A Little Bridgerton Inspired

Welcome to this week’s Friday Aperitif. It feels a little unhinged, a little disjointed and mismatched. Rather than a singular thought fleshed out in beautifully written prose, it is more like multiple tangents trying to come together to form one single thought… although I am not too sure, how cohesive it ends up being. But alas, welcome to my mind. It gets a little messy and chaotic in here sometimes, but we live life nonetheless. Yes? Yes.

So, dearest gentle reader, welcome to the 7th instalment of the Aperitif from The Dinner Table. What awaits? A little bit of Bridgerton, a little meltdown and a lot of words. This author hopes you enjoy a little chaos with your evening glass of wine, or in this author’s case, a dirty gin martini with three olives. Of Course.

This author missed last week’s instalment because life hilariously happens to you sometimes. It rather feels like life runs through you instead of it being the other way around. It was the kind of week where time in all of her mischievous ways decides that she plays by no one’s rules. It was probably this author’s fault, for saying yes to working certain hours. But sometimes it cannot be helped. Oh, the things a girl must do to eat. So away she goes and books herself a little weekend away, holed up in a hotel in the city pretending she is both tourist and journalist at the same time. It has been good fun so far. Going for breakfast at a cafe this author used to work at. Sitting at a communal table full of laptops and meeting agendas. Multiple conversations in both English and Korean. The busy overwhelm of a cafe in the city.

This author has found a newfound love for her notes app. Already smitten in the past, but the reminder of how good it is came unbidden today when new thoughts and words appeared. I had to write them down as I crossed the road to make sure I didn’t lose them. And there she was, handy with her yellow headband and white dress. Ready for words to be spilt out onto her. (funny how everything to me is a woman, even inanimate objects, but that is an entirely different conversation for later). This was the thought from today.

If anyone else is following pop culture, then anyone who is anyone, knows that the talk of the ton this week is the release of the first part of Bridgerton season 3. The season that I have been looking forward to the most. Why? Because there is just something about Penelope Featherington that I just resonate with. A little different from the rest of her family, not the person people choose to dance with first. A little different from the rest of society. But so smart and someone who is always watching. Observing and cataloguing people. Seeing them for who they are. The theme of this season is that “this one is for the wallflowers”. Now, no one who knows me would ever suggest that I could ever be a wallflower. However, it is strange I see myself so much in this character of Penelope.

I would never be coined the “diamond of the season”, in a time like that. I would be the one who would stand by the drink table with her best friend talking about everyone else. She reads and her head is constantly lost in the clouds. While I can say that I have never dressed like a citrus fruit, I have worn many a crime-against fashion in my youth. Bold prints and jeans with men’s polo shirts spring suddenly to the forefront and I shudder. In an episode this season, she says something that I think a lot of people can relate to. She says something along the lines of I know I am smart and witty but it gets lost between my heart and my mouth”. To be fair, I can fake social skills with the best of them, but inside I am awkward and strange and also strangely direct. Something most people won’t know what to do with. Although I must say it is an interesting task trying to watch Bridgerton in public. Screen facing away from everyone. For proprietarys sake of course.

She is smart, no one who is Lady Whistledown (spoiler!) could not be. But her smarts almost have to be hidden, because most men don’t know what to do with that kind of intelligence. Another spoiler though, is that Colin Bridgerton is a simp for her mind and her body. Hooray! But I think one of the things I love the most about Penelope is her ability to just watch and read people. See them for who they are and call them out about it. Now, I don’t publish my thoughts for the ton to read (She says while writing a newsletter), but anyone who has ever met me for any length of time, will come to realise that one of the gifts my father has passed down to me is to see through people into who they are.

A friend of mine reminded me of that this week. Sitting by the beachside sipping from large glasses of wine, she said, “You see people babe. You look at people and you read them and you analyse and watch. You see beyond what people just show. Into the heart of who they are actually.” It’s scary to be on the other end of it, I am sure, but it is something that I hope I never lose. It gives me perspective and if anyone ever asks, I say my superpower is being able to see through people’s bullshit (pardon my French). So it’s no wonder that Penelope is one of the few characters on screen that I see a lot of myself in. The person just watching and waiting. Reading people. Observing.

She also gives me hope, that people who don’t look like the norm, who don’t necessarily fit in aesthetically also get to find the love of their life. Find the man who worships the ground she walks on, and loves her for her mind more than her body. Respects her ability to write and create. Decides to elevate to meet her where she is at. Realises that she is independent and independently wealthy even without him. See’s her as scrumptious, wants her for her curves and decides he will live no longer without her. I think people who love Penelope Featherington and see themselves in her, all need a Colin Bridgerton in their life. We deserve it.

So dearest gentle reader, this author realises that this was a slightly longer piece, but she hopes that you enjoyed it and is willing to talk more about Bridgerton if you decide to write. But this author cannot guarantee that she will still be among the land of the living, especially after that carriage scene. (wink!)

xoxo.