June was a busy month. Challenging too, but overall I liked it. I took a week off to hike the South Downs Way, attended Kitty and John’s wedding, had lots of visitors in the valley and a couple of nights out – even staying up past midnight. Crab and Bee stopped here on their Peakrill Press tour and I also made a much-delayed visit to Liverpool.

My step count for the month was 521,628 steps, an average of 17,388, with a peak of 59,174, walking from Cocking to Upper Beeding. It was the highest monthly total since September 2022. But I’ve decided to stop tracking my steps for a while – as a metric, it’s ceased to be useful, given the time taken and stress caused. Gym attendance was spotty due to both me and my PT. My weight continues to rise, averaging a pound a month since starting my current work engagement. I need to get a grip.

This month’s step count was boosted by hiking 75 miles of the South Downs Way. A day or so into the walk, I realised that I don’t enjoy solo hiking. Normally, I’d force myself to go through with a commitment like this, but age brings wisdom and I cut out 25 miles in favour of more time in Brighton. I’ve walked the section I cut many times, so I don’t feel I missed out. The trail itself felt underwhelming – far too many annoying cyclists and the food was terrible. The last two sections were walked with Katharine and Emma and more than made up for the first 55 miles.

Between work and the hike, I’ve not had as much focussed writing time as I’d like. I completed the first draft of this year’s horror advent calendar and started playing with a performance idea. On the substack, my favourite piece this month was Professor Scarecrow. I’m increasingly feeling like I need a larger-scale writing project of some type, and will be thinking about that in July.

I never seem to enjoy computer games as much as I’d like to, but I played a fair amount of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in June. I loved the French setting and the basic play loop was mostly compelling – although the final section felt a little grindy. Death Stranding 2 arrived at the end of the month, but I’ve not had chance to get into that properly.

Most of my TV/movie time was taken up watching Yellowjackets season 2 with Rosy – otherwise I re-watched I Saw the TV Glow, and went to Manchester with Muffy for 20 Years Later (which was very OK). I appreciated the attempt to make a moving family drama in such a grim setting, but 28YL wasn’t dark enough for my liking.

Getting away from the laptop for the hike gave me the headspace to read the first two books of Tamsyn Muir’s highly-complicated Locked Tomb series. I’ve also been re-reading the Adrian Mole books, prompted by debating them with Rosy over the dinner table. They still make me laugh, 40 years later. I also read Tom King’s Jenny Sparks comics, which turned Ellis’s weary character into a collection of tropes and smart-alec lines. Smoking is not a personality.

Virgin, the new Lorde album came out at the end of the month. With streaming, its a lot harder for an album to break through for me than it would be if I’d invested in a CD. The first few listens of this one annoyed me, while also making me very aware of my age compared to Lorde. But it does seem to be getting traction.

Dan said that I’m very open with things on this blog. I feel like it’s good to be as open as I can be, although I do keep a lot back. The main reason for keeping these monthnotes is that writing them in public is a good thing – knowing a few people are writing them forces a certain polish. Over time, they help me see trends in my life, which I might otherwise miss.

June involved a lot of social events. Rosy and I went to a couple of gigs at the Trades Club. One of these was by a friend of ours, which was followed by late-night drinks, the first time I can remember doing that since the pandemic. I also visited some friends in Liverpool, mixing together a few groups. I have a resistance to going out, but I never regret leaving the house to see people. The wedding was particularly great, with a scattered community of friends gathered together. Visiting the Folklore Centre made me think I should hang out there more often – if I’m going to spend a couple of hours of my weekend writing, why do it in the house? So, more going out in the future. I do miss drinking though – I feel healthier for stopping, but I miss the energy of going out for drinks.

Work continues to feel tough with both client and consultancy work. I spent a lot of time working towards an in-person Java event and was disappointed at how few attendees we attracted. It’s been a while since I put an event on and things have obviously changed. Still, I’m glad I tried, and there are lots of other exciting things to move onto.

- We celebrated my Mum’s 80th birthday which was lovely. I also got to see my niece’s lambs while visiting.
- I’m still delighted about having more control over my headaches. It all seems to be down to hydration. I’m also amazed it took me so very long to figure that out.
- I’m not sure how I feel about Spotify’s CEO investing his huge profits in defence companies. My listening should not be helping to kill people. I’ve been on Spotify for years, but maybe it’s time to move services.
- I mostly ignore the news but my nuclear paranoia was high during the conflict with Iran.
- At Waterloo station there were dozens of women in black suit jackets with bald wigs and painted-on stubble. Thanks to the Internet I found out they were off to see the rapper Pitbull.
- I loved this video of people on a ten-meter diving board
