Status:
Many moons ago Fiona heard of a shed that was going free. We collected it, piling it onto the roof-rack of our hatchback and deposited it at the allotment. It was mostly fine but I figured it could be made pretty much as-new with a bit of work which I looked forward to doing. And then I got properly ill and it just sat there.
Since then my sister has pretty much taken over the allotment and this weekend she a bro-in-law decided to see if the shed was good enough to put up. This afternoon we visited as they were putting the roof together and, yup, it’s fine! Has some gaps and such but will be good for storing tools and sheltering from the rain.
Wally is also fine, like nothing happened. He was bounding and binkying around the garden this afternoon with gay abandon.
I am also fine. No weird head nonsense and have resumed light pottering which, other than getting outside in the sunshine, involved shredding decades worth of documents that a family member decided to clear out. All food for the compost worms.
Reading:
- Progressive Paris has many weapons to fight the far right, but the best? Spaces where you can simply hang out — This has been bubbling around my feeds for a few days and it’s a really pertinent point. There’s also this article in French which I read in machine translation but the gist is clear. When bars and tabacs close: the erosion of the local social bond and the progress of the far-right vote in France. There’s something deeply important here, not just in the fight against the fash but about neighbourhoods in general. We need open and accessible places to just hang and talk and be people together.
- Sam Kriss: Is my writing too wet? — A “defence of gloop” which I was worried was going to be about AI slop but it mostly isn’t. Some nice stuff about Fleischer cartoons: “Popeye and Betty Boop, the subterranean alliance of Jews and blacks, immigrant modernity, mongrel impure, wailing ghosts, black-eyed strays, demonic cave paintings, a druggy decadent sexuality, plump thighs, mutability, the gods of the underworld and the night."
- All the President’s Men turns 50 — Some fun behind-the-scenes stories.
Music:
- Sunn O))) by Sunn O))) — Having mostly experienced them live at various Supersonic events I’m never quite sure how I should be listening to Sunn O))) at home. Headphones, clearly, but how loud? Loud enough to hear the nuance in the drone, I guess. But a fun thing to try is to listen to them quietly, like ambient background music. By taking it away from your attention it kinda worms into your brain, colouring whatever else you were doing or reading in a creepily subtle way. Anyway, the album is good. There’s some nice weird bits in there, almost melodies at times. And the nature sounds are a nice touch.
Books on the go:
🎧 Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell [####------] 47%
📖 Stone Junction by Jim Dodge [#####-----] 56%