In my last post I mentioned that Inside the Factory inspired my purchase of a casserole dish. If you’re not aware, the show features Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey visiting various factories around the country, sometimes world, to find out how our staples are made. It’s always interesting to see how a factory works, how the weird machines do what they do, and our hosts give us lots of fascinating facts and figures along the way.

Last week, a Le Creseut casserole dish was delivered to my house. You know the ones, top of the range pots and pans that come with the associated price tag. I could tell you the excuses and reasons behind this - spending more time in the kitchen, should have the best tools you can, not spending on a lot else at the moment - but actually there are only two things that led to this purchase:

More and more content is being added to the Apple TV+ streaming service, and I’ve noticed they’ve started increasing their children’s output alongside the adult dramas and films. Recent additions include the acclaimed Wolfwalkers and a new series of Snoopy and Charlie Brown, but one that really caught my eye was Stillwater. Obviously, it was the panda that made me give it a watch, and whilst the show itself is aimed at a younger audience, it is so beautiful, I had to watch the whole thing.

This weekend, I finished watching the final season of Agents of Shield and it was, as expected, brilliant and moving, hopeful and emotional, and an action-packed time-travelling ride to the end. The first thing to say about it is thank goodness it came to a good conclusion, that for the most part the time-travel story made sense, and it was a happy ever after for almost all of the characters. Phew!

I wish I could say that the many lockdowns of 2020 turned me into a domestic goddess with a sparkling clean house and freshly baked goods spilling out of the oven every day. It did not. I, like many people, spent a lot of time in my pyjamas, working too many hours, and watching too much TV. But, I have managed to get in the kitchen for the last couple of weekends, and one of my first adventures of 2021 is homemade granola!

It’s been about a month that Apple Fitness+ has been out in the wide world and I’ve been using it pretty consistently since then. I wrote some thoguhts when the service initially launched and I thought it would be worth an update. My bottom line feelings haven’t changed: it’s a great addition to my fitness schedule but it doesn’t replace anything wholely. I turn to it when the main aim of my workout is closing my rings because having the visuals up on screen really helps achieve those goals. When I’m after something a bit more intense, Les Mills is still my go to.

We’re in the middle of another lockdown which means opportunities to go outside are few and far between, and that living vicariously through YouTube is the order of the day. I’ve suddenly realised the appeal of those “slow television” videos, particularly where people are just walking around looking at stuff. If you like a bit more content than that, I’ve also found just the thing! Tom Scott has a YouTube channel with a variety of subjects but I’ve really been enjoying his Amazing Places series.

The first two episodes of WandaVision appeared on Disney+ this week and I very quickly devoured them both. I wasn’t expecting to be as interested as I was, thought maybe I’d check it out when I had the time, but all the hype surrounding it completely sucked me in. Here are five immediate thoughts about the show: In navigating the menus to get to the show, Disney+ recommended their new Marvel Legends series and I’m so glad I watched this first.

I can’t believe I didn’t write anything after watching the first series of Staged in summer of last year. David Tennant and Michael Sheen bantering for 6 x 20 minute episodes. It was one of the bright spots of culture that came out of the specific circumstances of lockdown. Despite it being an epic piece of work, I suppose no one really wanted a second series as it meant life hadn’t got back to normal.

Hooray for the dreaded time of year where I pick out the top five albums I’ve listened to over the past twelve months. Each week for 50 weeks, I listen to two albums. One is a new one (this year or the previous year) and one is an older one (from any time previous to that). So I can’t promise to have listened to every album that was released last year but of those I did, I’ve managed to narrow down five of the best.