New Cities, Social Media, and Sandwiches...

Oh what a difference a week makes. This time seven days ago, I was bemoaning the boredom that had settled in my life. The sameness of everything; the monotonous grind of non-changing weather, writing routine, and social life. Bad times. But in happier times, I can confirm I took my own advice. I mixed things up. I opened the metaphoric windows. I let a breeze whip through my day. And not, as I explained last week, in an earth-shatteringly dramatic way. Nope, not for a single second. Instead, I tried a new thing. Are you sitting comfortable? Then I'll carry on. 

I did not, you'll be pleased to know, do 
an Oasis walk at any point on my jaunt.

Despite living half an hour away from the centre of Manchester, I never go there. Ever. I've nothing against Manchester. I just happen to live ten minutes nearer to my home town of Liverpool. That's where I go when I feel the pull of a city. So, with a spare Saturday and an open mind, I took myself off for a day trip. Look, day trip makes it sound like I packed sandwiches and woke at dawn. Nothing that adventurous happened. I simply got a train, looked round the shops, went to Afflecks - a place I've heard about since my teenage wannabe-goth days - and then got the Metro back to the station. It was great. I don't know why I don't do it more often. And how fab is the Metro? Since the last time I travelled on it (a very long day watching a cricket match at Old Trafford in 2013), it's all tap and go. Like the Tube! I loved it, and it perked my week right up. I'm just telling you so that readers of last week's blog can have the closure they undoubtedly need. You're welcome.

Catch up on the first Leeza
book before the second 
rocks your world.

Writing News

I read though the whole draft of Leeza McAuliffe Book 2. Again. I still find things to change when I do, but it's getting there. I've told myself I'm going to stop titting about and move on to the next step by the end of July. That next step will be to get in touch with the editor. I'm at the point where every time I read it, I can practically recite it - not bad for a 60,000 word novel - so it's time to move forward. More as we have it. (In more closure from last week, some young people now have their hands on it. I await their honest feedback with fearful gratitude.)

Sigh. They were everything.

Culture

Speaking of new things to invigorate life, I've joined Threads. You know, the new social media app that's aiming to take over the ever-failing Twitter. So far I'm largely sceptical. It's fine. No, it's better than fine. It's just not completely Twitter when Twitter was good. But I'm persevering. I can't tell you how empty it feels to have an honest-to-God exciting day in politics (Johnson getting slammed by the privileges committee for example) and barely anyone's Tweets on the matter being visible. It was so much fun to share thoughts and read decent analysis as events unfolded*. That's what I'm looking for on Threads. Time will tell, I guess. In other, emotionally charged, news, the Wham! documentary on Netflix was the best thing I've seen in ages. (Click that link to see the trailer if you need more convincing.) How lovely were Andrew and George? The answer is very.

Just imagine!

Food and Drink

I'm all about cherries this week. My sister had them in her fridge when I babysat a couple of weeks ago, and I've added them to my weekly shop ever since. I'm assuming it's the right time of year or something, because the basic supermarket ones are as ripe as anything. Hurrah. Alternatively, I'm becoming borderline obsessed with the range of sandwiches from Marksie's Plant Kitchen. A veggie butty no longer has to be egg and cress. Nope, take a look at this bad boy. New York Style Salt Beef on a Pretzel Roll with a Slaw and Dill Pickle. (Sandwich eaten. But you can imagine.) The absolute dream!

Out and About
In my continuing bid to support the teacher's strike and show solidarity to former colleagues, I babysat the niece and neph again. Yep, they had a strike day off school whilst their parents worked. This meant a 5.30am start to avoid the potential madness of an M62 and M1 rush hour. It was a genuinely lovely morning drive; an open road filled with podcasts. And lovely to share the day with the niece and neph too. Aunt's Bants should be my official side hustle.

May your own weeks be full of open minds, great sandwiches, and new experiences as desired. Alternatively, crack on with whatever you want to do, however you want to do it. It's fine either way.

Have a lovely week, folks 

*See also, Eurovision. Live-Tweeting the final used to be brilliant. So much engagement, so many connections made. This year, the social media side of things  was decidedly less good. I'm counting on Threads to ditch the algorithmic timeline for a chronological one for future Eurovision bants.