Weekly Meander #17: How much is too much?
Respecting the physical limits
Hello! Thanks for joining me on a weekly meander through my week just gone – with a focus on my working life (a way for me to document a time of professional transition as well as a little shot of motivation and accountability to keep me pushing on!) And in case you're new here and wondering who on earth I am, do check out this post. TLDR: I'm a documentary filmmaker coming to the end of distributing my debut feature doc (all about the history of nuclear power) and currently exploring/expanding into new professional avenues, whilst also navigating parenting & perimenopause. Some balls may be dropped!
You'll also find my recommendations of great reads I've seen on Substack in the past week. If you enjoy it, do feel free to leave a comment. And of course I'd love it if you would consider subscribing to get all my posts delivered straight to your inbox.
Happy (belated) Solstice!
Can you believe we’re at the halfway point of the year already? Life moves so fast, it’s easy to skip right on past these milestone points through the year. But I think there’s some real value & magic in just taking a little pause to notice and appreciate them. And the moment of midsummer (or midwinter for my Southern hemisphere friends) feels particularly ripe for savouring, with the year perfectly balanced on that midpoint between beginning and end.
I must admit, I don’t currently do anything special to mark this pivotal time, though I’m starting to feel like maybe I should, especially after reading this from
this week. I’d love to hear if you have any little rituals or traditions you turn to to mark the solstice.One thing I do always notice this time of year is just the sheer abundance of life that seems to be bursting out all around. Partly through choice and partly through lack of time and energy, we've allowed our back garden to grow pretty wild – at this point it's more or less a little slice of downland meadow with a desire line1 trodden down beneath the washing line.
But it's a real haven for wildlife – we get many different types of butterfly, burnet moths, dragonflies, bumblebees and even sometimes frogs visiting. And the explosion of oxeye daisies I can see on the bank right outside my home office window is a visual feast (even when the skies have been dull and grey – like they have been a lot lately...)
Walking through the woods near our house, I feel energised by all this bounteous life – like anything is possible. But of course, there are always limits. And this week it seemed like life was trying to make doubly sure I didn't forget about them.
Firstly, I was reminded (again) of the limits our own human bodies place on us. I came into the week raring with energy and determination to get some proper juice out of it as I'd lost more than half my working days the previous week thanks to not one, but two, vicious migraines (these headaches are an absolute ironclad limit for me – like a medieval portcullis slamming down in front of me and rendering any onward motion completely impossible until they've gone).
And I'm happy to say that, personally, I did have a pretty productive week (more on that below).
But I started it with a conversation with my friend and, hopefully, soon-to-be-creative-collaborator on a new documentary film we're working to develop, which will be meditating amongst other things on the boundaries enforced on her by the rare and debilitating condition she lives with.
And then the following day my son woke up very poorly – and remained so for the rest of the week, with us eventually having to book an emergency GP appointment on Friday (please don't worry – he's a lot better now). I watched him not only feeling very unwell, but grappling with the frustration and disappointment of having to miss out on things he loves, including sport.
We live in an age when we're so often directed to MORE – work more, spend more, travel more. Bigger, better, faster, stronger. But sometimes that just isn't possible.
And sometimes it's actually downright damaging.
That's true for an individual when they're dealing with illness or disability. And its just as true for the natural world we're witnessing teeming with the utmost life in our midsummer moment.
Because despite all the birds and butterflies in my back garden, the UK is, shamefully, one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Something that was at the forefront of my mind when I travelled up to London for the Restore Nature Now march at the weekend, called by naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham and participated in by some 350 British environmental groups according to this article in the Guardian.
For all that we heard some deeply depressing stories and statistics in the obligatory rally speeches at the end of the march, it was a really inspiring day, joining together with thousands of others to speak up for wildlife and the natural world.
Of course there should be limits on how much raw sewage can legally be pumped into our seas and rivers (one of the best chants of the day – less faeces, more species). Of course we should not be building a new link road right through the middle of the UK's largest known rare bat colony.2 These things should be no-brainers. I hope one day soon they will be.
Oh and I went bouldering again this week. And I can confirm I definitely have a firm physical limit there. It's Pink Tiger level.3
WORK WINS THIS WEEK
As mentioned above, this was a pretty good week for me work-wise and I felt like I made a bit of progress on most of the fronts I'm trying to advance on (with the glaring exception of my life stories business where I really just need to pull my finger out and get on with it). I'll try and keep it fairly brief but here are some headlines:
1. Experimented with some of Substack's video/audio tools for my half year Substackiversary 'Special Meander' post
In case you missed it, last week marked 6 months since my very first post on Substack. I wrote a post to mark the occasion and had a go at recording a voiceover version and a little teaser with video in Substack Notes. It was all pretty low-fi but fun to do.
I’d love to know what you thought if you had a listen (Note - I did this after I'd sent the post out via email so if you receive my Meanders directly in your email inbox you won't have seen it). Here's the link to the post again (the audio is embedded at the top):
2. Brainstorm with novelist friend about potential collaboration on short documentary based on her mini-memoir
As mentioned above, we had a good chat about some early ideas for the creative style I think would work best in trying to transfer her sublime writing off the page and onto the screen. And we talked about some of the more prosaic, but vital, practical stuff around funding sources, filming logistics etc too. I'm feeling really excited at the glimmers of what I hope will be my first directing gig since my feature doc, so definitely watch this space for more on this as it happens.
3. Tech check ahead of online webinar next week
As my mothering role model Chilli4 says, boring things are important. Next week I'm doing an online lunchtime webinar to accompany a screening of my film and this was our chance to test out the Microsoft Teams link ahead of time. I also found out that they're expecting an actual presentation with slides, not just a moderated Q&A conversation with me. So that was pretty handy to know (adds to To Do list).
4. Zoom call with University of California Communication Professor
This was a brilliantly fun and stimulating conversation ranging widely across the topic of nuclear communication (a central theme in my feature doc), including some fascinating work he's done with industry professionals. And of course we talked about possible screening opportunities for the film next semester. Fingers crossed eh!
5. 'Future of Educational Sales' distribution webinar
This was well timed as I'm currently in the middle of my distribution/outreach push in the US – hence the conversation mentioned just above - focusing mainly on educational and professional institutions. I learned a lot about some very interesting and innovative new ideas filmmakers are trying out in this space as the traditional model of selling DVDs and screening guides to university libraries is dying away – and I'm looking forward to trying some of them out for myself.
WHAT I'M LOVING ON SUBSTACK THIS WEEK
I watched the Jim Henson doc this post reviews last week - if you haven’t seen it it’s a great summary of what is definitely a very celebratory film. The highlights for me were the glimpses it gives into Henson’s early work (the very earliest of which was actually with his wife which was an interesting revelation for me) and so it’s perhaps no surprise that I lapped up the second part of this post from
in which he delves a bit deeper into an unsuccessful 1975 pilot for the Muppet Show featured in the doc called ‘Sex & Violence’ (yes, really!) It’s a great read - and conjures up a strange parallel universe in which the star of the Muppets wasn’t Kermit but…Nigel.
I came to this post on the emotional power punch of 1980s kids TV show themes via another brilliant read from
- 80s child that I am I just couldn’t resist it. Whatever age you are, I second the suggestion to go find one of your favourite old kids shows on YouTube and take a few minutes out to watch the opening titles, if not an entire episode (I just did and ended up singing along to my childhood heroine ‘Long Distance Clara’ from Pigeon Street 😄)
This is the latest installment in a great bucket-list project from self-described 'wannabe philosopher'
. I’d never heard the phrase ‘hanging around the hoop’ before (as a basketball reference maybe it’s more of a North American thing?) but it struck a chord with me, especially connecting back to my own post a couple of weeks ago about the perils - and joys - of comparison. The whole series is worth your time - and there are also a few journalling prompts at the end of each post if that’s your cup of tea.And that’s me for this week. Wherever on the planet you are, I send you all my good wishes as we move into the second half of this journey around the sun. And if you’re feeling frustrated by limits of whatever kind, I hope it’s some comfort to remember that limits can be protective too.
As always I’d love to hear from you… Are you a Muppets fan? What’s your favourite kids TV theme? Have you read anything on Substack lately that you’d like to recommend to me?
And lastly I’m SO close to the magic 100 subscriber mark. If you enjoy my meandering updates, I would LOVE it if you could tell someone else about them.
Or just hit that like button - I *think* it does help people find my writing. At the very least it will make me feel loved eh! 😄💖
Till next week,
Vicki
Proudly taking part in the Sparkle on Substack 24 essays club with Claire Venus – this is post number 12 😊
Watch my film on Netflix (in Europe) or Vimeo (everywhere else) - or see trailer, reviews & bonus content HERE
Life stories website – coming soon...
Do you know this phrase? I just learnt it this weekend and think it's kind of wonderful
I was marching with a uni friend who'd come down from Norwich on a coach with about 90 other activists who told me all about the planned Norwich Western Link Road – there's an easy way to back the campaign via an e-action here if you'd like to support them
That's 3B/4B apparently for those of you that means anything to
Mum to Australian cartoon dog extraordinaire Bluey (and her excellent younger sister Bingo of course)
Thank you for sharing!
And I'm glad we're not living in the Nigel-verse.
Well done in attending the protest march. So important!