Your past and present Heyday Friday newsletter

BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS
WITH YOUR
HEYDAY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER

Life has well and truly intervened this week and I'm afraid, thanks to a perfect storm of family and work stuff, I simply haven't had time to write a blog.

I can't remember if this has happened before in the four-and-a-bit years I've been running Heydays. But then I can barely remember what happened last week, so I suppose that's not surprising. But what is surprising, to me anyway, is that it's been that long since I launched the site and this newsletter.

The realisation prompted me to have a little rummage through some of the early posts on the site and to see what might have changed in my outlook and views in that time. 

I started with THIS ONE ruminating on the life lessons I felt I'd learnt as my 7th decade hovered in sight. 

Then there was THIS BLOG about living my best life and what that meant to me, a year in to Heyday's existence.

A few months later, I wrote a new school year message to my younger self, which you can read by CLICKING HERE   

There were a few things that struck me as I revisited my past thoughts. One was that what matters to me really hasn't changed at all. And that my fundamentally optimistic and grateful approach to life has remained resolutely the same, in spite of the intervening four years of both predictable and unpredictable (that pandemic thing) life challenges.

Another (and forgive me if this sounds big headed) was that after all the decades of being a journalist (something I clearly remember feeling outrageously unqualified to call myself for years after I first started out) I'm actually not a bad writer.

And the last is how much younger I looked! See?

I wonder if you share and/or agree with the thoughts in those blogs. Do let me know!

One of the blogs above was inspired by the wonderful Dawn French (you'll have to check them out to see which one) and these 

WORDS OF WISDOM

of hers could just as easily have prompted THIS BLOG as well

One of my life-thoughts that has changed over the four years since Heydays began is my shall-I-or-shan't-I-get-a-dog debate. I've sadly come to realise that living alone as I do, and having the work and life commitments that I do, I just couldn't manage the responsibility of a dog. It did take me a while to come to this conclusion. And I might just have been slightly nudged by my encounter with LOVELY HEYDAYER LIZ and her....exuberant new puppy Luna (who, by the way is an only slightly less exuberant adult dog now!)

SPECIAL DAYS THIS WEEK

Since we're doing things a bit differently, and since there's a rather significant day for me coming up in the middle of the week ahead (see my sign off if you haven't guessed what that is), I thought you might like to know about the trio of special days that we can all share/participate in, in the coming week.

On Sunday 22nd you can welcome in the
Chinese New Year which this year is The Year of the Rabbit

According to Chinese astrological thought, a 'rabbit person' is graceful, cultured and well-mannered, basically reserved and with almost fanatical attention to detail. Famous people born in The Year of the Rabbit include Andy Murray, Angelina Jolie, David Beckham and both Ant and Dec.

Wednesday, Jan 25th is
Burns Night

If you want to properly mark the birth of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns you should have Burns Night Supper consisting of traditional Scottish dishes, including haggis, neeps and tatties (swedes or turnips and potatoes) and cranachan - made with double cream, toasted oats, raspberries, honey and a generous slosh of whiskey - for dessert, and read Burns poetry out loud during the meal.

The following day, Thursday Jan 26th is
Australia Day

Originally called Foundation Day in the early 19th century, Australia Day marks the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. The first colony to declare Australia Day as a public holiday was New South Wales in 1838. You might not be having a day off as they do in Australia (unless you're one of our lovely Heydayers living there) so wishing any Aussie mates you have a 'Gday, will do instead!

THIS WEEK I'VE BEEN....

.... READING

I'm a big fan of Jodi Picoult at any time, but especially as a writer of books that make perfect holiday reading. Leaving Time was the second of the two novels I took with me on my TRIP TO COSTA RICA (in case you missed it, THIS was the other one I read) and once again she didn't let me down.
13 year old Jenna Metcalf is desperately searching for her mother, Alice, a renowned elephant researcher, who mysteriously disappeared ten years before, following a tragic accident at the elephant sanctuary Alice ran with Jenna's father, leaving him in a psychiatric hospital since then.
Determined that Alice wouldn't have deliberately abandoned her, and in spite of the admonishments of her grandmother, who she lives with, Jenna enlists the help of Serenity, a pink-haired, previously renowned but now discredited psychic and Virgil, an alcoholic, former police officer (and one of the team that investigated the incident at the sanctuary) and now a disillusioned private detective.
As this less than promising threesome unravel and pursue the, sometimes flimsy, sometimes previously overlooked clues from the incident and Alice's subsequent disappearance, we learn more about Alice and her story from the scientific and personal journals she has painstakingly kept over the years.
As with so many of Picoult's novels, the story is told from each of the vividly realised main characters viewpoints, and moves between the past and present. 
But unlike any others I've read, this one comes with an almighty twist at the end that I certainly didn't see coming, and which made me look a the whole of the engrossing and engaging story in an entirely different light. 
Leaving Time isn't one of Picoult's recent novels (it was first published in 2014), but it is one that has triumphantly stood the test of time.

You can find LEAVING TIME at most bookshops including Waterstones.

If you'd like another great Jodi Picoult holiday read recommendation, check out THIS BLOG 

I couldn't resist rounding off with a 

FRIDAY FUNNY

from one of Australia's greatest exports (pretty sure that's how she would describe herself!)

If you hadn't worked it out by now, it's my birthday this week. On the same day as Robert Burns as it happens. Although I won't be celebrating with haggis I'm afraid. Thanks to some Scottish friends I did try the full Burns Night menu one year. Let's just say I'm happy to be able to report that I've eaten that particular Scottish....er, delicacy. Just the once.

I could be persuaded to raise a glass of whiskey in his honour though! 

Have a great week and see you next time.

Diane x