First thing’s first. Let’s all agree that it’s perfectly flipping bonkers to be six months into twenty-bloody-twenty-one. It seems like only a handful of weeks ago we were toasting to the demise of 2020, gleeful at the prospect of a better year and all that Auld Lang Syne-y jazz.

And look at us.

Just LOOK at us.

Half the country in lockdown thanks to the Covid Delta strain running rampant from coast to coast . We’re pretty lucky here in Adelaide, but restrictions are back, interstate borders are closed and yesterday I got my face mask all tangled in my earrings while my glasses fogged up like it was 2020 all over again, so yeah. Pandemic times, they sure do go on.

Now we’ve dispensed with the obligatory ‘march of time’ sentiment that accompanies the EOFY so nicely and rued the relentlessness of corona-times, let’s review the heck out of June and it’s delightfully mask-free happenings…

READING

I’m feeling like I’m back to my bookish best after a slight reading slump. A good day spent sipping coffee and rummaging through a bunch of local secondhand bookstores with a friend was a welcome treat, and winter weather is just built for hibernation with a book in hand and a cat on lap.

WATCHING

• Friends: The Reunion. This was 100% not what I was expecting. More tellingly, it’s not what I wanted. Is that because I actually didn’t want it at all?
• The Mandalorian, S1. Yes, I’m horribly late to the party on this because I was adamant that I wasn’t forking out for yet another streaming service but I finally made it, you guys! Gosh, it’s a bit spaghetti western meets Star Wars and I ain’t mad about it at all. Delightful.
• Superstore, S6. There’s a challenge for any show that has a ‘lead + ensemble’ cast to turn it into a genuine ensemble when the lead leaves. Sure, New Girl was a far better show for that chunk of time without Zooey Deschanel (fight me) but without Amy’s character bringing a sense of normality and balance to Superstore’s cast of madcaps, there’s just something missing. It’s still good, but not as good. All the feels for the last ep though. All of them!
• Inexplicably, a bunch of Hugh Grant movies. I can’t even begin to explain this but I have a new fascination with how Hughey G is making some smart choices when it comes to transitioning his particular schtick into some surprisingly age-appropriate and marginally decent roles. More on this later, probably.

LOVING

I don’t know my neighbours very well but this sweet little system has come about where we trade cat food that we’ve tried our (apparently very fussy) cats on unsuccessfully. Waste not, want not and all that. It would be nice to have this little bit of community at any time but it seems especially nice during the pandemic when people are feeling more isolated than ever. Having had some very awful neighbours, this is just lovely and goes to prove: cat people are the best people.

‘Til next time,