Reviews! The Courtyard Café and 'Carol'

A few weeks ago, I went with my family to the Hartley Whitney Christmas Market. The Christmas festivities in my town get worse yet more crowded every year, and HW is such cute little place full of independent boutiques; much more promising. Ironically, the highlight of the night ended up being the meal we had in a permanent HW fixture: the Courtyard Café - a cafe/restaurant at the back of Hartley Antiques. I’d been there for coffee before, but hadn’t really appreciated how much of a bar/restuarant it was too, and as the burger vans on the street weren’t the most appealing, we decided to give it a proper try while we waited for the fireworks that always end the event. 

Dear Santa...

I’ve seen lots of ‘Christmas gift guides’ around, and while it’s a bit self-indulgent writing about what I’d like to find under the tree, I thought I’d share them before doing a more traditional ‘gift ideas’ post. Let me know what you think in the comments: what’s on your Christmas list? What are you thinking about getting other people? Do you like surprises or have you already shared your Amazon wishlist with all your family and friends?

Film Review: 'What If'

One of the best pieces of news I've heard in recent weeks is that you can now use Orange/EE Wednesdays codes to book cinema tickets online (yes, I'm that sad). Even though it's such a bargain, I rarely used to participate in Orange Wednesdays because the queues were always so long and several times I've missed out on seats. So, last Wednesday, my sister and I took her boyfriend and my best friend to see Daniel Radcliffe's (aka Harry Potter) new film, What If. The friend I went with, Fiona, had heard about it a while ago, but I was a bit skeptical at first. Daniel Radcliffe in a rom com? Would that work? Did I really believe that Daniel Radcliffe could act anything other than Harry Potter? Had he even done Harry Potter justice?! These thoughts were probably because of my aversion to Emma Watson (I'm sorry, but the girl just can't act, full stop) but I had since seen Radcliffe in Kill Your Darlings - last year's indie flick about one of my favourite poets, Allen Ginsberg - and, I must admit, been pretty impressed with his portrayal of Ginsberg.