It’s finally the summer holidays! It has felt like the longest term ever and there were multiple challenges along the way as we were getting towards the end of it (an emergency lockdown at school; plus a last minute, out-of-the-blue decision to transfer back to sixth form from college…), but we made it and all three girls are now home together for the rest of the summer.
Here’s a little bit of life lately, throughout July…
BOOKS & ARTICLES
I’ve read an interesting and varied little selection of books this month. First up was Enchantment by Katherine May, the second book of hers that I’ve read this year. I have one more still to go – ‘Wintering’ – which I’m deliberately saving for later on in the Autumn months to prepare me for the season ahead. ‘Enchantment’ centres on May’s recovery from burnout, and shares how she used the exploration of the natural world to rediscover glimmers of joy and wonder in her everyday life. This is something I already do anyway, but I liked the way she organised the book into the four different elements of water, fire, air and earth, and how she shared ancient & ancestral stories and rituals, as well as her own, more modern, challenges and dilemmas, seamlessly weaving them together so that everything made sense.
The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – a memoir – was an entirely different style of writing. It focuses on her experiences during the year that followed the sudden death of her husband. It was very detailed – dates and locations and medical terminology – and it shared the way she reflected on and analysed the multitude of ways in which her grief manifested. It was interesting and also quite hard going. At one point Ella asked me if I was enjoying it and I had to say that it’s not really the kind of book you ‘enjoy’, more a book that you learn from. I’m glad I read it – I definitely gained certain insights on grief that hit home – but it’s not a particularly easy or lighthearted book to read.
A few months ago I impulsively bought Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals by Oliver Burkeman as I’d heard a lot of good things about it. It has sat on my shelf waiting for the right moment for me to pick it up and read it. Turns out that’s now 🙂 I’ve been feeling quite overwhelmed with a number of things at work and at home recently, which, coupled with a constant feeling that I’m running out of time/there’s never enough time, a borderline obsession with making the most of every single day/not wasting time, and struggling with decision fatigue & paralysis has led to me not feeling my best. Even the introductory pages got me thinking differently almost immediately. I’m now currently about two-thirds of the way through the book and I think it is really going to help me shift my perspective on a few things. 10/10 recommend.
All the books I read in July: ‘Enchantment’ by Katherine May; ‘The Year Of Magical Thinking’ by Joan Didion; and ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ by Oliver Burkeman
I don’t often include blogs or articles in this section, but just the other day I read this piece about two guys who made it their mission to visit every Autofoto photobooth in London on foot in one day (a 26 mile long route) and it has stuck with me. A photobooth marathon! I LOVE this idea as I’ve adored photobooths since I was a teenager – I remember seeing how many of my friends could squash into one with me (with hilarious results and a lot of giggling). I followed their journey on their Instagram stories in real time as it unfolded, and reading the final article about each individual booth and what the journey meant to both of them was really interesting. And because they shared the location of every single photobooth I might just plan my own little mini-mission/pilgrimmage too. I won’t be able to do them all in a day but I’d like to work my way around them all eventually. I’ve already ticked one off the list – Coal Drops Yard near Kings Cross. Also, I might have to return to Barcelona to visit all the ones there too!
The Autofoto photobooth at Coal Drops Yard near Kings Cross in London – the only one I’ve been to so far!
FILMS
I knew I wanted to see The Ballad Of Wallis Island as soon as I saw the trailer for it and it lived up to all of my hopes and expectations – I loved this heartwarming, funny, sweet British movie. It made me laugh out loud, it made me cry, and it somehow simultaneously created a feeling of nostalgia, bittersweetness, compassion and joy all in one go. I ended up really rooting for each of the characters despite (and maybe even because of) their very human flaws and imperfections. I thought the acting was superb and I’d happily watch it all over again as I’m sure there were subtle nuances in expressions that I probably missed first time around.
It was my first time at an Everyman Cinema, which was an interesting experience. There are squishy sofas instead of cinema seats; you can order snacks and meals and have them delivered right to you whilst you’re watching the trailers; and the screening rooms themselves are fairly small so it had a more intimate feel. I’d go again, though I think it would depend on the movie. It was perfect for The Ballad Of Wallis Island. For a big blockbuster movie I think I’d prefer a big screen cinema.
I also took the girls to see How To Train Your Dragon as an end of term treat (using my Vitality Rewards to snag us one free ticket and one half price ticket!). It was the perfect way to start the summer holidays. They insist that they all loved the animated version of the film as kids (apparently, though I have absolutely no recollection of this whatsoever – isn’t is wild how memories work?!) and were desperate to see the live-action version (purely for nostalgic purposes of course). I’ve not seen it all the way through before, so it was new to me. I loved everything about it – the story, the overall message, the special effects, the music, the adventure and the tension – my heart was in my mouth at certain points! As we walked home Lola declared it as being one of her top five favourite movies.
MUSIC
I was twelve years old when Alanis Morissette released her iconic ‘Jagged Little Pill’ album. It was, quite literally, the soundtrack of my teenage years and I still listen to it regularly now, thirty years later. At the start of the month I travelled to Cardiff to see her perform live at Blackweir Fields, alongside 32,000 other fans. Needless to say, she was incredible. The sun set behind the stage as she sang for one and a half hours straight, no chit-chat other than to introduce her band members in between songs, and apart from the few acoustic songs she sang, she didn’t stop moving round the stage either – she had endless energy. Her voice was SO powerful, and some of the high notes she hit (and held) were “wow!” moments.
She did all of my favourite songs: Hand In My Pocket; You Oughtta Know; All I Really Want; Mary Jane; and (of course) Ironic. I was also delighted that she performed the secret song from the end of the Jagged Little Pill album too – that was a total surprise and it was a beautiful version of it. She also sang Hands Clean and Thank U, plus lots of snippets of other songs I didn’t know so well. ‘Rest’ was a new-to-me song that I really enjoyed – that went straight on my playlist when I got home.
A brilliant night.
Getting to see Alanis Morissette sing live at Blackweir Fields in Cardiff was a truly unforgettable experience
LIFE LATELY…
A few days after being in North Wales with the girls at the end of June, at the very start of July I was back again – this time in the capital city of Cardiff, in the south of the country (to see Alanis Morissette, as mentioned above). I still find it very funny that after 42 years of never having visited Wales at all, I’ve suddenly been twice in the space of a week.
Cardiff was a brand new city to me, and I really liked it. I explored a little bit before the gig and saw Cardiff Castle from the outside, before stumbling across a little doorway that took me inside the castle walls themselves. It turns out that these tunnels inside the walls were used as bomb shelters during the Second World War – they’ve now been turned into an interesting little museum. The city centre seemed to be mostly bars and restaurants, though if I’d had more time I’m certain I would have found other cool things to see and do. The morning after the gig I wandered down to Cardiff Bay and Mermaid Quay – I always feel pulled to be near the water. It was a gorgeous blue-sky morning and the water was perfectly still with barely a ripple – it was very peaceful. Cardiff… I’ll be back again one day, for sure.
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Bay / Mermaid Quay
The first couple of weeks of the summer holidays have been fairly slow. I’ve been working and the girls have had long lie-ins & quiet days at home & far too much time on screens. Ella and I have done a lot of uni shopping (including a trip to Ikea). Mimi and Lola spontaneously went blackberry picking when they were particularly bored (and, essentially, ran out of internet to scroll through) one day. The hedges in the area we live in are full to bursting with them at the moment. They then proceeded to make a very impressive blackberry cheesecake with their haul. I think I’ll let them get bored more often! I took Lola and two of her best friends shopping to the Bullring in Birmingham, and I managed to squeeze in a long overdue haircut too.
An excellent and plentiful haul of juicy blackberries
It’s the purple stained fingers that make me really love this photo
At the train station on our way to Birmingham
A successful shopping trip!
New hair 🙂
In between clients I also managed to put together a little vlog of our mini road trip to Wales. It feels crazy that it’s already been a month since we were there. I love making these travel videos – they’re not particularly polished or professional, but they are such a wonderful reminder of the things we did and the adventures we had. I regularly watch them back on my Youtube channel (and it still surprises me how young the girls were in some of them!). If you want to see what we get up to on any future travels, please feel free to subscribe 🙂
Chapter seven of 2025 is now finished and August is looking busy. We still have lots of uni prep to do over the next month and we have some fun things planned in the diary too. I’m determined to have a bit of a declutter and get the house into some sort of order – and possibly even get my head around Vinted?! Oh, and there’s the small matter of Results Day…
I hope that you found plenty of joyful moments throughout July and that you’ve got lots to look forward to in August.
With love,
Chloe x
