A few things today that gave a reassuring feeling of things remaining rather stable, despite everything:

– Noticing that I still have not learned to keep hydrated with water  when drinking (lots of) wine. Last night I ventured slightly outside my usual rosée regime, smoked like a chimney (normally I don’t), and while I did remove contact lenses last night, I remember how I consciously took the decision, staring in the bathroom mirror, not to remove my makeup (midlife anarchy?). The result, well.

– Merkel’s win in Germany. Not so sure about the far right space-heads becoming the third largest party, but that also seems to have become a stable thing in pretty much any elections, European or other.

– The need for autumnal nesting rituals. Burning (extortionately expensive) scented candles, piling books on various surfaces in the apartment. Pottering around. Eating spicy chillies. 

– The need to move on from summery perfumes. I have a long-standing thing for tuberose/santal/white flowers, kind of sweet, kind of heavy. Now it’s all about wanting to smell like a pine forest or an old library. Massively fell for oud  earlier this year. Found something interesting yesterday, didn’t make the purchase yet.

– Realising again, at around eight in the evening that shit, really, it’s Sunday evening and my to-do list is again being carried over to next weekend.