Sami’s Blog: Clarkson

Summer is my favourite season on the coast. But I do have a soft spot for Winter. Because it is all about what defines my weak spots: comfort food, cosey fabrics and couch resting for hours on end. In Summer I feel guilty if I am not outside soaking up our supreme sunshine and beaches. But in Winter my guilt goes out the door with my thongs and togs and I am very happy to hibernate.

Winter is the ultimate weather for warm cherry pies covered in cream, hot sticky date puddings topped with ice cream, and pears stewing in the oven swimming in red wine and cinnamon. Nothing tastes better than a bowl of chilli con carne with corn chips and sour cream. Eat this bowl of comfort food around a fire pit or maybe opt for a hearty stew mopped up with white fresh bread. This is living.

Winter is also the best season for bringing out a prized possession: flannelette sheets. The unsung heroes of the season. If there was a fire in our house I would save the kids and dogs and then the flanno sheets and photo albums. That is how high up the totem pole they are when it comes to hero worship. And I am late to the party, but my recommendation for the cold nights is to watch ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ on Netflix. Jeremy Clarkson, from Top Gear fame, hilariously captures his failures at farming a picturesque block of land in the Cotswolds. It is extremely funny viewing and good for the soul to see how hard our farmers work on the land. Clarkson was just voted for the second year in a row the United Kingdom’s Sexiest Man Alive. He is weathered and 62 and beat Ryan Reynolds and Idris Elba to take out the top spot. Just proves funny is sexy. So, it is time to embrace Winter and all the good things it brings in the form of seduction: comfort food, sexy older blokes; and flannelette sheets.