I was born in London and lived here until I was 18, when I moved to Cambridge to study English. I stayed on to do an MA in creative writing, then spent the next two years trying to persuade my boyfriend to move back to London with me. We returned last September. We wanted to return for a few reasons: firstly, to get into publishing, which I’ve been lucky enough to do (I’m an editorial assistant at an academic publisher); second, to get more involved in feminism, which I’ve started to do via the Fourth Wave: London Feminist Activists group and my blog, the Jar Belles; and finally, to spend more time with my family and oldest friends, who all still live here.
Thanks to my feminist activity, I’ve also been able to make lots of new friends – the sisterhood is certainly still alive in London! After living in Cambridge for so long, I’m constantly shocked at all the people you can meet in the city and the sheer scope of things you can do. Hula-hooping is my latest hobby – I highly recommend it.
I started reading the Guardian while bored out of my mind in a sales job in Cambridge. My family are Daily Mail readers so I hadn’t been exposed to it before – it was great to finally read a paper I agreed with. Since then I’ve been consistently impressed by the way it defends whistleblowers and covers feminism, and I’ll read anything written by Hadley Freeman. No other paper is as compassionate or as open-minded, though I do get the feeling sometimes that I’m not as well off as most readers. I’d like to see anyone “grow veg at home to save money” out of my flat.
I follow the Guardian on Twitter, but haven’t succumbed yet on Facebook – I’m trying not to have too many companies on there. The Guardian style guide account on Twitter is brilliant though – its writers deserve a raise.
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