Some things I enjoyed lately (in a time when I thought I wouldn't enjoy much at all)

Coats, books, and some truly excellent TV.

Little Bug assessing the arrival of Hair And Make Up.

Firstly: apologies for not posting last week (if you even noticed). I was deep in foreign promo interviews, trying to finish a script, dealing with some unexpected family business… and then there was this election thing that just – I don’t know. Sometimes you realise you have absolutely nothing useful to add to proceedings.

Still! Here we are in a fresh week. Or halfway through one, anyway. I sent off the draft of my script, I’m still knee deep in promotional interviews (I’m typing this wearing false eyelashes and with unusually tidy hair). For those uninitiated in the world of publishing, I’m currently doing interviews for a book that’s coming out in three months, because that is the magazines’ lead time – most magazines create their content three months ahead of when they appear on shelves.

I am also sitting in my living room amid a pile of cardboard boxes stacked to the brim with thousands of tip-ins. These are individual pages that I have to sign in the correct place, stack neatly back in their boxes, and then return to my publishers, where they will be trimmed and inserted into hardback copies of the new book, so that those books can be sold as signed copies.

I have signed around 8500 so far (mostly for the US) and have around 3000 left to sign for the UK. I have got through eight sharpies and am seeing a masseur weekly to combat repetitive strain injury in my shoulder. I KNOW, I KNOW, IT’S NOT GOING DOWN A COALMINE. But “signing shoulder” and “writers’ stoop” are definitely valid author injuries. As is occasional humiliation: yesterday I received a text with a picture of one of the signed tip-ins from my US publishers

asking if I could confirm that they “had my signature the right way up”.

So, just because everyone I know seems to be a bit meh just now (although to be fair that may be because I don’t know any MAGA Republicans. They’re probably pretty chipper) I thought I’d write up a few things that I’ve enjoyed lately that you might too.

Industry. (BBC1)

Yes, yes, I’m a few years late to this show’s charms. I remember watching episode 1 of series 1 – in which lots of private bank employees young enough to be my daughter took drugs, climbed all over each other both metaphorically and physically, and didn’t laugh much – and thought nah. This is not for me. I kept seeing truly glowing reviews of series 3 a few weeks back and thought I’d dip in again, mostly because I couldn’t find anything else to watch. By the end of episode 1 I was completely hooked. A few days later I was ekeing out episodes and almost weeping that nobody I knew was also watching because I so badly wanted to discuss Yasmin and Robert’s relationship*. The last episode stayed with me for days.

Written by former bankers Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, the show basically lays bare the corrupting effect of money, but without the arch, satiric distance of Succession. I really cared about these characters, even when they were succumbing to their worst impulses, which they frequently did. The script is just fabulous on human nature – full of twists, and every character surprises you while remaining totally true to themselves. There were a good handful of genuine OMG! moments. I recommend just jumping in at season 3 like I did. Still available on BBC iPlayer.

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment. (Penguin Michael Joseph)

Liane is one of my shopping list authors – those for whom you would read literally anything they wrote, down to ‘milk, bread, cat food, deodorant’. This is such a clever concept – on a packed flight, a woman walks among her fellow passengers telling them both the age they will die and what they will die from – whether they want to hear it or not. It raises some of those irresistible ‘what would you do’ questions. Would you take her seriously? Would you want to know? And what would you do if you did?  But all this is done with Liane’s trademark acute observations of human nature, her butt-clenchingly realistic dialogue and the fact that you Just. Can’t. Stop. Reading. A truly great escape.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light. BBC1.

Yes, I’m only one episode in, but sometimes you watch an hour of television with your jaw immediately on the floor at its brilliance. The episode opens with scenes from the last series of Wolf Hall – in which we followed Anne Boleyn as she made her way to the gallows and were with her every visceral, trembling step of the way – so brace yourself. It’s subtle, it’s gripping, and it’s about surviving in the court of a mercurial, narcissistic leader. Obviously, I cannot imagine it having any relevance for the world today.

Charlotte Simone coats.

When the going gets tough, the tough… wear a nice coat. My coats are armour; whereas I wear jeans for at least five days a week, my nod to individuality/cosiness/glamour is in what coat I choose to put on. I discovered Charlotte Simone coats a year or so ago and later wrote a piece about them. A 31 year old designer, she sells her coats and gilets via her website in ‘drops’, which are now much anticipated by fans and celebrities alike. (Her latest Instagram shows Madonna wearing one of her designs). Made mostly of faux fur, I love them because they tend to have high collars and a seventies vibe. I wear mine when I just want to feel a bit more pulled together and a slightly hairy dog-walking black padded number won’t cut it. This is me last weekend in a coat I bought in her last drop. The next one is on the 27^th November if you’re interested. (No, not an ad. Just a fan). Whatever gets you through, pals!

PS If anyone follows me on facebook, I am permanently locked out of my personal page (the one with me and the bodyguards) due to an unfortunate incident where I cleared my cookies and with it my passwords and can no longer get past the two stage verification. Having been rejected by facebook three times I’ve decided it’s the universe’s way of telling me to consume less social media. So look for me here or on instagram instead.