Be a Tree!

I am dead on my feet from carrying my weight (yeah, I know I am only small..) and I am swaying..I am swaying.. (yeah thanks, Rod). If only drama schools taught you to tap into stress, uncertainty, instability and the potential onset of early peri menopause, they would have got the perfect looking tree from me!

And the most important thing? I would have FELT it too! Swaying. Very unsteadily in the breeze. My arms too heavy for my small frame, my head flopping like the heaviest branch high up there (oh be quiet, I know I am 5 foot 2.. but stay with me ha ha) and my legs giving way. This is what a tree must feel like when it weathers a storm! So any new actors out there, if you are asked to be a tree...speak to those going through stress, instability and peri menopause and you will crack that tree! Ok, not crack it, because unlike Ben Ashton, most of us value trees and actually like trees. You know what I mean! They absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. They are useful flood defences and help to prevent a river bursting its banks. Our moths, birds, butterlfies, bats etc feed off trees and hedges which helps them to breed anbd thrive..and they boost our mental and physical wellbeing in many ways. They keep us rich in oxygen, they filter pollutants, shade us in the heat and improve our immunity. AND, they help us regulate our hormones (the less said about those the better), strenghten our curculatory and nervous systems when we breathe them in. They offer us relief from anxiety and depression...and much more. You aren't here for science lesson (see Mr Smith and Mr Bond, I did pay attention..just not to physics because that is basically maths!) so we'll stop there. Although I will say that this Northern Hermia loves to be in the woods, looking up at the trees. It's my favourite place to be after the water. The smell of the earth and crunchy leaves as you walk among them is just everything. 

You'll remmeber me 'bobbin along, bobbin along...' well, I have news, I am now sailing. I am sailing, home again, cross the sea...to be free! It's a long journey and it won't happen over night but I should be among calmer waters within the next few weeks. Just in time for me to don my tights as Dick..yep, it's almost that time again!

But until now, take care readers. 

Love, A Real Nothern Hermia x

And, it's GOLD!

Getting naked, running the shower, dashing to the boiler to reboot it 6 times and then sprinting back to grab the two minutes of hot water it is kind enough to offer, is definitely an Olympic sport! Put it this way, I would have won GB at least 10 medals by now! I think my patience is medal-worthy too, the amount of times I have waited in, only for the British Gas engineer not to turn up. No message, no call..nothing. I will stick my neck out and say that if anyone other than work people was so unreliable, they would never work!

My sister got a puppy last week as her two youngest have begged her for two years. He is so cute and he fits into a mug (see below)! Cue the broodiness!

Right off I go to write the script for a weekly show before treading the boards and being back in rehearsal in person..yep, that’s right, IN PERSON! But before I go, it's a photo finish...aaaand it's GOLD for our Hermia!

Until next time!

Love A Real Northern Hermia x

Livin' La Vida Loca..

Come on..living la..’ Well, that’s how the last 18 months or so have felt, haven’t they?! Hopefully more normality will ensue. It needs to happen!

Apologies for the lack of blog last week. It was crazy. Away for a day or so, and then back LIVE in front of an actual IN THE FLESH audience. What a dream it was to be back on the stage and working with creative friends and colleagues once again!

So, I have gone from auditioning in smart tops while wearing my knickers (and, no, they aren’t on show,cheeky) to wearing my thicker pj bottoms, listening to the roar of the thunder while I type. It has gone from 30 degrees a few days ago, to 12 degrees now! Madness.

I had a break from work and house sorting this weekend as I went to see my parents. It was the first time I’d seen them since March which is far too long. Madam Corona has outstayed her welcome by at least 17 months..yep, yep, I know it’s been 18 months, but I’d had enough in month one! The walls were meant for climbing, weren’t they?! ;)

Ta-ta for now,

Love,

A Real Northern Hermia! x

Hello Hayley, I'm Hayley!

Yep, this is me, meeting myself coming backwards. Everything is like buses at the moment. No rest for the wicked, but I’m not complaining…yet!

A Real Northern Hermia juggling writing, other work, line learning, social things (yay, the world is opening up!), and house sorting! Mind you, my Nanna always said that me chasing my tail would keep me out of trouble. Her words, ‘’ Be careful. If you think, your mind may explode!’’ She was a cheeky one. Very strong and independent. A lady of many talents and she was super intelligent too. I just know that had she been born into my generation instead of hers, she would have had a big career! You should have seen her doing arithmetic in her 90s! I was always in awe. Maths isn’t my thing! She could even do DIY. At 4 foot 11, we used to find her balanced on one leg painting the ceiling (when she was younger) and balanced on a stool at the age of 92, taking her net curtains down as she decided that they needed a wash. She even used to sit with her legs bent to her side on the couch like a 93 year old teenager! Something I have inherited from her…no, I’m not 93, but I sit like that even in bed! My other half thinks that my body is strange and bendy! Mind you, the chiro did tell me that my right leg is shorter than my left…he showed me a photo he had taken too! So perhaps, I am 5 foot 2 but only on my left side…and 5 foot on my right! So maybe she is right..my body is strange…and perhaps lopsided? Ha ha.

Until next time,

 
A Real Northern Hermia x

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go

...Was the cry as we spent the third or fourth solid 12 hour day packing and transporting our stuff to the new house we are renting. I was literally swaying back and forth, side to side. We had had about 4 hours sleep for goodness knows how many consecutive nights running. No time to eat. Being in the kitchen with boxes towering over me while my other half transported things from other parts of the house, was definitely overwhelming. I could not move to pack more even if I tried.  I escaped upstairs and, yep you guessed it, packed something else! We grabbed whatever snack we could. The previous week, I only sat to eat my tea. It was all work, work, work, pack pack pack, audition, pack etc. This week, even this so-called Duracell Bunny is dead on her feet! I would say, ‘if I didn’t see another box in my life it would be too soon’, but I can’t because we are still absolutely surrounded by stuff. Please let me fall into a ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and someone wake me up when it’s done! Ha ha. In other news, I’m off to the theatre tonight. Yep, an actual IN PERSON LIVE play! It’s been so long since us thesps have been allowed ‘’home’’.

Till next time,

A Real Northern Hermia x

Hustle Bustle, Duracell Bunny!

'Every day I'm hustling.. (insert music) ' Yes, this is me, the Duracell Bunny, a nickname given to me by one of my best friends because, in more normal times, I run around doing a million and one things, attending countless events on top of work, while making time for friends and family. Last week I had the taste of my ‘’old life’’ back again. A crazily busy week and it was brilliant. Albeit tiring! Usually I can cope with the hustle, bustle and the juggling. Last week by Saturday, I felt like one of the zombies in Shaun of the Dead. I think it’s the trying to move house which tipped my balance. We’d seen 6 places on the Wednesday and on the Saturday, we saw another three, then I had to go to the chemist and then we’d arranged to see some friends. I felt like I was falling asleep in my seat. Our friends are not boring, may I add, but I guess that this pandemic has sucked some of my Duracell energy out of me. I need to become a rechargeable pack!  BUT that must be the light flickering at the end of the tunnel now. Surely?! I can hear it saying..well, it's more of a whisper but it's definitely there, ‘come on, we can do it..we are almost there’!

It’s midweek. And not just any old Wednesday, today has started off very interesting…in most jobs, if you got asked to engage people while making dinosaur noises, you’d probably laugh and think it was a joke.. Ha ha. But an actor says, ‘Oh yes, sounds great. Where, when and how much is the budget?’
Hashtag An actor’s life!

Have a good week!

Love,

A Real Northern Hermia! x