Simone Reddington

Unlike most people, I don’t mind the month of January.  As a student, it was actually one of my favourite months of the year, as I would receive my student load at the start of the new semester and I’d look forward to seeing my friends again after the Christmas break.  I now work in hospitality full-time, so I welcome the quietness of January as a chance to destress after the hectic festive period.  

Of course, I am aware that I am writing from a place of privilege as January can financially be a very difficult time for a lot of people.  However, I don’t have a large family for whom I am obligated to buy lots of Christmas presents, and I earned more money in December (through tips and over-time) than I did in any other month of the year.  There is also a huge societal pressure for people to set unrealistic New Year’s resolutions, and to suddenly become the best possible versions of themselves overnight.  I embrace the start of a new year as an opportunity to start afresh, but if you hope to become a gym bunny overnight after a month of living off chocolate and alcohol then I’m afraid that you’re simply setting yourself up to fail. 

The secret to enjoying January is to relax and not expect too much.  I recently saw a post on Instagram about how the Gregorian calendar is a construct of capitalism and that we should instead follow nature and wait until the Spring Equinox to start the new year, and I think that they have a valid point.  Let’s face it, January is in the middle of the bleak winter, and nobody has the motivation to wake up at 5am to plan world domination or go to the gym after work.  Instead, why don’t you put your feet up after all the Christmas socialising, eat the last of the leftover festive chocolates and use the start of a new year to really think about what you want from yourself over the next twelve months.  To get through the January blues, you need to appreciate the small joys in life and this what I’ve enjoyed during the first month of this year:  

Corriedale: Anybody who knows me can tell you that I am a huge fan of British soap operas; to the extent of which that I chose to write a 16,000 analysis of the representation of diversity in Coronation Street as part of my master’s degree. I find soaps so fascinating as they reflect a more entertaining and dramatized version of the mundane, everyday lives of British people in way that other fictionalised mediums are unable to produce.  They are an institutional part of British culture that have brought awareness and prompted discussions on various important social topics, from transgender rights to human trafficking.  I was therefore very excited when ITV announced that for the first time ever, they would produce a special crossover episode where characters from both Coronation Street and Emmerdale would interact with each other.  The special episode featured a car-crash that involved multiple vehicles on the M62 motorway, the midway point between the two shows’ Mancunian and Yorkshire settings. 

 

•  Black velvet smock top- I bought this top from Depop over two years ago, but I finally wore it for the first time this month for a casual evening at my local pub. I ordered it to wear to wear for an ABBA-themed party, as I thought its bell sleeves looked very 70s style without looking like a costume, but it didn’t arrive in time. 

• Marty Supreme– At the grand age of 28, I went on my first ever solo cinema date this month to see the comedy-drama film Marty Supreme.   Starring and co-produced by Timothee Chalamet, the film tells the story of a gifted table tennis player called Marty Mauser who embarks on a reckless journey to achieve his dream of becoming the world champion in his sport. 

• Creamy arrabbiata pasta-  I have not tried any new restaurants or eateries so far this year, and my favourite meal I have eaten this year was made by myself.  One Friday night, I found myself with no plans and the house to myself, so I cooked all the peppers, onions and mushrooms that were about to go out-of-date in the fridge and made an arrabbiata pasta dish.

• The Clearing- I have been listening to Wolf Alice’s 2025 album on repeat all month.  The indie-rock band have enjoyed commercial and critical success for the best part of a decade, but I have personally never listened to them until I heard The Clearing’s final track ‘The Sofa’ on a Spotify playlist last year.