Just Emma

Hello, lovelies.            With Christmas fading from memory, it can only mean one thing in my household, it’s panto time. A month of writing the script, four months of rehearsing one night a week till January when my entire life is taken over and consumed by our local community theatre group’s yearly pantomime. Costumes have been either bought or made. The bar is fully stocked. And my Amazon buying history is a little eye opening. But all our efforts are put on to the stage where my ready, willing and able actors perform in front of packed pews. And this year was no different. But with the uncertainty of Covid, and the rules ever changing to us even being allowed to put on a show, should this have been the year for us all to have taken the time off and not to have bothered with it all? Is the world ready for us to start donning the make-up and 4” heels as we perform? Or is the very best time to air out our costumes, put on the greasepaint and show the w...

Hello, lovelies.            There is nothing better than being invited to a party. A good party can lift a bad mood. It can be morale building. You can meet your future partner or make that all important network. Parties come in all shapes and sizes. From large lavish formal dos to small intermit affairs. A party brings fun, plenty of food and a modicum of booze. I love a good party, who doesn’t? From the planning to the clear up, parties can go down in history as a make or break event. And over the past two years we’ve learnt to hold online parties, trying our to do our best in these crazy times. And now we can all forward to 2022 and all the good times we are finally able to have. We can all count on the fact that we have followed the rules, even when it was difficult and painful to do so. We held back from celebrating with our friends, family and colleagues through our Christmas and the New Year. And now it is time to let our hair down and celebrate as ...

         Hello, lovelies.                 Is the old saying, It’s a man’s world, really true? Should we listen to our predecessors, and as a woman only expect a life of care giving and always to be standing at the back of the room, never making the big decisions? Is my only true goal in life to take care of my man, no matter who he is and what he does? Or is that an old fairy tale, told to woman through the millennia and it is now time to stand up and be counted. Even if we have been found guilty of the most heinous crimes, all done for the sake of the ‘love of our life’? Should we women get a softer sentence, just because we were ‘just doing as we were told’? Or is it about time that we woman stand up and show the world just how strong and capable we really are? And not be able to hide behind the excuse that we women just didn’t know or understand what was really happening.            I ...

Hello, lovelies.            And just like that, we’re on the 5th January. How did that happen? It went - Christmas eve, Boxing day, New years eve and now, here we are. And for a brand-new year, it hasn’t started out on the best footing. I come to sit down to write this blog after burying my daughter’s pet hamster, that popped its clogs after 2 years of living with us. After my impromptu funeral ceremony and digging a big enough hole so my dogs are not tempted to dig the poor hamster back up, I thought that I was home free. But no. The never-ending list of things that I must get done never seems to go down. The kids, the laundry, the mounting pile of bills. And I find that all the lovely Christmas spirit has gone. The cold hard reality of 2022 has hit me right between the eyes. But surely, there must be more to life than this? What happened to living my best life, full of fun and laughter (and my mattress stuffed with all the cash I could ever need.) Oh, an...

    Hello, lovelies.           We did it. Another Christmas is over. We shopped. Wrapped the mountain of presents. Prepared the food. Ate all the food. But mostly, we all managed to enjoy that time with our family and friends, albeit in a socially distanced way. We followed the rules. Well, we’re used to it after nearly two years of doing everything we were told to do. But with the new year looming, now is the time to look to the future. To embrace everything that 2022 can throw at us. And, to be honest, it can’t be any worse than the past two years. So, as we embrace our not too predictable new years eve, can we, hand on heart, say what the new rules are? Can we rely on those set to lead us to be standing front and centre showing the safe way forward? Or is it a case of forget Where’s Wally, because he can always be found, to where’s Boris, who has the amazing ability disappear at the first sign of trouble.         I have...

Hello, lovelies.             The nights are darker, the heating is being turned on, and that means only one thing. Its officially my favourite time of the year. And today is my favourite holiday of all, Halloween! I’ve dug out all my old and trusty decorations, even if they are very old and ever so slightly battered. Gone backwards and forwards as to what I am going to dress up as. And finally planned on how I am going to eat my entire weight in sweets. I love Halloween! Who doesn’t? A time to bring out all our hidden fears and celebrate them. Why then, am I just not feeling it this year? Have I finally become too old to dress up and eat way too many chocolates? Will I ever watch a scary film and get goose bumps again? Or have I just realised that I shouldn’t fear monsters and ghosts, as humans and politicians are far scarier. Have we been exposed to violent video games and slasher movies, so now we can only see the potholes in the plot rather than be...

Hello, lovelies.               How many times have we all said to ourselves that we just can’t catch a break? A break from a large and unexpected bill landing on our doorstep, surviving Covid to the gas prices going through the roof. Why can’t we just get a couple of months off from one in pending saga to the next? Is this all just down to being an adult? Is this what we can expect from now on? Just waiting for that one bill to tip us over the edge. What if we just worked harder? Maybe get a second or third job? Would that help? Or does that just lead to burn out? Then what? Would the system be there for us in those hard times? We live in a country that believes in having an even playing field, don’t we? Or has the system been set so that we never have the odds in our favour?          I am an avid reader, and for a time I was completely obsessed with the book trilogy The Hunger games. And one of the famous tag lines that ...