A Weird AF Week...

Me and the news.

I made the decision early doors, to switch off the TV and ignore the Internet. It was for the best. After hearing the actual news - the Queen has died - information outlets quickly filled with speculation and nonsense. Then they repeated it, ad nauseam. I realised I needed to stop shouting at the telly and do other things.

But that makes for a strange week. As a self-confessed news junkie, I've felt unmoored. Desperate to hear from reputable outlets about the war in Ukraine, I searched high and low for a still-functioning source. (I finally remembered Arthur Snell's Doomsday Watch podcast and devoured that.) After weeks of debating with friends about how Liz Truss was going to tackle the energy crisis, I've yet to read anything in depth and reliable despite the immediate plans she once had, to share her ideas. When I did venture onto Twitter, my timeline was filled with retweeted hatred from royal commentators/grifters who pounced on Meghan Markle's every move whilst ignoring the fact they're bitter, twisted racists. Or alternatively, and less rage-inducingly, there was loads of 'Queue Chat'. Like the Duchess of Sussex, The Queue™ was also the subject of intense and constant scrutiny, but without the bare-naked bigotry. Indeed 'Queue Chat', - and just so we're clear, this was the running commentary about the line of people, queuing to walk past the Queen's coffin - could be split into two distinct camps.

1. This is a spectacularly British thing to behold. Isn't our innate eccentricity over such matters of etiquette and decorum, sweetly endearing?

2. WTAF?

I probably don't need to tell you I fell into the second camp. But as someone who ultimately believes that people should do want they want, as long as they don't hurt others, who was I to judge? Queue to your heart's content if that's what makes you happy. I just didn't need to read the thoughts of random people who were watching other people do it. 

So now the official mourning is over. The government, we can only presume, has to do some governing, and I can switch on the news and read social media without feeling like I'm losing my mind. That's plan, anyway. Let's see how it goes.

Fill my veins with
high school movies.

Writing News

In a bid to refuel low reserves of inspiration, I've been recently hammering high school films. Booksmart, Love Simon, Moxie, and then Son of Rambow (less high school, more Will Poulter being brilliant.) I try not to read the genre of book that I'm writing whilst actually writing it - too many worries about inadvertently copying the voice of others - but I have no qualms about immersing myself in the same world via film. It's been a treat.

Any excuse for a 
Hot Priest gif.

Culture
Straight off the back of Rushdie's Midnight's Children, I've gone with Kiley Dunbar's Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop. Wildly different but both engaging and magical. Cosy Christmas novel season is here. I also rewatched Fleabag in its entirety, so I've had to deal with all the feels, once again.

Food and Drink
What do you do when everything's closed, the TV has room for just the one story, and you've exhausted all your boxsets in the ten day lead-up? You spend the day baking, of course. Yesterday saw me make my first ever batch of cinnamon rolls, and my first Christmas cake. Not the first Christmas cake I've made in my life, but the first one for 2022. The actual Christmas cake for actual Christmas, will come later. 

Out and About

Not much happened in the old Out and About category. My Wednesday brunch was lovely and my Thursday Costa was fun. I can't argue with that.

So now it's a short week, I've rejigged my settings to make this go out on Tuesday, and I've still got the headache of switching it back to Mondays almost immediately. I shall have to leave you and get on. It's all go here. 

Have a lovely week, folks.