And so it continues, the dark, dreary, wet days of January are becoming somewhat tedious now. I feel like I’m in my hibernation era and am really looking forward to spring days.
With the exception of Saturday I haven’t been out and about much this week save for work and my twice weekly gym visits. In this weather I’m grateful to be able to stay warm and cosy cuddled up on the sofa in the evenings, surprisingly not watching The Traitors, the nation’s current obsession, I’m more a music than tv person. I have used as much time as I could listening to the audiobook of The Housemaid. My daughter recommended the film but it’s not showing at the local cinemas so I decided to listen to it on my commutes. As soon as I had started it, I needed to check my Good Reads record as the tone and style seemed very familiar and yes it was the same author as The Teacher a book I had read a few months ago. This familiarity made me more aware of the style and possibly meant that I had a good inkling where the story was going. It was a strong story and I was hooked but I’m not sure I’ll read any more of McFadden’s work for a while to make it more fresh.
January’s weather has been dismal and on Saturday morning I found myself volunteering pre parkrun in a biting wind and according to my weather app, the wind chill meant it felt like -6 degrees. It was so cold. 🥶 The photo doesn’t show how many layers I had on thermal running top, t shirt, teddy hoodie, woolly hat and my Beast of the East coat designed for exceptionally low temperatures. I don’t often wear the coat as it is so heavy but was very much needed. After volunteering I then ran the 5k. The conditions were rough and whilst the waves were mesmerising to watch en route, it was a parkrun to simply tick off.
Fortunately the day really improved, albeit the weather didn’t and the only imperfection of my Saturday afternoon was getting caught in wicked rain when I came out of the cinema. Rain where I had to peel my clothes off when I got home.
My plans for Saturday afternoon were changed on Friday and rather than another session on the sofa, I chanced upon that Hamnet was the Saturday matinee at the cinema in the next town. As the boys were at football and it definitely wasn’t their type of film I booked a single ticket and went along to watch the film. It was excellent, historical period dramas are not really my genre of choice but this was so much more. A story of love and grief. I had tears trickling down my face at the end and as the credits rolled you could hear the quiet sobbing all around the sold out cinema. I love this cinema it is proper old fashioned with red velvet seats and curtains and the cinema has many original fittings. An afternoon matinee seems a real throw back to olden times and it gives a real sense of nostalgia and warmth.
I went over a little earlier to the cinema and as the weather was cold and miserable I managed to get a parking space in the nearby village and was able to pop into some of their lovely little shops. The National Trust shop had some beautiful locally produced items and I also found the book Painting Calm. It’s a beautiful book and although I flicked through it and put it down there was something about it which pulled me back and I treated myself. I’ve been looking through it today and am looking forward to some of the projects. After parking in the neighbouring town I had half hour free and pottered around some of the charity shops and a pre loved shop which is a hidden gem. I found a beautiful tan Radley bag in here at a good price. It was exactly what I’ve been looking for so an unexpected bonus to my trip.
The afternoon finished perfectly with the boys’ team winning with an injury time winner. They sent great footage of the end and came back very happy.
Seaside Sparkles 