I’ve learned three things this week.

1. Paddington Station is hands down the most confusing station in London and it’s no wonder Paddington Bear ended up lost and when he tried to navigate it alone.

Friday night some super lovely friends and I had arranged to meet there, because we were kick-starting a night of celebrations by taking a GoBoat out on the canals. When we got there we wasted a good 15 minutes just trying to find each other, only to spend another 15 trying to find the right exit. Once we had made it out and found our boat though, we went on to have the best evening. Sitting on that boat as the sun went down, sipping my drink and chatting away made me so happy, as did the table full of food at the tapas restaurant where we spent the rest of the night.

2. Blue nail polish is for life.

Last night we headed to a secret location to join the Gathering of the Clans at the Guardians of the Galaxy themed secret cinema*. I’ll avoid spoilers for anyone else planning to go along this year, but our costumes needed to feature blue and be space-y and so out came my blue nail polish for the first time since one sunny day in 2016. This morning, I had an absolute mare trying to get it off. I’ve now accepted my thumb will look slightly blue for the foreseeable.

3. Even when it doesn’t feel like it, you can say no.

Literally nothing is more important than your mental health. When I was reminded of this earlier this week, I didn’t actually end up saying no to anything. I cracked on with things and I’m so pleased I did, but approaching those things knowing they were optional made everything easier. Life can feel overwhelming when you look ahead to days full of plans which you’re not sure you’ll have the energy for anymore. You can feel trapped in an endless cycle of obligations. Which can seem silly when those obligations are in fact fun plans which you feel like you should feel excited about. But sometimes even the fun stuff takes it out of us. Remembering that all you’ve really got to do is eat, drink water and keep your job can make things feel so much more manageable again. Focus on you first and all of the other stuff after.

*And for the super keen readers among you, interested in my review of secret cinema’s Guardians of the Galaxy experience?

As amazing and immersive as always, but you definitely get less for your money now than you did before it became popular. I loved it, but I just wish there’d been more to it. The entrance to the world was amazing and I was blown away by the way they’d managed to capture the Marvel universe. The performers were brilliant and were as fab as ever at engaging with the crowd. We had a great time soaking up the atmosphere BUT when we did decide we wanted to get involved there were only a few actors leading on the action and so it took us ages to find one. One of the food stands sold the best beef brisket bao buns I’ve ever had, but they cost me £10 and I still needed to stop at KFC on the way home for a proper dinner. And the bars only sold a super limited range of drinks. All in all, probably would recommend, but be aware it doesn’t come cheap.