Summer 2024 - the joy of reunions and friends of friends

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Dear loved ones, Welcome to the first issue of my newsletter! Summer edition. As you may know, I have recently-ish returned from Australia to Blighty. This begs the question when did my summer begin? I feel that from my final essay submittal - I was on my summer holidays. However, I can hardly define the summer starting when dressed in Ava's floor-length Afghan, at My Medieval Fantasy. I saw my breath in the air as I giggled around a fire in negative Celsius. (Yes, brits it got cold in Canberra!) Therefore, this addition will begin my chronicles with leaving oz winter and end with my journey into autumn and renewed relationship with a loud, loopy, littered, live, loveable Leeds. Highlights of the season include • The satisfaction and joy of solo travel • Touching grass - unsurprisingly being in nature makes you (and clearly me) happy • Loving those already loved by those I love

A conversation about memory and storytelling:

Hard to emulate and easy, enjoyable to witness, seeing a storyteller in their element. And, truly one of the greatest qualities in a companion. Their perception of a shared experience and getting to spectate their telling of it. Let alone all the hilarity and drama they bring to the stories you hear for the first time.

When dear Gigi turned 22 we were graced with a visit to her parent's place to celebrate. Sitting by the mama bell tent in the garden. We - Adam, Anna and Snoopy - fell on the topic of storytelling. To the best of my memory, here are some of our thoughts.

Stories settle in our heads differently due to our perception of their key moments and chronology. If hypothetically you were looking back throughout a night, Anna saw a highlight reel of her strongest feelings and connections with people. Remembering, how she was bent over double laughing or felt a moment of genuine connection with someone for the first time. But what was less clear to her was the setup of the joke and what had caused those new moments of understanding, along with the order of those events. Anna said how in the retelling of her experiences those missed details suddenly become more important to convey the reality and beauty of a moment. This interested me as, frequently, I wonder how I will relate the present events I am experiencing to those around me in future. Say if you were planning to eat outside for lunch. It has been sunny all morning and you wait for it to cool down to eat. Then in your procrastination, the clouds have flown overhead. Right as you have sat down on the picnic blanket the sky cracks with thunder and the rain splits the clouds open. I think what details will be needed when I re-tell these events. I think of what key moment is emblematic of the story I am trying to tell. This self-discovery sent me a little bit down a rabbit hole. Realising that when in the moment - the so-called present tense - I am projecting, predicting, and pondering a future version of the thing I am experiencing. How many of us do and don't do it? Akin to making a decision for the plot. But more like doing something and then thinking this will be in the plot. Thinking "Wow this is so funny, I have to remember the bit about the ants". I wonder if I would have noticed this habit had it not been discussed.

This conversation allowed us to wonder how memory is informed by one's sense of story. If Anna and I had lived the same day, how would we tell the story of that day differently and how would that later inform our memory?

Perhaps we create a story around ourselves to understand life like Aesop’s fables or to find the silver lining. The ordeal was all worth while because you got a funny story out of it. I think there is some benefit to creating a narrative of your experiences, allowing them – and your life - to gain a sense of purpose. !!! shout out o'clock !!! I would like to shout out my darling Silvia. I simply must begin with a brief declaration of my love for this beautiful person. I met this girlpop on my third day in Canberra. My first day without food poisoning, so the first real day of conscious thought. My heart as been touched and I have not looked back since.

After a year of adventures, phone calls and laughing until my stomach hurt, I got to skip off to her home in Sicily. Technically, I am from an Island nation, but this baddie showed me what it meant to be an Island gaal: Iced dessert for breakfast, diving off volcanic rocks at lunch before a ragu arancino, fresh salad with the family for dinner and a sunrise dance on the beach before bed. I was sooooo uber super proud of how Silvia was able to host our friends. Nine friends, old and newly forming, arriving at your mum's house and asking where's the beach and where's the party and where's the beach party, could overwhelm some. Considering, the limited Italian between the rest of us, Silvia managed the show without strife or nerves. Below, I hope to outline an example of our inconsistent proficiency in the Italian language. Hot, hungover and on the hunt for food, we entered the lunch bar. With the ease and confidence of a man accustomed to chatting with strangers, Max went to find somewhere for us to sit. He turned towards the waiter as if to ask for a table. Instead of the expected "scusi" which he had planned to say, and therefore getting the gentleman's attention to our plight for nourishment. The only word Max, the waiter and ourselves were met with was "grazie" instead. Promptly, the waiter turned back around as if to conclude the interaction. The heat haze and grumble in our stomachs had led to the language delirium. Our second attempt at introduction led to a panini and a table in the shade. Thank the lord. Siliva was able to translate, guide and show off Sicily under these conditions.

Music Moments of mesmerisation

Recommendations

songs • Good Books by Lola Yong • Olbass All Bass 004 (140 BPM) by Vegyn

albums • ardour by teebs • shagara by hello world choir - fifi you liked this one in the car Sharing I have been yet again reminded of the absolute beauty of sharing music. Some among us may be used to long car trips with friends, but this guy is accustomed to the train and there is no such communal listening. Road tripping with the consequence of a wrong navigation, ease of likeminded companions and the anticipation of the next stage in the journey - can improved only by music. There is such a joy to behold in the live collaboration of the perfect playlist. Perfect not because of the calibre of her songs but due to how she can harness the emotion in the air and translate it into sound waves. She, the perfect playlist, is a temporary embodiment of the connection one feels to those around her. Surprisingly - or surprisingly if you've seen enough coming-of-age movies and music videos - the car sets the stage to soundtrack a shared moment in your life. All this to say, this summer, for the first time I felt tranquillity in having the gift of the aux. Sometimes one must rise to the pressure of the playlist, for she is a mighty thing. Now, I can venture forth into my life with the bravado of an 18-year-old boy asking mummy and daddy for some decks for Christmas. Music is something we take part in, not just a thing to be mindlessly consumed. Not a singular facet to dilute the delirium, and dullness of the morning commute. This was impressed upon me when listening to G's little brother play guitar as the late night sky gently blossomed into the early morning. It's easy to appreciate the access we have to music with Spotify's library being at the tip of so many of our fingertips. And yet, this removal from the self and the art is a plague at which so many of us feel embarrassed to make any music of our own. Through and through my musical theatre kid past shines out with the desire for music in community. The act of playing for a crowd, of remembering old tunes and lyrics, singing and laughing together. I do not mean to say every time and every place is perfect for a serenade. But we could have a few more chances to sing together, no? Maybe I could see a few more gigs or perhaps I just need to go down and watch the footy to sing Sweet Caroline in a crowd of thousands. Perhaps not. Time to learn some campfire songs and get the guitar out. Who let the dogs out? Grounding, in which one feels called to get the grippers off and get the dogs out. In other words, going barefoot. By far, I am not the most adventurous or hardy, especially regarding my sensitive little toes! One can fall victim to fearing the ground and placing the greatest importance on the shoe above all else. The liberation at leaving behind, though perhaps temporarily, the imprisonment of our feet is something to marvel at. I got to experience the joy and freedom of feeling the dirt, dust and dry grass under my feet at Ortigia Sound System Festival in August. With the heat of the day easily reaching 39 C, the prospect of dancing in a crowd of sweaty bodies felt unimaginable. Yet the Sicilian party planners had considered this and with our tickets gaining us entry after 00:00, we got to meet lowest temperature of the season. Tried and tested as the "only shoes you need in the Kimberly" according to my mum, I got myself a pair of Teva sandals. Much to my delight their minimal weight and Velcro design allowed them to be strapped onto my side bag and forgotten about. Towards the back of the crowd, giving oneself enough room to dance without restriction of movement, the fear of being stepped on and the vision to take in the whole scene. Here the stage was set for my barefoot adventure. Hard to describe and euphoric to experience. Feeling so incredibly comfortable on the dance floor, letting the sound wash over me I felt a lightness in my body, as I met the light of day break. An experience I can not recommend enough.

Though I am not typically one for puns, as they so frequently fly over my head and I make only by accident. When I drifted off into sleep, I giggled at the experience of quite literally dancing my socks off.

Food highlights • Arancini - ragu which APPARENTLY 🤓🤓🤓 is not bolognese, as that is from the region and ragu is truly the dish • cabbage • an apple crumble my mum and I made together • Sweet corn cooked over hot coals with sugar, chilli and lemon grass

Thought for the future

• no more dairy in this gals diet (sorry Ava)

• Owning a bike in Leeds for the first time - and time to start wearing a helmet

Thank you to Alex whose travel blog inspired this new venture

Liinks

Alex's blog

video I enjoyed - We went to North Korea to get a haircut

podcast I enjoyed - Girl Historians - The Cursed Fleetwood Mac Episode

Photo blast ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)