25 Comments
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Wendy Varley's avatar

So many chuckles reading this, thanks, Nina.

And reminiscing about times I got the ick now.

Sally Jupe's avatar

Ick!!! These youngsters today don't know what a true Ick is! I too waited it out and married one and am still waiting it out after 'doing Ick time' of 50 Years yesterday. There are truly some Icks there I could write about. 😤

Thanks as always Nina for cracking me up whilst opening my eyes to what's out there in the world that people are doing, reading, sharing and talking about. So funny. The film poster just makes me want to collage!!

Nina Stibbe's avatar

😂 love it!

Portabela8's avatar

I loved the way this diary lets ordinary details accumulate until they become a kind of portrait of time. The roses, the swimming pool, the stray sentences, the odd news items — none of them are asked to mean too much, and yet together they make the days feel vividly alive.

Carb's avatar

I may have to rethink wearing a claw hair grip in the car

Katy Wheatley's avatar

My mum calls her acid reflux medicine jollop. She swigs it out of the bottle in a non advised yet devil may care manner

Karen Davis's avatar

I think the “ick” is much older than Ally McBeal. I had it in the 80s when someone didn’t know what radicchio was. Or when their dick was bent. Or if they had a tattoo or had never traveled outside the US. Very bougie 🤑 icks!

Nina Stibbe's avatar

Agree. I remember my sister having it in the 80s too

Sarah Jones's avatar

Wonderful thank you. I can't wait for your novel. And I didn't know of Nicolas de Stael so thank you. The lovely painting you chose here must have been right at the end of this life; sad to think he thought he wasn't good enough.

Debra Reece's avatar

Claw hair grip? Ick!

r s's avatar

As a result of painful experience I always make sure never to have my eyes pointing in the direction of the husband if he's likely to bend over away from me when he's in the nip. That view should never be seen. It burns like pyrography into the mind's eye.

Nina Stibbe's avatar

Laughing out loud 🤣

mar's avatar

I do that with dog names too 😬

Laura's avatar

Have been waiting for the Eva/Ella/Usa update! So glad the trip got better.

David Arthur's avatar

>… for repeatedly beating me at Scrabble with two-letter words and then going to prison.

Equally offensive behaviours?

Catherine's avatar

Astounded to discover that there is a Rose named after Abraham Darby, an actual ancestor of mine. And how vast must Vic's garden be to house such a collection?!

Nina Stibbe's avatar

Abraham Darby

Catherine's avatar

Ooh that’s a beauty, thank you 🙏

Nina Stibbe's avatar

look him up on David Austin Roses

Catherine's avatar

Oh no, there’s a rabbit hole I didn’t see myself falling down today…I may be some time 😬

Marcello Iori's avatar

Abandoning Bolaño for Pliny the Elder is the most extreme literary palate cleanse I've ever heard of. Though in fairness, Pliny never makes you feel like you need a shower.

Cindy Corell's avatar

Well, dammit. You warned me that Eva came around to the USA. Please warn her for me that Target is what put the finishing touches on our corruption. Also, I’m boycotting Target so I might actually be jealous.

Vic’s roses are stunning! Glorious! I’m planting a flower garden for the first time and loving it. 🪻🌺🌸

Also: about this line: “for repeatedly beating me at Scrabble with two-letter words and then going to prison”, are those clauses related? Like on a police report I read in the 1980s: “Perpetrator resisted arrest and was taken to the emergency room”?

Thanks for making me giggle. Please save Eva before she’s too far gone. 😎💐♥️

Charlie's avatar

I'm stuck on MGK and worrying on behalf of James Taylor.