Challenges, cheerfulness and chocolate in this week's Heyday Friday newsletter
My thoughts about the Princess of Wales video, an absorbing historical series recommendation and a generous helping of bonus Easter-related treats in your back-to-normal newsletter
Hello and happy Easter!
And phew. Because I’m delighted and relieved to report that everything is almost entirely back to normal. I’ve finally stoped hacking like a demented sea-lion, at least most of the time. My voice is nearly restored (I fully appreciate there will be those who might not be celebrating that particular fact) and - whoop, whoop - my Substack is working properly again.
So regular newsletter service is reinstated. Yay!
The timing of this missive means that it’s been a week since the Princess of Wales released that brave, dignified and devastating video where she revealed she is being treated for cancer. Whilst I have no desire to either intrude on the privacy she needs and deserves, or to extend the clamour her announcement has triggered, I did want to write about what I really hope will happen as a result of what she has done and said.
So I have. And you can read it by CLICKING HERE
WORDS OF WISDOM
Only a single word this week, but one that I hope will be a useful message for anyone facing a challenge, whatever it might be
Zena is a wonderful, and gloriously stylish, Heydayer who knows more than most about facing challenges.
CLICK HERE to read her remarkable story, and what she has learned from overcoming the challenges she’s faced throughout her long life, including the one she describes as the hardest of all, which happened not long before her 92nd birthday.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN….WATCHING
I mentioned in an earlier newsletter that I’d started watching this series based on the best-selling novel by James Clavell, and that I’d tell you about it when I’d seen the full ten episodes. What I didn’t realise was that the episodes are only being released a week at a time, so rather than wait another several weeks before suggesting you might want to give it a try, I’m making that recommendation now, so that you can start to enjoy it as much as I am.
You may recall that back (way back) in 1982 Richard Chamberlain starred in a hugely popular Shogun mini-series (you can actually still watch that one on DVD). Four decades on, the story of political intrigue and brutal power struggles set in 17th Japan remains as compelling as it was then and when the book was first published in 1975 (it has since sold well over 15 million copies).
What makes Clavell’s tale so engrossing, apart from its fascinating insight into Japanese culture and all-too-often bloody history, is that it features two intertwined narratives. One is the story of a shipwrecked European sailor, John Blackthorne, who is rescued by one of the feuding Japanese leaders and becomes a warrior, transforming Japan and himself in the process - whilst also falling in love with a Japanese woman.
The other concerns that leader, Yoshii Toranaga, and how he outwits and out- manoeuvers his rivals and reluctant allies to seize power and turn Japan from the most warlike country in the world into one of the most peaceful.
Shogun, much of the dialogue of which is in Japanese, is spectacular, intriguing, absorbing and, be warned, often very gory. I’m loving it.
You can watch the new series of SHOGUN on Disney+ or Hulu
HERE is where you can see the trailer
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
I’m off on a little road trip with my mum over the Easter weekend to visit my lovely sis and her equally lovely hubby, who are in the process of building their dream house in a beautiful spot just outside Shrewsbury. Our travel plans don’t involve any flights, but as a little bank holiday bonus, here’s a double helping of flying-related hilarity, courtesy of two brilliantly entertaining flight attendants. I guarantee you’ll never listen to a safety announcement in quite the same way again!
Keeping the Easter theme and the jolity going with this
FRIDAY FUNNY
That’s the lot for this week. I wish you a very happy Easter and should you be in possession of one - or, indeed, several - of the approximately 80 million Easter eggs sold in the UK each year, you have my enthusiastic blessing to consider it/them an entirely appropriate breakfast food.
See you next time
Diane x
I'm glad to hear that you are feeling better. :).
And happy EASTER to you and yours.