possible. But Wales. Wales offers space, beauty, community and depth. Wales, I realised, is the place I would wish to die.
An extract from the interview below:
Where do you go to be alone?
Ynys Môn: Anglesey offers space to be alone in a way that London cannot. I love to run along Llyn Rhos Ddu, a twisting path that traces the edge of sandy dunes, lined with pine forests and wild ponies, towards the open sea with Snowdonia as the backdrop. It’s just absolutely beautiful.
London: I could choose any number of cafes to head to with a book, but the cliche of a solo Donald Draper esque cinema visit is pure escapism for me. Castle cinema in Hackney is picture-perfect and always has an interesting choice.
Where would you be sad if it closed down?
Ynys Môn: Dreamboat is a veggie food truck that’s out and about in the summer, normally on Porth Tyn Tywyn, one of my favourite beaches. Embarrassingly, I go there so often that they have named a ciabatta after me. There is also a vegan cafe in Menai Bridge - Green Olive - that does an excellent oat flat white and has a bright neighbourhood feel.
London: Diwana Bhel Poori House is a vibrant veggie Indian restaurant, tucked away behind Euston station which is very handy. The dosas there are stonking, and really excellent value-for-money.
Where do you go to cheer yourself up?
Ynys Môn: Traeth Gwyn (White Beach) is a tonic of a cove - hard to get to by car and all the better for it.
Buying beautiful things will often lift my spirits - and in Anglesey I buy them from Hawthorn Yard. Over the years, I have bought a fruit picking ladder, a vintage sign so big I still haven't managed to hang it, many plants, some of which are still alive, etched glasses, a full dining set and plenty of flowers and pictures.
London: I am a big stationery fan, so a visit to Choosing Keeping in central, in all its gold-foiled, delicious new pencil-case-smelling glory, never fails to perk me up. If I need something sweet (which is often), then a trip to Honey and Spice, or Violet Bakery will be on the cards. And if I need a laugh then the Bill Murray is always a winner for some comedy.
Where do you always spend too much money?
Ynys Môn: And Caws is a modern cheese shop on the island (actually run by another London-leaver) that also sells natural wines and banging toasties, and hosts evening supper clubs. Impossible to leave without buying those expensive olive oil crisps.
London: As excellent as it is for pasta as it is celeb spotting, surely it has to be the River Cafe. Plates of food that are impossible to beat outside of Italy, with a head chef from Wales. But you do have to pay for them.
Where do you go to think?
Ynys Môn - sorry to be this person, but I’ve become an outdoor dipper. Walking into a lake, or the sea, allows you physical and mental space. There are so many spots in North Wales. Llyn Padarn is one of my regulars, but there are countless hidden coves on the isle of Anglesey - in the view of castles, mountains and endless tree canopies - which I will only share if you buy me a pint.
London: Towpath cafe is a thinking spot for me. Perfect plates of herbed quiches, warm savoury scones, excellent biscuits - eaten whilst wrapped up against the elements.
Where do you go that’s romantic?
Ynys Môn - This past year, I have been exploring the Llyn Peninsula a little more, so not technically Anglesey. I went to the outskirts of Aberdaron - pen draw’r byd (the edge of the world) - with some excellent eggs of friends, and then with an excellent egg of a date too. It’s a standout beautiful spot.
Is it also cheating to choose a cafe I help run?! Tide/ Llanw is our outdoor cafe right by the sea. In the summer we run pop-up dinners there, in a tipi under the stars, surrounded by wildflowers.
London: I think Spring is such a beautiful space. I went first when a friend took me for a birthday lunch and I felt so spoilt. The food, the flowers, the decor. All spot on.
Good things to click on
My excellent egg of a friend Jaya is selling DIY dahl kits in aid of Pakistan. Deliciousness that does good - excellent Christmas presents
Watched Emma Thompson's tribute to Alan Rickman and sobbed
This month I have been eating roasted white beans with everything, and making polenta chips on repeat. Crikey Nora crispy things are good.
This was an inspiring (and incredibly shocking) listen
Thanks Jen for sharing these beaut photographs
Anna Jones' homemade Christmas gifts to make
'Caring for ourselves, for other people, for our homes, for plants and other animals—these are the unfinishable projects of our lives. We do them over and over not to conquer them, or for personal gain, but to maintain and nourish them, with no greater expectation. Given how swayed humans are by the pursuit of growth, wealth, ownership, and power, I think this is very sweet and pure.'
Writer Hayley Nahman, quoted from this article
I took the photos this month in North Wales.
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