ten thoughts on a Saturday evening

(Inspired by Josephine Corcoran's post 'Ten thoughts on a Friday evening'. The first thought here is a direct reference to Josephine's.)


1. After a day of work, sipping a glass of wine whilst not cooking (beyond warming up some pitta bread) is a great pleasure. But I do like drinking wine and cooking. Tomorrow night I'll have a glass while I make a lentil dhal, which is one of my favourite things to make. But tonight it was nice to warm up some bread, throw some hummus and falafel onto a plate and wonder if I'd get lynched if I went back to the place I grew up for having such a poncey tea.


2. I had some crisps with my wine as a kind of 'starter', which made me feel better about the poncey tea.


3. I watched Corrie as I ate my poncey tea which really helped me to feel more down to earth.


4. I love Corrie. Five times a week (and not restricted to the broadcast times, thank you modern technology) I get a really happy feeling as I sit or lie down for 22 minutes to enjoy an episode. It's funny and well scripted. It's genuinely funny. Mary is my favourite. If you watch it and if you know me well you might understand why I like her so much.


5. Every so often, someone will hear that I watch certain TV programs (I also watch Big Brother) and say something smart like, 'Oh I thought you were better than that!' Of all the judge-y snobby attitudes I dislike, this is in the top 5 worst ones. (I'm not sure what else is in there yet - another blog post? but I know that I'd put grammar snobs in number 1.)  Like what you like! Enjoy what you get pleasure from, for whatever reason. And please don't call the things you like 'guilty pleasures' - doing that just succumbs to and validates the judgements of others.


6. Happy Halloween! I bought these lights just a few hours ago. They're from Sainsbury's, they're battery powered, they cost £3.50 and they are ESSENTIAL. That's my head and eye at the top. Tilt your head to the right or it looks like my fringe is a beard.

7. I have a new job and it is a writing job. It's really nice to be able to say that! I'm working as a ghostwriter (that's even nicer to say) writing people's life stories from interviews they've given. It is really a fantastic job, interesting and rewarding - and hopefully it will lead onto and into other things... I'm doing it for an organisation at the moment, but am hoping, and planning, to be working for myself in the future. I want to help people tell their stories - it makes total sense for me to do that, for a variety of reasons. Maybe that is also another post. If you'd like help writing your story - get in touch - my email is in the 'about' tab up there.


8. I only have one story out being judged at the moment - and it's at the Costa Short Story Award. Six winners are due to be announced in November, which is very close. But 'Winners announced in November' is vague - that could mean the end of November. Which is a whole month away. It probably doesn't mean that, and I'm not saying this to elicit a 'Oh you never know!' response (I actually have that, naturally) but wouldn't it be amazing if writing competitions always kept their Twitter / website / blog up to date with news of how close they are to contacting the winners or shortlisters? They must know we check any kind of news resource daily (hourly) to see if anything has been announced. Just a snippet of news, an indication, would be excellent. And it would be respectful - then we can send our work elsewhere, with confidence, and not in a sneaky way.


9.  In a bit I'll watch another episode of Corrie, then retire to bed to listen to a radio program. This is where I should say something about being boring, or 'this is how I rock a Saturday night!' or something else that I don't really mean. I guess we're back to thought number 5. When possible I try to fill my time with things I love doing, and these are the things I really want to do right now. The radio program, as I'm sure you're eager to know, will be Word of Mouth with Michael Rosen. (Josephine mentioned Michael in her list too, so that's a nice bit of synchronicity.)


10.  This is probably the best video I've ever seen on the internet. (Yeah, even including all the cat ones.) (I KNOW!!!!) Thanks Vanessa Gebbie for sharing this on FB. This lady dancing, and the last line, and the timing of the last line and the song that comes on next... all comprise and make for one joyous, life-grabbing, life-affirming experience.






Be happy! Like what you like! Write your thoughts and share in the comments, or leave a link to your blog in the comments. Happy Saturday. (Or any of the other 6 days in the week when you could be reading this.)