20 Feb 2023
If we were having a coffee, I would tell you... #3
My mum always says that it is around my birthday (mid-February) that the weather starts to turn, Spring starts to tentatively say; hi, I’m on my way, hang on in there. The light changes, there are snowdrops popping up with an air of hope, there are more blue-sky days, I opt for a lighter coat. It feels lovely and hopeful to turn my face into the sun; the end of winter is here. Grab yourself a coffee/cuppa/hot choc, let’s catch up:
The start of the year… Oh it’s been a mixed few weeks. Gentle in many ways which is how the start of the year should be, but also hard work in so many others. Bereavement, one-year-jabs (brutal), stomach bugs, fevers, a general feeling of unsettledness that comes with a new routine and – as always – sleep deprivation. Will I ever sleep through the night again dear god. But we have made a lot of firm and tentative plans for the year ahead and I am so looking forward to it.
Back to work and writing routines… the biggest change at the start of this year has been returning to work. It’s been five weeks now, and we’re all starting to feel a bit more settled. It has been an adjustment for the little one and we’ve had to negotiate increased clinginess and more disrupted nights, but I think we’re getting there. It’s a disorientating feeling returning to work (particularly when working from home/part time) after a year away and yet, it does all start drifting back to you. I hoped life would feel more balanced by going back to work and it does. I’m enjoying the routine of work, of looking after Alfie and a precious afternoon a week to myself to write/do life admin. My current writing routine takes me to one of my favourite coffee shops where I sit by the open fire and bash out words on my little keyboard with the delicious feeling that there’s nowhere else I need to be, just for a couple of hours.
Good food, cute date… Two months in and so far, we’ve stuck to our commitment to have monthly dates throughout 2023. Nothing fancy but it’s amazing the difference a little child-free lunch date can make, particularly when there’s delicious sushi and katsu curry involved.
Excellent books & TV… That final season of Happy Valley! I am a little more selective about what TV to watch these days as I only want to use the time if it is really worth it, and I can confirm that I would quite happily watch several more hours of Sarah Lancashire grumpily marching around Calder Valley. In the book department, my aim to spend a lot more time reading is doing wonders for my mental health and I have read some absolutely crackin’ books in the last few weeks. I had a book hangover from Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow and I suspect I am going to have the same from my current read – The Whalebone Theatre (I’m two thirds of the way into this one so no spoilers please). Very different books but both brilliant.
31 years around the sun… Hadn’t quite processed being 30 yet but here we are! Naturally, it was the one day none of us were at home so OF COURSE it was also the one day the nursery called us saying Alfie had a temperature and needed picking up. Gary was in Kent, and I was on a train into London so you can imagine how well that went down. Even so, birthdays – if you’re lucky enough – have a way to make you feel very loved even if they don’t go to plan. It’s the little things for me: all your favourite people sending you a message, surprise flowers from a friend, cake on tap, a little candle in your dessert at the restaurant. I feel very lucky for the people in my life, even if my dismal WhatsApp response time must drive them mad (FOREVER SORRY).
Tell me, how’s the first couple of months of the year been for you?
P.S. Just a little reminder that I am now on Substack. You will find monthly short stories, titbits from the kitchen and other bits and bobs. February’s short story is going out soon and it would be really very nice if you subscribed. You can do so here.
Hey there!
