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.