Monthnotes: September 2025

The saying is, if you want something done, ask a busy person. And I have been so very busy. It seems as if I work better when there’s little margin for error. I’ve been making time to rest, wasting hours when I need to, and I feel better than usual for it. But most of the time I’ve been working towards a series of deadlines.

But I’ve not compromised on the rest of my life. I had a lovely visit from my friend Kate Frances. At the end of the month I spent a weekend in Madrid where Rosy and I visited my friend David. The highlight of the trip was visiting the Museo Reina Sofia, where I finally saw Guernica. That’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

Just before I set off for Madrid, the copies of Rosy’s new book I Love… arrived at the house. I took a copy when I met her in Spain. I’ve not had as much time to sit with the book as I’d have liked, but the poems I’ve read are beautiful and moving.

Work has been intense, but fun. I finished my assignment with one team, and moved to another within my current client. I was also involved in setting up a series of day-long assessment meetings. On top of everything else, I agreed to give a talk in October, which was a little more work than I needed. I failed to write any weeknotes all month, but I can pick those up when life is calmer.

I attended both sessions for my writing group this month. The day clashes with my 5-hour commute, but I am determined to get back to it. I wrote a story I liked, Flagalanche, and had to write a poem for another session. By the month’s end I was into the final revisions on the advent calendar, looking for errors (very glad I caught the ‘stationary shop’). I’ve a lot of writing deadlines on that I’ve been avoiding with occasional work on Swedish Pizza, which is taking on a sort of shape.

I’m thinking of ending my weekly email commitment on substack and moving to something irregular. Sending out these emails has been good practise, but I want space to write longer things. Ideally, these longer works will be made up from fragments, some of which will be sent as the irregular emails.

I put on 2 pounds in September, which has me tickling my maximum weight (previously reached in early 2024). I’m now cutting out the comfort food and stress eating. I will need to do more exercise. While going to the gym was effective, fitting it around my schedule was too stressful. I should move back to the Fitbit, but my device is no longer keeping a charge properly, so I’ll need a replacement.

I’ve been quite distractible so finished only five books. Nona the Ninth was another good Tamsyn Muir book that, once again, I found hard to follow. I re-read Tender is the Flesh for the Todmorden dystopian book group and still can’t believe how hard it goes. I finished reading The Immortal Hulk omnibus – an interesting spin on the character, turning the Hulk into a horror story. The Authority omnibus was a mixed bag. It’s like Warren Ellis knew the concept had 12 classic issues in it and that’s why he stopped. Seeing Mark Millar replace the wit with homophobia is depressing.

I saw several movies, mostly at the cinema. Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing would have been better if it hadn’t fridged a character. The Long Walk was good, but didn’t have the scale to be great. The Ceremony was a haunting movie set in Bradford and deserves wider exposure. The Hebden Bridge Picturehouse put on a showing of Babe, a movie I’d never seen before. It was incredible. Eddington had a lot going on but didn’t do much with it. Naked Gun was funny, but not as funny as I’d hoped.

Part of my relaxation has been playing video games. I’ve now done most of The Last of Us 2 in chronological mode, along with the occasional bit of No Return mode. I did pick up Hollow Knight but I don’t seem to be getting that. When things calm down, I’ll probably watch a few tutorials and try again

World politics continued to be depressing. Alongside America’s slide into repression, we have the rise of the right in the UK. It’s particularly terrifying to see American billionaires who control media companies aligning themselves with Tommy Robinson. I am terrified by how disconnected people are from reality. On my flight back from Spain, I saw the phone of the man sat beside me, the appalling racism on his Facebook feed. People are being subjected to propaganda with no counter-arguments.

September 24th was the first day when I left from and returned to the station in the dark. It was a longer day that usual but, even so, it’s a sign of the year’s end. I’m already looking forward to Christmas.

I tried to fit a little too much into September. Everything just about held together, but I dropped a few things at the start of October (writing the monthnotes being one of them). I also struggled with my sleep, and felt ill at times. It’s nice to know I can get everything done, but I’m not planning to be this busy again for a while.

• I watched a few Best of the Internet compilations, and hurt my back from laughing so much.
• One of my early plans for Christmas is making this Christmas movie list.
• The new NIN record, a soundtrack to Tron: Ares, turned out to be one of their best records in years.

• Rosy and I have bought Nick Cave tickets for July next year.
• John Searle’s death was announced at the end of September. I wrote my MA dissertation on his ‘debate’ with Derrida, one of the most mis-matched intellectual competitions in history.
• My favourite herbal tea in the world is a Swedish one, made with peppermint, lemongrass and tulsi. I was very sad when it was discontinued, but Lou Ice found a the last few boxes in a remote supermarket