The View From the Shoe: Bee Drunken

Today's View From the Shoe is being posted on a Thursday because I am taking an internet break for a week in the (probably vain) hope that it will enale me to finish The Man Who Painted Agnieszka's shoes, and my next project, which I'm unveiling over at Year Zero. I'll be back online next Friday

I met the author of the marvellous Bee Drunken blog quite by chance whilst looking for a website for my favourite bookshop, Oxford's Albion Beatnik, and fell instantly in love with its exquisite accounts of culture and travel. Bee is also co-author of the unctuous, amazizing food blog, Domestic Sensualists.

So here's Bee, in her own words:

· Thank you so much for your time. So, Louboutin or Converse?
Honestly? I would have to say wellies and slippers. I would like to attribute this lack of shoe-cool to being over 40, but the sad truth is that my life in England is all about warmth and comfort. (When I lived in Texas, I wore lots of cute sandals, but essentially I am not a very style-driven person and I’ve been quite happy to lapse into countryside pragmatism and slobbery.)

· What do you do?
Well, I’m pretty much a grab-bag of hobbies and enthusiasms – and I do a lot, but in another sense, quite little. I’m a mom/teacher/wife/eternal student who makes a home-cooked meal every night. I’m a city person who lives in the countryside. I’m an extroverted loner. I’m the girl next door with a wide eccentric streak. I’m the person who will unexpectedly send you a card – just because it reminded me of you. I’m a very good talker, but I hate phones. I’m prone to tangents. I take my writing seriously, but I’m not very ambitious. I love it when people are passionate (and not afraid to show it) about their enthusiasms. I’m pretty sure that I haven’t found my true calling yet, but even if I never do, it will still have been a rich and satisfying life.

· Why is there no one in the world who does it quite like you?
I am an impractical and idealistic dreamer, but also a good plain cook who can multi-task. I have an English vocabulary combined with a Texan drawl.

· What do you really, really love about it?
I love that my personal circumstances allow me to travel a lot and be a bit of a dilettante. I love that blogging has enabled me to form friendships all over the world. I love that I am capable of “great gusts of joy.”

· A bit more time in the day, or a bit more money in the bank?
I would like to have more hours between dinner and bedtime. This is my favourite time of the day, and it always goes so quickly . . .

· Imagine you “make it”. You wake up, and imagine the day ahead. Tell us about breakfast.
Well, I expect that I will be in a self-indulgent mood; thus I would order room-service from some fancy London hotel that does extremely high thread-count sheets. There would be a big pot of tea and some cake. I would read all morning, from a choice selection of books, newspapers and magazines, and then perhaps venture into Town sometime after elevenses.

· What’s your Jimmy Choo? And what’s just cobblers?
My Jimmy Choo in life is a wondrous independent bookstore that also sells good coffee, tempting baked goods and beautiful cards and is located, ideally, next to an equally wonderful grocery store or market. My idea of cobblers is that frozen-food shop Iceland.

· Tell us about the last time a fan made you feel 100 feet tall.
Any time I get a comment . . . because I’m easy that way.

· Independent and poor, or under contract and rich?
(How poor am I?) I hate deadlines and fine print . . .

· Do you remember that bit on Play Away where Brian Cant stood behind people and did the actions whilst they spoke? If you could choose anyone to stand behind you and do the actions to your sales pitch, who would it be and why?
Since Banana already took Oprah, I’m going to opt for Michelle Obama. So many reasons for the because, starting with her husband: but also because she has a great smile; she is smart and stylish; and she is much tougher and taller than I am.

· Frocks or socks?
Socks, for 360 days of the year. Very occasionally, a frock.