August 2026

The theme of the month for August has been trying to take it easy. Not always succeeding, and in truth mostly having the worst of both worlds which is neither really resting nor making much money, but so it usually seems to go over the summer for me. As there’s no teaching and lots of colleagues take long periods of leave there’s less to do with my academic work, but there is still prep for next year, and after the success of my EMF installation I’ve had a couple of talks to write. As for freelance work, it always quietens down a great deal over July and August, but still not enough for me to entirely log off. 

For example!! Here I am trying to have a day of doing nothing. (But when is a nothing day ever actually nothing)

Goodbye to a real one. She was a sweet girl with fur like a storm cloud.

Every day I am glad I had breast reduction surgery back in 2022. In truth I find myself wanting to do visual diaries on this topic often, but there’s only so much you need to hear about my tits, right

Because it means I can wear silly dresses with no bra!! (I have been spending too much on Vinted so it’s probably for the best September needs to be a more financially lean month…)

Another thing I think about a lot is what a hottie I get to share my life/house with 

A delicious dinner at Lai Rai, where I felt like I’d inadvertently ended up eating somewhere much cooler than I deserve, like when you go out on a date with someone a bit out of your league

I went to the Escher exhibition with my friend-colleague Alex and had a lot of thoughts about it which I mostly condensed into one very-long-probably-annoying voice note to a friend. Tl;dr though is I think I kind of hate these ‘experience’ art exhibitions we seem to increasingly be going in for. Also the worst gift shop of all time which is surely a missed opportunity when Escher could have had the most bangin’ merch. Anyway I enjoyed loosely emulating his style in this drawing of a cool church, some great gnochhi, and a very good ice lolly I had (finally found a London place that does those dipped ice lollies I’ve had in Lisbon and Seville but actually vegan!)

Walked the next section of the Vanguard way with Alice (still entirely skirting making any progress whatsoever on the London loop). It was a slightly too hot day but just about tolerable, and I had a very nice time. Across the M25!! (The vanguard way runs from Croydon where Alice and I live down to Newhaven on the coast)

Went to help my partner choose some new glasses and obviously I tried on all the glasses. As they regularly like to remind me, my glasses time will soon come, but when it does you’d better believe I’m going to be a total glasses babe

Had a very very nice summer day excursion down to Brighton with my old uni friends Michael, Lyall and Lucy, and Lucy’s toddler Rowan. I’m maybe misremembering but I feel like it might be the first time we’d all gone back together since we graduated in 2010?! Surely not. Anyway it was another gorgeous day and I felt very nostalgic and happy to have kept hold of these lovely people.

We (well, mostly my partner) had grand ambitions for a meadow in our front garden, and it was going well, but the successive heatwaves have rather done a number on it.

I don’t tend to go in for ‘space stuff’ (as I dismissively refer to all galactic phenomena), so it was that I was sat on my sofa with the curtains pulled eating pizza when the eclipse was happening. But I DO go in for social phenomena, and I could hear that there were loads of people out having fun in the (slightly grotty/dodgy) park right next to my house, so I popped out and found my neighbours who lent me their home made eclipse viewer (It was a box with a hole punched in it and you wore it like a robot helmet). So I enjoyed that, and I also enjoyed the way the shadows of the trees on the front of our building formed little crescents. 

Somewhat manically wrote an over-long talk alone in the dark all day while sweating

Even though I am well aware how problematic this summer’s heat and dryness has been, physically and mentally it is mostly very good for me (35+ is pushing it though). But I do not like how gross London’s streets get, especially when I want to walk along them in sandals.

Me and my partner went out for vegan fish and chips in Peckham and it was GOOD!!! (I normally only let myself have chips when I’m at some off-season coastal town looking at a pier, so a nice treat to just do it like, here)

I finished Disco Elysium!! Everyone is right!! It’s a masterpiece!! I will never stop thinking about it!! (Look, I’m just sad I didn’t get to romance Kim okay)

Went to see V do visuals at Algolush, an ambient version of the usual Algoraves. Everyone got to sit down!! Very good

V has this automated blind which opens at a set time, and I am really into it because the whirring sound and daylight always wakes me up nicely — more gently than an alarm. Anyway, opened my eyes that morning to GREY SKY for what felt like the first time in forever (I’d like to say I was pleased but I’m sorry, blue sky makes me happy, even as we all go down in flames)

 The life of a freelance designer (perpetually pulling this face alone in your house 😑)

Went to V’s monthly boardgame night with her, George, Ada and Kitty and played… Magic Maze? It’s that what it’s called? Anyway it was good and we all managed to team work well and not fall out over it like I could quite easily foresee happening (this picture of a mall is from the Whitgift Centre in Croydon)

The perils of not doing much

Okay look maybe the other reason I’m broke this month is I went out for TOO MANY DINNER DATES (But I love dinner dates) (and I had to try the Purezza Summer lemon special pizza!! It was so good!!)

Okay in news which will surprise absolutely no one, after finishing Disco Elysium I returned to the yakuza franchise (which, despite writing a zine and over 200k words of fanfic about, I have only actually played two of the games). Time for Yakuza Kiwami! Which I will try not to throw over 100 hours at like I did the others 😬

 
Okay enough drawing fictional Japanese gangsters, it’s time to draw an actual real naked human! (Went life drawing to a new place with Ellis and enjoyed trying out black brush pen and white chalk on blue paper)

Got a chest tattoo! (Not over this whole area, but this is indicative). It was actually surprisingly one of the more chill tattoos I’ve ever got? Even ‘red’ areas were like, entirely tolerable for reasonably prolonged periods, and during yellow and green I even felt kind of sleepy and chilled. I think all of the leg ones have been much more painful! Anyway it was a very nice experience and I love it so much I think I’m going to ask the artist to extend it up over the shoulder next time they’re in the country.

Some nights it do be like that (aside, if you know what I’m referring to here, good god I have takes and nowhere to take them, so ask me if you want an extended voice note on the subject 😓)

Over the last couple months this weird little guy has become a local celebrity. He’s got a disabled back leg and loves to scream, which has led many well meaning people to respectively call his owner/take him to the vets/abduct him and attempt to claim him for their own — to the point where he now wears several explanatory collars and there is a neighbourhood campaign of posters about how he is ABSOLUTELY FINE. Also he loves to break into people’s cars/houses etc (with absolutely no regard for the possibility of them containing, for example, an angry German shepherd), so he is surely not long for this world. But in the meantime I think he might be my favourite cat I’ve ever met and I can totally see why several people have tried to steal him, because he really is anyone’s

Beth and Angus came over for boardgames and dinner, and we played this specific genre of game

Since coming off the pill a couple of years ago, I now endure approximately 1-5h per month of excruciating pain, which can be mostly avoided if I get in fast enough with painkillers (but I failed to do that yesterday because I wasn’t paying enough attention). 

Still, in the spirit of trying to not do too much, I lay very still and actually watched a movie which is extremely out of character for me (notoriously movie indifferent person) 

(I actually also watched Project Hail Mary earlier this month as well as Knives Out and both were so good I was even able to forgive the moderate to severe emetophobia triggers in both)

One of my 2026 goals was to table at at least one zine fair, and I finally managed it! As always, the RTS gang showed me a lovely time down in Newhaven, and I made a great new tabling buddy! (Also saw lots of good dogs, clearly)

Mum dropped in to say hi for the bank holiday and we went to see the newly (well, -ish) repainted Crystal Palace Park dinosaurs. They have done a lovely job!

I am now braced for September where everything starts happening again. Lots of people have been saying they are ready for it to be autumn, and I've gotta admit I am NOT, but so it goes. I don't mind the weather getting cooler and I also don't mind the nights getting darker, but both at once is TOO MUCH. 

Anyway, off we go regardless, see you next month I hope!