When we were young

I've been listening to Adele's new album quite a lot this week, in particular a song called When We Were Young, which, for some reason, touches me in a way that few other pop songs have touched me recently. The lyric is incredibly moving and the whole package is imbued with a gentle theatricality which feels reminiscent of the 1970s. Maybe I'm romanticising because the '70s is when I was young, but there's definitely a timeless quality to the track which I find hugely alluring.

"Let me photograph you in this light in case it is the last time that we might be exactly like we were before we realised we were sad of getting old. It made us restless. It was just like a movie. It was just like a song"

Beautiful, wistful lyrics...

Today started with a music session in our loft. It's probably a bit cold up there at this time of year to be receiving visitors but we had the little fan heater going whenever we weren't filming. Tomorrow our secret project goes to press, so I ought to be able to write more about what we've been up to all this time. You may be able to read all about it in the meantime in The Guardian. The session this morning was good, although Nathan, with he blepharitis looks increasingly like a boxer with a black eye and felt incredibly self-conscious in front of the cameras.

Our director made a cake - a glorious Nigella recipe. I think she's learned that I'm much less spiky when I've got a bit of food in me. I work with a camera man in Newcastle who's realised the same thing, and puts little chocolate treats in my monitor bag for when I'm getting hangry!

This evening we went to rehearse with the gorgeous Fleet Singers, who are missing a few basses for their Christmas concert on Saturday, so Nathan and I are stepping into the breach. If anyone is free on Saturday night and wants to come and hear (and sing) some jolly carols, the concert starts at 7pm and is at Gospel Oak Methodist Church on Agincourt Road, NW3.

We came home to watch the results of Strictly, and I was horrified to see the female professionals pouting, gyrating and doing slut drops to the song "Woman." It's a song I loathe passionately. The lyric, which goes back to the era where women got patronisingly applauded for saying they were housewives on quiz shows, is about how brilliant women are at multi-tasking; how they can wash socks and rear children whilst looking fabulous. It's a woefully old-fashioned song that is often performed by very boring singers who use it as an excuse for a vocal w**k off which is never quite as impressive as they think it is! When women get dressed up like dolly birds and go all coquettish and slutty whilst performing it, I feel excruciatingly embarrassed and sense the feminist cause being shunted back millions of years.

As Nathan puts it, "being a woman doesn't make you amazing. Being amazing (and a woman) makes you an amazing woman!"