I was on Radio Suffolk on Monday night with the lovely Jon Wright. Gosh, how I love the radio! In the current climate, I didn’t even have to drive to the turreted palace which is Radio Suffolk HQ, but was able to slump on my creaky chair in the dining room and chat on the phone. Thanks Jon!
I was being positive, talking about the uplifting things we can all focus on. It would be so easy to look at what our world is going through at the moment and fall apart. Uncertainty, lack of control, strict social limitations – it’s not great. But – and it’s a big but, as my friend Clare always says - “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank said that. I hadn’t come across those words before, but as I sit writing on a bright sunny spring morning, they seem bang on.
I’ve decided not to tread water, not to mark time, not to ride it out. Before this happened, I had just about enough money and no time. Now I’ve got hardly any money but loads of time. I’m going to use that gift wisely. Yesterday, I paired a huge mountain of socks. There are five pairs of feet in this household, all with a myriad of different coloured coverings, and with the current warm weather, each sock has been lovingly washed and dried by moi. I discovered that laundry baskets have bottoms. I did not realise this. There is a vast green expanse in my bedroom. The carpet, I think they call it. “Hello!” I greeted it this morning. “Haven’t seen you for a while.”
I’ve wasted far too much of my life worrying about what I look like and what people think of me.
My friend Jane has had me crying with laughter every morning with her joke beauty channel. She’s a hoot. Her daily explanations of how to get her look parodies those po-faced YouTube videos brilliantly. They’re honest, funny and real. From peeling nail varnish to bobbly pyjama bottoms to rampant root regrowth, they’re hilarious.
My friend Zanda posted this picture on Facebook today. Funny but also touching. Sharing your loo roll really is the gift that keeps on giving. Big love to the Purins family who also made me smile today.
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, join me in looking for the funny, the touching, the beautiful in our uncertain world. And remember those words from Anne Frank. Really. Wait not a single moment before starting to improve the world.