Hey everyone,
Happy Sunday! (Or Monday in Japan depending on when I finish this) First of all, thank you so much for signing up for my emails - I was worried that nobody would see my posts about it, but here we are, all 23 of us. That's a good sized pub trip!
This newsletter will be different from the first one (which hopefully you all got when I approved you on the mailing list) - less thought piece and more things I saw out and about. We begin with the 21st night of September… you all know what's coming… but I bet you didn't expect it in this form…!
I admit this was fed to me by the youtube recommendations on the night of the 21st, but it couldn't be more perfect for me could it? I like to think it's the end credits of my time in Japan <3
This week has been a week of getting back to academic life, but also lots of seeing friends. Although it's fresher's week at SOAS (for non-Brits, that's when first year students go to uni and usually get very drunk while meeting everyone under the sun), I've been at university for so long now that I'm not feeling very fresh anymore. Instead I ended up making my own social calendar and probably did more socialising than PhD work. No regrets though!
(sorry in advance if the formatting is weird, I'm still getting used to this!)
monday
A beautifully sunny day in London after a miserable cloudy week last week! Something a lot of people have talked about this week is that a sunny day in London makes you forgive everything that’s wrong with the world, and I think that’s true. I spotted my ✨ seasonal sign of the week ✨, the Michaelmas daisy, which is an audiovisual experience for me because every time I see them, I remember this song from harvest assemblies in primary school:
michaelmas daisies, standing in the border…
I had a quiet morning and then headed into town to pick up my SOAS staff ID (!!!), have a look round the newly refurbished Doctoral School (finally a nice space to work) and meet some of my fellow anthropology PhD students for lunch. All of us had lots of fieldwork tales to share - even among only 5 of us, our stories spanned half the globe, from Guadeloupe to London, Thailand to Taiwan and me in Japan. I was having so much fun that I didn’t take any photos aside from this bereal afterwards! (yes I still do bereal)
a shiny new staff ID!
a hojicha latte in bloomsbury
Also, the latest edition of the Dense Discoveries newsletter arrived and it had this wonderful website in it, which has become a time capsule of the disappearing Yamanote line melodies:
tuesday
richard with our sandwiches
I restringed my violin after snapping the E string last week (so scary, the strings are made of metal so if they snap they can hit you in the face!), did some PhD admin stuff, and then met Richard for lunch in a cafe down the road. He’d come from Cambridge to do a ‘test commute’ for his new job in London. He’s also imminently a Dr which is huge news!! Congrats Richard!
At the Dusty Knuckle cafe they do absolutely banging sandwiches although they’re very messy - ours were pulled pork in a tamarind sauce with coleslaw. Excellent sandwiches and excellent chat about PhDs and life and Japan too. We went to Muji afterwards to pick up some stationery and house bits, although all I walked away with was a toothbrush holder and the sense that I should’ve bought more in Japan, because everything is 5x more expensive in the UK…
the dusty knuckle
…then I did some more work from a cafe after Richard went home, mostly some teacher training stuff that is quite tedious and involves reading quality assurance regulations.
wednesday
Wednesday is about to become my least favourite day of the week, because the powers that be at SOAS have scheduled 4 straight hours of seminars in the evening (3-7pm, ouch). But this week I had nothing on, so I went climbing at the Castle in the morning (my new local gym, and I had the loft to myself) and met Safia for some delicious pie and mash in the afternoon (it’s protein ok). And then we walked it off around the City and the South Bank. Excellent.
a beautifully quiet morning at the castle
safia and her pie and mash (excellent pub btw, it's called The Hope)
a great big lofty market
there was a gigantic inflatable installation of a digestive tract by st paul’s which was a bit weird (unsure of its purpose)
slayyy (I can't upload videos on this newsletter, so you'll never know how I climbed this)
st paul’s cathedral!
art made from left-behind gum on millennium bridge
more st paul’s from the bridge
thursday
I decided I should probably do some PhD work at this point, so I worked from the Doctoral School in the morning, met with my supervisor at long last, and had a picnic lunch and a walk to enjoy the early autumn sun while it lasts.
lunchtime picnic in russell square
london is so nice when it's sunnyyyyyy
a pub on lamb’s conduit, a very pretty street I walked along
before the show at the barbican - sorry it's blurry lol it's too real
In the evening, my housemate Zuzanna who works for the Barbican had free tickets to see a modern reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, called ANNO, so of course I had to go. I don’t really know how to describe it - techno crossed with harpsichord? - but it was spectacular, with artsy visuals, talented musicians and some very subtle seasonality that was more evocative of the emotions you feel when seasons change than the representations of the seasons themselves that I was seeing in Japan. I learned it’s part of a broader series called Fragile Earth, which “invites you to explore how artists have used the planet as a source of inspiration and joy, as well as addressing the burning challenges of today’s world”. I’m thinking of going to see some of the other shows in the series, so UK folks, let me know if any of them catch your fancy.
friday
wfh life
Another working day, this time from home since I didn’t want to spend any more money on matcha in cafes, which in the UK never really hits the spot and is always expensive (almost £5/¥1000!). I finally got around to making my own at home, although I didn’t make it strong enough and in hindsight an iced drink on an already cold day made my hands too cold to write as much as I wanted to.
I also made a nice lunch, a repeat of a meal I made earlier in the week with some pork belly (scored on the cheap as part of a deal in Sainsbury’s), pineapple, cucumber and rice. I’ve never been much of a cook (as those of you who lived with me in Japan can attest), mostly because I’m rubbish at meal planning, but I’m enjoying building a repertoire of easy and tasty meals in my new environment. I think the biggest realisation I’ve had with this recently is you don’t have to be a culinary masterpiece overnight, you can build gradually, recipe by recipe.
my lunch ✨
current state of my desk
Once again I had fun cultural plans in the evening, this time watching the 10th anniversary showing of Hamilton in the cinema with some friends from the queer climbers club. I’ve somehow never seen it before but I was blown away - it’s such a vibrant retelling of the story of someone who never got much attention before, the immigrant Founding Father of America. It hits so hard especially now. Can you believe the Obamas got Lin Manuel Miranda to perform it in the White House back in 2015… and now we are here… It reminded me of the importance of telling the stories of people who changed the world, in big ways or small.
hamilton squad rise up!!
still not over it x
saturday
reunited!!
First on the agenda was brunch in Chiswick with Jemma, a friend I met in Tokyo who is briefly back in London after doing culinary school in France - Jemma always has such great stories to tell. Chiswick was looking especially fine on a sunny morning and we spent hours yapping and looking around bookshops.
Then I headed alllllll the way over to Deptford (the opposite corner of London - although I didn’t mind travelling, I got to read my book) for a slightly random stout and oyster festival at an Irish pub which Safia told me about earlier in the week. It was a lot of fun trying all the different stouts (dark beers - Beamish is Safia’s favourite, it’s very rare outside of Cork in Ireland apparently) and as a bonus the England women won the rugby world cup!!
beamishhhhh
england women winning the rugby! 👑
sunday (today!)
I’m having a slower day today - writing this newsletter and then heading to a queer clothes swap in the afternoon. I have some clothes I don’t vibe with any more so I’m excited to trade them away for some new things! Yay for sustainability! I’m also hoping to finish my book, How To Do Nothing, which I mentioned on my Instagram stories a few weeks ago. I’d forgotten its message, which is an interesting ecological take on the attention economy. I’ll probably write more about both the book and the clothes next week.
it's a bit damp…
political thought of the week (tw: farage)
Being real for a second - I was totally horrified when I saw this story on Monday. The Reform party (aka the far right), who are currently top of the opinion polls in the UK, made it their official policy to get rid of permanent residency (‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’). They propose that every foreign resident will have to continuously apply for visas (which will require them to work and earn a ridiculously high salary) until they get citizenship. Everyone else is down for deportation. What the fuuuccckkkk.
This is undoubtedly scary, and several friends I met this week spoke about how they’ve already faced racist abuse while just going about their lives. But maybe it gives us an opportunity? Reform have shown their hand, their true racist colours. And that means Reform supporters can no longer hide behind statements like “I only want illegal immigration to stop” or “I don't mind immigrants like (insert group they like, probably white let’s face it)” when you challenge them about whether they want to deport most NHS staff or the people keeping essential shops and services going or the families running their favourite restaurants. They have to be honest now and say it with their whole chest. This is what they're signing up for. And I might be reading this in an overly charitable way, but perhaps it gives us a way to bring back people from the brink who actually aren't on board with this batshit idea. ‘Do you actually want this?’ Idk. Maybe they actually do in which case, shit. Anyway, I’m trying to think of things to do to make it all stop and it’s an ongoing project with no answers so far. I’ll keep trying.
On a brighter note…
album of the week
I mentioned last time that I've been loving listening to albums lately, and this week was no different. I think I want to make a feature of it, so here's my favourite album that came out “this week” (actually last Friday, but I feel like I can't pass judgement on albums that only just came out this Friday). Drumroll please…
Lola Young - I'm Only F**king Myself
I’ve really been enjoying Lola Young’s new album I’m Only F**king Myself which is full of interesting music and stories that don’t relate to my life at all but are good to listen to on the tube. I appreciate the variety of different sounds and styles on the album, and she's clearly put her heart into it. Give it a listen wherever you get your music!
thanks for reading! <3
Thank you for reading the first week of this experiment! I was thinking about different mediums throughout the week, and how they influence what your communication is like. It turns out that unlike an Instagram ‘story’ where I can just post photos or share posts without context, in a newsletter I feel like I’m doing my stories a disservice unless I tell them with the context back in. So it ended up being a bit long! Please do reply and let me know what you think, it goes straight to my personal email and I’d love to hear from you.
See you next week,
Stella x