Your Heyday Friday newsletter from my sick bed (well, house)
I've been a bit poorly this week, which hasn't been much fun, but I've got plenty cheery, comforting recommendations and suggestions for you in this week's newsletter
Hello!
I’ve spent most of the past week labouring with a lurgy that’s very definitely doing the rounds where I live. So many people I know are spluttering and sneezing, and now I’ve joined their ranks. Boo!
I freely admit I’m not exactly the most patient of patients and although an excuse to sit in bed or tucked up under a blanket on the sofa for hours on end sounds fabulous in theory, in practice I get stir crazy and fidgety in a quite childish length of time.
What my indisposition has meant, though, is that I’ve read not one, but two books from my increasingly teetering bedside pile, and am currently making inroads into a third. And I’ve made a start on two TV series - Shogun, a remake of the 1980 miniseries with Richard Chamberlain (remember that?), based on the epic historical novel by James Clavell, and the fourth and final series of Netflix’s fabulously funny and filthy Sex Education.
As for the books. One of them is the subject of this week’s blog (the other is reviewed below).
Find out why All the Broken Places made it into the blog slot, and what makes this follow-up to the international best-selling The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, such a gripping, challenging (in all the best ways) and unforgettable read by CLICKING HERE.
If you have to hunker down at home, it certainly helps to be doing it when the weather has been as filthy as it has been in London this week. There’s literally no incentive to venture out. As the rain lashed down for yet another full day without let up, I was cheered up no end by this
FRIDAY FUNNY
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……READING
For all the aforementioned reasons, I’ve needed plenty of comfort entertainment this week, and the second in Richard Osman’s insanely successful Thursday Murder Club mysteries is the perfect comfort reading - affectionate, amusing, charming and clever, The Man Who Died Twice bowls along at a cracking pace, with bodies and plot twists piling up from the off.
We reconvene with the Murder Club band from book one - former spy Elizabeth, retired nurse Joyce, psychiatrist Ibrahim, and political activist Ron - and their cast of recruited helpers, all-round fixer Bogdan and local law enforcers DCI Chris, and PC Donna, as someone from Elizabeth’s past re-emerges, plunging our gung-ho gang into a series of events - and deaths - that revolve around a stash of missing diamonds and involve plenty of dastardly dealings and double-crossings.
It’s all hugely good fun with just the right amount of riddles, revelations and reflections to keep you engaged and guessing to the end.
You can buy The Man Who Died Twice on-line and in all good bookshops, including Waterstones
…. AND WATCHING
I honestly think Stacey Solomon should be prescribed to anyone feeling the remotest bit glum. The woman is basically a human helping of sunshine and positivity. And Sort Your Life Out, the home makeover show that she fonts - this is the fourth series - is the perfect showcase for her uniquely life-enhancing mix of kindness, empathy, practicality and creativity.
Along with her team - carpenter Rob, cleaning expert Ewan and organiser extraordinaire, Dilly - Stacey comes to the rescue of families whose homes are quite literally drowning in clutter and mess. In the space of a week they (and an army of mostly unseen helpers) empty the house and display all the contents in a giant warehouse - always the most jaw-dropping highlight of each episode - where the family are tasked with ridding themselves of usually at least half, sometimes more, of their accumulated stuff (which they choose to sell, donate or recycle).
Whilst that’s happening, the house is given a wide-ranging make-over and what remains of the family’s possessions are returned and put away before they come back to their transformed home.
The combination of the stories behind why the families have found themselves submerged in stuff, many of which emerge during the warehouse days and are sensitively and gently handled by Stacey and the rest of the team, and their reactions to their transformed homes mean you’re unlikely to get to the end of an episode without shedding a heart-warmed tear.
I’ve written about Sort Your Life Out before, and I make no apologies for repeating my recommendation with this latest series.
You can see Sort Your Life Out on BBC 1 on Tuesday evenings at 9.00pm or watch every episode HERE
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
(apart from Stacey, obviously) That would be the wonderful street art by Italian artist Greg Goya who creates designs and installations that encourage members of the public to interact with them. And just look at what fun it is when they do.
I feel confident Stacey would agree with these
WORDS OF WISDOM
from Portuguese writer and Nobel Prizewinner, Jose Saramago
(And yes, that’s a shot of the warehouse part of Sort Your Life Out. See what I mean about jaw-dropping?)
That’s is for now. I’m really, really hoping I won’t be coughing anything like as much (if, fingers crossed, at all) by next time.
Have a happy, healthy week.
I'm sorry to hear about how you are feeling.
And I hope that you are feeling better soon. :).
Wishing you better Diane. I have had it too! Such a bore 🤧🤒😷