Starting anew

 I feel like I need to reset and start the year anew as the first week of 2026 was such a sad one.

I am realising that I need to keep as busy as possible and to shake up routines so that I'm not constantly thinking of what I would normally have been doing.  Easier said than done when the weather is miserable and you really don't feel like moving from a warm, comfortable arm chair.  So I am cracking on with the scarf that I am knitting.  It's incredibly hard to photograph as it gets bigger as it is a triangular shape knitted on circular needles!

I've been knitting it while watching the Harlan Coben drama 'Run Away'.  I'm six episodes in and I'm finding it hard to predict how it will end.  Ruth Jones, who wrote and starred in 'Gavin & Stacey' is a private investigator in it and is so very different to 'Nessa'!

I'm reading our book club's choice of book 'Theo of Golden'.  I'm nearly half way through and am enjoying it a lot.  It's very different to the last books I read which were the Seven Sisters books.  Oh my goodness, they were so cleverly written and the final one about the man who adopted the girls is incredible.  How was he in every book and I didn't realise?  

The latest series of The Traitors is airing in the UK and I am hooked!  What a bunch of characters.  There has already been a reveal of a mother and daughter and also a girl and boyfriend but there is a theory that the whole group are couples in one way or another.  One of the guys, James, is a personal trainer in a village about 4 miles from me but I know nothing about him so can't reveal if there is anyone else in there that is already associated with him.

Have you heard of an Analogue Bag?  Apparently it is gaining popularity with younger people.  It's just a bag in which you keep things like knitting, a book, crossword puzzles or a journal.  Anything that you could dip into instead of scrolling through social media.  What a brilliant idea!  I always keep either a book or a kindle in my bag if I have an appointment somewhere in case there is a delay.  Does this mean I was actually ahead of the trend for once? What would you keep in yours?