A few good things

This week's loveliness: charming notes, an absurd kitchen item, nails, watch/listen/read

Charming notes

I’m a big believer in the old-school, handwritten thank you note. (We’ve told our children: If you can look people in the eye when talking to them, and always write a thank you note, you can get pretty much whatever you want in life.) But even I have to concede that speedy comms are the norm and if it takes three days for a card to arrive, then that can feel like a rude silence. Or, you want to chat over the gossip about the party but you can’t do that before the host has been thanked. Or, as I often do, I send a quick thank you, to bridge that silent gap, before the bread-and-butter proper arrives but a text seems a bit desultory. Or, you want to say thank you for something that’s more than a cup of tea but less than treating you to supper out, and a card in the post is over-egging the pud somewhat. For all this, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Hi Note App.

I honestly don’t know how this works because it’s free – FREE! – and isn’t constantly trying to upsell you ‘an improved app experience.’ It’s full of absolutely gorgeously designed notes for every conceivable thing, from thank yous to invitations to sexting, to ‘I’m on the world’s worst Zoom call, call you in a bit.’ They’re designed in an elegant, retro 1950s New York style, the text can be edited easily, and the note is sent via WhatsApp. You’re welcome.

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Most absurd kitchen item you never knew you needed

I have a friend who delights in giving kitsch presents, and is particularly obsessed with anything that’s a miniature version of its usual self. Newspapers for a doll’s house (I have no doll’s house), Korean thimbles used to clean your face or teeny frying pans to measure out a teaspoon of spice (true). So when she gave me a mini masher, it sat in my kitchen drawer for quite a long time as another comedy, useless item. UNTIL….I got it out one day to mash avocados and realised it was a thing of genius. See also: bananas, smoked mackerel pâté, berries for a coulis. If you had a baby, you would use it endlessly. Mine is black plastic and the length of a pack of butter, but I found this one by Grace & Son (£3.70), which is more stylish. Enjoy your mini-mashing.

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Healthy looking nails

I was a gel addict for the longest time. Done nails made me feel pulled together, even if everything else was falling apart. But they wreck your fingertips. In the end, the constant breaking and splitting meant even a gel polish wouldn’t last. I’ve written before about Glaize nails, which are nail gel stickers that are amazingly hardy, and definitely still have their place for party season. But having had no gels for months, and finally getting religious about taking Biotin, has at long last given me healthy looking nails and I’m liking showing them off. To enhance them, I’ve been using this polish, which is both nail treatment and colour in one. It gives a natural pink shine to set them off. I bought mine at Oliver Bonas, but you can get direct online, too (£12.80).

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Easy listening

I love Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ podcast, Making A Scene. They invite guests on to describe what would happen in a movie of their life – what would be the big opening scene, the plot point where everything changed, how would it end? Great concept. But I almost prefer the ‘You Can’t Ask Me That!’ episodes, where listeners send in questions: ‘What’s the best party you’ve ever been to?’ ‘Have you ever stolen a prop from a set?’ They seem to make an effort to answer honestly and they’re good foils for each other: Lucas is your boy next door, a nerd who hit the bigtime. Walliams laps up the celebrity side of life and gives good gossip, but is very touching about the love he has for his son and the children who read his books.

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A good watch

The Studio. Very, very funny. A satire on film studios and how they operate: the talent, the pretensions, the people who want to make art but also make money, the importance (or not) of what they do, the guff around award shows… All of it. Made by Seth Rogen, who has been ‘in the biz’ for a long time, you feel as if you’re getting a real insider’s view on the whole crazy arena. On Apple TV. Series has ended now so you can binge on the whole lot.

Also loving – The Piano on Channel 4. (Amateur pianists play in train stations, and one a week is selected to play in a final concert.) The whole concept is lovely and everyone is lovely – there’s no competition, no ‘I’d be absolutely devastated to leave’ vibe. Just Claudia Winkleman being great, with Mika and Jon Batiste assessing the pianists (but never being mean). I love the pianists, every one of them, with their dedication to practice and their enjoyment in what they do. I stopped taking lessons just before Grade 5, and I can’t regret it – I wasn’t very good and after the teacher said she would no longer give me gold star stickers (‘I think we’re too old now, don’t you?’), I lost interest – but this gives good vicarious pleasure.

And, I haven’t seen it yet, but have been told by opinions I trust that ITV’s Code of Silence is excellent. Seeing as it features the deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis (she came to fame on Strictly Come Dancing), I’m particularly interested. Strapline: ‘A deaf waitress with vital lip-reading abilities is pulled into an elaborate investigation.’

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A good read

I left my Kindle elsewhere a few weeks ago, and have yet to retrieve it, which means the big pile of real books on my bedside table is finally getting a look in. I’m late to the party with The Wedding People by Alison Espach but think it’s going to be my kind of thing, and this seems the right time of year to read it. Also eyeing up Lives of the Wives by Carmela Ciuraru, which my husband bought me for a birthday – about literary marriages (Kenneth Tynan, Roald Dahl, Kingsley Amis). None of them were easy but then I don’t think being married to a writer is ever going to be a picnic. Rarely does it feel as if writing is going well, and if it is, the writer is buried deep in the work and unsociable when they come out because they just want to get back to it. When it’s going badly, which is most of the time, they’re grumpy and only want to think about solving the writing problem. Or they’re on deadline, or about to miss the deadline, or late for the deadline. Or writing something they can’t talk about and reacting badly when someone asks ‘what’s it about?’ or, worse, ‘how’s the writing going?’ Or mining personal details to use in a book or article, forgetting that it’s the person who is being written about that will get teased by friends for years afterwards. Gulp. I think I’d better stop writing now and go and do something redeeming…

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It’s a long weekend! I’m going to a school fête, hunting for a village fête (best place to pick up cheap plants), maybe a car boot sale? Gardening, a pub lunch with friends tomorrow, and writing… I hope you have a lovely bit of time off. Thank you so much for reading.

Jessica x