My life has settled into a routine and let me say: I accept.
However, just because it’s routine doesn’t mean there isn’t time for going on adventures. (Unless, of course, we have another lockdown due to the Plague.)
REREAD DOPE BOOKS
I reread the Silver Branch and I adored it. Some things don’t hold up from your childhood and should never be revisited lest they be found to have feet of clay. (Just go with me on this analogy.) However, other things? Absolutely should be revisited on a regular basis.
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff is 100% one of these. I loved it.
SUPPORT THE ARTS
I went to see The Play That Goes Wrong and giggled/cackled/chortled/guffawed the whole way through.
(I should probably assure you that this was a comedy.)
After the highs of this dizzying experience, I went back to watch Merlin: A Ballet.
My dear pals, comrades, and chums – I forgot that it wasn’t a comedy and when the two dancers (they were gods, apparently, and the parents of Merlin) glided on stage with a slight squeaking of dance shoes – I was *this* close to giggling.
And then I remembered. And attempted to embrace the drama and the art that was being performed in front of me.
There were some really quite wonderful dances – when Morgan Le Feye enchants Uther, and a Lady Of The Lake sequence – however, I was mildly confused, mistook Arthur for Uther and Uther’s dad for Uther and it was only made clear when I googled it.
I’m not certain ballet is for me and I might not quite be able to follow the story (there was the Tide Kingdom and the Solar Kingdom and the baby could be Arthur. Possibly.) but I’m glad I gave it a go. David Suchet: Poirot And More was my cup of tea. In fact, it was exactly my cup of tea and it was a high I may never, ever come down from.
I’ve been watching him portray Poirot practically my entire life and let me tell you, seeing him in person, talking about how he played Poirot and his career and ‘oh, let’s just do some epic speeches and make you feel things from Shakespeare’ MOVED me.
100% would recommend.
GO TO MUSEUMS AND/OR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE CENTRE
I kept on telling everyone ‘oh yes, I’m going to the International Space Centre’.
DISCLAIMER: I was not going to the International Space Centre.
I was going to the National Space Centre. In England. We don’t have a huge space thingy (a technical term that I definitely learnt there) here, however, we’ve had some astronauts.
(Wait. It’s ‘space program’. I meant ‘we don’t have a huge space program.’ There we go. We got there in the end.)
It was fun. Jim Kirk wasn’t there which was a terribly tragic disappointment that I’ve yet to recover from.
There was a milkshake in the flavour of ‘blue goo’. This was an accurate description of its taste. It also turned my tongue blue. This is the future of humanity.
HAUNT A GRAVEYARD
It makes you think of your mortality. We have only so much time on this earth; they remind you of those who are gone and to treasure those who are here.
Graveyards are quiet, sombre places – and yet, they are tranquil. You can look at the names engraved on headstones and wonder who these people were, what kind of lives they lived, what their stories were.
STAR GAZE (AT NIGHT)
Notice I clarified it with ‘at night’. You’re welcome. I’m very detail orientated. Look – take a flask of tea with you. Go where there’s minimal light pollution – or just go and lie down on a lawn, any lawn. Preferably, yours. Stare at the stars. Think about life. All those other folks who have watched the same stars. That sort of thing. Also – maybe take a blanket too.
You don’t have to think deep thoughts – you can just look up and be lost in the wonder of it all. And when it gets cold, go back inside, wrap up in a blanket, and enjoy a hot drink. You’ve earned it.
of words & books 