Last Month

It’s been cold, finally, and still wet. I slow down in the cold as it creeps, like a reptile, and so I’ve been quiet and slow-moving.

Some highlights:

• The warm embrace of Georgette Heyer is a light drawing me back to reading
• My heated blanket, wheat bag and other warmth sources
• Cooking – borne out of budgetary necessity, but still a source of pride as things go well
• My partner bringing me a coffee in the mornings as I get a few extra minutes in bed

I have spent an idle weekend cataloguing, dusting and categorising my fragrance collection. The notes record in my phone is now extensive and sports, if you could believe, sub-headings (a depth of text-formatting I was previously not aware Google Notes offered). My records will stall and the collection will get dusty again; that’s all right, because in a year or more it will give me cause for another idle and pleasant weekend re-cataloguing.

For the first time in forever I got lost in a book with Georgette Heyer. I’ve been carrying a paperback around for weeks in an effort to slide the idea of reading past my subconscious, but finally it was an app-to-do-list that cracked through. And then I loved it: I knew I would. I love her writing and her characters and her style of romance.

The Quiet Gentleman also has a mystery plotline in equal parallel to the romance, which makes for a humourous and warm read – just sneaky enough for you to guess a few chapters before the reveal, which is great for the ego and therefore also for overall enjoyment. A real pleasure. I stayed up late reading because I lost track of time, and in the same week almost gave myself heatstroke in the sauna when I took the book there. What a joy to be a little tired in the morning because a book kept you up. It’s as good as the other best reasons there are to be tired.

A list of things and activities from the month:

• Count of Monte Cristo (2024) – the best paced, most enjoyable 3 hour film I’ve ever seen (it felt like barely two hours: no critiques at all)
• Expedition 33 has been the game of the month, featuring an excellent gameplay experience, great music and also voice-actors making the most of a “heavy French accent” brief
• Butternut Squash Alfredo Pasta (sort of): the necessary follow-on from a hot rush of blood in the vegetable aisle, but one that I ended up proud of.
• Krispy Kreme Apple Crumble vegan donut: I love a treat.

I’ve taken no photos this month really, although we did climb a local mountain (hill) yesterday sunset to look at the city. And it was gorgeous – clear cool skies making the lights defined and saturated, snakes of headlights on the motorways, wide pale yellow-blue expanses where the harbour reflected the sky. It was beautiful, and it faded to just a gold band of sky between bands of grey, and the picture of it was just for seeing.