Add to List - #51

Gavin & Stacey, Winter solstice, scrooging around, and a well-stocked fridge

Dec 22, 2024

Add to List is the Sunday round-up containing the small things that brought me joy, evoked an emotional reaction or became some short-lived stability in the past 7 days.

Thanks for reading!

Obsession

Gavin & Stacey.

TELL ME TOMORROW AND I’LL WAIT BY THE WINDOW FOR YOU.

It’s not Christmas without this lot for me. Is there anything more joyous than a Smithy-Shipman sing-along? The finale hits our screens on Christmas Day and I am desperate to see what’s occurring. I have watched every interview, sneak peek, and radio feature this week. Not forgetting viewing every single episode (for the 256th time) in the lead-up. To say I love this show is an understatement.

I had the privilege, honour and utter treat of talking to witty and wonderful, Mathew Horne, who plays Gavin, earlier this year. And on Monday, ahead of the finale, the article was published in Square Mile in (print and online). Surreal.

“There’s something very special about Gavin & Stacey. It’s very aspirational. Very pure. I can’t think of a better representation of love, family and friendship in British television. It’s what everyone wants. And it’s why we are here on Earth.” — Mathew Horne

This show is very special to so many people (myself included). Meeting Mathew and asking him about the last episode was incredibly meaningful to me in so, so many ways. A total joy. Read it here (and weep with me).

Confession

Earlier this week, I shared my first Substack co-authored post. And, it was a confessional one.

I asked a bunch of writers on here to share the things that make them feel grinchy.

Releasing the Inner Scrooge

Michaella Parkes, Amy I Beeson, and 6 others

December 18, 2024

Usually, I am an optimistic person; I tend to be quite the positive Polly. Yet, sometimes doesn’t it feel good to release the rage? We all have an inner Scrooge. We all need to suck on life’s bah-humbug sometimes. (Not constantly, but every once in a little while is okay, I think.) And voicing our annoyances can be cathartic, use…

Read full story

Go on, have a read and release your little bit of rage in the comments. Tell us, what things turns you into a bah-humbug.

Shook

The Gisele Pelicot case.

What a woman. What a voice. What a beacon of inspiration. What a long way we have to go, though.

Gina Martin

said it better than I could have, here.

Cook

Miso broth with grilled chicken.

Instead of the big boozy Saturday before Christmas, my bestie and I did something different this year. We went to a two hour yin yoga and sound healing solstice session. We came home, ate vegan chocolate, drank ginger tea. While we reflected on the darkness of the year gone by, I made us a miso chicken broth with rice noodles, grated carrot and grilled aubergine. We slurped it together and projected ideas and love towards the light in our futures.

Cosy, nourishing, warm. Soup for the soul— friends to warm your heart? There’s honestly nothing better.

Book

Want, anonymous (edited by Gillian Anderson).

I was pleased to discover this book is no longer behind the Spotify paywall. Straight in my library it downloads. Straight into my ears it goes. I’ve taken to listening to it while out and about doing my Christmas shopping (LOL).

It feels a bit naughty as I ride the 43 bus down Holloway Road. I delight in the erotically unknown: an anonymous woman telling me via my headphones how her fantasises of being caressed by multiple men and women overtake her mind while at the Tesco checkout — I smile to myself while browsing in an expensive ceramic shop, phallic-looking vase in hand.

It’s not a borderline porno. It’s sexy (of course) but it’s much, much more than that. Literature like this is important. It shows us how uninhibited people can be when they remove their fear of judgement. Through work like this, we can see how unshackled we could become if we remove some of our shame. This book weaves the undulating, conflicting tapestries of desire. Unlike other books which delve into the logic, reason and psychology of why people think and act as they do, this purely paints a varied, unique picture of lust and love without the need to explain.

Writers always seek a ‘show don’t tell’ approach. And well, this one does exactly that. God bless Jean Milburn.

Can’t Stop Scanning

Christmas recipes.

Oh the canapé varieties are frightful, but they all look so delightful. And since I’ve gone down this Instagram rabbit hole, should we also have mini toad-in-the-hole?

God, the Boxing Day sandwich inspiration is overwhelming — maybe more difficult than Christmas Day itself. The different reels of sprout dishes have me salivating, cruciferously. Should we add another side dish to our selection? Just how many ways are there to glaze a carrot? Too many for my little easily distracted brain apparently…

Forward Planning

The Christmas shopping is done. The food order has arrived and is stacked in the fridge. It felt escape-room worthy trying to pack it all in. Next stop, Fort Boyard.

Next week is exactly 52 weeks (!) of Add to List. So, in one format or another, I’ll be here to celebrate one full year of these Sunday newsletters but as it’s Christmas, no promises it’ll be in the usual format.

It has genuinely meant the world that you (yes, you!) open this from your over-flowing inbox every week. I am sprinkling some gratitude in your direction this holiday season. I really do appreciate you.

Wishing each and every one of you a very merry festive season.