IN ISSUE 9: Are you cooler than your parents? John Lennon, Gucci, climate anxiety and Q magazine returns, good materialism, Take part in a TV show and this week’s celebrity suffering a midlife crisis
A 7 minute read, with the added serendipity that might just change your life
Editor’s letter
Welcome,
I suffer from climate anxiety.
The news about climate change has been pretty dire for ages and I sometimes find it difficult to manage my anxiety about it. I try to decrease my carbon footprint, but there are so many factors outside my control that I find it hard to know how to manage my thoughts. How do I put my daily life into perspective when the end of the world as we know it appears to be looming?
There are decent answers in The Times newspaper (which, unless you’ve paid for their £1 trial sub, you might not be able to see. Message me and I’ll send you a PDF of the article)
Essentially, the answer goes back to the Greek stoicism I’ve been trying to learn from…
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals, not under my control, and which have to do with the choice I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own.” Epictetus.
I can control how I react to things and I can control my actions. Everything outside my control I should not be anxious about as I cannot do anything about it.
and onwards…
Chris.
This week’s cuttings
We scan all relevant media to find anything that is valuable for living some good midlife years.
Will you sign up to the ‘Repair Manifesto’?
They are building a free repair manual for every device. That's a monumental undertaking, but they’re making great progress, one photo at a time. They’d love your help! iFixit is the free repair manual that you can edit.
This week’s celebrity midlife crisis
Jamie Oliver (48) “It feels like I’m at a sort of — ha! — midlife crisis,” he says, the laugh suggesting he knows it sounds naff, but also that it’s true. He says that he only agreed to renew his wedding vows with his wife, Jools, in the Maldives earlier this year to keep her happy.” (The Times)
Is there such a thing as good materialism?
It can seem as if we’re faced with a stark choice. Either you can be materialistic: obsessed with money and possessions, shallow and selfish. Or, you can reject materialism, be good and focus on more important matters of the spirit.
But most of us are, in our hearts, stuck somewhere between these two choices, which is uncomfortable. Yet, crucially, it’s not actually materialism – the pure fact of buying things and getting excited by possessions – that’s ever really the problem. We’re failing to make a clear distinction between good and bad versions of materialism. (School of Life)
Q magazine is coming back to newsagents & HMV is reopening on Oxford Street
Us Midlifers must be cool again - or are we just the only people going into shops now?
When should you turn the heating on
A crass headline from the BBC but hidden behind it is actually a useful article about how to stay warm at the cheapest cost.
Once a year Wikipedia asks for donations to keep going. They are a non-profit that takes no advertising and they’ve helped educate our four children, so every year I make a small contribution. If you want to do the same, go here.
How to start something new?
Take part in a TV show
Having appeared on two TV shows, I can vouch that it can be good fun but also, if you have a midlife lifestyle business, it can also be the best form of promotion for that. All TV channels are always looking for willing members of the public to appear. Here are the current lists at the BBC (Trailtors, The Repair Shop, Masterchef, Mastermind etc), Channel 4 (The Great British Bake-off, The Dog Academy, The Greatest Auction etc), ITV (My Mum, Your Dad, Wheel of Fortune etc) Applause Store (Naked Attraction! Blind Date etc). Our story of appearing on A Place in the Sun.
A cultural week
Did you attend a free rave in the 90’s?
‘Free Party: A Folk History’ is a great documentary about the free rave culture of the mid-’90s. 30 years later with new laws criminalising trespass, protest and gathering in the UK and with the 30th anniversary of the Criminal Justice Bill's introduction, the story is as relevant as ever. Time Out has published a great piece about the movement.
A South Korean TV series (via Amazon Prime). Baek Dong-Joo is a funeral director who has a supernatural power that she can talk to the dead. Recommended by reader (& former labour MP) Tom Watson “I literally cried at each episode. The pathos of the show lies in its tender portrayal of grief and the solace found in helping souls find peace. It makes you want to hug an undertaker!”
Whatever we say, and despite most reviewers saying it is awful, many of you are going to watch this, so it might be worth knowing what is true or false before you do so.
After 30 years of conversation and at a cost of hundreds of £millions, the F1 circus finally races down the Vegas strip. The coverage starts at 6am (UK) on Sunday morning. Even if you’re not into F1 it should be quite a spectacle. This pic got a lot of coverage this week - the actual seating of a driver in an F1 car.
The Italian fashion house, Gucci's travelling archival exhibition arrives at 180 Studios in London, presenting an immersive exploration of era-defining creativity. The main reason this is excellent? It has been created by Britain’s (if not the world’s) foremost set and stage designer, Es Devlin, fresh from working on U2 at The Sphere. One for those who love creativity.
Documentary about John Lennon’s affair with May Pang
May Pang had an affair with Lennon during his marriage to Yoko Ono but reveals that Ono was pulling the strings. (20th Nov on the Icon Film Channel and on 18th Dec on digital platforms.)
Music albums of 2023 (wk 2)
Mojo magazine has gone with ‘The Ballad of Darren’ by Blur, whereas indie record shop chain Rough Trade has gone with the slightly younger, Brooklyn-based Strange Disciple by Nation of Language.
One last thing…
Are you retro-cool?
Someone in their mid-twenties wearing a ‘Nirvana’ T-shirt, is the same as you wearing a ‘Doors’ one when you were that age. Did you? Or were you wearing a Happy Mondays or Stone Roses one - like former president Barack Obama should be here…
Want to know what Alan Titchmarch thinks about gardening as relationship therapy? Read this week’s Saga newsletter.
See you next week!
Please share this issue, or if it was forwarded to you, please subscribe below, we publish once a week, every Thursday. Plus, please email us anything you think would benefit from being shared with Midlifer readers at chris@chrisward.cc
