Hello and happy Tuesday!

Autumn is well and truly here isn’t it? I have to say, I’m not particularly fond of this time or year – I could take it or leave it. I always find myself feeling a bit gloomy around October time, it’s definitely no longer Summer (fave season) and it’s not yet Winter (2nd fave season), so it’s just this weird in-between where, yes the colours are nice, but if I’m being honest I much prefer the summery, brighter colours like blues, greens and yellows to the browns and oranges that come with Autumn.

Plus my dog is an absolute nightmare at this time of year because everybody around where I live spends the entire month of October setting fireworks off at all hours in the run up to Bonfire night. The only way to calm her down is to let her out in the garden, which isn’t really ideal when James is away and I want to lock the back up and have her indoors with me most of the evening. Even my attempts at playing loud music to drown out the fireworks no longer works, and every evening is basically spent with me trying to relax, watch TV or eat in peace whilst she goes absolutely batshit legging it round and barking until I let her out. I’m up and down about 20 times an hour, so not exactly relaxing.

So yeah, overall, Autumn isn’t exactly my favourite season. But I do like the crunching of leaves, so that’s something.

Anyway, enough negativity – I’m feeling a bit grey at the minute and it’s clearly coming out in my post – so enough!

Here’s what I’ve been up to in the last week.

Reading

Small Great Things by Jodie Picoult

Anybody read this book? I think Jodie Picoult is a master storyteller, and I’ve had this book for years but never actually read it. I started this book a few days back and I am absolutely loving it so far. I had goosebumps and tears on my third page in. I have been putting off reading it because it seems a little negative, and I feel like (as I’ve said before), there’s enough negativity in the world without reading more of it. Reading is an escape to me, so I only ever really want to read feel-good things. However, this book is going to be a good’un, I can feel it, so I’m sticking with it and will report back next week when I’ve finished!

Watching

MAID

I wasn’t really sure if this was my thing, as I say all the time I really do try to stay away from things that are going to make my blood boil with anger. But I started watching it anyway, and the very first episode had me hooked because I needed to know what happened. It wasn’t an easy watch, but I ultimately really enjoyed it.

The show is about a young Mum, Alex, who flees a situation of domestic abuse and tries to provide a better life for her daughter. She has to fight against several injustices and is abused by pretty much every single person who is supposed to love and care for her. She is chronically let down by pretty much everybody, and it really did make for difficult watching but it was worth it in the end.

I thought this show did an absolutely brilliant job of portraying domestic abuse and the injustice women are subject to at the hands of the patriarchy. Many people believe abuse to be purely physical so to see somebody being what is most certainly emotionally abused by those closest to her, and for it to be taken seriously, was refreshing. I wanted to smash Alex’s boyfriend’s head in, he made me so mad, and I found it really difficult to watch her navigate a legal system that favours the rich, the male gender, and basically everything that Alex was not. But I loved that it was a story of a mother who ultimately developed the strength, courage and sheer determination to prioritise her child, and by default herself.

I don’t have children, but I’d like to hope that if I ever did and I found myself in her situation, that I’d behave in the way that she did. I just wanted to reach out and hug her, for her to catch a break and get what she deserved. It was a really good watch and I’d recommend it! There are so many other things to comment on on a deeper level, but I’ll leave that to the real reviewers.

Listening

Liberty Belle – Fontaines D.C.

I first saw Fontaines D.C. on stage at Benicàssim festival and I thought they were brilliant, so I got my Dad tickets to see them live because I just knew that he would love them too. We waited for over a year to see them due to COVID, I bought him tickets for his birthday in 2020 but obviously it couldn’t go ahead. We finally saw them earlier this month and they didn’t disappoint. They were really good live, albeit they only did an hour before calling it a day. However my Dad (who, quite the opposite of me intentionally seeks out the playlist ahead of each gig – I prefer to be surprised) told me that Liberty Belle was on their setlist, but for some reason they didn’t end up playing it. It’s probably my favourite song of theirs, so was a little disappointing not to get to hear it performed live. But here it is for you to enjoy (click the link above!)

Before You Go…

I have had an idea for a new blog series in 2022, but it’s going to be a collaboration with a lot of people, and I guess it’s going to flop if people don’t really get involved. So if you’re reading this, I’d like to ask you, would you be interested in contributing to my blog next year to share positivity? If so, drop me a message and I’ll give you a bit more info about what I’m thinking!! How exciting!

See you next week hun buns xox