London Calling

So this weekend me and my family went on a much anticipated trip to one of my favourite places.. London babyyy! We decided to head on a little family roadtrip to Cockfosters so we could hop on the underground and take a trip to my all time favourite place, Camden Town.

We headed to Camden straight away and of course spent the entire morning roaming around all the little quirky shops which I absolutely loved. After spending far too much on jewellery, records and artsy prints we then decided to head to Camden locks and find some amazing street food to dig into and omg were we spoilt for choice! There was just oh so many incredible food stalls but in the end we settled for some chinese street food and oh, was I so pleased that we did, it was incredible! We also grabbed some fresh orange juice from the most adorable little stall ever and after taking many a photograph around Camden, we decided to get on the underground and catch the next tube to Notting Hill so we could head to Portobello Market.

Now, I have never been to the flea market at Portobello but I have heard so many great things about it and It definitely lived up to my expectations, I was certainly impressed. The market stalls went on for absolutely miles and there were so many quirky, antique and vintage stalls to look around, it was one of the coolest places ever! The streets were also full of the most amazing pastel painted houses,it was just all soo bloody lovely. We ended up indulging in more street food before we headed to the Hummingbird Bakery to grab some of the most adorable lil cupcakes to take home with us.

Originally Notting Hill was going to be our last stop before we headed back on the tube to Cockfosters but we decided to take a little venture to Carnaby Street, somewhere else I have never been to before! And I'm oh, so happy that we did as this turned out to be one of my newest favourite parts of London, there were so many amazing shops that I ended up spending way more than I should have but oh well I was in London babyy!! I mean come on how could I pass on shopping when Cheap Monday and Monki were standing right in front of me ey?

After Carnaby Street, we then headed back home much to my dismay. I absolutely love London and I just want to spend all of my days roaming around the streets of Camden and Carnaby Street; spending copious amounts on lovely things that I dont need. It was such a lovely little day and the weather was absolutely insane, we truly were so lucky to have spent what seems to be the last of the summer weather in one truly amazing city. I hope you've enjoyed the photos from my little London adventure and I'd love to hear all about your favourite parts of London, I'd love to check out some new places next time I visit!!

 Until next time London..

The Clueless Blogger

August Book Haul

As its Summer and as you all well know I'm a renowned self confessed book worm; I felt like it was definitely about time I went out and purchased a few new reads ready to keep me busy over the Summer and I can't wait to share with you what books are part of my August haul!

But before I get into giving you a quick run down of all my book purchases, I just want to let you know that there won't be any spoilers as obviously if you fancy reading them for yourselves, I don't want to ruin them for you. I'm also not going to be giving a massive description about the books, just a quick lil debrief of why I brought them and what I'm hoping for them to be like as I want to start writing more blog posts where I actually review books a bit like my blog post on Patti Smith's Just Kids.  So enough of the small talk and lets get this book haul rolling..

 Swing Time Zadie Smith

First one on my list of purchases has to be Swing Time by Zadie Smith. So I've heard great things about this lady and although I already own her debut novel, White Teeth( a book I have still not gotten round to reading yet oops!) I know for certain this is going to be a book that I'm going to love as its gripped me from the get go. I just had to kick off my book haul with this absolute beauty of a book, the bright yellow cover definitely drew me in and after reading the blurb I knew I would be making this my latest read. The book is described as being 'a story of finding happiness in the meanest of places and feeling sad when all around you are happy' so for me this just sounded like such a feel good summer read, I couldn't not buy it! It sounds like quite a different read from what I'm normally used to but I can't read to get my mind lost in it!

Woolgathering Patti Smith

Now if you've seen my recent post about Patti Smith's novel Just Kids(as mentioned earlier), you'll know how much I was absolutely obsessed with it. So of course after seconds of putting that book down, I had to check out her other pieces of work and I was so so happy when I stumbled across Woolgathering. The book is written in a similar style to Just Kids as it is too a memoir but instead this book captures her recollections of her childhood and earlier years whereas Just Kids recollects more of her life as a young adult and focuses mainly upon her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. I've already read the first chapter and I'm oh, so happy that her poetic tone which I fell in love with in her last book, still persists in Woolgathering as her style of writing has to be my favourite part about her work. Another fave about Patti Smith's books, is always the fact that she includes photographs from periods of her life and they just capture her words so perfectly, I bloody love her work.

East of Eden John Steinbeck

I mean how could I have a book haul without purchasing an absolute literary classic ey? I'm an absolute sucker for reading classics and I guess they're typically what I read, as I don't read genre specific books(although I do love love love thrillers) I more or so read pieces of Literature that I guess are classed as timeless and have a historical rep as I love reading them to see whether they live up to my expectations and so on. Anyway, off on a tangent as always but back to East of Eden..Now this is one of them books that I've always wanted to read but never gotten round to reading it, I guess like most of the classics on my shelves. So I finally bit the bullet and popped to Waterstones to pick myself up a copy. Although like any other teen I read Of Mice and Men when I was at school, I've never actually read any others of his works so I'm actually looking forward to checking this one out and hopefully i won't be as distraught as I was after the death of Lennie at the end of Of Mice and Men!! But after hering so many great things about this novel and about Steinbeck himself, I cannot wait to get reading this; Steinbeck has even admitted that 'There is only one book to a man' and to him it is East of Eden so I definitely have high hopes for this book.


Born to Run Bruce Springsteen

Huge Bruce Springsteen fan over here so of course this was on my shopping list, what more can I say? This has been on my want list for a very long time now but I just never got round to buying it as it was pretty pricey when it was first released and instead of buying the book I ended up buying his latest record at the time so I sadly have had to wait until I could actually justify buying it after pay day. Although I haven't read it thus far, what I absolutely love about it after flicking through the pages, is the photographs of Springsteen, they're just so amazingly well presented, I mean there are polaroid shots, scribblings of when and where they were taken; photographs of him in his youth, photographs of his gigs and his hometown and they're all just so beautiful.




Set The Boy Free Johnny Marr

Similarly to Springsteen's book, I'm a big big fan of The Smiths but I've never really paid much attention to the band members other than Morrissey. Now of course I know of Johnny Marr and the tensions between him and Morrissey but I wanted to familiar myself more with Marr himself and what he got up to after the band split up.I guess I just thought it would be a really interesting read and I mean it'll be so amazing to read about all of Marr's stories from when he was in The Smiths.

Anyway, that is all for my August book haul and I cannot wait to get reading them all!! What I have absolutely loved about not being at university, is that I can once again spend my time reading my days a way; something that I absolutely love doing! I mean I have been waiting and waiting for so so long until I have some spare time so I can finally waste my days curled up with my earphones in, listening to the likes of Springsteen, Dylan and Simone, with a perfectly placed book in hand. Bliss. So hopefully my recent purchases will give you guys some new reading inspo too!

The Clueless Blogger 

Q&A

Ok so as it's been over two years since I began my little ol' blog, I felt like it's long overdue that you guys get to know me a little bit better than what you occasionally see from my ordinary lifestyle blog posts. I feel like to an extent I've changed a lot over these two years in some aspects and then not so much in others but in what aspect I feel like I have improved a lot with is blogging. When I first started my blog, I posted maybe  a couple of times in the first year 1. because I wasn't that confident in what I was posting and 2. because I had no clue about the blogging world at all! I mean I had no idea how to customise my blog, how to find my own style and run with it and I had no idea of how I was supposed to get people to take an interest in my blog(These are still things I struggle with but I'm getting there at least).Considering I haven't done a post that gives you all a little insight into who I am, since my first ever blog post back in 2015, I thought I'd answer a few questions that I feel help to sum me up and will let you learn a little bit more about the girl hiding behind her computer screen.

Q. What's your favourite thing to do in your spare time?

A. Listening to records with a good book in hand or out record shopping; if you ever find me doing either of these, I will for sure be a happy chappy.


Q. If you could only read one book and listen to one record for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

A. Wow, why have I set myself such difficult questions to answer? Erm, if I could only read one book, it would have to be The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath as this is my all time favourite novel by my all time favourite author. The record would probably have to be The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan obviously by one of my all time heroes, Bob Dylan.


Q. Who are your favourite artists/bands of all time?

A. Bob Dylan, The Smiths, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, The Boomtown Rats, Nina Simone, The Doors.


Q. What do you do when you're not blogging?

A. When I'm not blogging, I'm currently studying at the University of Manchester doing a BSc in International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response. Yes, I know perhaps the longest degree title out there. So yeah, I'll soon be going in to my second year but being at university is the focal point of what I do other than blogging at the minute. But I guess when I'm not at uni  or blogging, you'll typically find me sleeping, reading, record shopping or sitting in a cool pub in Manchester with a can of Red Stripe in hand, classy.


Q. Summer or Winter?

A. Winter. Winter. Winter. Without a doubt, I love everything about Winter. I'm really not a summer fan at all, I hate the hot weather and the bulk of my wardrobe consists of oversized grandad jumpers which really don't bode well in the sun. So yeah, the drizzly English winters are definitely my favourite.


Q. Who are your favourite bloggers at the moment?

A. My all time favourite bloggers have to be Poppy Deyes, Megan Ellaby and Sophia Rosemary. I absolutely adore their blogs and have done for such a long time, the dream is definitely to have a blog as beautiful as these guys eventually. Although, these are my favourite all time bloggers, I've recently stumbled across What Olivia Did and I have to say its one of my new favourite finds, Olivia's taste in music is so so similar to my own and she has a series of posts on her blog called girl crush, where she interviews successful and inspirational young females whether they're entrepreneurs, actors and even fellow bloggers! It's such an inspiring and heartwarming series of posts! I've also recently come across The Art of Being Holly and this is also a new favourite of mine! Holly has such a beautiful and natural blog that has such a lovely feel good vibe to it; shes so artsy and also has a great taste in music (As you guys probably guessed, I'm a sucker for finding people who appreciate great music). It's also so so lovely to see a fellow blogger from Shropshire too! Something I never thought that I would really stumble across as Shropshire is such a quaint and typically unknown part of England


Q.What is your go to outfit?

A. This definitely has to consist of my dungarees and most likely a band tshirt with some doc martens. I mean my wardrobe is pretty much made up of 40% band tshirts 40% doc martens and the other 20% of random garments that are neither of the above. I'm also never without a denim jacket or a scrunchie on my wrist.


Q. What is your favourite thing to blog about/take photos of?

A. For me when I blog, its all about the photos; the photos always come first and then its the content I struggle with. But my favourite thing to take photos of, is the sea which you've probably guessed from the copious amounts of posts that are sea related. But apart from the sea, I love blogging about music and books as this is where my passion really lies.


Q.What is the last song you listened to?

A. Nancy From Now On Father John Misty


Q. What is something that you're completely obsessed with at the moment?

A. Yellow eyeshadow. I cannot get enough of it!! *Pictured above*


Q.Name a few things that you struggle with and are trying to improve on?

A. Winged eyeliner, public speaking and writers block


Q. What is with the blog name?

A. Obviously when I first started my blog back in 2015, I was completely new to this blogging world and it is fair to say that I was completely clueless! I even remember buying a Blogging for Dummies book as I had no idea where to start. Although, I soon found out that this book didn't really help me and instead realised that the best way to start learning more about blogging was to just go for it and learn along the way. So I guess this is where I've ended up and in some aspects it is still fair to stay that the title of my blog basically sums up my state of my mind most of the time as I'm a rather clueless individual.

Anyway, I'm going to leave that there before I start rambling on as I'm always guilty of doing but if you have any more questions please let me know and maybe I'll get round to doing another Q&A soon. I'm also planning on doing a whole post about university in September just before I go back for my second year so I can give you all an insight into my experiences last year as a fresher and to also answer any questions that you may have about university life. So, let me know in the comments if this is something you would find useful and if there is anything you wish to know! 

The Clueless Blogger

Cocktails, Brunch and Bookshops

So the other day me and my family headed down to Bath for a cute little day trip out. From previous posts, you'll all know that I love going to Bath because its just so bloody lovely in so many ways! 

On our way down to Bath, we decided to take a detour to Hallatrow to a place where I've been dying to visit for some time now.. The Book Barn. Ok, so basically The Book Barn is honestly the biggest book store that I have ever stepped in and for a bookworm like myself, it was an absolute dream. As soon as I stepped through the doors, I was surrounded by books; bookshelves from floor to ceiling brimming with oh, so many books. What I loved though, is that they're all second hand, vintage books, you know them good ol' books with broken spines, that smell like moth balls, well..I love them!  For me as much as I love going into the likes of Waterstones to buy a new book, there is nothing I love more than purchasing ones that are previously owned. There is just something so lovely about flicking through the tea stained, worn, moth eaten pages of a second hand book; title pages scrawled with notes from previous owners; the musty aroma, I just love everything about them! It just feels so nostalgic and romantic to wonder about who this book in your hands used to belong to and what this meant to that particular person. I know, I know... you're probably thinking, it is just a book right? Well not to me!

Ok so as well as housing the most books I've ever laid my eyes upon, they also have the most charming little coffee shop in there which means you can sit down and have a cuppa whilst having a read of one of the many books that you're surrounded by. We ended up having coffee and brunch before we headed into Bath and it was just oh, such a lovely setting to sit and enjoy my cup of coffee.

We shortly headed into Bath to do a bit of shopping and later on ended up going to Turtle Bay for food and cocktails. But overall, it was just such a lovely little day out, full of book shopping, cocktails and Caribbean food and I forget to mention I also picked up some of my favouriteeee flowers (peonies) from the cutest little florist in Bath. I'm definitely a happy chappy now we're in peony season as it means that I can have lots of cute little jam jars full of them in my room!

On a final note, you should definitely check out Bath if you haven't done so before and if you have already, I'd love to hear about your favourite shops, restaurants and places to go there!

The Clueless Blogger

A Must Have Book For Your Shelves

Just Kids Patti Smith

Ok, so this is a book that I've had sitting on my shelf for quite a while now amidst the hundreds of other books that I'm yet to read and it's been one of those books that has been staring at me begging me to read it since the day I picked it up from one of my favorite record stores a year or so ago. I mean I've been wanting to read this ever since I bought it but having so many books means that I'm always spoiled for choice and with my reading game being a little bit off recently, I've just not gotten round to sitting down and having a good read in such a long time thanks to university life being so hectic.

But anyway as I no longer have to suffer the traumas of university for three months, it means that I can happily get back to reading and oh am I so so pleased that I started off my summer with this absolute dream of a book!

Some of you may or may not have heard of Patti Smith so for those of you less familiar, I'll give you a quick run down of who she is, what she has done and why she wrote this book. Ok so basically Patti Smith is predominantly a singer-songwriter however as you'll find out from the book, in her earlier years her road into music led from her love of art and her incorporation of poetry within it. Without telling you too much as I don't wish to ruin it for you, what the book really reveals is the way in which her journey leads her from art to poetry to music, all with the help of her muse and soulmate Robert Mapplethorpe. It is a beautiful tale of love, friendship, identity and progression with the perfect backdrop of life in America in the 70's but also the harrowing and subliminal consequences of growing up around the very liberal, drugs, arts and rock and roll scene.


Anyway the reason I fell oh so in love with this absolute work of art is due to the pure poetic style that Patti Smith has in her narration of her odyssey both in terms of her journey towards her music career but also the ethereal and pure relationship that she held with her soulmate Robert Mapplethorpe. The book tells the harrowing story of how she left home, got wrapped up in art, how her and Robert helplessly battled with poverty and scraping by through the help of selling their art; the rock and roll scene and for me what absolutely made this book was the way Smith and Mapplethorpe lived in the centre of so many artists and musicians stomping ground so the likes of Andy Warhol and Jimi Hendrix. An absolute favourite scene of mine is when Patti Smith travels to Paris to pay her respects to one of her heroes Jim Morrison(Lead singer of the Doors) and the way in which she illustrates and captures the moment she visited his grave is captured in such a heartfelt and powerful way.

I absolutely fell head over heels in love with Patti Smith's elegy to Mapplethorpe and the beautifully sad tale of their intertwined lives. It is such a beautifully raw piece of Literature and Patti Smith's storytelling is unparalleled. Throughout the memoir, there are photographs of both Smith and Mapplethorpe but also of their art and photography which just adds to the beauty of the book. It is a book that is a perfect read for your Summer days and one you can completely obsess over. This is for sure a book that will be remaining on my shelves forever more, one that I will never be parting with!

The Clueless Blogger

Escape to the Sea

As you all know by now, I absolutely adore Cornwall; this is something I feel goes without saying as you can tell by my copious amounts of blog posts on the place. Cornwall is honestly like a second home for me or well I guess a third home as I now live in Manchester also but anyway as I was saying I love the place and after spending so much time down there along the years, it is certainly a place that I resonate with completely and somewhere I feel completely at home. Anyway, me and my family decided to make an impromptu getaway down there at the weekend as its been such a long time since our last visit.

After a mad rush packing on friday evening, literally chucking everything into my bag not knowing whether I had remembered everything, we hopped in the car and began our four hour long journey down to one of my favourite places. Despite our journey being extended by two more hours due to rush hour traffic, it wasn't all that bad as it meant that I was able to spend the entire journey both there and back with my earphones in listening to my absolute favourites Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, Nina Simone, Patti Smith.. I think you get the picture. It was absolute bliss, there's just something so ethereal about listening to Dylan playing his harmonica as you drive along the country roads. For me car journeys are the absolute perfect way to have a little thinking time but it also allows me to do loads of writing and reading, I love it!

Ok, so this post turned out to be slightly more rambly than precedented but ah well! We basically spent the whole weekend roaming around the shops, streets and alleyways of the town; taking photos of the sea; indulging in cake on the beach in the rain and admiring all the quirks that Cornwall has to offer. Although, the weather was pretty miserable on Saturday and it rained the whole time we were at the beach, this didnt bother me in the slightest as there is nothing I lve more than sitting on a drizzly beach, a conception that a lot of people probably find a bit strange ha ha. I also spent my days roaming aimlessly round all of the little boho shops that were full of crystals, dream catchers, incense and the most amazing quirky clothes, I was completely in my element!

Overall it was a great little getaway! Cornwall is an absolute gem if you want to getaway but still stay in the UK and if you're like me and love Cornwall too, let me know some of your favourite places down there, I'd love to know for my next visit! Or if you're planning on going to visit, then feel free to ask if you'd like to know anymore of the best places to visit when you're down there, I'd love to help!

The Clueless Blogger