## To add - [[Anthony Bourdain]] ## Candles Once [[Autumn]] arrives I like to make my environment as cosy as possible. And nothing adds instant cosiness like a candle. I'm sure they're not very good for a my health and I'm breathing in a lot of gunk. But I'm still happy to light them. I like plain 'church' candles – the bigger the better. And when it comes to scented ones, I like [[Yankee Candles]] and I choose which to buy based on the artwork on the front, rather than the smell. The artwork has to make me feel cosy – I'd never buy a summer-sounding one. They are pricey, so once I find one I like on Amazon I set up a price alert with [CamelCamelCamel](https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/tracker?sf=cm) and I only buy it once it's on deep discount. These are the ones I've got in my closet as of September, 2024: - [Red Apple Wreath](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016MPSUJO/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item) - [Christmas Magic](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XFS8NFB/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item) - ... ## [[Tapestries]] Slap a tapestry on a wall and you've got instant cosiness and warmth. I admit they don't fit every space. Especially the kind I like, which are replicas of tapestries from the [[1400s]]-[[1600s]]. It makes you feel like you're in a cocoon – your own little world. Walls can be hard and plain. Tapestries make them textured and beautiful. They even make the sound in a room cosier, thanks to how they absorb it and stop sound bouncing around. My dream [[lounge]] is the Gryffindor Common Room: ![[gryffindor-common-room.jpg]] [Photo by Adrian Court](https://www.flickr.com/photos/adriancourt/24910939042/) And one of the reasons I love the pub [[The Royal Standard of England]] is because of its tapestries: ![[IMG_8691.JPG]] The above is a replica from a collection of tapestries called [[The Lady and the Unicorn]]. I currently own just one tapestry (sadly), and it too is a replica from the same collection: ## Spy Movies I like the action ones like Bond and Bourne, but I have a particular soft-spot for more 'thinking' ones. Especially those based on the work of [John le Carré](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_le_Carr%C3%A9). In general I tend to like anything that involves British upper-class men from the [[1900s]] in tweedy suits smoking, scheming and having to use their over-alcoholed brains. I like the stuffiness and slowness of them. They're often equal parts dull and confusing. But they also have a comfortable cosiness to them. Rather strangely I've always fantasised about being a civil servant in the 50s/60s/70s. It seems like a world that's slow and predictable and I like that. I would wake up at the same time every day in my drab but large home. My white vest-covered body would take a sip of water from a [lowball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_fashioned_glass) and I'd put on my small, gold Omega watch and start my day. After eating a tasteless bran cereal of some description for breakfast whilst listening to the BBC on the radio I'd then catch the wonderfully quiet bus at exactly 08:13 to the office through a fog-hugged London. Work would be a nice combo of relaxed and rigorous. My evenings would be made up of either quiet contemplation and drinking, as well as some letter and (bad) poetry writing. Or spent at either the pub or a members-only club.