Archive (Page 2) • Andi's Newsletter • Buttondown

Indulge me while I wallow in a bit of self-promotion. The Book Tour has been nominated for Book of The Year by the Harvey awards. The Harveys are named after...

Not Fully Invested

Football. There’s a lot of it about. Before you stop reading I will not be boring you silly about my lifelong passion for ‘the beautiful game’, childhood...

Great Migration

The security gate swung open on its creaking hinges to let them in. A steady stream entered empty-handed and staggered out carrying boxes, family-sized bags...

Daylight robbery

Mid-afternoon is the sweet spot for hitting the post office. Sandwiched between lunch hour and school pick up is quietest. I have finely calibrated my visits...

It was several weeks ago that Phil and I were woken early by a loud POK. In different circumstances it might have been the beginnings of an intriguing...

The sun is barely up and my body refuses to go back to sleep. I have my second vaccine jab in a mere four hours time and my internal alarm clock is not...

Shameful Secret

Using the literary sleight of hand of an expert wordsmith this newsletter may have given you the impression that you know everything about my life. That...

Hurtful (and untrue)

The reviews are in and according to my family last week’s newsletter was “a lot of boring stuff about comics”. I am shocked, saddened, and frankly surprised...

It wasn’t so long ago while attending Angoulême that I was pompously telling a fellow cartoonist that I could never work completely digitally as it lacked...

I was obliviously typing away on a completely different and mostly irrelevant topic (no surprise if you have been here before) for this week’s newsletter...

Operation Whey Tub

The previous weeks has seen cloudless nights give way to frosty mornings. This has upset the military style planning of Phil potting her tomato plants. White...

Silent kitchen drawers

Restrictions having eased enough to allow self-catering stays in places away from home, Phil and I finally treat ourselves to one of those mini-breaks empty-...

Where I live there are few celebrities. No paparazzi are stationed outside the Holiday Inn by the cricket ground waiting to snap an actor getting out of a...

Perhaps it is a sign of us inching towards something resembling normality, but I received a message over the family WhatsApp that I recognised from the...

Everyday is like Thursday

The observation that the days of the week have lost all meaning is hardly a unique one. The repetition of eat, sleep, work in lockdown has only emphasised...

Hunter and Hunted

The phone sits within reach of my chair. If it rings it can only be one of two things. A family emergency or a nusiance call. Fortunately it is the latter. A...

Sunday morning and I am on my way to the shop around the corner to do something I haven't done in months: take out cash from the ATM. Shortly afterwards Phil...

Closing the door behind me I walk the few steps to our car parked under the plane tree in front of the house. I hear some energetic wing flapping and look up...

Nine out of Ten

Out of breath I put on my mask, press the door bell then stand back two meters and wait. I check my phone. I don’t want to be too early or late. Like...

Underwear and Wellies

February 24, 2021

Sunday morning and I stagger out of bed and down to the kitchen to make breakfast. Looking out of the window I see the shed door is hanging open. That’s...

February 17, 2021

I might be unusual in that I’m a cartoonist who didn’t grow up with comics as my dream job. For some bizarre reason I wanted to be a car mechanic. Somewhere...

A Fit of Rage Quit

February 10, 2021

I got an iPad for Christmas. Yes, I am one of those people now. In a different time you might have spotted me in a cafe showily opening and closing the...

No space blanket required

February 3, 2021

Phil began January by yelling from the open door that she was just popping out to climb Mt. Fuji. This seemed unusual as we are in lockdown and not supposed...

January 27, 2021

In this small terraced house we call home every foot of real estate is hotly contested. Especially now we have to share it for weeks on end. Take, for...

January 20, 2021

It has been suggested that this newsletter has become something of a burden. Not to me, the one who sweats over these witty and incisive sentences about one...

January 13, 2021

How were your holidays/Christmas/New Year? I know it seems a long time ago now. I take a week off and some scary/bizarre events have already forced...

December 30, 2020

As we approach the end of the year it is traditonally the time to look back, take stock and consider what a dumpster fire the previous twelve months have...

"What's to-day?"

December 23, 2020

It was the night before Christmas (actually it was the morning of the 22nd but allow me the poetic license) and the Spirit of 2020 hung heavily over me. It...

Put a jumper on

December 16, 2020

I am surprised to find, at a somewhat late stage, I am fashionable. It is hard to discern from looking at my outer shell that I am a clothes horse. It is...

Oh, Christmas tree

December 9, 2020

I enter the living room and sniff. Some seasonal bouquet is in the air. A combination of cinnamon, clove and…other smelly stuff that marks the season. Sorry,...

I am a patient boy

December 2, 2020

My cockles were well and truly warmed when I read an article about Dischord records recently. What a decent chap my old pal Ian MacKaye sounds. We haven’t...

Seedy & deflated

November 25, 2020

After the legendary debauch of my imaginary book launch the following week was bound to be a bit of a let down. The avalanche of effusive praise, display of...

November 18, 2020

The proud author raises his glass of prosecco to the applause of the nation’s literary elite. “Speech, speech,” they chant, eager to witness the author’s...

An Incident on Nantyglasdwr Lane

November 11, 2020

The initial plan for my wife’s significant birthday (significant being a euphemisim for one where the cake can no longer take the strain of the number of...

November 4, 2020

The man from the breakdown service eyes me sceptically. I am telling the tale of how the problem with our car is not related to neglect but a more complex...

October 28, 2020

It’s almost my birthday so we are taking Alan up to live with our daughter at university. Alan has recently separated from his family. They suffered...

The Wars of the Horses

October 21, 2020

For a man with not a huge amount happening in his life I have a hard time getting off to sleep in bed at night. On the sofa around half past two in the...

The lentil talk.

October 14, 2020

At some point during the week we receive a Whatsapp message from our daughter who is away at university. It contains a photo of a meal she is about to eat. A...

Empty shopping trolley syndrome

October 7, 2020

I return from grocery shopping with a ten pack of small green bottles of French lager. Phil diagnoses this as the start of a mid-life crisis. It shows just...

Curtain twitcher

September 30, 2020

Big changes at Andi Watson Enterprises, previously Titanic PLC. I have moved from my writing desk where I do my drawing to the thinking chair, a comfortable...

September 23, 2020

The piles of bags and open boxes in the hallways of our house have been growing for several weeks now. My wife and daughter disappear on sorties and return...

September 16, 2020

At the weekend I was invited to stumble around the cathedral in the dark with a torch. Even though I do not have an active or fulfilling social life this did...

To the ends of the world

September 9, 2020

You know how it is. You go to sleep without an apparent care in the world. Then you wake up and realise you have lost your debit card. A series of images...

The Wedding Present?

September 2, 2020

We possess many valuable family heirlooms none of which my daughter wants to take with her to university. For instance there’s the pan with the missing...

An uncertain age

August 26, 2020

I recently received an invitation to a convention abroad. I suspect I was not at the top of their guest list earlier in the year and they were reaching...

The Power of Procrastination

August 19, 2020

My *agent recently introduced me to the concept of Eating the the Frog. Allow me a moment to strain every ounce of my self-control in order to not make a...

August 12, 2020

Back in early June I wrote a newsletter titled, "at least I don't have to take a test tomorrow morning." I was quoting the protagonist of the Martin Amis...

I recently took delivery of my new Muji joggers. It’s rare that I buy new clothing (no surprise to anyone who has seen me) and so it was the cause of much...

The other evening a random stranger knocked on the front door and asked if our car was for sale. “For sale?” I murmured, clearly confused. “No.” The man...

The Real Thing.

I recently sold a Kerry and the Knight of the Forest page and I’m reminded of the bittersweet feeling of parting with pieces of art. One the upside, yay, I...