Ballast over balance

Staying afloat in busy times

Mar 09, 2026

I used to love International Women’s Day events. I used to buy a new dress and get all excited about absorbing the wisdom of my peers.

But now International Women’s Day is my son’s birthday so I spend the day celebrating him and everything that entails.

And that kind of sums up the whole reason we need days like IWD.

Most women are busy. Busy cleaning, cooking, caring, shopping, organising and working.

A lot of us are too busy to consider what any of this means.

IWD provides an opportunity to stop, think, ask questions and calibrate where we’re at.

The key questions for me are:

Are things fair and equitable? If not, what needs to change?
How much money do I need to avoid living in a cave when I’m older? And what do I have to sacrifice to get it?
What does a good life for a woman look like? Who should I be looking to for mentorship and inspiration?
What are the most important things I need to do as a mother to raise good humans?
How much time and energy can I reserve for myself?

I see a lot of women taking the smallest piece of cake and giving everything else to their families, jobs and communities.

As I age - and the trapped nerve in my shoulder and the bulging disc in my back start to whine at a higher pitch - I wonder if I can keep all of this up.

This is a real question: How do you do it? How do you keep going when you feel sore, overwhelmed, resentful and exhausted?

What helps you? And how do you find time for it?

Do you make space to process your emotions or do you keep them trapped like ye olde prisoners, chained to the wall of some rat-infested dungeon?

Watching

Vanished

Do you like watching people run around French cities? If so, you’re going to love Vanished.

Kaley Cuoco, who was super cute in The Flight Attendant, is back on the job being cute again. She plays an archaeologist whose aid worker boyfriend goes missing on a train journey to Arles in France.

Her frantic search sees her join forces with a salty seadog journalist and a suave police inspector to chase people around Marseilles on motorbikes, in cars and on foot.

With just four episodes, this is a quick watch with enough tweaks to the kidnapped/missing formula to make it satisfying.

Watch it on Prime.

Amandaland Christmas Special

Now this is a Christmas I want to go to.

The ensemble cast head to Amanda’s posh aunt’s country pile for Christmas lunch and proceed to get plastered. With all the usual class and status gags Amandaland is known for, this also comes sprinkled with the Ab Fab magic of Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders (who should be in everything, all the time, IMHO).

This is up there with the great Christmas episodes because it has all of the right ingredients - misadventure, too much booze and a big, ol’ awww moment.

Pour yourself a glass of the nice cava and watch it on Stan.

Paddington in Peru

I have a soft spot for the Paddington films but this the weakest of three.

Is it because of the Sally Hawkins/Emily Mortimer switcheroo? Is it because Antonio Banderas is looking old? Or is it because this is the last squeeze of the marmalade-making orange?

When franchises start to clutch at far out narrative straws, the magic of the original gets diluted.

Paddington is still sweet, the cast is still solid … but something is missing.

Watch it on Netflix with low expectations.