Small Fry: Vol 1
A hotel opening, a new novel and tips for a London summer classic
A new hotel in an old haunt
Growing up, I spent summers babysitting on Nantucket and fell in love with the grey lady. We stayed out Siasconset way and drove to town for peppermint stick ice cream at Nantucket Pharmacy and to browse the Nantucket red at Murray's Toggery Shop. I thought the over-sand driving was the coolest thing in the world. We’d head out to Great Point to fish for bluefish or sea bass and grill up our spoils for dinner. I have such special memories of the island and going to Nantucket was actually my first time on a plane!
I haven’t visited Nantucket in years, but The Brant Hotel is a recent addition to my ever-growing hotel bucket list. This 2025 opening has made Travel & Leisure’s The 100 Best New Hotels of the Year list and earned a Michelin key. The hotel looks unreal and it is also a close walk to town and the historic Brant Point Lighthouse.
A book I couldn’t put down
I devoured Holly Brickley’s debut novel Deep Cuts on a recent long plane ride. I loved this book deeply, especially the musical references, the nostalgia of the tumblr and myspace days and the complicated love story. I’ve also listened to a playlist of every song that the book mentions and it is excellent. And Saoirse Ronan set to play Percy in the movie? Sign me up.
Game, set, match
Get the Pimm's out - it is almost Wimbledon-time. The tournament runs June 30th -July 13th and feels so quintessentially British - the immaculate grounds! the strawberries! the cream! the queue!
If unsuccessful in the ballot, the queue allows fans to snag day-of tickets. I’ve crowd-sourced a bit of helpful info from some queue vets:
The queue starts in Wimbledon Park near Southfields Station. Officially it opens 2pm this Sunday, June 29th but it is likely people will begin lining up “unofficially” on Saturday.
Queuing on someone else’s behalf is not permitted. You can leave your spot for up to 30 mins at a time, but cannot leave Wimbledon park once you’ve joined the queue and stewards do monitor the queue regularly.
Wristbands are issued starting at 7:30am daily and grounds open at 10am. Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to the queue, Center Court tickets typically run out quickly and almost all go to campers but there is still a good chance of scoring tickets to one of the other show courts if you line up early (like 4am early)
If you arrive later, you will still likely have to wait a few hours for a grounds pass, which allows you in and to watch games in the outside courts. The best time to do this is the start of the tournament, when you may find some really strong players playing in the outside courts.
If you grab a grounds pass only, go to the resale stand once inside to join a virtual queue for resale tickets later in the day. The ground pass alone though is a great vibe on the first few days of Wimbledon.
There is no queue option on the last 4 days of the tournament.
Love the new series!