Thrills and chills in this week's Heyday Friday newsletter
There's good news, good cheer, good listening and good exploring in your newsletter this week. So find a good time to settle down and dip in.
Hello!
I’m a sucker for a good cathedral and the one I write about in this week’s blog is a cracker. One of the finest examples of medieval early English gothic architecture (hark at me sounding as if I know what I’m talking about) it’s not only stunningly beautiful and brimming with both historical and unexpectedly contemporary gems, it also offers one of the more fascinating and thrilling guided tours I’ve ever taken. Here’s a little taste of it
You can find out where this memorably magnificent building is by CLICKING HERE and by way of a little more encouragement to tempt you to do that, here’s another tantalising titbit about it.
It’s home to the the best preserved of only four surviving copies of the original 1215 Magna Carta and the only one on permanent display. Reading the transcript I was intrigued to see these two - are they rulings? mandates? regulations?
“No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for the death of any person except her husband.”
“No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband. But she must give security that she will not marry without royal consent if she holds her lands of the Crown or without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of.”
So women had the power to protect men (or indeed anyone accused of murder) but men had the power over women’s right to re-marry. Interesting checks and balances going on there…..
You can also READ THE BLOG to discover the surprising connection between the Magna Carta and the American legal system.
WORDS OF WISDOM
Eleanor Roosevelt is widely thought to be one of the most important and beloved First Ladies in American history. She was responsible for the well known quote: "A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." But that’s not the one I want to share with you today (although arguably I just have done…), rather it’s this
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……LISTENING TO
If there’s a better interviewer, or one with a more fabulously mellifluous voice, than Kirsty Young, I’d like to know who it is. The master (mistress) of the perfectly informed, perfectly pitched question, and someone who not only appears genuinely interested in whoever she’s talking to, but determined to give them every opportunity to shine, she has an unfailing ability to draw the listener into any interview she does.
Her innate professionalism, un-showy intelligence and deep-rooted empathy made her, in my view, far and away the best host of Radio 4 behemoth, Desert Island Discs (Dustin Hoffman was so taken with her interviewing, he asked if she was available to be his therapist in London) and when she was forced to leave because of the toll fibromyalgia was taking on her physical and mental health, the programme lost much of it’s must-listen appeal for me.
She has made a welcome return to our TV screens, expertly fronting some of the big BBC broadcast events including the coronation of King Charles, and now she’s back on the airwaves doing what she does best - sharing revealing, entertaining, interesting, often unexpected conversations with people, this time all roughly centred on the advice they would give their younger selves. I say roughly, because this being Kirsty, the interviews almost always head off in all manner of other revealing directions.
My two most recent favourites are the episodes in which legendary Paralympic athlete and more recently, politician, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson talks with powerful candidness about life as a disabled person and the challenges people with disabilities still face, both in practical terms and dealing with people’s attitudes. And the one where Kirsty coaxes fellow podcaster and writer Adam Buxton, with typically gentle but firm insistence, him to reflect on experiences in his past including the loss of both of his parents.
You can find Young Again on BBC Sounds and wherever you get your podcasts.
Here are the links to the Tanni episode and the Adam Buxton one.
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
…is this fabulous little flower-shaped neon light. It was given to me for my birthday by one of those lovely newer friends I wrote about in the newsletter last week, and now sits on the chest of drawers in my bedroom, where I switch it on each evening as I’m getting ready for and into bed. It’s so delightfully cheery it makes me feel happy just looking at it. That it’s also such a jaunty reminder of my lovely friend and how much knowing her has brought to my life, makes it all the more special and smile-inducing.
Just by the way, the two little plants on either side of it are a) in pots that were made for my younger daughter’s wedding by her super-talented mother-in-law who has also become a very dear friend, and b) bizzarely continue to grow in spite of having almost no earth and disgracefully little watering.
GOOD TO KNOW
Have you heard of the One Touch Rule? I hadn’t either until a few months ago. But now I have, it has turned into something that has made more of a difference to my ability to stay on top of mess and clutter than almost anything I’ve tried in the past. I have no idea why this particular approach/mantra has struck such a powerful cord with me, but on the off-chance that it does with you too, I’m sharing it with you here.
The One Touch Rule was apparently conceived by an American productivity consultant (no, no idea such a thing existed either) and can be summarised in the simple phrase ‘Don’t put it down, put it away.’
What that means in practice is that rather than putting something somewhere other than where it belongs after you’ve used/touched it, it gets put in its rightful home straight away.
So rather than draping my coat on the bannister when I take it off and then hanging it up later, it goes straight into the hall cupboard (pic is what I wish my hall cupboard looked like.)
And instead of putting my used mug in the sink to deal with at another time, it either gets washed and put into the cupboard, or stacked in the dishwasher. My clean laundry gets sorted, folded and put away in one go rather than several stages with anything up to a day between each one (don’t judge me). And saving me from my previously all-too-frequent frantic efforts to locate them, my keys go straight into the box they’re supposed to live in as soon as they’ve been used.
Getting into the habit of using the One Touch Rule has made me realise just how often I was leaving things around to sort out/tidy up/put away later and though I’m still a way off applying it faultlessly, it is making a noticeable difference to the consistency of tidiness in my little house.
FRIDAY FUNNY
For those times when being either productive or tidy feels like far too much of an effort, here’s an invaluable tip from an Instagrammer called Marit Bakkli, whose often hilarious account promises a ‘sprinkle of chaos’
That’s it for this week. If you’d feel inclined to drop a tidy click (see what I did there) on the ‘Like’ heart I’d be ever so grateful. It makes Heydays more visible to other potential readers, and gives my heart a little lift at the same time. Thank you.
I’m off to the cinema with friends over the weekend. We toyed with tackling the three and a half hours of The Brutalist, but decided instead to see A Right Pain and spend the hour and a half we save having a good natter over dinner beforehand instead. I’ll let you know what we all thought of the film.
Have a lovely week and see you next time.
The candle 🤣🤣🤣
So agree about Kirsty Young - the perfect interviewer