Status:

Went out for a cuppa today with a friend, the first time I’ve done this under my own steam in at least two years, maybe longer. The rest of the day I’ve felt OK but definitely drained and unable to do things I’d like to crack on with. There’s a good Big Read in the pipe but it’ll have to wait until I’m able to do it justice. The thoughts are mostly there but I just can’t construct the sentences. Most frustrating but it’ll come in time.

We went to what used to be Wildcat, one of my homes-from-home in Stirchley, to the level that I had my own tankard behind the bar, until I got sick of tourists asking me how they could get a tankard and disturbing my peace. It always used to be quiet midweek during the day with locals sitting on their own reading books and the like. Liam decided to quit the business this year (and fair enough, hospitality is a nightmare business these days) and a neighbouring bar took over the venue, promising to keep the vibe. And I’m happy to say in the half-hour I was there that they’ve succeeded. I can definitely see myself going back there again.

My medium-term goal is to find somewhere I can go with my scooter and hang out for a while, slowly acclimatising to not-being-in-the-house without too much stimulation. I’d also like to get back into the community that I miss so much and during my time there I saw four people I know, either in the bar or passing the window. It felt good to be in their vicinity. So maybe Wildcat, sorry, The Cloak and Dagger, will be my new home from home.

This is all assuming this fuzzy head doesn’t develop into a horrible crash tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Reading:

• George Mombiot: When the right denies the true danger of heatwaves, ask yourself this: whose children’s lives is it willing to risk?
• ‘This is the dark art’: New book claims pattern of personal attacks by Murdoch media empire — He wrote the playbook for this kind of shit and society is so much the worse for it. One of the great villains of our age.

Watching:

• Hannah Peel interview ‌(12:46) — One of the presenters of Night Tracks, my go-to insomnia aid, and a fantastic musician in her own right.
• Honest Government Ad | Palantir ‌(3:30)

Looking:

• The wild photographic life of Ed van der Elsken — Not often you see a photographer decry black and white as a cheap effect, but it really is. ‌‘I often say that in colour photography you have to expose yourself, to show you can make good, significant photographs without trickery. I know this because I did the same thing myself 20 years ago, making gloomy, dark-skied, high-contrast prints, and because those techniques are used willy-nilly for cheap effect, I take a devilish pleasure in puncturing those balloons’