In 🗞️ Slow News Day #86

Hey,

Friend, we’re in.

Moving has meant a lot to me. Nine days in, I’m trying to keep track of all the things it’s meant in all the ways.

It’s meant four separate bunches of flowers brightening our kitchen windowsill.

It’s meant a bed in three different places and an ongoing dance with feng shui.

It’s meant flatpack furniture, second-hand sofas, and enough cardboard for two trips to the recycling centre (and counting).

It’s meant meeting neighbours and the juvenile jackdaw rehabilitating next door, following an unfortunate fall down a chimney.

It’s meant walking to hospital when Bex finally got the medical attention she needed after a month of now-diagnosed labyrinthitis.

It’s meant friends a twenty second walk away.

It’s meant two litres of cold brew in the fridge, filtered this morning and tasting like an especially sweet kind of freedom on a hot summer’s day.

It’s meant my first few nights properly alone – in my space, in my house – with Bex away in London.

It’s meant piles of boxes left untouched, in spite of my anxious belief that we should be ‘done’ already.

It’s meant relief and bewilderment.

And it’s meant one million more things at once.

All the while, I have to say, I’ve felt a little embarrassed that I’ve not been doing cartwheels and kicking my heels with joy when people celebrate for me. It’s good. It’s nice. It took a lot to get here – time and emotion and somatic strain.

More than anything, it’s meant a huge amount of energy has been unlocked and unblocked. I – we – have put so much into reaching this point. Now that we’re here, I’m going to bask and see what else emerges in its slightly ragged place.

Slow down guide

Need a little help moving slower?

Ease your way out of Friday afternoon with this newsletter, a nice cup of something, and a little background music. Steal my setup if you aren't sure where to start.

After I press send, I’m raising a glass of the aforementioned homemade cold brew to our little Victorian terrace – and to those of you who have sent encouraging replies over the last few months. I made it with The Roasting Room’s El Salvador roast, kindly gifted to us by Chris, Maret, and Dan last week. Coffee, friends, a kitchen to call my own. Blimey, that goes down nicely.

Musically, I reckon George Houston’s theatrical masterpiece In Aeternum Vive will hit the right notes. This was a Discover Weekly gem that I’ve had on repeat for a month. It’s full of flourish and pomp and range – made for the stage, stuck with my Spotify playlists. There are some songs you can just tell the artist enjoyed making. This? This is one of them.

Take it easy,