This week's blog is from Sarah Hancock, who lives by the motto 'if you cant say anything nice, don't say anything at all!'
By Sarah Hancock So this is my first EVER blog post – first ever blog – first ever writing of words on a page voluntarily for people to read. So remember where you were when you first read this – I’m in no doubt it will be as historic and momentous as any of the other things you remember where you were for – mostly horrid things like 9/11 and Diana. Why don’t we remember where we were for the good things? I’m going to make a concerted effort now to try and remember where I am when good things happen. So starting as I mean to go on I am going to remember, that I am sitting in my kitchen on a brisk autumnal day while writing my first blog (I can’t stand the word blog, but until someone comes up with another word for it – I’m stuck with it). I am writing this because my husband, having lost his beloved job this summer, has set up this ace new website to keep communicating with the community, and because it’s really good fun, and he’s not grown up enough to have a proper job in an office like normal people. He asked me to write a blog, because when you have a website – it’s a good idea to put things on it to entertain people with and so that is what I am going to try to do. Now the name; ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice’ sprang from my son Alfie asking me the other day what my ‘motto for life was’ and I was like, Christ. I’ve no idea, so I tried a few out. ‘Try not to eat too much toast’, ‘don’t buy things online when you’ve drunk more than 3 glasses of Prosecco’ , ‘don’t type the name of the person you are stalking into a status update’ – but none of them seemed to engage with him. So I retreated back to a classic. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Ticks all the boxes! There you go – a great rule – positive and assertive! Alf thought it was good, so I nicked it for this - it’s a bit long so I cut the end off – but you get the gist? The rule of thumb is basically this – just talk about nice things. No one needs any more nasty things being talked about this year, and it’s just nice to be nice isn’t it? Although having written ‘nice’ too much now it’s reminding me of the mice that bit through my dishwasher waste pipe last week which was NOT nice… mice… you have been warned. So the nice things that have happened this week are as follows; My daughter declaring that she would like to attend the same school as her brother. A big relief for all of us. She had previously decided that she would be the one making the decision on which school would be the best for her, which wasn’t quite how I remembered it going when I was packed off to school, but we went with it because she can get a bit scary. Discovering ‘The Duchess’ on Netflix. OMFG. It’s so good. Katherine Ryan is a genius. She has so much sass, the best hairbands, a great daughter, just loved it. Wearing boots. I’ve been a bit scared of the big boots about at the moment in fear of looking like an out of work builder… So what to do when you’re a bit scared of a trend? Head to M&S – nice safe M&S will ease you into it until you’re brave enough to venture further out, and they were £45! My new book. Well, rather my second-hand book as I'm too cheap to buy hardbacks, so my friend Celia lent this to me. The Hungover Games by Sophie Heawood. She’s an incredible journalist and is very funny on Twitter if you’re into Twitter – but this book….. I mean, pretty much every sentence is perfect. This, I thought was particularly beautiful, when describing impending single motherhood as ‘trying to fit yourself into a fairy tale with some of the pages missing.’ Michael McIntyre on Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast. I’m a bit in love with Jessie Ware – bought her cookbook, follow her on Insta, have started considering buying kittens after she got some (not a joke), listen religiously to her podcast and this episode is so good. I nearly crashed my car crying with laughter. The pistachio and olive oil ice cream bit! LOL. Back next week x
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Harrogate Theatre to recruit Fundraising Manager
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Amber's at Cedar Court launches new Thursday Club
Harrogate supercar financier wins prestigious national award
Harrogate BID appoints town centre support officer
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Luxury womenswear brand opens shop in Harrogate
Harrogate pre-school rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted
Celebrity guests revealed for return of holiday show in Harrogate
Chris Aldred appointed Harrogate charter mayor
First hippo in 20 years born at Flamingo Land Resort
Residents question 'completion' of gas works on Halfpenny Lane
Harrogate hospital staff 'stressed and anxious' over workloads
Biannual open gardens event returns to Ripon
Record-breaking fundraising total for Harrogate motor show
Harrogate bar goes viral for bottomless Guinness brunch
TV stars reunite to fundraise in support of Harrogate businessman
Halfpenny Lane bridge to reopen this week
