Note: I somehow managed to get covid and/or flu three different times during the summer, which goes some way to explaining how sparse this diary got then. And it was hardly particularly dense beforehand, obviously)
Saturday 14th June, 2025
Today was the first day in almost two weeks where I didn’t feel like complete crap (although I do still have a cold).
Sunday 15th June, 2025
I wrote some things today. Not much, but a start
Monday 16th June, 2025
I saw a kestrel
and bought an illustrated book about bugs and wasps
It was quite a nice day, really
Tuesday 17th June, 2025
I cannot draw very well
Wednesday 18th June, 2025
Hot
endlessly
Thursday 19th June, 2025
I think the things I make are good
until I’ve made them
Friday 20th June, 2025
Anxiety
again
indistinct
and all encompassing
Saturday 21st June, 2025
The frustration of
having to keep an old computer forever
purely because it’s the only thing that still runs
photoshop
Sunday 22nd June, 2025
The cinema
was hotter
than the sun
Monday 23rd June, 2025
I finished a thing
I published a thing
to silence
to silence
Tuesday 24th June, 2025
Poetry
will get you
nowhere
Wednesday 25th June, 2025
Thinking of going to bed
and it’s barely even 9 o’clock
Thursday 26th June, 2025
Too many books
piled up on my desk
Friday 27th June, 2025
I had no thoughts
about anything at all
Saturday 28th June, 2025
I got so hot I felt quite weird
Sunday 29th June, 2025
A beach of stones
and no shadows
at all
Monday 30th June
Not a very productive day
Not a very productive
month
Tuesday 1st July, 2025
It was hot
again
But we did at least see a baby robin in the garden
Wednesday 2nd July, 2025
This diary might well be the most depressing document of a human life ever committed to the page
Saturday 5th July, 2025
Not feeling well
again
Sunday 6th July, 2025
Shivering/sweating
in alternating turns
Monday 7th July, 2025
My eyes ache trying to see the screen and the endlessly tiny text every program seems to use no matter what settings you choose
Tuesday 8th July, 2025
An outbreak of ladybirds
A benign plague
if ever there was one
Wednesday 9th July, 2025
I itch
everywhere
in this heat
Thursday 10th July, 2025
A ladybird landed in my beard
today
Friday 11th July, 2025
A baby robin
is an absurd little
thing
Saturday 12th July, 2025
So hot all night
and yet not so hot all day
The worst of all worlds (perhaps)
Sunday 13th July, 2025
The baby robin
is still around
Monday 14th July, 2025
Writing is hard
(sometimes)
Tuesday 15th July, 2025
For the first time in at least six months
the cash machine at the co-op
actually worked
Wednesday 16th July, 2025
I won at bowls
in the garden
Which was nice
Friday 18th July, 2025
They started digging up the road outside my window
at ten minutes to midnight
And did not stop digging
all bloody night
Saturday 19th July, 2025
A spider appeared
and then disappeared
around the edges of this book
I hope it’s not now squashed
between some future pages
nor some long past
Sunday 20th July, 2025
Rain
on the first day of the summer holidays
as it should be
Monday 21st July, 2025
Distant thunder
is the most disappointing
thunder
Saturday 26th July, 2025
I have barely any feeling on the top of my right foot
in a line from the big toe
all the way to near my ankle
Permanent pins and needles
occasionally broken
by piercing jolts of pain
Tuesday 29th July, 2025
Skies of endless grey
(it’s quite nice)
Wednesday 30th July, 2025
Weird dreams
and nothing else
to remember
Thursday 31st July, 2025
I tried doing
something
anything
today.
But I failed
Friday 1st August, 2025
Hopefully now finally I am free (of monster hunter)
Saturday 2nd August, 2025
It seems too early for football again
Sunday 3rd August, 2025
I feel worthless
surprisingly often
Monday 4th August, 2025
Still somewhat scared of my new laptop
Tuesday 5th August, 2025
I just do nothing
generally
Wednesday 6th August, 2025
Had a haircut
Thursday 7th August, 2025
The Goonies has a lot more swearing in it than ITV ever let on.
Saturday 8th August, 2025
My phone is absolutely shit.
Wednesday 13th August, 2025
My nieces are absolutely obsessed
with K-Pop Demon Hunters
in a slightly terrifying
all encompassing
way
Thursday 14th August, 2025
I made a kite
and it actually flew
(which was nice)
Friday 15th August, 2025
Hot again. I did nothing
Saturday 16th August, 2025
Pickled some chillies.
Sunday 17th August, 2025
Could hear an astonishingly awful Oasis tribute band playing over the park.
Monday 18th August, 2025
Off on holiday tomorrow
Friday 29th August, 2025
While I was on holiday I got ill again.
Saturday 30th August, 2025
While I was on holiday I read:
Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith
Shipwreck by John Fowles
The Stone Door by Leonora Carrington
O Cruel Alexis by Virgil
The Great Wingbury Duel by Charles Dickens
Lighthouses in 2023 (no attributed author)
The Course Of The Heart by M. John Harrison
Wivenhoe by Samuel Fisher
Under The Eye of The Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
Sunday 31st August, 2025
The sun shone for a bit. I still don’t feel that well.
__________
Notes:
1. Written in June, July and August 2025