What Sophie Said

I've got to be honest, the concept and story of this musical is just not for me. It was too cheesy, too contrived and to me really wasn't a good representation of the music of Dusty Springfield. Putting that aside, though, it's performed by an immensely talented cast who performed every song brilliantly. It's a real tale of two halves, this one: I didn't like the show, but I loved those in it. In the sixties, a record store called The Preacher Man was the place to be, and its owner was also known for his great life advice. Years later, three people - all connected to The Preacher Man in their own way - head to London to see if it's still there. Each hopes to find a solution to the dilemmas they're facing in their lives. Let's get my main problem out of the way first, then I can write about the great aspects of the show. As might be clear from that little intro, this story is a cheesy one. It's about love, there's lots of laughs and the conce...

Friends are the most wonderful thing, but relationships with friends can also cause you the most stress and heartache. Friendship is like any other relationship - there are two sides to the relationship, human relationships can be tricky and there will always be ups and downs. I'm fiercely loyal when it comes to friendship, but that often leads to me putting way too much time and effort into relationships that potentially don't need or deserve it. I'm been thinking about this post for a long time, writing and rewriting it, and I've decided in the end to share the ten lessons I've learned about friendship, particularly over the last four or five years since leaving university and entering the 'real world'. Quality beats quantity every single time. I have lots of people I enjoy spending time with, but have a tiny circle who I'd actually go to when I really need a certain kind of chat or support. I nvest in the relationships that really matter ...

Yesterday, we spent the morning wandering the woods and it's left me in such a good frame of mind. There was a viral tweet a good number of months ago now which was something along the lines of 'the things I hated as a kid, I love as an adult'. It gave examples of things like early nights and long walks. For me, this couldn't be more true. When I was younger, the weekend suggestion of 'going for a walk' was one of the most unappealing things I could hear. Yesterday, we actively chose to hunt out a nice country park or area of woodland for a nice Spring walk. We settled on a short drive over to the Wirral, to Royden Park, next to Thurtsaston Common. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what was the park and what was the common, but I know we did a good walk taking in both! It was an accidental circular walk, following our noses through the woods. The skies were blue, and the air was cool but not cold. There was that amazing smell of trees and...

As regular readers will know, I've raved multiple times about NK Theatre Arts, a group based in Romiley. I wasn't able to attend their latest show, Quadrophenia (which I'm gutted about), but my dad ( Barrie Hawker ) went, loved it, and has written this brilliant review to share with you all... ‘Not schizophrenic, I’m more quadrophenic’ This is one of the standout lines from Quadrophenia, a rock musical staged by NK Theatre Arts in Romiley, which I had the privilege of seeing last night. And it was quite some musical and it did indeed stand out. I’ve seen a few shows here over the past year and have always been mightily impressed by the talent on show. The performers are all local and they are all amateur, something I had to keep reminding myself of last night when the singing was so brilliant, the choreography so mesmeric, the band so amazing and the acting, well in my opinion, first class. Can you tell I enjoyed it? Well I say enjoyed, perhaps a better word might b...

I recently shared that I was seeking more help for my mental health, for the next stage in my recovery. If you want the background it's here , but today I want to talk about another stage in the journey. Last week, I had a call from the local mental health service, to assess exactly what support I needed. In case you're interested, it will be another round of intensive CBT for a period of 12 to 20 sessions. I had been waiting 6 weeks for that assessment call and the wait is predicted to be around 4 months until the sessions begin. All this got me thinking about the reality of the waiting game that is waiting for help with your mental health. I'm incredibly fortunate to have always been in a position where I'm surrounded by support from friends and family, and the help I HAVE had from GPs and therapists has, for the most part, been outstanding. However, we hear all the time how under-resourced our mental health services are, and I thought that today I'd give a...

I've fallen into a pattern of including two fiction and two non-fiction books in each of these round-ups, and I think I like it. For a long time I said I wasn't a non-fiction kind of people, but times have changed and I'm really enjoying reading more of a variety. Here's some of the latest things I've been reading: Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer Foer spent three years immersing himself in the world of animal agriculture, to find out how the industry really worked behind the scenes and to work out his own opinion on related topics. This book is the culmination of that research and exploration. This book is hugely informative and very readable. The narrative style is very friendly and there are chapters written by vegans, farmers, factory farmers and others involved at all stages of the agricultural industry. Some of those shared views that were completely unexpected so it made for interesting reading. There are some quite extreme views and examples ...