a thread to keep motivated in the face of personal and situational doom and despair

what is keeping you going, rof friends? Things you can focus on, large or small.

Right now I am in slight quiver from the bad stuff of the last few days but am tending my new citrus tree, which is very restful. A bit worried the central heating might fook him up. Hope not.

The rules of magic by Alice Hoffman! Remember practical magic by her? Loved that.

Only slight risk is that she goes in for love chat a lot and am feeling fragile at the moment on that front. 

May start with Alone in Berlin instead. Although Brexit. 

Ugh.

Maybe I should try to write a book that is both engrossing and devoid of anything that could trigger an upsetting emotional response.

This could be my gift to the world. Yes.

Help me brainstorm!

It will be about a person. We will not get into their gender.

They will have no pets because pets can die. 

Maybe a robot companion.

me too, anna - going on holiday on 5th and the days are deliberately crawling by...

PS soz to hear of heartbreak, Clergs. Alone in Berlin sounds as cheerful as A Woman in Berlin

thz, QE, am considering writing a book that'd fooking learn him

or I would if I could find a way to make it untriggering

Alone in Berlin is actually quite good (from the first few pages). It's about Berlin under Nazi rule and all the things people have to do to cope. I like books set in terrible environments where the people still manage to thrive. Hence appeal of dystopian fiction I suppose.

What keeps me motivated?  Doing stuff.  DIY, building Lego, making Star Wars costumes.  That sort of thing.  When you're unhappy and lonely, you do all the things you wanted when you were happy, but didn't have time to do because you were happy.

 

This is how my Darth Vader outfit came into being.

yes I just looked it up, I think I will read it! A Woman in Berlin is similar (things people have to do to cope/survive)

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy is one of my favourite books ever and runs along a similar theme

Spain. Coming home on 13th. If Brexitmaggedon happens on the 12th I might just stay there

I love Spain. Whereabouts?

If Brexitmaggedon happens on the 12th you might have to.

we have booked a villa in Calp

I am totally going to go to Benidorm and have tacky cocktails with dry ice

and Phoebe I will just shout 'Sausage egg and chips!' in an Eddie Izzard stylee

oh liked Syd Moore's Witch Hunt and have just downloaded The Drowning Pool too

Other good witchy books

The King's Witch Tracy Borman

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown

I may have a just-realised obsession here

Ooooh and a factual one - Witchfinders by I think Malcolm Gaskill.  the book that Torontochick rec'd iirc (apols if not).

made me realise that women were pressed or dunked because sootikens were mistaken as mice. only on rof would i have drawn such knowledge.

Anna you may be right on a macro scale but the hopkins lead mission (for want of a better word) was couched in religious tones.  The superflous nipple that oft "defined" a witch was often a clitoris.

read th gaskill book it be good

Oh god only this morning it popped into my head that rof used to be fixated with the idea of soutkins. 

Ive never heard the word anywhere else. 

 

THEY WERENT A THING 

I have no doubt anna that a proud English schong in say 1407 would have bowed with the benefits of bacterial appreciation.  You'd not need to buy a Philladelphia for weeks...

it certainly has cheered up my "sorry, boss, I have to work from home because of some embarrassing crying issues" afternoon, QE

I have bought a fookload of therapy stationery from Hema also

now I just need a project to use it for!

I have some post-its that look like speech bubbles

Yesterday I bought loads of wooden coat hangers, imagining how lovely my wardrobe will look if we have proper coat hangers and not those wire ones you get from the dry cleaners.

Coat hangers, ffs.

Anna I chucked out all plastic / wore coat hangers and replaced with wooden ages ago, and it still makes me happy. My clothes also hang in colour groupings 

There's one on Oxford Street I think Queenie.

It sells a bit of everything. Sweets and biscuits, seasonal decorations, candles, kitchenware, tights, stationery, toiletries, makeup... lovely children's toys if you need a present for someone.

the only reason I went in one is that tottenham court road is roadworksed by a mental person and it was impossible to get across to Muji

I am glad I discovered it!

Anna, sod wooden hangers. I moved to white padded silk hangers at 25 and have never looked back

 

even when my clothes were tat from charity shops they always looked so fancy on the hangers

The thin ones don’t keep the frame of a suit very well.  I have nice curvey thick wooden ones for suit jackets and they have a sort of velvety bit on the bottom rung for the trousers.

Probably breaking some gentleman’s code by hanging them together but it’s not like I ever wear them anymore anyway.