“Polly!”

“She took a sip, and she felt calmed by it, as she always did. There was something in reddish tea that said to you look, don’t worry.”

The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall Smith

When someone in a film says, “Fancy a cuppa?” or “I’ll pour us a glass, shall I?” do you also feel like popping the kettle on or opening a bottle of wine?

I’m an absolute sucker for a suggestion. And it works in all sorts of ways.

So … I see a character in a film (perhaps a detective hot on the trail of a serial killer) going for a long gruelling run to clear her head. She’s pounding the pavement. She’s sweating. She’s determined. Immediately, I experience a strong almost-physical pull to lace up my trainers and join her.

If you yawn, I WILL yawn. Forget that, just mention the word ‘yawn’. I’m yawning as I write this.

If my Mama cries, I cry.

If Hubby is stressed, I feel it for him.

I may be some sort of human sponge. The problem is real.

As I mentioned before, I’m being careful about what I listen to and watch …

That’s why, people, for the umpteenth time, though they are acknowledged to be brilliant, no, I have not watched ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Breaking Bad‘, ‘It‘, ‘No country for Old Men‘, ‘28 Days Later’, ‘The Shining‘ and a million other titles … please don’t recommend them to me.

I’m too soft!

I can’t cope with the visuals.

They stay with me.

I will dream them.

If you’re on the hunt for a good book, though, I can recommend a stunning lockdown read, All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Though without question a totally different situation (set during WWII), I felt there were many eerie parallels to our C-19 lockdown. It’s beautifully written. I couldn’t put it down.

In other news, Hubby and I had an enormous grocery order arrive today, just when the fridge and cupboards were beginning to echo. So, I will head off in a minute to make myself that cuppa avec digestive biscuit which I’ve been thinking about all morning. #thankful

Like yawning, tea is a difficult one to resist.

So, what are you listening to, watching, indulging in these lockdown days, peeps?

Let’s do this lockdown thing Une étape a la fois.

SMALL PRINT:

P.s. Today the postman delivered a parcel from my Sis-in-law in Hull: biltong, veg seeds for planting, and handmade Shweshwe face masks. #blessed
P.p.s. Spring is happening outside and our seedlings are almost ready to be planted out in the allotment – like during the world wars, we will #digforvictory in 2020.
P.p.p.s. There are some caveats to my film watching. I’m fine with, and in fact love aliens, creature features and zombies so long as they are fairly benign, and because I’m not likely to meet them in real life. I did my Film MA thesis on Aliens (1986) and Jaws (1975). There’s a beautiful formulaic appeal to these films, which allow for safe watching – for me – I know they are not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’. Wine works too.
P.p.p.p.s. See what I just did? I started with tea and I’ve ended with tea. “Polly!”