Metaphoric Gymnastics...

Ready for an opinion that'll split readers down the middle? Snow is brilliant! Yeah, I said it! There's nothing better than going for a walk when the air's biting cold, you're bundled up in layers, and there's a crisp white layer on the ground. Amiright? OK, OK, let's two-side this thing. I can also see that there's nothing worse than going for a walk when underfoot is sludgy, slippery, and treacherous. It's a fine line to balance.

 

The first flakes 
of the season.
Round my way
anyway.

Happily, last week, the first set of circs came about. I had two days of the loveliest winter walks. There's something inherently marvellous about returning, rosy cheeked and breathy, ready for my first cup of tea of the day, and warming up in a hot shower. Yeah, yeah, privilege much? I know. I do honestly know that. To keep me in check, there were more days last week where my second wintery weather description led the way. Slippy, sludgy, icy ground seemed the norm. It wasn't much fun and I ended up ditching a couple of my scheduled walks for safety. There's no real problem with that - I can do what I want, right! Except it meant there were instances last week where I was pacing the kitchen come evening in order to get my steps in. (Or, lets be honest, shaking my phone vigorously in front of the telly, trying to mimic an energetic stroll.) Skipping walks has consequences, kids. Regardless of my own personal issues, if you had snow last week, I hope it was top safe fun and you had somewhere to warm up. 

Chapter 7's plan
redacted for 
national security.
(Lolz)

Writing News

Do you remember my problem? I'd got sidetracked by a cold and felt generally rubbish, so had avoided starting my next chapter. And then there was the fact it was the biggest chapter in my planning file. A massive concertinaed piece of paper, making me feel overwhelmed and inferior before I even began. But like all scary, overwhelming things, I looked it in the eye and said NO. I RESFUSE TO BE COWED. (I didn't actually say that. But I defo thought it.) 

I forced myself to sit down and start at the beginning. And you know what? I was pleasantly surprised. Turns out, the reason the plan was so long was because after the first few bullet points, I'd pretty much typed up the chapter in full. Honest to God! Much of it could be copied and pasted straight into the manuscript. It seems Past Nicky had done Present Nicky an absolute solid.

Wolf Hall. Every scene
is like a painting. As is every
paragraph in the book.

Culture

Isn't Wolf Hall brilliant? Yep, I'm up to date and on the ball. I've finally caught up with the 2015 BBC series about Thomas Cromwell and his shenanigans in Henry VIII's court. Just the nine years late. No biggie. The thing is, I'd read the first of Hilary Mantel's books but forgotten everything, so the TV series has been a reminder of the intricate beauty of her writing. The new series that's just out, is dropping each week. I'll be diving in asap. 

Love me some self-deprecation.

In very different Culture News, I fell down a Hugh Grant rabbit hole last week. Fun! I was bored on YouTube and found loads of vids - and trust me, I watched them all - where he talks through his previous roles. He's reassuringly awkward and self-deprecating about lots of them and I had fun remembering his films. But better still, when I left YouTube and looked at the TV listings, Four Weddings and a Funeral was on BBC1. Spooky! Despite it being ostensibly about posh white people being posh and white, it holds up fairly well.

About 25% of my
picky tea. Reader, there
were leftovers.

Food and Drink

It's another fine line to balance. Is the last week of November, too soon for Christmas party food? I've decided, no. As I *may* have mentioned in previous years, my Christmas gets crazy stressy and busy from the middle of December. November is my chance to feel the full glow of the festive season without the headaches. On Saturday I had a festive picky tea after putting up my tree and I loved it. I was soundtracked by Christmas songs, jollied along with fizzy wine, and entertained by the next Christmas film on my list. (Netflix's Single All the Way. It was the best.

Out and About

Apart from the snow, I've been dodging rain showers, and Storm Bert all week. Regardless, I made it to Wednesday brunch, and Thursday Costa so not all bad. I'm also at the stage of Christmas shopping where most days see me having to retrieve parcels from a local lockbox. Is that a social life? Hmmm. It's another fine line isn't it.

Simone Biles with her 
excellently balanced,
dramatic interpretation
of my week. 

Lots of balancing this week - gloomy expectations prior to writing and then happy surprises after; the beauty of new snow versus the dreary grey of old; and when is the correct time to start Christmas festivities? Like the most agile of gymnasts, we have to walk a fine line through every decision. I hope your own balancing acts are going as well as can be expected. Heads up, don't look down, and confidently arm stretch at the end. Sorted.

Have a lovely week, folks.

Root Out the Nuggets...

The fairy lights along the bannister are on! Sadly, the 2024 switch-on wasn't soundtracked by excited crowds counting down in unison. Nope, it was a much more sedate affair. I simply decided that if the political landscape of the West was now this precarious and scary, I needed nice things in my life. The switch got flicked and the warm white glow of a hundred little lights lit up my home. 

Nuggets of joy?

So what else have I been doing to stop my brain working out the logical end game of, for example, putting up a known anti-vaxxer to be in charge of US health? Well, there's been lots of mashed potato. That, along with thick gravy, is cheering me up. I've begun working through the official Christmas Watch List - a list of every Christmas film or TV episode that I rate, starting with the basics and peaking on Christmas Eve. (The list starts with the Midsomer Murders episode, Ghosts of Christmas Past, and ends with It's A Wonderful Life.) Besides that? What else have I been doing to keep spirits up? Ngl, it's been a tricky one. What with everything else, I've got a stinking cold, and two lovely people I know have just died. It's not been a terribly upbeat time. All the more reason, then, to keep searching out the nuggets of joy. Mashed potato, fairy lights, or Christmas films will do for now. There'll be more to come. Part resistance, part celebrating each new day - finding the joy is the least we can, and must, do.

Me, played by Jennifer Aniston, 
dealing with my sniffles.

Writing News

Argghh. The dog ate my homework! I left it on the bus! Or, to be less metaphoric and/or cliched, my snotty, sniffly cold meant I couldn't be arsed getting into the next chapter. This is bad! I know! I even missed my writing group, which doesn't often happen. This week I have to knuckle down and push through. Chapter Seven, with it's massive pull out section in my planning notebook, will be started this week. Defo.

Good Bye Lenin!

Culture News

Besides the aforementioned Christmas films, I've been hammering the German cinema stuff. All since my Berlin holiday. So, it was a rewatch of The Lives of Others - I talked about this last week when I visited places where it was filmed. I also found Good Bye Lenin! It used to be on Prime but now seems only available on YouTube. No matter, it was great, and provided plenty of times where I could say, 'Oh, look, it's... (insert Berlin street name/square here).' Finally, in non-Christmas and non-German film news, the revamped and modernised series of The Day of the Jackal is on Sky and it's BOSS. Grippy and slick, but with no hugely stressful real-life peril to deal with. It's a hard recommend from me.

Food and Drink

Along with the mash, I made dark beer onion gravy from a recipe online. I'm not sure it worked - a bit too bitter in the end - but it SMELT amazing. As well as that, I made pretzels. Get me! It was another online recipe but this one worked. 

For the rest of the week, I had soup for tea so I could have a legitimate daily pretzel accompaniment. But now? Now I've got to get back to a semblance of balance and health. At least before silly season kicks in. More veg, less mad carbs, and back to mixing in my non-alcoholic with my alcoholic drinks. It's a plan!

Out and About

In spite of my sniffles, on Saturday I had a day in London. My aunt's just relocated so this was the first visit we did as a family. It's a bit of a trek, I'll give you that, but near enough to a tube station to navigate to easily enough. It's always exciting when someone you know moves to a new area -  hello Ladbroke Grove! It certainly keeps things lively.

So, how are we going to tackle the week ahead? What nuggets of joy are we going to seek out? It's good to wallow and mend for a short time - whether it's from having a cold or feeling utterly fed up at the state of things. But the thing about a short time is that it's over pretty quickly. And then? Then we defiantly and definitely crack on. 

Have a lovely week, folks.

History Lessons on Holiday...

In hindsight, I'm not sure what would have been better. To have been watching the US election in the middle of a mundane week at home, or have it happen slap bang in the middle of my Berlin holiday - taking out a chunk of tourist time but with enough distractions in the aftermath to keep me busy. I pulled my customary all-nighter regardless. Pre-trip, I'd already planned to write off any activity the following day. Either because I'd be still watching the states declare their votes or because I'd be sleepily celebrating a Democrat win. That was my plan. And then the absolute opposite happened. 

Wednesday was written off because I was sleepily depressed. Tired and sad, scared and angry, and utterly shocked. Perhaps in months or years to come we'll learn - like we did with the 2016 election - there was a vast array of interference. Remember? That was some of what Trump was convicted of earlier this year. But that fact, among other horrendous facts about him and his presidential plans, did not deter lots of people voting for him. Vox Pops of white men* popped up on my screen at various intervals. They kept saying they voted for him because of the economy. Great. That'll help the women who are denied critical health care as they bleed out, immigrants being threatened with deportations, and LGBTQIA+ folks who are filled with fear about their very right to live. But the economy? Oh right. Good work. No, really. 

Normal(ish) service for my holiday, resumed on Thursday when I stopped hibernating and tried to crack on. I got the U-Bahn to the East Side Gallery. It has a section of preserved Berlin Wall, covered in murals by artists from all over the world. The myriad art pieces depict freedom, revolution, and rising from tyranny after the darkest periods in history. It couldn't have been more on the nose if it tried. 

Writing News 
I've had a week off writing and it's been useful. When I'm at home, even if I'm not physically typing words onto the current draft, I'm never NOT thinking about my current work in progress. Being elsewhere for a week, has provided my first empty-brain moment since August. But there is writing news that's useful to impart. Your US writers are scared. If you like reading books - particularly YA books that include LGBTQIA+ characters, depict experiences of racial discrimination, or push the boundaries of a 'traditional' mindset even a smidge - now might be a good idea to buy a paper copy. Keeping paper copies of banned books is how they survive for future generations. Just a thought.

 

The Memorial to the
Murdered Jews of Europe.

Culture 
Let's get back to Berlin and its charms. It really is a culture-rich city and I don't think I've been to so many museums in a week before. Special shout out to the Stasi museum. It's shown in the film, The Lives of Others and to be there in the flesh was chilling. The Holocaust memorial was also very affecting. Small columns of dark grey stone fill a large section of the pavement. As you walk between them towards the middle, the ground gradually slopes, and before you know it, you're surrounded by towering columns that block out all surroundings. No matter which way you turn, you're enveloped, and for a longer-than-is-comfortable time, it feels like you'll never see light again. As I said, very affecting. 

The scale was massive.
If I were  standing next
to this art work I'd come
about halfway up the wall.

And then there was an art exhibit by the artist, Yadegar Asisi. It's a 360 degree panorama depicting a view of East Berlin from the west side of the wall. Its scale was breathtaking and no picture I could take would ever take would do it justice. 

The LOVELIEST wine

Food and Drink 
There's a lot of meat. That's my impression of Berlin, and, as you know, I'm a pescatarian almost all the time. The thing is, the Bavarian beer hall restaurants were such a vibe, I ate there anyway. And even though I was a bit limited in what I could choose, I didn't care. The atmosphere was boss. What I could rely on, food wise, was my daily massive pretzel. I now know that a massive daily pretzel is enough to cover breakkie and lunch, and keep me fuelled for an active day of sightseeing. Who knew? In other, less German specific food and drink news, I LOVED the version of Sauvignon Blanc that my hotel bar stocked. 

A bit of Berlin
train action

Out and About
The first two days away, I walked everywhere. That meant excessively achy legs and losing the will to live/walk by about 5pm. On day three I worked out how to use the U-Bahn, and the world - well Berlin - was my oyster. It's now been added to my other underground train experiences (London, Paris, Barcelona, Oslo, and New York) and once again makes me wish we had similar where I live. And yes, I know Liverpool has a tiny underground system, but what I really want to do, is be able to get a train within a five minute walk from my house and have the option to get ALL OVER THE PLACE, all with the tap of a card. Sadly my small, Merseyside village has yet to build such a metro system for me. 

So on we go. I'm back home, and at some point I'm going to have to engage with the news again. For example, the German government collapsed while I was there, but it was post-election so I barely noticed. I'm sure my news-junkie status will return at some point. Meanwhile, kind people online are being extraordinarily resilient in suggestions on how to support progressive politics from afar. Buy the art, make the art, support friends and strangers whose lives are threatened, and keep the joy turned up to eleven. It's a plan, it's a start, and that's better than than nothing right now. 

Have a lovely week, folks 

*Not all white men, not all men, not all white people, etc etc. Insert a caveat against generalisations here. I'm simply anecdotally reporting what CNN showed me throughtout Tuesday night. It's also fair to say that the post-election data shows a significant number of white women voted Republican too. 

Ich bin ein Berliner...

Greetings from Berlin! 

I've finally made it to the capital city of the only other country whose language I've attempted to learn. Have I spoken any German since I've been here? Hardly any! At the time of writing, I've been here a couple of days. It's marvellous! And even though I'm doing the horrendous Brit abroad routine and hoping everyone else speaks English, my three years of Duolingo have given me a good grasp of signs, menus, and how to ask where the nearest bibliothek is, should the need arise. As I continue to do my utmost at having an empty-headed week regarding the current book, I've been busy with the joy of discovering a new place. Utter larks! 

Writing News
How's this for a mad coincidence? If you saw my blatherings on social media last week, you'll have seen me explain how I was determined to complete Chapter Six (of the first draft of the next Leeza McAuliffe book) before I left for my trip. And I did! Hurrah and huzzah! Chapter Six was NAILED. At that point in the story, Leeza and her school friends are about to leave for a week's holiday. And where are they about to visit? Berlin of course! Look, I KNEW that's where the story was going. I made it up and put it in my planning file, months ago. I also (vaguely) thought how useful it was that I was also going to the same place this year. But the fact I'm exactly at the point where Leeza visits Berlin when I myself am visiting Berlin, has blown my mind. Just me? Fair enough. 

The wall!

Culture
My usual idea of 'fun things to do on holiday' is simple. Go somewhere interesting. Read a load of books in the day, and eat and drink in the evening. I like restaurants and bars, and cosy places to sit with a novel. But this time? I arrived with a comprehensive list of the museums and attractions I want to visit. There's nine in total. I've never planned a holiday like that before. So far I've been to Checkpoint Charlie and the DDR museum. It's all rather educational but in the best way. Meanwhile, the Kindle book that's filling the downtime gaps, is - perhaps rather predictably after I raved about the TV show - Jilly Cooper's Rivals. I've read it before and have just watched the show, but I'm still getting loads more depth to the frolics on the page. Hard recommend.

German Me is no
 stranger to a pretzel.

Food and Drink

As I said above, the focus of this trip is different from my usual vibe. It's been snacks on the go so far, rather than full on meals. Pretzels, sandwiches, and a lot of cake. Who am I to argue? The downside of being away (for me - big caveat!) is I genuinely miss cooking. The upside is, a few days break from creative culinary pressures, means I'll be back all the stronger next time. 

I'll be there before
my break is over

Out and About 

I mean, what can I tell you. It's all about Berlin! Preserved bits of wall, memorials, and yesterday I walked past Trabiworld - worth a visit I'm sure. But prior to leaving, I did potter round Liverpool city Centre for their annual River of Light festival. Town was booming with halftime families but it was all good fun. 

Now all that is well and good, but the main focus for the week isn't Germany but the US. I'll be crossing everything that is possible to cross for a Democratic win tomorrow night - or whatever day the election is finally called. The alternative is unthinkable. It wasn't lost on me, as I read info boards about the rise of the Nazis yesterday, how easy it is for history to start to repeat itself. But there's still hope. Massive turnouts for early voting, huge numbers of newly registered women, and many Republicans sickened at the degradation of their party, have got to be worth something. Surely? I'll be closely watching, along with the rest of the world, and willing this particularly grim chapter be over.

Have a lovely week, folks.