Here’s an essential reminder for these strange times (courtesy of the Adam Smith Institute):
No one at all is looking at UK government policy and deciding that oooooh, no, we don’t like that, we’ll punish them into not doing it. … There are no vigilantes, just people trying to decide what your promises will do to the value of money and thus home in on the price at which you can have some of their money.”
Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash
Only slightly mixed feelings last Friday as I said farewell to five of my guitars.
I haven’t played properly in a few years and, for most of those years, I had been telling myself, “You’re a writer. You could weave the most compelling story for each and sell them on eBay or Reverb.” Instead, they hung or lounged around my office collecting dust and muttering at me with their dead and unplayed strings.
Then, three things happened. I tidied and redecorated my office, resulting in the instruments huddling all together in one corner, looking at me ever more balefully. They deserved to be played. They deserved a better home.
Then, my old guitar tutor popped up on email. We hadn’t spoken in years and, in the course of the exchange he said “you only need two guitars: an electric and an acoustic.”
Now, in my dreams, once I had started to play again and reached some level of passable competence, I have (not had) always promised myself a 1964 Fender Stratocaster. Not investment grade, a well-loved “player’s” guitar would do as long as it’s original in the important places. So I regularly receive emails from No.Tom Guitars, a vintage specialist on London’s Denmark Street (and, in fact, the shop that features in the TV detective series Strike).
This time, their monthly mail of delicious objects had a footnote: “We want your old guitars.”
The upshot is that I sold five to the very nice Mr No Tom, and kept two; my 1981 Tokai Springy Sound ST-80 (if you know, you know – it’s a dream of a guitar with all the classic Strat bark and jangle) and my Yamaha APX electro-acoustic. What’s more, because I didn’t want to be embarrassed on collection day, I braved the ouchy fingers and managed to pull together a half-passable Sweet Home Alabama, just in case.
And I have new strings.
I feel lighter in every way (except my bank account).
And, if you feel you missed out, four of the guitars are here:
1980 Tokai Springy Sound ST-60
2007 Fender Classic Players 60s Stratocaster
Fascinating. I’ve just finished Execupundit Michael Wade’s new novel, Pilate’s Magician.
Julian Fabius is a prominent Roman lawyer living in self-imposed exile from the Emperor Tiberius. The novel explores the dilemma he faces when summoned to support the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. How do you make sense of an unlikely local tale? And, how do you tell the powerful prefect an unpalatable truth? A lawyerly mind strips away the impossible to arrive at an unlikely truth.
I suspect the book draws as heavily on Michael’s experience as an adviser on sensitive issues as it does on his extensive research. A fresh and entertaining perspective on a familiar tale.
Happy New Year!
Many of us are scrabbling around assembling and confirming our good intentions for the year; all the things we’re going to do in 2026.
An alternative is to adopt Daily Stoic’s list of eight things to STOP doing (from Instagram, here):
Simple, sound advice for the year ahead.
I discovered this blog, Infatuateur, via Cultural Offering. It’s a curated feast of beauty and style that includes nature & animals, architecture & interiors, food & drink, men’s style and beautiful women.
In the words of its keeper, “I am a man who is bewitched by beauty and smitten with infatuation.”
Worth checking out over an idle hour.
Image: https://infatuateur.tumblr.com/post/802742838748200960
I may be a little late to recommend this as Christmas Eve reading (hopefully not), but Broken Ground, the inaugural collection of short fiction from Uncertain Stories, is superb.
I’ve only read the first two stories so far and they are original, thought-provoking and definitely “uncertain” – as the website promises: “new short stories with a supernatural or speculative edge”.
Also, and always a bonus, the book comes beautifully wrapped.
Along with the single-sheet, super short story, Mark, you can see above, the volume comes a 16-page Little Uncertainty, “small books that we give away for free to help spread the love of short stories.”
What’s not to love?
Kurt at Cultural Offering updates his list of 25 Blogs Guaranteed to Make You Smarter.
Really not sure I’m worthy, but I am deeply honoured and flattered to be included. Cultural Offering was one of the first blogs I followed and it is a never-ending source of perspective, information and inspiration.
Add it to your list and check out the others.
Thank you, Kurt.
Photo by Ioana Trandafir on Unsplash
Action is the antidote to anxiety.
I found this list via (I think) The Hammock Papers. Apologies if I’ve misattributed. The full list of “20 Sentences I Wish I’d Read Sooner in Life” is here on a blog called Born Too Late.
The most dangerous addiction is the approval of other people.
…
Your habits are the silent architects of your life.
Worth pondering the full list.
Blogs come and go, but some stalwarts remain.
Here are a few that I’ve read daily for years and which still provide valuable insight:
These three are the cornerstone of my morning reading. Also highly recommended are:
And two essentials that I follow on email:
Check them all out. Your lives will be richer for a few minutes’ reading each morning.
Image: Andrew Munro