Month: September 2020

Categories
Adulthood Non-fiction Observations

2020: shall we all just scream for ice cream?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

A well known phrase which, while drinking the third beer on my Sunday last week I desperately wanted to perform. I wouldn’t have stopped at the end though. Oh no. I’d have screamed and screamed and screamed until they could hear me, er, somewhere over the pond which indicates a very loud scream.

Yes, disclaimer, I’m a little tipsy writing this one.

It’s all gong a bit mental hasn’t it. I just opened the BBC news app because I’d not had / possibly missed the latest few announcements on coronavirus so wanted to see whether I’m still legally allowed to leave my home.

Wish I hadn’t.

They’re on about the £10,000 fines for disobeying the rules. It’s just gone next level but is any of it working. Like I get staying 2 metres away etc works, but are the tactics on implementing these rules working?

Anyway.

Forth beer now and I’m happy.

Since writing this, the past week has seen further restrictions and now at work we are all in visors. If you told me this time last year I’d be going to work dressed as if I’m about to operate I’d have laughed in ya face! But it’s happening.

A N Y W A Y. . .

I’m writing this partly because I was on a roll while half cut, partly because I find myself kinda funny, partly as a diary. Like a wartime diary, but not. Far from it.

Just gotta keep on keeping on, eating loads and drinking plenty. Christmas all year round. Everyday. We’ve sung about it for years!

For links to all of my writing related stuff, my link tree is below. You can also find published work in my portfolio. My debut novel, Dear Brannagh, is available on Amazon along with the sequel Don’t Tell Jack. If you enjoy what you’re seeing here and are interested in following me on my writing journey, then please subscribe to my newsletter by dropping your name and email. There will be plenty of giveaways, news hot off the press and an honest insight into life as an author. Thank you x

linktr.ee/HJMWriting

Categories
Adulthood Non-fiction Observations Writing

Where’s my 2020 diary?

2020. What even is a diary by this stage?….

I’m a sucker for a page to day diary and, under normal circumstances, would use one all the time. Every task I intend to complete each week is noted down on the day I will complete it. It helps me remain focussed and disciplined with my writing and I highlight my social life to ensure that I still have one.

This year it’s gone out the window.

No really. It possibly could have because I don’t know where it is!

The other morning I phoned the doctors for the first time in forever and booked an appointment. I’m very lucky, I know. Anyway. Although the surgery had sent me a text reminder, I felt the urge to write it in my diary as well.

My diary was nowhere to be seen. It was at this point when I realised I’d stopped bothering to use my diary months ago, I didn’t even know where it was?!

While I strive to continue balancing work and writing, I’ve given in to the fact that this year is like no other and some days I find it quite tough. Work has suddenly picked up again and at the end of last week I didn’t need to look at takings to see how busy we were, I could physically feel it in my aching eyes and wobbling legs. Everything is getting on top of us all again. It’s mental.

This weekend I have plans other than work but I’ve decided to wing it. Who needs a diary? If I put anything big in it’ll probably get cancelled anyway. More friends were meant to get married this month – cancelled.

It gets boring and so depressing for those most effected. Then I think, it’s one year. Whether it’ll be over any time soon is another matter altogether but in the grand scheme of life, it’s not a very long time.

For links to all of my writing related stuff, my link tree is below. You can also find published work in my portfolio. My debut novel, Dear Brannagh, is available on Amazon along with the sequel Don’t Tell Jack. If you enjoy what you’re seeing here and are interested in following me on my writing journey, then please subscribe to my newsletter by dropping your name and email. There will be plenty of giveaways, news hot off the press and an honest insight into life as an author. Thank you x

linktr.ee/HJMWriting

Categories
Adulthood Non-fiction Observations

2020, I took a DAY OFF

It’s Monday. Monday 7th September 2020 and I am enjoying the first day off I’ve had all year. I am bloody loving it. I’m sat here at 2:10pm with a chilled glass of white wine, sat on a recliner and feeling happy from the inside out.

It wasn’t until I heard a specialist discussing on BBC Breakfast the importance of a day off. It could only be a single day but it does the world of good. She was saying how so many front line workers; nurses, doctors etc – haven’t taken their holiday entitlement due to having no choice or having nowhere to go. It’s dangerous. Physically and mentally it is dangerous and I don’t think I realised this until now.

I knew how beneficial this day was going to be as I left on Saturday afternoon for the Suffolk coast. When I was discussing with my boss when I would return, I felt an urge push me from within against coming back to work Monday lunchtime. A full day is what I needed. A full day when I should have been working.

Of course, each week I have Sunday’s. They are the BEST. I read, listen to podcast, visit friends, drink plenty, write, do chores that I’ve missed during the week. It’s too much. I need longer to fit it all in. There is also a completely different mindset to having a day off when the rest of the world is working. I feel that brilliant feeling that I always feel when I’m at the beach, my happiest place, but I feel it amplified because I should be at work.

I should be at work, but I’m not.

I should be at work, but I’m drinking wine at 2pm.

I should be at work, but instead I’m buying toys for my dog which he loves.

I should be at work, but I’m having a McDonald’s breakfast (and only just made it in time).

I should be at work, but it started raining so I went back to bed.

I should be at work, but I finished my book.

I should be at work, but I didn’t put a bra on (and went out in public MULTIPLE times). No cares.

…It is now Friday and I am still feeling the benefits of having that extra day to myself. More time to do nothing. Seriously, if you’ve worked tirelessly this year and haven’t taken any time out, consider it. A day is sometimes all you need to recuperate and get right back to it again.

It’s 2020 and I took a day off.

For links to all of my writing related stuff, my link tree is below. You can also find published work in my portfolio. My debut novel, Dear Brannagh, is available on Amazon along with the sequel Don’t Tell Jack. If you enjoy what you’re seeing here and are interested in following me on my writing journey, then please subscribe to my newsletter by dropping your name and email. There will be plenty of giveaways, news hot off the press and an honest insight into life as an author. Thank you x

linktr.ee/HJMWriting

Categories
Adulthood Non-fiction Observations

If I had a tail to wag…

Seem a strange concept? Here me out.

If you are a regular reader, you will now be aware, I am trying SO HARD to cling onto the positives during this pandemic. SO HARD. The other day after another busy day at work I was sipping on a beer and trying desperately to stay awake past 8pm.

One thing I noticed which made me smile and gave me a boost of energy was how happy the four little dogs were in the living room that I was in. I mean, they literally wag their tails for anything, ANYTHING. I think humans need to be more this way inclined.

Their owners come home after five minutes of being out – they wag. Dinner time – they wag. Being surrounded by lots of people – they wag out of control. Treat time – they wag. Walkies?! The wagging is something else. When you think about it all these reasons for being so happy are very simple. They are all things us humans take for granted.

It made me think if I had a tail, when would I wag? I think it would be more often than I would initially expect. I think myself, and probably many others out there, take more for granted than we realise and need to simply be happier, for more reasons, simpler reasons. Especially now.

All of my blog posts can be found at https://www.harrietmills.co.uk/ and to read my published work visit my portfolio.