Just Emma

            Hello, lovelies.          Have you filled your biggest bowl with sweets and treats for any little hands that come knocking at your door as soon as its dark outside? Or do you shut all the curtains, turning off the lights so that any passing trick or treaters will think you’re out? Is this Halloween Saturday a fun day full of costumes, carved pumpkins and outlandish scary decorations? Or is it just a marketing ploy to get us to spend more money than we really have? Should we be celebrating the haunted holiday or saving out teeth from the deluge of sweets? Is Halloween a trick or a treat for you?             Okay, so maybe not this Halloween, but previously on the 31 st October we have become accustomed to seeing the roads filled with terrifying monsters, gruesome zombies and evil witches and wizards. But this year’s horror is the Coronavirus. That ...

            Hello, lovelies.       Does seeing 1 single magpie send you into a panic until you can spot its mate and can recite the rhyme? Do you avoid looking into a broken mirror, afraid that it might bring 7 years bad luck? On dropping a knife will it stay there until someone else picks it up? If a black cat crosses your path, does that really denote bad luck? And if 13 people sit down at a table, does it really mean that someone is going to die? Is there something behind all these old folk laws and superstitions? Are they there to help save and protect our lives? Or are we just living in the shadow of our collective ancestors as they struggled to make sense of the mysterious world around them?                          I never used to think that I was partially superstitious. Okay, so I will never look into a cra...

         Hello, lovelies.                        With the cost of Covid relief packages skyrocketing out of control the government's coffers are running dangerously low. Many corners have to be cut. Business' are closing and people are losing their jobs. We are continually told that we must help out to save lives. But where can we cut those corners? Should we cancel MPs annual pay rise? Stop handing out multi-million-pound contracts to our friends who never deliver? Or should we stop helping out the poorest families and children at this time of crisis? Is it the rich or poor who should pay the price?             Food and water are the most basic fundamental needs that each and every person needs, daily. 3 times a day at the very least. But with money being in such short supply, sometimes it can come to the choice bet...

            Hello, lovelies.           Have you ever wondered why being gay was illegal and still is in certain parts of the world? Is it right to never admit to who you love? Have you ever prayed that you would wake up the next day and not have an attraction to someone of the same sex? Is being gay a lifestyle choice? Do you choose to be gay? Or, is it how you were born and who you are? Can you pray the gay away? Should the law allow same-sex couples to get married? Or is that a threat to the meaning of the union? Is it bad to be gay? Or, should we all just let go of our own fears and prejudices and mind our own business?             All my life I have worked in and around the theatre. I started working FOH at a local theatre when I was 15 years old, and still work there now nearly 30 years later. Most of my friends are people I’ve met working there. I have ...

               Hello, lovelies.      Have you ever received good news, but are convinced that something was sure to go wrong? On seeing 1 magpie do you cross your fingers and salute to ward off any bad luck that might follow? And yet never lookout for the good things when you see 2 of them? Why is it so much easier to expect bad news than good?  Is it that nothing ever good happens to us, or are we predisposed to only expect bad news? Why is it so hard to celebrate the good things that happen?                I received some very good news this week. At first, I couldn’t believe it, surely there was some mistake. But as I read the email, I saw that it was true. Something I have worked on for so long was finally going to happen! Whoopee! But that got me wondering, why had I been so convinced that I was going to fail? That they were sure to see through my w...

Hello, lovelies.         They say that we are all one pay packet away from financial disaster. That it only takes one month of no income for the bills to pile up. Could that lead to the possibility of eviction from our homes? With Covid still on our heels, the job market is all but gone.  How soon would it be for that one bill too many to come in that would push us over the financial edge? Would we be able to survive? Or would we too become one of our invisible homeless?   Before lockdown, I had 4 jobs. I was also either performing in a show or directing one. And more often than not, I was doing both at the same time. I worked very hard. And the fruits of my labours were that I could buy my own home and afford to pay my mortgage. Right up until March this year I was on track to be able to afford to take my children away on holiday for the first time in years, and my children really deserved that. But then Covid hit, and I was put on furlo...

         Hello, lovelies.                    Have you ever just jumped in your car, and headed off just for the fun of it? For no reason whatsoever you head off in your car for a trip to the seaside? Spending many hours cleaning, repairing and loving your four-wheeled best friend. But with road tax, petrol, MOTs, insurance and now a nationwide government initiative to close roads and fine us if we do so. Have the days of driving around town, or even across the road, gone forever? Is driving a car for everyone, or just for the rich?           I absolutely love my car. No, it's more than that. I couldn't function without it. My work depends on my being able to drive and own a car. It was at work when I drove down a road that I have always been able to drive down when I was stopped by a man waving at cardboard sign at me. Now, I'm not normally one for stopping when a man waves some...

           Hello, lovelies.                 We missed out on this years Eurovision song contest thanks to COVID 19. Should we be letting out a huge sigh of relief at not coming last again with Nil points Or have we missed out on a historic part of our contemporary culture? Does the song contest open our ears to different sounds and songs? Or are we better off just sticking to songs we know and that are sung in English?               I love listening to music. Who doesn't? There is nothing better than after having a stressful day at work than to pop on the radio and listen to beautiful songs, all sung in English, and switching off my poor overwhelmed brain. As I sing along, at the top of my voice, I let the music wash over me. Fantastic. I do have a very particular taste in music, not one shared by everyone. But isn't that great? There is so much music out there ...

      Hello, lovelies.                I hear on the news that some University students may not be able to return to their homes and families this Christmas season. They’ll have to stay in their student rooms, not socialising, not celebrating, just keeping themselves locked away until they return for the new term in January. Are they just being young, irresponsible snowflakes that have jeopardised their own safety by partying too much? Or are they young adults, who have just set foot out in the big wide scary world and are being blamed for everything?                It has been a very long time since I was a student. But I do remember my first day at drama school. I was terrified. I was 18 and believed that I was a full-blown adult ready for whatever life was about to throw at me. How little I knew. I still lived at home with my mo...

              Hello, lovelies.                                      Have you ever pushed yourself so hard that you feel completely drained? Burnt the candle at both ends, only to berate yourself when you can’t quite do it. Are you able to sit down and turn your brain off? Or is there always so much to do, and the thought of sitting down is just unimaginable? Is self-care just something that other people do? Do you ever forget to take care of yourself?                I’m not very good at practicing self-care. There is always too much to do. There’s all that lovely housework that never seems to end, my children with packed lunches and homework, my 3 jobs, shopping in the midst of all these lockdown measures. With all this going on I haven’t managed to pick up a book for ...