The weeks really are soaring by, aren’t they? We’re basically in the middle of August now and I feel a little bereft. Where has time gone? I am nowhere near yet satisfied with my experience of summer, my list of things to do is still long. Yet the night is slowly drawing itself in sooner and sooner, as it has been for the past 6 weeks. I am already in mourning for when the first tree starts to shed its leaves. It’s been a week of two halves, the highs of my trip to Seville have been exchanged with a sorrowfulness that’s crept up and tapped its finger on my shoulder. I will try harder not to wish time away.
It was Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid that came along with me to Seville. Poor Carrie missed out on the holiday to Cape Verde because my World of Books order didn’t arrive on time. It was exactly everything I wished it would be for a holiday read. I was gripped by the plot and found it hard to pry my eyes away as they tried to jump ahead to the end of pages before I’d even read them. I was rooting for Carrie’s comeback as a tennis pro and loved how Jenkins Reid highlighted how the media treat female sports stars.
Bought tickets for Clairo’s Charm tour this week, she’ll be coming to London in March next year. I’ve loved her music for a while, I think Flaming Hot Cheetos was probably the first song of hers I listened to. I’m looking forward to seeing her live. Got plenty of time to listen to her new album in the meantime as well.
I elusively promised you more about my ‘one of a kind’ bathrobe from my hotel in Seville. Check out the print on this. I am a Giraffe! How fun. It was like indulging my inner child and now I miss it. There is a rationality that I suppose I should be grateful for as an overpacker. If there was any room left in my luggage, it would have been coming home with me.
I enjoy the usual light-heartedness from the structure of The Offcuts. But this week I wanted to condemn the far-right acts of racist domestic terrorism that have been taking place across the country. To recognise the failures of our government to call out these acts and label them as what they are. To express anger at the media and streams of disinformation that have helped to fuel the fire of this heinous climax of behaviour. How the devastating deaths of three young girls and the injuries of others have been eclipsed and weaponised by those looking for any excuse to incite violence. And yet, there have been such beautiful, poignant moments and displays of community, solidarity and unity. A resounding hope for a future that allows people to feel safe and accepted, eradicating far-right beliefs.
It feels right to round off with a final thought on activism and change. It led me to Greta Thunberg’s quote, and the title of the book collection of her speeches: “No one is too small to make a difference”.
