A hearty good Monday to you, and welcome to this week’s #GoodTimeScrapbook. Now, I did say when I started this series of posts back in March, that they were going to be weekly posts with little ‘scraps’ – ideas – of positive things to see, do and enjoy whilst we’re all still in these strange times, whether that’s a new podcast to listen to, a new show to watch, an Instagram live stream to follow, a fun activity to do, or just something generally uplifting.
The basis of the posts still stand, but given the last one of these I posted was three weeks ago, and given that restrictions on our current way of living are slowly being lifted piece by piece, some of you may think something had gone awry. Alas, my head’s not really been in the right place to do these blogs recently.
But rather than force myself to do it, I am instead making sure I am being kind to myself and doing it when it feels right. Today it happily does feel right, so hence you’ve got some new scraps of enjoyment to check out. Know that if one of these doesn’t appear every Monday at 5pm or thereabouts, it doesn’t mean I don’t care. It means I am simply being a bit more mindful and kind to myself so I can share kindness with you dear readers.
And as always I’m happy for you, the reader to get in touch. You can leave your comments below during the week to let me know if you’ve taken up on any of the scraps we’ve suggested, or even message us on our Instagram or here if you think there’s something we should try.
So calm, and let’s crack on with our scraps of ideas for this week…
- SCRAP #1: How can I enjoy a classic bit of kid’s TV?
People my age (and maybe slightly younger) will remember How 2. Aired on Children’s ITV in the 90s, and a direct descendant of How that had been popular in the 70s, Fred Dineage, Carol Vorderman and Gareth ‘Gaz Top’ Jones hosted this wild, wacky and informative show that answered life’s trickier conundrums for young minds, amongst them ‘How do you change a tyre with a hankie?’, ‘How does a bubble behave?’, ‘How could Guy Fawkes have succeeded in the Gunpowder Plot?’ and so on. Now a selection of the classic series are available to watch again on streaming on Amazon Prime. A perfect nostalgic and surprisingly still engaging bit of classic kid’s TV.
- SCRAP #2: A happy book from a happy newspaper
Emily Coxhead is the lady behind The Happy Newspaper, a quarterly subscription only newspaper that as the name suggests, highlights all the brilliang and positive things happening in the world. She’s now written her first book, titled ‘You are Incredible Just as You Are’, set to be published on 2nd September. We’ve pre-ordered our copy and can’t wait to have this ray of literary sunshine on our book shelf.
- SCRAP #3: Dance, Dance, Dance…
Former S Club Junior turned dancer and choreographer Aaron Renfree has just announced he is hosting virtual dance classes from tomorrow called The Summer Sessions. Available to both beginners and more advanced dancers, classes will take place on Tuesday mornings at 9am and 10:30am and Thursday evenings at 5pm and 6:30pm, at £5 a head. More info above on how to join him for a bit of a highly choreographed boogie.
- SCRAP #4: Glastonbury at 50 at Home
With this year’s annual Glastonbury Festival cancelled for obvious reasons, the BBC promptly got a bit ingenious over the weekend it was set to be held, and are bringing the festival from previous years to enjoy at home on BBC iPlayer again this summer. We are particularly loving seeing Blur’s set from 2009 again.
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