The Midweek Meander

Hello there, it’s been a funny old week and I’m in need of a little pick-me-up, and maybe you are too… so, I thought I’d share the photo above before we get into the nitty-gritty of this week’s Midweek Meander. Isn’t it beautiful? I posted it to Substack notes recently and it’s gone bonkers this last week or so. I guess it’s the equivalent of a post going viral on Instagram, although I can’t be 100% sure because I’ve never gone ‘viral’ on Substack and generally have little interest in virality anywhere in my life these days ha. As I write, it’s garnered over 18,000 likes, which seems like rather A LOT. I get it though, it’s one of my favourite photos of a much-loved view not far from my home. And I have a hundred slightly different versions of the same image.

Some people have questioned whether it’s real. Some have said it looks like a painting. Thankfully no one has accused it of being AI (which is a small miracle these days, on Substack especially). I can assure you, this spot is as real to me as my children currently arguing in the background over who has the biggest space on the sofa (give me strength).

The view is actually a very tiny wild garden at the top of a cliff just minutes from the house I grew up in. It’s part of my daily walk and I never, ever tire of seeing it. What you can’t see in the image is the path just behind this little patch of wilderness and a crescent of Edwardian houses overlooking the sea - a street I’ve dreamt of living in since I was a little girl.

Since the age of about eight - by which time I’d set my sights firmly on being a writer when I grew up (I still do want to be a writer when I grow up) - I imagined myself writing at a wooden desk in the attic space of these beautiful houses. No doubt surrounded by cats, bookshelves and jam jars filled with wildflowers. Very whimsical (can I even say that on here anymore? I’m firmly in the whimsy-for-life camp I’m afraid). Anyway, that particular dream never really came to fruition. Although, I do now occupy a lovely old battered dining table to do my writing - surrounded by bookshelves and which looks out to my little garden (which I’m so very slowly making pretty). And I romanticise every single moment of it all, because it makes me bloody happy to do so.

This is why I got myself a bit miffed at a message left on a photo of my home last week. On the surface, it was nothing at all - a throwaway comment that someone had thought very little about. And it wasn’t a cruel comment as such, just plain wrong (and pretty rude!). They’d looked past everything in the photo and homed in on the one thing that really didn’t have any bearing on what the overall image was conveying.

Well anyway, it got me thinking about what this person had missed, what was right before their eyes but they couldn’t see - or maybe wouldn’t let themselves see - and so I did what I’ve always vowed I’d never do… and that’s respond to a negative comment. But of course I did.

So what did she say? And what did I say back? (Very politely. Mostly. Although there may have been a hint of mildly murderous in my tone, I can’t be sure.) And why I genuinely think she’d be a little happier if she understood the difference between what she saw and what was actually there. All coming up below, along with five easy ways to make your everyday spaces feel less mundane and more magical.

If this is your first time reading The Midweek Meander, I’m thrilled you’re here. You’ll find a delicious mix of interiors, real life chat, and links to lovely things. If you fancy the full experience, a paid subscription gets you all my décor sources and the exact pieces I’ve bought for my own home, tips on using colour and accessories to make your home FEEL good, and honest chat about real life ‘stuff’ that I don’t share anywhere else.