This newsletter comes to you a couple of weeks after I had intended, because, despite moving just two years ago, I had somehow forgotten how incredibly disruptive and utterly knackering the whole process is. Our possessions are now in the new place; what’s more, most of the boxes that we are living among are even empty! (Unfortunately, boxes don’t just evaporate once the contents are removed!)
After a month or so of sorting, packing, and unpacking, I have some thoughts on moving:
1. Never challenge a mover to a game of Tetris.
2. All boxes are not created equal, but a precision-cut box that aligns perfectly and tapes evenly is a true thing of beauty.
3. You know you’re really packing—at least if you use the tape dispenser we did—when your thumb is all nicked up by the teeth of the dispenser biting into it.
4. Yes, professional movers are physically strong and impress by toting three boxes at once, but their true display of mastery is their ability to get large objects through small doorways without touching the frame.
5. Meanwhile, relocation planners show their expertise by estimating exactly how many boxes—and how many of each size—will be needed just by looking at a rushed video “tour” of your old apartment. (Truly impressive.)
6. It is never not shocking how much room “used” packing paper takes up when tossed into Edinburgh’s communal recycling bins.
7. There are three distinct stages in every move: Stage 1, where you spend a lot of time sorting and making tough decisions about keeping, donating, and recycling; Stage 2, when you just shove everything into boxes; and Stage 3, right at the end, where almost everything goes directly into the trash.
8. You know the way babies and toddlers glom onto all the other babies and toddlers they spot out in the world? A week ago, the mere sight of a total stranger holding a box was all it took for me to run up to them and ask, “Hey, are you moving?”
9. Most people I know think their place is too small, so how come the last few visits to the old apartment reveal dozens of items stored in previously overlooked/forgotten cupboards?
10. Cats hate moving even more than humans.
Don’t worry, though, this is NOT becoming a moving blog. In fact, I have a couple of book-related announcements.
1. The audiobook of A PLACE OF OUR OWN: SIX SPACES THAT SHAPED QUEER WOMEN’S CULTURE will be out on Tuesday, July 30. It will be available wherever you get your audiobooks.
2. A few months ago, in this newsletter, I said something along the lines of “Save your receipt and I’ll send you a ‘reward’ for pre-ordering.” I then totally forgot about it … until now. If you’d like me to send you something cool in the mail, just email me your address. (No need to provide proof of purchase or pre-ordering. The honor system at work!) If you’re in the U.S., I’ll mail the item when I’m in the Midwest in a couple of weeks’ time.
Speaking of which:
EVENTS:
Sunday, Aug. 4, 2:45 p.m., at Wilderness Festival, Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, U.K., in conversation with Diarmuid Hester, author of Nothing Ever Just Disappears
Monday, Aug. 19: Minneapolis, Magers & Quinn, 7 p.m., with Krista Burton, author of Moby Dyke
Wednesday, Aug. 21: Chicago, Women & Children First, 7 p.m., with Searah Deysach, owner of Early to Bed.
RECOMMENDATIONS: One piece of fiction and one of the other. The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, was really satisfying. A great yarn with lots of food for thought, a straight romance set in a world full of queer characters; and a plot that kept me guessing. I also loved Nothing Ever Just Disappears, by Diarmuid Hester. I’ll be talking with him at Wilderness Festival, which I’m looking forward to, because our books share many interests and attitudes and similar provocations about queer places and culture.
LISTEN TO ME: For Working, I spoke with Jim Saah, who has been photographing the Washington, D.C., punk scene since the 1980s, and with Rachel Dodes and Lauren Mechling, who co-wrote the recently released novel The Memo. I guested on the Culture Gabfest, talking about the movie Fancy Dance, Season 3 of The Bear, and how companies insist on bullying customers into using apps. On Working Overtime, Isaac Butler and I did a mid-year check-in on our creative resolutions for 2024.