Sunday Summary // May we all have our hopes, our will to try...
Dear FOQ
Happy New Year to you all.
Here's hoping 2022 is markedly less toss than its two predecessors, is all I can say.
I spent NYE in traditional fashion: with Ma QB, quaffing prosecco and watching the now 29-year-old Strictly Ballroom:
If you know, you know...
until such a time as BBC1 came on and we looked upon the sublime and beautiful whimsy of Olly Alexander (who genuinely, genuinely looks like he loves what he does every moment of it) singing with Years and Years, Queen Kylie and the Pet Shop Boys:
There was an element of mismatch here but, y'know what, Olly is a legend and Neil Tennant still sounds pretty damn decent.
then saw in 2022 peering out at the distant fireworks.
Yesterday, which I believe was Saturday but who even knows any more..., we kept things fairly low-profile, venturing out only for a veh veh nice mug of mulled wine and plate of mini mince pies in front of the fire at friend Jan's:
before walking back at a leisurely pace to take in some of the truly fabulous local lights:
#peakgriswoldachieved
High Resolution...
In true contemplative QB fashion, I've not so much set resolutions, then, as attempted to set a new tone for the year (because, heaven knows, setting resolutions then coming face-to-face with a pandemic and its aftershocks is a recipe for an epic fail).
Last year, inspired as I frequently am by Susannah Conway, and her December Reflections photograph-a-day prompts, I chose the word Confidence as my word for the year but upon, er, reflection I'm not sure how much I relied upon it; my self-confidence in many things is still shot from certain incidences in lockdown 2020, and in the last year from certain voices being amplified more than others.
So, this year, (to save me from tears) I've alighted upon the word:
Complete
which works on a couple of levels:
1) as a reminder that a life lived in fear is a life half-lived a person should not be made to feel incomplete if one doesn't 'have' certain societal markers (i.e. partner, children, own house);
2) as a prompt to finish what I've started (novel, sketching habits, improvement of health, and so on).
I'll doubtless come back and elaborate on both of these interpretations over the course of the year; however at the risk of too much introspection this early in the morning/year I won't start getting churned up about certain matters before you've even had your first coffee of the year/morning.
As one of my maths teachers once wisely decreed (and wisdom from maths teachers was notoriously hard to come by, believe me...), one must start simple and if I'm to keep up a blogging habit this year I need, as I touched upon in my last post, to keep it manageable.
So here we are.
---
This week, I have been mostly...
Reading 📚
... still.
Watching 📺 🎥 💻
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas
Twice because it was brilliant.
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
and trying to ascertain the spoilers, given I've still not finished the book, and which scenes were constructed purely for cinematic impact.
What Are We Feeding Our Kids? | BBC {sadly no longer on iPlayer}
This was something I watched months ago, and it blew my mind and made me rethink everything I was consuming.
Of course, I watched it back in May, so I didn't really take it on board for another two months at least but it has stuck with me.
Queer Eye (season 6)
Aah, the Fab Five are back: all's well with the world.
Also from the Aardman stable:
Robin Robin
So cute.
And who doesn't love Gillian Anderson as a cat...?
When you no longer imagine you must transform yourself, in order to justify your existence on the planet, you’re finally able to do so, in small ways and large. – Oliver Burkeman
Well, I think that's quite enough for you to be ruminating over so I'll leave it at that.
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