Dear reader
I hope this finds you well.
Do you find yourself writing those words on every single email, text and WhatsApp message you send to someone you don’t know very well? Anyway, if you are reading this I hope that you are well and you feel at peace. I hope that you don’t judge yourself too harshly and set impossible standards for yourself. I hope that you don’t measure yourself up against a legion of others and find yourself constantly lacking. I hope that your life isn’t blighted by anger* or resentment. *Although anger can be useful if channeled in the right direction.
Sometimes I see very well meaning tweets telling someone that they are loved and valued. If I was in a bad place I’d think - ‘what do you know?’ I hope you do feel loved and valued, for your own sake and also because, if you feel that, you are less likely to cause harm to anyone else. Perhaps you don’t realise how loved and appreciated you are?
Enough of that, it’s all starting to sound a bit wanky.
I haven’t written in a while and don’t plan to regularly update this blog for the time being. This is partly due to the fact that I don’t think anyone other than Russian spybots reads it regularly. It’s also because I’ve just done a writing course and am working on a novel, which always sounds more impressive than it is but there! I am working on a novel for adults. Now I’ve committed to it and I can’t back out.
At it’s best this blog was a wonderful tool for connection, at its worst it wasn’t even that bad, a benign way to let off steam and perhaps overshare...So it’s been lovely but now it’s time to move on and try and channel all my creative energy into the *novel*.
I’m just gonna leave you with some hard hitting musings:
Crush of the month:
Bertie Carvel as Dalgliesh in the Channel 5, yes Chanel flipping 5, series of the same name. Based on the crime series by P.D.James. He’s quiet, he’s dignified, he tells his dickhead sidekick off. I heart him.
Best TV
Dalgliesh - obviously, watch it on Channel 5 - Five star I think it’s called - I wonder if the ‘eighties band have thought of suing them.
The Outlaws - Comedy drama by Stephen Merchant and Elgin James. Genuinely funny and proper bloody tense at times! I’ve come to love the characters. Catch it on BBC iPlayer.
Impeachment: American Crime Story - Real events are played out, real people are humanised and Clive Owen plays Bill Clinton! Yes, he dons a prosthetic nose and a very convincing Arkansas accent and presents a very credible performance.
Chocolate advent calendars used to make me feel sad. It’s not that I don’t like chocolate but I miss the old fashioned calendars (which I used to make when I was a kid) - the excitement of seeing which picture would appear. But this year my Mum has bought us all a posh Lindt calendar. There’s something truly thrilling about being a middle aged woman and having someone still buying you an advent calendar. I appreciate the form of it forcing you to be moderate and only have one a day.
The title of this piece is misleading, the blog used to be a message in a bottle, form of connection, means of expression but now it's more like an expunged ‘Dear Diary’ or a motto in a fortune cookie. I once wrote in outrage about feminine deodorant https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/978691151524409415/1529823579158032984 then saw an advert for 'ball trimmer and ball deodorant' the other day. Two wrongs don't make a right! I feel like my granny calling The Beatles long haired louts, appalled at these developments. I feel that Naked Attraction is everything that is wrong with society. I have no wish to see a pasty, flaccid penis or shaved vulva. I'm as prurient as the next person but there's something deeply soulless and unsexy about that programme. You probably disagree and that’s OK, there are worse things to disagree on.
Politics
I can't write about the political situation, I'm outraged and I'm tired and I'm stunned that people keep voting for this shower. If the P.M defecated on a puppy on live T.V people would still vote for him and his bunch of sociopaths. I have nothing more to say on this, not here anyway.
I don't want to depart on that note so I'll just put a picture of a cute animal.
So this is where I leave you. Thanks for reading, you’ve been amazing! (Unless you’re a Russian spybot) Stay sane, stay healthy, keep the creative spark going. All the very best.
