I am not very good at scheduling my posts. I have, I’ll admit, posted past my (arbitrary) deadline a few times over the last few weeks because I’ve run out of time and waited to close too the wire to finish. However, this week’s offcuts comes to you days in advance. As you read this I shall be beneath the sunny delights of the Costa del Sol. All hopes of an Indian summer crumbled very early into September so this holiday is sacred and I will be soaking up all the vitamin D I can. And eating lots of tapas.
At the time of writing this, I have bought but not yet started reading The Coin by Yasmin Zaher. By the time this lands in your inbox, I hope I’ll have made good headway if not even finished it. The last “summer” read of 2024, poolside in the sunshine. The Coin is a story of a young woman from Palestine who winds up in New York. She becomes a teacher at a school for underprivileged boys, but her life begins to unravel as she grapples with her sense of belonging. She then ends up in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags. It’ll be a particularly poignant read to hear the fictional story of a Palestinian woman written by a Palestinian woman.
It is ironic that it took being told I was dying before I really started living. Advice from 30 people who’ve all been given a terminal diagnosis.
Which of the Pickwick triplets did it? Behind the creation of the ‘darkly humorous song about babies committing murder’ in Only Murders in The Building season 3.
“When you grow up on the internet, the possibility of an original thought, an original take, feels impossible.” - on the evolution of the personal essay
In the summer, I made a checklist of all the things I wanted to do. I have a love/hate relationship with to-do lists, but I enjoyed indulging in my daydreams about all the things I wanted to do under the guise of a summer checklist. Naturally, I ticked off maybe half of it. I have a new one for Autumn with my housemates. We’ve collectively added things like hosting dinner parties, games nights and visits to local pubs and restaurants we haven’t yet been to. Again, I don’t truly expect us to tick everything off. But the checklist for autumn serves the same purpose of looking ahead with excitement at all the possibilities the next few months might bring.
Tamagotchi decided to open their first store in London. After the constant waves of Y2K revival over the last couple of years I’m not even surprised. The toy was officially relaunched in 2019 and global sales doubled from 2022 to 2023. Is it inevitable to repeat the same cycles for eternity, eventually gathering dust again only to arise from the ashes like a phoenix? I’ll confess I was never much of a Tamagotchi girl. My favourite virtual pets were my Nintendogs. I could maybe envision a world in which I am 28 (clinging on) and forming a concerning emotional bond with a make-believe dog, playing with him and teaching him tricks while he’s supposedly both “parched” and “famished”.
I was out for a walk when I watched the trailer for Babygirl. I would recommend you watch in the comfort of your own home to avoid any potential embarrassment from gawping and the risk of getting turned on in public.
Plane food can be a decisive thing. Some people love it. I too enjoy the ceremony of plane food on a long haul flight, where you’re given a tray with different courses in a way that’s similar to school dinners. It’s the novelty and the nostalgia I think I most enjoy. What I do not enjoy is the food on short haul flights. In all honesty I don’t think I’ve ever actually ordered any of the proper food that isn’t crisps or sweets. But there is something gravely awful about flicking through a sticky magazine with a picture of lasagne that’s desperately appealing to look appetising. That’s €8.5 I will not be parting with.
I thought this week I’d give a little nod to Spanish wisdom. There is a saying ‘haz el bien y no mires a quien’, which translates as do what you think is right, no matter what other people think. Stay authentic and maintain your integrity.
