Writing accoutrements: a refurbished woollen rug rescued from a charity shop for ten pounds. Comfortingly heavy and soft it has a few holes through use, and a tiny printed name label - A D Wells - in red letters on a white ground, carefully sewn in one corner. My Waterman fountain pen from 1986.
It's an autumnal September day, overcast, slight drizzle, English weather. I suspect it is warmer out than in. I fancied a steak dinner - unusual for me - and I'll break into my £105 savings from my hearthealthy no-buy month to finance it.
I'm testing out my Waterman fountain pen, bought for me as a present in December 1986 - I have the certificate. It's languished for years in my writing case, but finally, this week, I found a UK supplier of the necessary short International Ink cartridges. I bought blue and Intense Noir, and a bottle of Mysterious Blue ink for good measure.
Handwriting slows you down and that's just what I needed today, my head agog with tender proposals for the Expert Reference Group and the Workforce Development Strategy. Time for some calming down and creative distraction.
Finally, this week (obviously a week for getting things done), I set up my three new Hive accounts, ready for the next stage, after I retire in six weeks from now.
The idea behind all three is to create outward facing content to attract an audience from outside Hive.
(Hivers may support me, I am not proud - but the idea is to create content that attracts consumers who come for the content primarily, rather than the crypto).
I will create a landing page for each one (a 'welcome' page with an introduction to the content, how to navigate and near the bottom a section about Hive, why I chose it as the platform and how to become involved).
I'm hoping @ meno with the @ snapie account and app will crack the riddle of an easy access to Hive for commenting and voting without (immediately) having to take on the whole of Hive or feeling compelled to be a creator.
There will be a QR code for each landing page, which I can have printed in material form, probably on an A6 postcard, and can distribute freely as I go about my everyday life.
There might also be stickers, I haven't decided yet.
The accounts:
- lifestyle medicine - this has grown out of my recent hearthealthy no-buy month challenge.
- fine art practice - growing out of my interest in psychogeography and flaneurie, and my current obsession with Chistopher Marlowe and Deptford Strand. Sketchbook and portfolio.
- fragments and essays, writing, maybe stories, spontaneous prose, prose poetry and creative non-fiction.
I've kept the same banner and avatar across the three accounts and this one:
Once this year is over, and the crypto cycle has settled down, I'll finish funding them and start to add work.
Three pages: that's enough!
Curiously, I found myself wanting to comment and annotate as I was transcribing. It could get very meta.
The first post in this series:
On Liminal Spaces | Saturday 13 September 2025