Simone Reddington

The first month of 2022 is over and here is my first monthly favourites post of the year. It’s been a very quiet start to the year, as I had to isolate for the first couple of weeks and it’s been so cold that I haven’t had much motivation to do anything but sit at home and eat the leftover Christmas chocolates. However, I have already noticed that the mornings are getting brighter so hopefully it won’t be long before spring is on the way.

• Anne– There has been some brilliant programmes on TV recently but I think the best watch of 2022 so far has to be ITV’s Anne, which told the heart-breaking story of Anne Williams and her campaign for justice for her son Kevin and the 96 other Liverpool fans who lost their lives at the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. As someone who used to live in Liverpool, I already knew the anger that city has towards those who failed to do their jobs to protect people from the awful events of that day, but I didn’t know the full extent of the lies and cover-up by the police and government. Maxine Peake did an excellent portrayal of Anne Williams, who refused to give up on her fight for justice no matter how many times people refused to listen. A must watch.

• This Is Going to Hurt– I recently finished reading This Is Going to Hurt, the memoir of Adam Kay who worked as a junior doctor on a maternity ward for 6 years and depicts the weird and wonderful things that happen daily in a hospital. The book is both very funny and extremely powerful as, although I complain that I feel tired after a long day at work, I realise that how stressful it must be to work for the NHS. We are so lucky to have easily accessible and free healthcare in this country and our government needs to show more gratitude to staff who work tirelessly to provide it for us.

• Zebra-print pants- The first new addition to my wardrobe in 2022 is this pair of zebra-print flares that I found on Depop. I’ve always been a bit unsure of wearing flares, as I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to pull them off as I’m quite short but they’re comfortable and I absolutely love the bold print.

• Gorgonzola pizza- I met my friend for a catch up at a local Italian restaurant in our area and I tried gorgonzola cheese for the first time. It’s a salty blue cheese, and it was served on a pizza with walnuts and red onion chutney. It was absolutely delicious and I would definitely have it again. Check it out at Lucianos Bar & Bistro, if you’re ever in the Peterlee area.