Your ever-so slightly squeaky-bum Heyday Friday newsletter
There's a looming deadline hanging over this week's newsletter, but it doesn't get in the way of some great app recommendations, clever cleaning hacks, and top-notch podcast suggestions.
I’ve spent most of this week staring at a screen, and, not, for a change, my phone screen. I’ve been working on getting the commemorative brochure that I compile and write for the annual Women of the Year lunch, ready for its print deadline on Monday. The lunch itself is on Oct 16th and you can be sure I’ll be telling you all about it afterwards.
I’m trying to stay calm when I report that for various reasons, none of them in my control, it’s not as close to being finished as it should ideally be at this stage. (See how much less squeaky-bum than I feel I managed to make that sound? I hope you’re impressed. Especially since, for another reason I explain at the end, I don’t have as much time as I’d like to get it done by the deadline.)
Anyway, when my schedule, my anxiety levels and my phone use, return to normal, I’ll be back to enjoying the apps that I recommend in this week’s blog. It’s an update of a blog I wrote nearly two years ago (so feels overdue) and in it I share the apps I’m currently finding the most indispensable and addictive. (There’s a link to that earlier blog in the new one, if you’re interested in knowing what the first batch of recommendations were.)
Find out what they are HERE. I’d love you to add any recommendations you have in the comments.
One of the apps has something to do with these
WORDS OF WISDOM
Or rather, to be more precise, to the man who said them. Who was the legendary actor, Omar Sharif. (That’s him in the equally legendary film, Lawrence of Arabia)
You can find out how Omar is connected to an app I use ALL the time, and why it has caused me to miss getting off at tube stations more times that I’m prepared to admit, by CLICKING HERE
SMART SAVE TIPS OF THE WEEK
Between stints in front of the screen, I’ve been having a bit of a cleaning blitz in my kitchen, in order to distract myself from eating yet another snack when my watch tells me it’s time to stand up (just to be clear, I do clean it all the time, this is just a more intensive effort), so it felt like a good moment to remind you about these cleaning hacks I’ve been using (as I have many times before) and which I can happily report are a win-win combination of being brilliantly effective and not doing damage to the environment.
To get wooden chopping boards really thoroughly cleaned (I use this for my wooden spoons too) sprinkle with salt then scrub with half a lemon.
For plastic chopping boards, sprinkle with baking soda, pour on a little vinegar then scrub with half a lemon
Grubby ovens can be easily tackled by mixing baking soda and vinegar into a paste, then using a sponge to rub the mix on the oven surfaces. Pour a cup of vinegar in a bowl then put it in the oven on a low heat for an hour. The grease and grime will wipe off easily.
To clean the inside of your microwave, put some vinegar in a bowl, add half a lemon and microwave for one minute, then just wipe clean.
By the way, I keep a bowl of bicarbonate of soda in my microwave all the time I’m not using it. It does a brilliantly effective job of keeping the inside smelling fresh.
There’s a heart-breaking reason why Heydayer Zena also has a connection to the Omar Sharif app. You can find out what that is by reading her story HERE
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……LISTENING TO….
On account of the aforementioned work avalanche, I haven’t had much time to watch or read anything this week. But I have managed to listen to a couple of episodes of my favourite, go-to podcasts whilst squeezing in some much needed exercise.
How to Fail features host, Elizabeth Day, talking to a guest about three failures in their life, how and why they happened, and what they feel they’ve learned from them (because, as the blurb for the podcast goes,' ‘when we fail, we actually learn to succeed better’). Elizabeth is an astute, empathetic and insightful interviewer, and when she has a guest as articulate, thoughtful, wise and equally insightful as Dame Joan Bakewell, the stage is set for a conversation that is as enlightening as it is enjoyable.
Joan talks, not just about her three nominated failures, but shares some of the highlights of her extraordinary life and career, including how she came to be the first person to interview Nelson Mandela after his release from prison, and why she has no regrets about her seven year affair with playwright Harold Pinter.
…..AND
I can’t apologise that this is another podcast I’ve recommended before, because each of the episodes of Cautionary Tales, presented by journalist, author and BBC North America correspondent, Tim Harford, explores and relates such a wildly different story of human error, tragic catastrophes or hilarious fiascos (sometimes a combination all three) that it’s always worthy of a repeat mention.
The episode I listened to this week is a perfect example of a story that you think is going to go one way, but ends up being enthrallingly, and soberingly different and unexpected. I won’t tell you any more about it other than to say it concerns a young Danish architect who finds he’s won the competition to build an iconic new opera house on Sydney harbour and how, instead of it being the greatest triumph of his career, it turns into something that all but destroys it.
Find both of these episodes, and all the many others in each podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, including HERE for How to Fail, and HERE for Cautionary Tales
I imagine, for all her promotion of failure as a way to succeed better, Elizabeth Day would certainly agree with this
FRIDAY FUNNY
Remember I mentioned there’s another reason I’m just a teeny bit stressed about meeting that Monday print deadline for the Women of the Year brochure? Well that’s because I’m heading off to Scotland for a long weekend with a group of mates to celebrate the significant birthday of one of them. Lovely. But also eek!
See you on the other side of it all, hopefully feeling rather calmer!