Your friendship-filled Heyday Friday newsletter

A memorable meet-up, some artistic wisdom, a clever knotty solution and a bumper helping of recommendations in this week's newsletter

Hello

Well, I’m back from my trip to Provence and my in-person meeting with the friends I’ve come to know only on-line over the past five years. And what a trip and a meeting it was.

How we talked! How we laughed! How we revelled in the chance to spend time together in real life rather than on screen. And how we all marvelled at the amazing house we stayed in which belonged to a, clearly quite flamboyant, record producer, and had a huge gym, a cinema room, an entire bar building, a swimming pool and five generous en-suite bedrooms.

The blog this week is about our five special days together. But rather than being a travelog of the excursions and outings we did, or a day-by-day diary of our experiences, it’s a reflection on the particular joys of later life friendships and my discovery of how these life-enhancing connections can come along unexpectedly all the way through life. You can read it by CLICKING HERE

If you read last week’s newsletter, you’ll know a little about who the women are that I met up with. Here are the faces to put to those brief pen portraits

You’ll have to read THE BLOG to find out which one is which and discover more about each of them though.

I’d love to know about any friendships you’ve formed later in life and whether my thoughts and experiences chime with yours. Please do share your stories, either here in the comments or at the end of the blog.

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The house we stayed in was a few minutes away from the sanatorium where Vincent Van Gough spent the final year of his life, painting prolifically and producing some his most famous works. These

WORDS OF WISDOM

from him are quite lengthy, but couldn’t be more appropriate to THE BLOG or the value of friendship (when we visited the sanatorium one of our group had already left for home, hence why there are only four of us in the pic)

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WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK

The joy and beauty in so much of Van Gough’s work masked the terrible mental health conditions he battled with all his life, and which eventually lead to his tragic suicide.

A painter of a very different sort is the subject of this slot this week. One whose work has been life-saving in a quite unexpected way.

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THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……WATCHING

There has been so much written and said about this searing Netflix series and how brilliantly made and terrifyingly realistic and plausible it is, so I’m not going to add to the deserved outpouring of praise for writers Jack Thorne (who also penned the equally tremendous Toxic Town, which I reviewed in this newsletter) and Stephen Graham and the peerless cast which includes Graham and a stand out performance from newcomer Owen Cooper, other than to say if you haven’t already watched it, please, please do. It’s a properly important, truly unforgettable drama.

HERE’S where to see all four episodes

And HERE’S the trailer

…..AND LISTENING TO

Much has been made of the fact that each of the hour-long episodes of Adolescence was filmed in one continuous camera shot and how technically, astonishingly difficult that was. If you’re interested in understanding more about just how fiendishly demanding the shooting was, how the planning, rehearsing and execution of each episode was done, and getting an inside view on the production process then I heartily recommend two particular episodes of the unfailingly engrossing podcast

I’ve written about this podcast, presented by TV producer and author, Richard Osman, and Guardian columnist and script writer, Marina Hyde, before and almost certainly will again in the future. I’m unapologetically addicted to the twice-weekly episodes (one analytical, one answering listeners questions) and the fascinating insight the hosts give into the business of entertainment - TV, film, books and theatre.

In THIS episode the two discuss how Adolescence came to be the world-wide phenomenon it has and the inside story of its production.

And in THIS one, the Director, Philip Barantini, and Director of Photography, Matt Lewis, answer questions from TRIE listeners.

If you’d like to actually see how the PTSD-inducing (you’ll have to listen to the second of those two podcast episodes to understand that reference) shooting was done, you can do that HERE

….AND READING

Historical horror of a quite different sort is explored in this exquisitely written, tiny book (tiny in length, that is. It’s just 110 pages)

Set in a small town in Ireland in the run up to Christmas 1985, it transports us into the life of coal and timber merchant, Bill Furlong, as he frantically works to make his deliveries ahead of the big day. Deliveries that include the convent just outside town, where a disturbing encounter triggers an unexpected outcome.

With her beautifully sparing, evocative prose, Clair Keegan gives readers a glimpse into the dark heart of the Magdalen laundry system which blighted the Catholic Church in Ireland for decades and which was covered up for so long by a combination of complicity and silence.

For all that, Small Things Like These, is a tender, hopeful story in which compassion triumphs over passivity.

You can find Small Things Like These in all good bookshops, including The Riverside Bookshop

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GOOD TO KNOW

Since seeing this on Instagram last week, I’ve tried it and was impressed and surprised to find it works, albeit with slightly more fiddling than suggested. Of course I didn’t film myself doing it, so you’ll have to settle for the original video I came across.

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FRIDAY FUNNY

Ending as I began - on the subject of friendship. Although I suspect most of my friends would find this not just funny, but all too true!

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That’s it for this week.

I hope your days are filled with friends and laughter. And if you would be friendly enough to click on the like heart, that would be very much appreciated as always.

See you next time