Probably no Harry this Xmas

There’s some Dibley love happening over on Twitter between Dawn French and Richard Armitage that has me smiling.

My husband is a total mensch…❤️ https://t.co/DqkzavZkHu

— Dawn French (@Dawn_French) December 6, 2020

It got my hopes up for a few moments for a Harry Kennedy re-appearance this Christmas, but then I checked the BBC listing for The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown (which starts on BBC One on Monday evening) and there is no mention of Richard in the cast lists for the episodes listed. Of course, he could be a surprise, but I doubt it. So, I’ll just make do with the memory of this…

… whilst I enjoy the upcoming Dibley lockdown episodes. I mean, I already loved The Vicar of Dibley before there ever was a thought of Richard as Harry, and I am curious to see these new mini-episodes. I’ll just miss Harry.

There still is some Richard to look forward to this December: Uncle Vanya will come to BBC Four on December 30th. Mr Esther and I pay extra subscription fees here in The Netherlands to be able to receive BBC Four, so I am lucky I will at least have that…

Back to Vanya and Harry too?

I just now finished watching a press conference on Dutch TV about new Covid 19 measures. Two weeks ago we went into a stricter lockdown and today, because the trends are carefully improving, a few things are opening again. We remain in a partial lockdown which, for instance, means that hotels and restaurants will remain closed, but cinemas are allowed to open again for now, with distancing measures in place. I was lucky enough to see Uncle Vanya twice on stage in London at the beginning of this year (here and here) but I’ve also been really curious to see the filmed version, which has been getting rave reviews. And so I immediately checked the only place I know in The Netherlands that had planned to show the filmed version of Uncle Vanya. Sure enough, tickets are available now, even though there aren’t too many. I immediately booked two tickets for Mr Esther and myself on November 29th…

It’s something to really look forward to! I hope the flattening of the Corona curve continues and the cinema will still be open in 12 days time.

In other Richard Armitage related news, Dawn French will be doing a little more of The Vicar of Dibley for Christmas. I doesn’t look like Richard will be there as Geraldine’s husband Harry…

Oooh, nice! Doesn't sound like #RichardArmitage aka Geraldine's husband Harry will be there but a fangirl always lives in hope…https://t.co/7EqyVOTkyZ via @Deadline

— Book of Esther Blog (@BookEstherBlog) November 17, 2020

Yay!! Hope Harry will pop by as well! pic.twitter.com/G0ILFSOVfA

— Book of Esther Blog (@BookEstherBlog) November 17, 2020

… but I live in hope.

Grab six books

This morning before I started work I saw on Twitter that Dawn French had joined in on a Twitter hashtag called #grabsixbooks and that Jennifer Saunders had answered with her six books.

Here your #grabsixbooks . I nominate @JaneyGodley @5h343hjh233cf @tweetyedmondson pic.twitter.com/xZGBWlQxi4

— jennifer saunders (@ferrifrump) May 18, 2020

I only know a few of the books / authors the ladies mentioned but it was fun seeing their choices. I haven’t really looked at many other responses to that hashtag on Twitter yet, but thought it was fun anyway and this evening decided to pick some books as well. This is just a first gut-reaction, if I had to grab six books right at this moment it would be these…

I’m sure after I post I’ll suddenly think of others. I haven’t read the Audrey Hepburn book yet (been meaning to for a long time) but it does symbolize my love for actors and for her, so she’s in.

Yesterday my brother showed me a picture he had found of me at 17 years of age, looking up from reading a magazine, and I thought it fit well with this post…

He said to me with amusement, “This is still so like you today!”, which basically translates to a person who likes to sit on the couch and read. The medium is more often a laptop now than a magazine or book but he’s got a point. Showed the picture to Mr Esther and he laughingly agreed.

Speaking of laughing and reading, just spent some time reading and laughing about Guylty’s post comparing Richard Armitage to Dutch breakfast sprinkles. I could totally eat a sandwich with dark chocolate sprinkles while sitting on the couch and reading one of the #grabsixbooks books above.

Picture source: screenshot taken from Guylty’s post

I’m not a huge Lucas fan, but it is Lucas sprinkles all the way for me!

Anyway, back to the topic: if you’re so inclined, I’d love to know in the comments or in a post of your own what your #grabsixbooks would be.

Comic relief

Comic relief is better than getting super angry yet again at this morning’s Trump news. That man’s a menace! Anyway, yesterday evening our TV was switched off so I forgot about the Comic Relief Big Night In the BBC had put on to raise money for combating the Corona virus. Just a few quick clips here this morning before I get back to my boring work chores.

• Catherine Tate brought her comedy character Lauren Cooper back (see for instance this clip of Lauren Cooper visiting then-PM Tony Blair) and David Tennant is back as her English teacher, a character introduced in another Comic Relief sketch some years ago. Lauren and her teacher are back doing a Zoom class, butting heads again, this really made me laugh…

•  Miranda is back with tips on how to get through these times of isolation. I loved how she got the primary cast to Zoom in with her. I follow her on Twitter and she posts a lot about mental health. She’s such a sweetie!

• And Dawn French was back as the Vicar of Dibley, but alas without any Richard Armitage. It would have been nice if she had been able to Zoom with come cast members. Wasn’t as fun as I’d hoped but but I’ll take this too…

I understand the Big Night In has raised over 27 million pounds. Wow!

OK, gotta go, my meeting’s starting!

The future just brightened up!

It’s in the bag: I have a new job! Had a final interview this morning, we discussed salary and working hours and they want to have me and I want to have them. 🙂 It’ll be a little while before I can start (May 1st), but already I am feeling so much lighter!

On Monday I’ll be handing in my resignation at my current job and suddenly the world looks a lot brighter to me now that I can give micro-manager the finger. 🙂

Space is being cleared in my mind now, so hopefully I’ll be back to Richarding again soon. I had considered dropping by the Red Dragon Con last weekend when I was in London, but in the end my weekend was filled with other fun stuff with my brothers and niece, there was little time left to travel to the convention center and back, and as I wasn’t going to pay the entrance fee anyhow for Hannibal, there wasn’t much point in going. I did think of my fellow fans enjoying Richard over last weekend, though, and hope everyone had fun. I got an especially big kick out of this Twitter exchange, referencing the vicar of Dibley!

Thank you, Kate and Richard and Dawn French! And thank whatever good kharma there is out there for giving me a really good way out of my current job. 🙂