More cider and less pine needles

So it’s been a while then eh? And in the meantime I have been (among other things):

1. Turning 30
Interestingly this more or less coincided with some articles comparing the current economic state with that of 1978, famous not only for great music, but also for strikes, unemployment and general economic peskiness. Which is one of the reasons why there are fewer 30 year olds about than you might expect (more on this later). Anyway, being 30 – excellent. Partly because……

2. Getting a job.
Which is very good indeed.

3. Reading ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’
Which was a birthday present. The characters were so great that at first I wondered if the plot was going anywhere and whether it mattered at all, but it was spiralling in to a series of marvellously satisfying conclusions where all the many people and events circled into each other and it all worked beautifully.

4. Going to Middle Farm
They have pigs and rabbits and ferrets and cows and horses and guinea pigs and about 50 types of chicken and some harvest mice, which are wee tiny things. There is also a cider shop in which there is Ashridge sparkling cider, which I have happy memories of drinking lots of and enjoying very much, so it’s good to have found it.

5. Listening to Jeffrey Lewis
Who is just great.

6. Unpacking the Big Duvet for the winter months.
Goose feathers. King size. Warm-coloured covers. Fluffy. Massive. Blissful.

7. Playing Mahjong.
Only once, and it is exceptionally complicated and requires further practice.

So that’s what I did on my holidays. That and a spot of early season hibernation (see 6 above). I think in a former life I was a squirrel, or a moomin, although moomins eat pine needles before settling in for the winter, which is a step too far for me.

Watch this space for bears, cats, winter, trees, resolutions, revolutions, hats, films and Hove. Hopefully.