Saturday 7 December 2024 in 2024
- Dec. 7, 2024, 4:51 p.m.
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- Public
I let myself sleep in this morning—well, if you can call 7:30 a.m. sleeping in. It’s funny, isn’t it? The idea of indulgence changes when you’re used to a corporate schedule. Still, it felt luxurious to lie there a little longer. No yoga, no to-do list. Just me.
By mid-morning, I decided it was a shopping day. Why not? Sometimes you just need to be a little frivolous for no reason at all. I started at Fortnum & Mason. It’s so beautiful this time of year—like walking into a Christmas card, all twinkling lights and polished wood. But honestly, who buys anything there? I saw a jar of orange marmalade for £15. It’s the kind of place where you feel like you should whisper, even in the biscuit aisle.
Harrods next. I knew exactly what I was after—a big, fat salty pretzel. I’d been craving one all morning, that perfect mix of soft, chewy dough and just the right amount of salt crystals (not always easy to get the balance right). It’s strange how your body knows what it wants sometimes, and today mine was shouting, Carbs! Salt! Now! I wandered through the food hall, my eyes scanning past the fancy chocolates and tins of tea. It was everything I hoped for, warm and golden, with just the right bite to it. I took my time with it, tearing off pieces as I strolled through the glittering halls.
The rest of the afternoon was a blur of window shopping and people-watching. I didn’t buy much. It was more about soaking up the energy—the hum of people, the glimmer of the displays, the crisp air outside that made you appreciate stepping indoors again.
Now it’s just after 10:30. I got home a few hours ago. The chilli is officially gone—may it rest in peace—so I cobbled together dinner with a couple of fried eggs and toast. It wasn’t glamorous, but it did the job. Sometimes, simplicity is the best way.
It’s late but I’m about to settle in with a film. Nothing serious—I’ve queued up a saccharine Hallmark Christmas movie where everyone looks like they stepped out of a snow globe and the biggest problem is a mix-up at the town tree-lighting. It’s exactly what I need to send me to sleep: something soft and sparkly that doesn’t ask much of me but lets the nostalgia of Christmases past wash over everything.
Here’s to simple Saturdays, salty pretzels, and cheesy movies.
Last updated December 07, 2024
Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 07, 2024
woot! I assume you're British.
Victoria M Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 08, 2024
I certainly am. Please don’t hold that against me!
Sleepy-Eyed John Victoria M ⋅ December 08, 2024
nah. you seem cool!
Victoria M Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 08, 2024
I’ll read almost anything. Except maybe romance novels. Or YA fiction.
Sleepy-Eyed John Victoria M ⋅ December 08, 2024
Fair. What's the best book you read this year!?
Victoria M Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 08, 2024
What a wonderful question. The funny thing is, my book club has an annual end of year review where we discuss our favourite/least favourite books of 2024, so I’ve been thinking about that question quite a lot actually.
Incredibly difficult choosing just one: but Amy Odell’s biography of Anna Wintour is right up there, alongside Claire Keegan’s Antarctica (most of her books are great), Machines like Me by Ian McEwan and Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where are You (I’m saving Intermezzo to read over the Xmas holidays).
And you? Do you have a 2024 favourite?
Sleepy-Eyed John Victoria M ⋅ December 08, 2024
Never heard of any of that.
I'd say Show Me All Your Scars: True Stories of Living with Mental Illness, Ratmans Notebooks, or Self-Compassion.
Book club sounds neat and I'd love to discuss books but I can be slow reader and I like reading what I want / need
Victoria M Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 08, 2024
Oh, I love this! “Ratman’s Notebooks” sounds absolutely wild—I’m already imagining a kind of rodent Shakespeare drama. And Show Me All Your Scars? I mean, that’s a title that grabs you by the collar. Meanwhile, here I am, reading Christmas fluff about people finding their long-lost sibling. We clearly balance each other out.
Book club pressure is real, though. Honestly, the idea of being told what to read stresses me out too. Like, what if I don’t vibe with it? What if I’m still on page 50 while everyone else is halfway through their Masters on it?
So no pressure here—just a place to chat when I've got something to say. Whether it’s deep and meaningful or just “Why do I suddenly care about a guy with 500 pet rats?”
Sleepy-Eyed John Victoria M ⋅ December 08, 2024
haha okay. what do you read when it's not book club? Or were those the books you mentioned?
ratman's nobotebooks was fun. it was devious. show me all your scars was pretty good, hard to read more than a bit before it's like okay, breaktime. But a lot of the material felt relatable to me.
Victoria M Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 09, 2024
Show Me All Your Scars sounds like it would really hit hard. I can imagine needing to step away and process—it’s like some books sit with you long after you’ve closed them. Relatable but heavy. I love that you take time to feel your way through a book like that; it says a lot about you.
Outside book club, I’m all over the place. A mix of comfort reads and random finds—everything from overly detailed histories of Victorian sewage systems (don’t ask) to compilations of short stories that make you forget the world exists. What about you? Do you lean towards the serious side of things, or do you dabble in chaos like me?
Sleepy-Eyed John Victoria M ⋅ December 10, 2024
I don't know if l take a lot of time to think through things. It just becomes a bit intense.
I think I'm more serious. I tend to read things I feel have relevance to my life moreso than just interesting.
What books have stayed with you the longest? Tough question tho so no need to have great answers.
Victoria M Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ December 11, 2024
That’s a great question and not an easy one to answer. For me, the books that stay the longest are the ones that challenge my thinking in ways I don’t expect. 1984 by George Orwell is one I keep returning to—not for its bleakness, but for how sharply it lays bare the mechanics of power and control. It’s unsettling but impossible to forget.
Another one is The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus. I read it when I was wrestling with the big ‘what’s the point?’ question, and it didn’t give me answers exactly, but it gave me a way to think about the question differently.
And I’d have to add Beloved by Toni Morrison. The way it layers memory, trauma, and love is something I feel like I’m still unpacking every time I think about it.
How about you? What’s one that’s shaped the way you see things?
Sleepy-Eyed John Victoria M ⋅ December 11, 2024
I should read Myth of Sisyphus, and re-read 1984 cuz I don't remember much of it.
I've read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
I guess Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, The Shining by Stephen King, maybe Blow by Bruce Porter, or Red on Red by Edward Conlon, or even Women by Bukowski. I dunno.