Just Emma

               Hello, lovelies.       Christmas is coming, we’re about to have a five-day window where we can spend the most wonderful time of the year with our families and friends. Exchanging presents. Eating to excess. Kissing under the mistletoe.   Sharing a drink or two. And hugging our nearest and dearest. But what if that one hug could lead to something more than just the expression of love? What if that hug unknowingly passes the virus? Is the hug worth the risk? But what is the risk of not hugging those that we love? What is the price of basic human contact? And what is the cost of the absence of it?             I recently met up with a friend that I haven’t seen for months, and as she walked towards me, without thinking, I threw my arms around her and gave her the biggest hug. I was so caught up with seeing my friend, that I completely forgot about t...

            Hello, lovelies.             What would you do if you could actually predict the future? Would you sneak a peek at the winning lottery numbers? Place all your money on whatever the new up and coming .com is? Would you brave a look at your future life? But what if you didn’t like what you saw? If you won the lottery, could you be happy with all the new complicated set of problems it would bring? And what would you do if the world of the future didn’t turn out the way you’d imagined? Or, what if all those hopes and dreams that you’d always wanted to do, you find that you never did them? Would seeing into the future be all it’s cracked up to be? Or does it not matter what the future holds, it’s what we make of it that counts?             When I was a child, I always imagined what my life was going to be like when I grew up. Of course, I...

            Hello, lovelies.        We’re almost there with this second national lockdown. Christmas is just around the corner. The decorations are going up. Christmas presents are being ordered online. And I’m beginning to think about ordering our Christmas lunch food. Will the shops still have any Christmas crackers left by the time I get there? I have to remember to buy the vegan gravy for my daughter. It’s just the yearly flu jab to get and Christmas is ready. And possibly the new Corona vaccine. But should I have it? Are they rushing it through just so we can get the economy back on its feet? Will the vaccine contain a microchip that will track us for the rest of our lives? Should we take the vaccine to save lives? Or take our chances and hope the virus passes us by.               Earlier this year, my youngest daughter was diagnosed w...

            Hello, lovelies.             As I was driving home from work, with the winter night drawing in, I began to see more and more houses with their Christmas decorations up. That can’t be right. We’ve only just had bonfire night. People are still lighting fireworks, and I’m yet to pull my winter coat out of the cupboard as the weather is still so clement. But all around me the windows glistened and gleamed with Christmas trees bedecked with fairy lights. Have we gone mad, following the trend of the supermarkets bringing Christmas earlier and earlier each year? Or has 2020 been so traumatic and traumatising that we are in a desperate need to celebrate anything and everything?             I used to love Christmas. As a child, Christmas was a time of rehearsals, costumes and my family house full of people all getting ready to perform in the pant...

            Hello, lovelies.       We’re a week on from the most polarized election in recent memory. Whether the right candidate has won will be played out over the next four years. But what have we actually learnt about us and the results? Is it all done and dusted? Can we now talk about something else? Or has this whole fiasco opened an awful can of worms? And what does our preferred candidate say about us?  Can we go back to our new normal? Or has Pandora’s box been opened for good?             Growing up I was the last person who wanted to talk about politics. I was born in the late ’70s so my first introduction to politics was during the formidable Iron lady’s rein, Margaret Thatcher, as Prime Minister. She was elected on 4th May 1979 and ended it with an internal party coup that ousted her as prime minister on 28th November 1990. So, my childhood was full of Cons...

     Hello, lovelies. With fireworks banging, popping and whizzing through our cold winter night, we all let out a collective ‘ooh’ and ahhh’ as we watch the skies light up in beautiful technicolour. Bonfire night is a quintessential British holiday. Children and adults alike all wave sparklers, spelling out our names in the air. But what is the story behind of this firework filled holiday? What would have happened if Guy Fawkes had actually blown up the houses of parament?  Was he wrong to attempt it? Or did he have the right idea? Remember, remember the 5 th  of November with gun powder treason and plot. For I see no reason for gun powder treason Should ever be forgot. I love bonfire night. There is something so magical about standing in the middle of a cold soggy field along with thousands of others, all looking skyward, with progressively stiff necks, at the expensive firework display. Then watching as they put a Guy on the enormous bonfire as it’s ...

            Hello, lovelies.            With only 14 weeks until Christmas 2020 is upon us, can we all look forward to spending time with our families? Can we put this disastrous year behind us and focus on the New Year to come? Will Covid 19 keep us locked in our homes unable to see our most near and dear loved ones? Will we be faced with the possibility that we may all be locked down over the festive season? Or worse. Will some of us be locked down, whilst the rest of the country be able to celebrate with their families and friends? Covid took our summer, will it take our Christmas too?             It wasn’t that long ago that we were all told things were getting better. More and more shops had opened their doors. Well, those that are still able to do so, although so many having closed their doors in March will not ever open again. You could go for a s...