The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

Jumpsuits, Playsuits and any Romper style outfit has been the discussion of my life lately, with nearly all my female friends. Firstly am I bold enough to wear one, secondly will I look like I am trying to be cool or look like I am in fancy dress and thirdly will I look like a sack of potatoes.

I recently bought a paisley harem jumpsuit in Goa and have since felt the need to search for others. They combine all the fantastic factors of wearing a dress to work (not having to find tops/bottoms that match) but without the stress of hunting for tights [see previous blog about tight hatred]. There is of course the chance your boss will call you MC Hammer all week.

I recently read an article where Jerry Hall was cursing 80’s fashion [ahem might want to change the hair and lipstick] and it does seem surprising that things we so venimently swore never to wear in the 90’s have reappeared again.  Leggings , Legwarmers and huge tops for example – I can’t help be worried that maybe in a few months I’ll be contemplating wearing Lycra cycling shorts and a hyper-glo T-shirt to work.

I have decided therefore to seek solace in the fact that history does in fact teach us many lessons (side ponytails look good on 6 year olds but not 26 year olds) and that picking and choosing elements of the past to rehash is fine as we can omit the worst bits.

This weeks review is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel which essentially chooses some of the juicy bits of history to revitalise [come on admit it, you thought how the hell is she going to make a link between the Tudors and Jumpsuits – you thought I was going to down the cod piece route eh?]. Thomas Cromwell is by history’s standards an opportunistic son-of-biatch. After all the title of the book comes from the name of the ancient Seymour seat in Wiltshire Wulfhall – their family motto ‘Man is wolf to man’ – Chilling isn’t it?
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Being a woman in Summertime actually sucks the big one. It seems like I spend my whole time devoting myself to hair removal, fake tanning [oh yes the tan is well and truly on its way out and I have only been home a week], deciding whether it too hot or too cold for tights [which I hate as we all know], trying to look demure on boiling hot trains [even though my nose is running and I am stuck in someones armpit] and having to keep my feet in perfect pedicured mode just incase I need to flip on my Havanas or gladiator sandals. I have noticed for the men in my office nothing has changed with the on set of Summer – oh apart from sometimes they don’t have to wear their suit jacket. Good for them.

Normally I stick to bookish type things but this week I am diversifying slightly. Two days ago I had the happy opportunity to be invited to the review screening of Robin Hood which is Ridley Scott’s new epic film starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.

As an avid history buff to say I was skeptical was an understatement but I should have put my faith in Scott. Probably one of the best Hollywood ‘blockbusters’ of Robin Hood I have ever seen I am more than happy to suggest you all head and see it immediately! Forget that Russell Crowe is quite frankly hot stuff and that Cate Blanchett’s skin is not of this earth – Robin Hood is a great period piece.

Robin Hood is the tale of Robin before we know him robbing the rich to feed the poor. After ten years on the crusades as a poor archer Robin Longstride encounters a series of events that leave him taking the crown of Richard the Lion heart home after his death.

After being asked by Robert of Locksley in his dying wish to return his precious sword to his father Robin heads North to Nottingham to settle his promise. Caught up in Nottingham events Robin pretends to be Robert of Locksley to ensure his beautiful widow [Cate Blanchet] Marion does not lose her land and home after Sir Walter Loxley’s death.

Slowly Marion and Robin fall in love against the tyrannical backdrop of the Church and King John. Sir Walter has agreed that by pretending to be his dead son he will tell Robin of his missing past. He learns his father was a rebel who drew up the original basis of the Magna Carta, but was put to death for his rebellious ideas.

Robin agrees to rouse the Northern barons of England to battle against the invading French if King John will sign his father’s treaty. The French are assured that this country is divided by a traitor Godfrey and have therefore set sail to take our Island by force.

Will John keep his word and what will face Robin so that he ends up living his life outside the law? All the familiar faces are here in their practical historical way – fat Friar Tuck, Little John and of course Will Scarlet. All these men will become the immortal Merry Men we know and love.

Although it seems Ridley Scott hoped to recreate a Gladiator movie it does not have the same epic feel. The pace is much slower but the quality is there – both Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett deliver mesmorising performances and the gritty realism makes this one of the best interpretations yet made of our famous English legend.

Go and swoon in the cinema – Lauren x

I have returned from the land of curries which by all standards was quite an experience. It’s quite controversial when people asked you whether you enjoyed your holiday and you don’t immediately answer ‘YES! I want to be back their right now’ – to be honest I was quite happy to see England. No 45 degree dry heat [Delhi], nobody charging me 650 rupees more for entry because I am foreign [Taj Mahal], and no one trying to flog me something I wouldn’t pay them to take off my hands [Jaipur]. I did miss the beautiful palaces however [Udaipur], Cosmopolitan chaos [Mumbai] and someone delivering me Dominos by the beach [Goa].

I think most of my happiness to see the UK was due to the flight home. I would imagine that Economy is a bit like Chinese water torture, I always get a mean air hostess. The one we had looked like she would like to see me wearing my overcooked bland plane food which I was attempting to eat through 6 hours of constant turbulence. She also banned me from going to the loo because their was turbulence whilst literally every other person was Irish jigging around the cabin!

In addition to this we had a PA happy captain which every time he used the PA or everytime he accidentally touched it [this happened a lot!] all of those who were watching a film got a loud noise in their earphones which sounded like a 2 month old playing with a phone. Annoying? No, not as annoying as pan pipe music blaring out of speakers. I know you don’t want me to use my iPod on take off and landing but making me listen to 80’s hit love songs with no lyrics and through an instrument the devil invented, will only send me hunting for it During the horrific turbulence all I kept thinking was ‘Please God don’t let me die now, to the sound of Pan pipe music, to only the choice of curried food and a half finished the film The Blind Side’!
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Week 2 of me being in India, I can’t tell you any funny stories as I wrote this before I went. So it’s like me speaking from the past, into the future. Weird.

Speaking of weird, last week I was walking along the road where I work [Edgware Road] and the pavement exploded. The pavement just exploded! Then it caught fire!! The hole caught fire!! I thought I was in an episode of Charmed.

What the hell? Hardly anyone reacted, I mean I am pretty unobservant about most stuff but I did observe the pavement blowing up [well actually I didn’t realize until the slab fell on the floor in front of me but hey].

A nice man did tell me not to panic. Apparently it was a backed up gas explosion in the pipes and not a bomb. He obviously mistook my cowering and sheer panic me worrying about bombs. Actually I was more concerned about my new tan trench coat getting ruined than the fear of London bombings but I played along anyway. I then faked my ‘what a relief it wasn’t a bomb’ rather than ‘thank the Lord non of that crap got on my coat’ face.

However later on -over ‘large glass red please’ I was telling people about my near death experience and everyone seemed as surprised as me that pavement can just explode in the street. Is this a normal occurrence? Either this is a great gas conspiracy or I have super powers – which is probably what I told people after ‘nine large glasses, red please’.

You know that if I lived in an American Teen TV Show I would suddenly find out that am descended from witches and that blowing up streets is just one of my many powers. That didn’t happen so I don’t have a story. If it did I could have written a book just like this…

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe is not just an average read about Salem Witches – infact the author Katherine Howe is descended from the original Salem accused, Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the witch trials, and Elizabeth Howe, who did not, which adds a layer of legitimacy to the book.
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