19: Clean Hands, Tidy Mind

Hasn't this week been the strangest? I've not been in a field once. My hands have been clean 99% of the time. I've not stood in a torrential downpour for a single second. I have not held a bunch of grapes up to the sky and commented on how lovely it looks. I miss being at the harvest.I'm not dwelling on it because a) I'm writing an article about my time in Mosel for Pellicle but also b) I am still very much the sad potato about having to leave one of the most peaceful and relaxing weeks of hard work I've ever experienced behind me. I didn't have to think of one single thing. Wake-up time was pre-determined. Meals were presented to me at allotted times. The work was hard but rewarding. My hours of free time were packed and used efficiently rather than frittered away. Naps were valuable instead of a waste of time. Sleep was easy; I was tired.I had no idea how much of my life is spent worrying about the minutiae of my routine. I was scratched and stung and bruised and sore but I was refreshed. There's a joke here about doing some actual labour and suddenly realising how much harder I make everyday life to compensate for knowing I do bugger all, I'm sure of it. It did me good. Hire me to pick your fruit.Other stuff:

• Great piece on Blackbook Winery in London here on Pellicle. Love this guy's attitude.

• "I took medical speed and played the deadliest catch game". If the title hasn't grabbed you, YOU'RE NOT ALIVE. This rusted, creaking, salt encrusted, lonely virtual trip to the Behring Sea is one of the most interesting ways I've ever read about an adult ADHD diagnosis, and as well as being a deftly-written and silly-af laugh-riot, it's captivating as hell. 

• Conversely, this supremely unhelpful piece on motivation and fear showed me just how useless a good percentage of articles on the internet are. It's about how a simple marketing slogan can help you get things done. CAN_YOU_GUESS_WHICH_ONE??? There are some real gems in it. "No-one is bored anymore" the author says. He tells a definitely not-true anecdote his hypothetical dad told him about a truck and an automatic gear-box (I guess you had to be there?) Then there's something about a dog chasing you until you die. A full admission that he has no qualifications in psychology or any idea what he's talking about follows. Honestly, most articles on Medium these days are LinkedIn blog post-level psychotic. Next time you're suffering with imposter syndrome (which definitely exists no matter what that Guardian article says), give the Forge section on "personal development" (gross) a whirl. It turns out nobody else knows wtf is going on either.

• This is a great primer on wtf spontaneously fermented bevvies are -- and includes a cute reference to "gas station IPAs" meaning maybe IPAs are just super normal now.

• This by Evan Rail on the New! Hops! Coming! From! The! Old! World! is really interesting and characteristically full of detailed, chewy info. In particular learning that German farmers are far more into growing new breeds than Czech farmers, who apparently just want to grow Saaz. I want to know why that is.

• A nearby local council website has a folklore section especially for people to look up what the carvings on their doorframes or found items in their knocked-through chimneys might mean.

• I loved losing myself in Claire Nicolet's "contemplative", "idyllic" paintings of holidays, landscapes, water and architecture.

• Matt Curtis describing Abbeydale's Jim Rangeley as a brewing Bootsie Collins might be my fave mental image of the week.

My stuff:

• My heartfelt ode to the late-Saturday-aft social club pool game. Contains bad pool.

• ICYMI: My profile on the Isle Of Man's Apple Orphanage, a natural cider making team creating delicious drinks from found and salvaged fruit.

• Do you like sad but rapid electronica? Here's my current everyday playlist.

• I found this on my blog from around this time last year about autumn, winter and alcohol-based rituals.

Claire Nicolet -9 juillet, 22h et des poussières, 2019