August was about balancing rest with being busy. The month started with a holiday in Wales – visiting some friends before spending three nights in a cabin with no screens (including no phone). I was a little anxious about being uncontactable, but I loved the calm. It was a restful and wholesome break – I made a couple of meals for my hosts and their resident artists, and enjoyed some peace and quiet. Otherwise, life has been busy. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of having too much to do (and I’m getting more done than usual) but I’m also aware that I’m close to capacity.
Summer in the valley has been lovely. We had several visitors to the house and I made a couple of trips. I visited Blackpool for my Aunt’s 85th, and it was good to catch up with family. I also went to my friend Toria’s wedding in Liverpool. I took the opportunity of that to join my friend Tommy’s Beatles bus tour, which was as great as I’d been promised.
I did very little exercise in August. My weight drifted upwards, and I put back half of what I lost in July. It’s time to add some regular exercise back into the mix, and to take a little more control of my diet. I’m putting the fitbit back on for September, albeit at a much lower step goal.
My writing is going well. Despite the pressures of work, I’ve continued the weekly substack. Rage and Dead Loss at the Newcastle Sausage Roll Eating Contest were both written for the Wednesday Writers group, although I failed to make the August sessions in person. When I travel to Leeds, I take an hour in Starbucks before starting work, which has generated some good ideas. Another batch of potential stories came from In A Land’s Rituals workshop. I also re-read the novella I wrote in April/May. I couldn’t remember the details beforehand. While it hasn’t worked, the good bits were excellent.
Thanks to my holiday, I read 14 books (although a couple were quite short). The Seep was an interesting queer utopia. Boff Whalley’s essay collection But: Stories of Disruption and Digression left me wishing there were more books like that. My re-read of Adrian Mole reached The Wilderness Years. Mole doesn’t seem to work as an adult protagonist rather than a confused teenager, but the book’s ending was moving. Lally MacBeth’s The Lost Folk was an inspiring book about the range of UK folk culture, and its importance. I’ve been making my way through Al Ewing’s The Immortal Hulk saga. Best book of the month was Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless, a shocking and transgressive trans horror novel set in Brighton.
It was a good month for movies. Bring Her Back was intense and gory, with some images I can’t get out of my head. Weapons didn’t work for me, but I appreciated what they attempted. Fantastic Four started strongly but tapered off to become just another Marvel movie. I rewatched L’il Peep documentary Everybody’s Everything and was as impressed as the first time; amazing to think what he achieved by 21, and such a loss. The Life of Chuck felt cinematic, but failed to stick with me. I signed up for Disney Plus to watch Alien: Earth and didn’t manage more than two episodes.
I’m back to playing video games, although I seem to have dropped Death Stranding 2 completely. Instead, I’m playing The Last of Us Part 2, and its new chronological mode. Going back to the story after No Return mode has made things feel much easier. I’m close to finishing Day One.
The new Ethel Cain album came out and I love it. The songs have quickly become favourites, particularly the single Nettles. I haven’t had time to explore the Ethel Cain story’s universe, but I will when I find a decent fan guide. I’ve also been playing Taylor Swift’s 10-minute epic All Too Well. I visited Leeds with Lizi for the rave-nostalgia VR experience In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats. Some interesting moments but I found the VR aspects alienating.
The end of the company financial year makes work intense – the appraisal cycles ramp up while lots of people are on leave. I’ve taken on a large extra role but I don’t mind. I enjoy collaborating with my colleagues in the office, something I would have sneered about earlier in my career. I think one difference is that we work together as part of a huge business rather than enriching a specific founder. On top of work I’ve just about kept up with my weeknotes (35-34, 33-30) and wrote a short piece on the 25th anniversary of the Joel Test.
The awful political situation in England has become noticeable, even without reading the news. Tension from the right wing was reflected in seeing someone at a public event in St Annes walking around in a T-shirt for fascist band Skrewdriver, which included a slogan for ‘white power’. Travelling back from Liverpool, we found ourselves at the mercy of the train systems. The Manchester/Leeds line was broken and the train staff sent us via Preston, where we were then told to go home via Sheffield, a frankly deranged suggestion. It feels like everything is falling apart, and everyone just goes along with it. I think we’re doomed to Farage being our next Prime Minister – because he is the only major political leader who promises things improving again in my lifetime. He can’t even run his own party, his racist ideas are wrong – but I can see why people will vote for something more than parties that manage an ongoing collapse.
The end of the year brings a series of projects. As well as work commitments, I’m working on the advent calendar, Mycelium Parish News, and a performance about tarot reading. I carefully considered whether I wanted to do so much and decided to go for it. It will be a race to the end of the year. But I want to have a think at the turn of the year about whether to reprioritise my life.
I’ve complained a few times about being busy, but one positive outcome of that is that I am now focussing on goals rather than getting trapped in administrative tasks like inbox zero. I also had a dream after the holiday about my writing, and how the important thing is to go sentence-by-sentence rather than getting lost in the other aspects. Obvious, but then all the best advice is – you just need the right advice at the right time.
- The Todmorden Folklore Centre continues to put on amazing events, the most recent one being Holly talking about feminism and conspiracy theory.
- KFC have launched an alternate reality game. Back in 2001 I worked for an agency that had KFC as a client, and tried to pitch doing this. Our plan was fairly ragged, but it’s amusing to see this happening 24 years later.
- On the train to Leeds this week someone was watching a landscape video with their phone in portrait mode and I didn’t know if I should say something to them.
- Joe Hill wrote a lovely piece about the importance of ‘the set’, taking a little time to do nothing, away from the smartphone.
- Moi Outside, one of my favourite coffee shops in Hebden Bridge, closed at the end of the month. Two more have opened up in its place.
- I’ve become a huge fan of Leeds queer indie bookshop, The Bookish Type, mainly for its excellent horror selection.
- In further signs of this country falling apart, people using phones without headphones on trains are getting more common. Fucking barbarians. I can just about drown out their noise with over-the-ear headphones.
- I get up early for my commutes. This month I found myself showering while it was still dark outside. Knowing winter is coming feels melancholy.
