I don’t have a typical weekend anymore and that makes me yearn for one. If I have one, which might be the first in three months, I try and reconnect with the domestic goddess in me.
I’ll go to the market and buy stuff to cook and a nice bottle of wine. Then I’ll have a bad TV marathon.
I did that recently where I watched the EastEnders omnibus, an episode of Poirot, which I love, then Blade Runner and Love Actually.
It was a Sunday. I’d been out with the girls on the Saturday night, dancing and drinking, after we’d seen a matinee of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in the West End with James Earl Jones.
So, if I get a weekend off I’ll do something like that.
Friday night I’ll be tired, so I’ll try and sort the junk in my flat.
I never get in to DVD box sets like Lost or 24 or CSI. That’s not my thing. I like music programmes and some of the stuff on Dave. I know this sounds bad but I really like Heartbeat. My favourites are detective dramas like Poirot, Columbo, Ironside and Murder She Wrote. I love the attention to detail, the outfits, the music... all that kind of stuff.
And weird documentaries, about a baby with six legs or something and people believe she’s a Hindu goddess.
The last film I saw at the cinema was Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces. I don’t get the time to go often so it has to be really bad but entertaining or something intense I can really get lost in. I’ve never been in to middle of the road stuff.
I am a really good cook when I’m not in a rush. I like cooking for other people. I’m from a huge African family so I’m not used to cooking just for myself. If I do I’m very lazy.
I was washing rice from the age of six, although though the boys in the family didn’t have to do anything. We’d all be playing outside climbing a tree and you’d get called in to wash a vat of rice. While your cousin or brother could stay in the tree.
I love Come Dine With Me. If I was on that I’d do a slow roasted leg of lamb or pork belly, something classic and Western but with an African inspired gravy or vegetable rice.
I do keep fit. I try to swim and do sit-ups so I can keep jumping up and down on stage and be able to sing upside down. I have to do that twice a week. I’ll find the nearest gym or leisure centre in whichever city I’m in and do 40 laps, about 50 sit-ups, then have a sauna to sweat out all the booze.
I’m reading Samuel R Delany at the moment. He’s an African-American science fiction writer who inspired people like Philip Moorcock and Philip K Dick. The way he plays with words breaks my heart. It’s called Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, which is one of the most beautiful phrases I’ve ever read on paper.
Zadie Smith’s latest book was really good as well.
The key to a perfect weekend is the company. You can do the walks, you can go to the cinema, the restaurant, the play, the gig... but for me it’s got to be with someone.
Who?
Hopefully they’re just round the corner.
The Noisettes play Rock City on Monday February 22, 7.30pm. Tickets are £14 from the venue, call 0871 310 0000.
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