If 2023 brought me destruction, grief, pain, and exhaustion, the first four days of 2024 have set about trying to make up for it. I’ve felt more excitement, restfulness, peace, wonder, joy, and inspiration in these weeks since Christmas than I have in a long time. I, for once, am ready to start a new year on both feet with my face defiantly turned up into the rain. I am here to be myself. I am here.
I ran for the first time in a long time today, in a normal t-shirt that got soaked through by passing showers, determined to normalise what, in my mind, had become a competitive sport I could no longer take part in. I listened to George Michael and Aretha Franklin and Sugababes as I ran. I saw blue sky in the dark clouds. I felt energy, long dormant, lighting up my chest.
One of the most important things for me this year will be my writing. Over the past three years it’s taken something of a back seat to running Corto and, latterly, dealing with various health issues (both physical and mental.) I have no split between my interests now. I am all-in for writing. My keyboard will crack in half from the hammering of its keys. My notebook collection will teeter out of control. My projects will become more adventurous, more challenging. I want to level up.
What this means, I’m not yet sure, but I know that I can feel myself reaching for more. I hope you stick around with me so we can find out together.
My Stuff
My first published story of 2024 is “Anon, A Giant Monster Roams — Torrside Brewery in New Mills, Derbyshire”. I’m very proud of it and if you’ve not read it yet, I’d love it if you could spare a few minutes to learn about one of my favourite breweries of all time.
For Hwaet! zine, I wrote a piece on witchcraft, brewsters, alewives, beer, and women’s work. You can buy the beautifully illustrated zine here.
A story about the terroir and the mountains of Abruzzo, for Glug. I love having a monthly column about terroir and the geology of winemaking, there is always something to learn.
Other Stuff
Eoghan Walsh’s eulogy for The Old Hack, a bar in the EU quarter of Brussels packed with vintage political gossip, predictions for the future of Brussels’ beer scene, and anecdotes about what it was like to drink in a pub full of EU politicians, journos, and civil servants. As always, he manages to pull at the merest hint of a story and drag endless colourful moments from it.
There’s never a bad time to look at collections of Ladybird book illustrations.
MAH played a track from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City — The Definitive Edition this morning on Radio 6 and honestly, I can’t think of a better playlist.
A stunning mini documentary about local (to me) fell runner Ellis Bland’s obsession with Bowland fell Shooters’ Hill