Your encouraging Heyday Friday newsletter
Something you need to do, something I'd very much appreciate you doing, something that's surprising to do and something you'll really love doing in this week's newsletter
First of all, thank you so much for all your lovely responses to ‘my’ National Trust podcast. Apparently its had more likes than any other NT podcast episode which is absolutely brilliant.
There’s no point in pretending that this week’s blog has anything like the emotional heft of last week’s, but it is on a subject that’s both important and necessary.
It’s about a crucial piece of life-min (that’s life administration, in case you weren’t ofay with the abbreviation - you’re welcome) that too often is either overlooked or forgotten, but which, for a very particular reason is especially good to do right now.
You can find out what the task is and why doing it now would be particularly rewarding - for you and other people - by CLICKING HERE
On another admin-related note, this one related to Heydays, regular readers (thank you) will have noticed that last week a new subscriber message appeared in the newsletter. It’s here again this week (at the end) in a slightly different form, and will be every week from now on.
It’s taken a long time, and a lot of persuasion (for which read insistent but kind nagging) from various of my most loyal supporters (that’s one of them giving me ‘the lecture’ in the pic whilst I try to keep myself smiling rather than grimacing in response), for me to ask you to consider supporting These Are The Heydays by becoming a paid subscriber.
Researching, collating and writing this newsletter and the weekly blog takes a considerable amount of time, and whilst I do it because I love providing you with content that I hope you value and enjoy, I really do need to earn some money from the work I do.
Substack was created as a platform for journalists and writers to showcase and monetise their work, and it’s incredibly heartening to see how many of them/us are doing that in a way that enables them/us to keep on doing what we do best.
If you would be willing to support me and These Are The Heydays by becoming a paid subscriber it costs just £5.00 a month or £50 for the whole year. And if you do, THANK YOU. So much.
Of course, if you prefer to remain an unpaid subscriber, that’s fine too!
Now that’s done, I feel in need of a good
FRIDAY FUNNY
which I hope you’ll agree this one is. I just wish I’d known this ploy when my girls were growing up!
This isn’t so much a
SMART SAVE TIP OF THE WEEK
as a home hack that I discovered when I came across a new (to me) account on Instagram jam-packed with I-can’t-believe-I-never-knew-that tips. Like this one I’ve already used and can confirm that it works surprisingly well.
Instead of fiddling with pushing your bin bag into your bin and then stretching the top and folding it over the bin, try this:
Invert the bag and put it over the mouth of the bin. Pull it down, then simply push it into the bin from the top. It fits snugly and neatly over the sides of the bin and inside too. Simple, eh?
Let me know if you’d like more quick tricks like this. There are LOTS more I’d love to try and share with you if you’re interested.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN…..WATCHING
Some series grab you from the off. Others are more of a slow burn. The Bear definitely fell into the latter category for me (others have said they found the same). I was firmly in a not-sure-about-this frame of mind for the first couple of bewilderingly frenetic episodes.
And then, around about episode three of the first series (there have been two with eight, roughly half-hour, episodes in series one, and 10 in series two) The Bear really began to catch fire, and boy did it burn ever-more brightly as the two series progressed.
It’s set in an Italian family-owned sandwich joint in Chicago which youngest brother Carmy, finds himself in charge of when it’s left to him by his wayward but adored brother after he commits suicide. Carmy has become an award-winning chef in New York, albeit one racked with feelings of inadequacy, and he returns to his home town and his wildly disfunctional family, to find a motley crew of misfits working in The Original Beef, and a restaurant quite literally falling apart and drowning in debt.
His efforts to win over the initially resentful team and instill in them the professionalism and discipline he wants, whilst trying to hold himself, the business and the building together, with the help of the ambitious young sous chef he hires to work with him, are at the heart of this propulsive, often explosive, at times quiet and tender comedy drama.
The brilliant script is brought to pulsating life by faultless performances from all the cast, not least Jeremy Allen White as Carmy in what is, unbelievably, his first TV role (there will doubtless be many more to follow), and a series of memorable guest appearances (I won’t reveal by which well-known faces. I’ll leave that for you to discover and enjoy). I guarantee the fast-paced, food-porn filming and editing will make it hard to resist licking your TV screen.
The Bear is an exhausting but exhilarating insight into the pressurised and frenetic environment of restaurant kitchens, and the explosive and argumentative relationships of a family barely able to communicate in any other way than at screaming pitch, yet who love each other with fierce devotion.
You can watch both series of THE BEAR on Disney+
And see the trailer for series 1 HERE, and for series 2 HERE
Hanging on to the food theme for this week’s
WORDS OF WISDOM
from the UK’s home-grown kitchen maestro
All that’s made me feel very hungry all of a sudden, so I’m off to prepare myself a probably rather less than restaurant-quality supper.
If you would like to become a paid subscriber and help to support These Are The Heydays, just type your email address in the box below. Thank you again.
Until next time.