7apr25

Wasn’t expecting this found-in-a-sale stick in a pot to make it through the winter, but here it is: cherry blossom.

It’s dry and bright, and I’m getting up earlier so I can water the garden in the mornings.

🌐

• Trump’s trade war threatens a global recession
• European and Asian markets plunge as tariff turmoil deepens
• FTSE 100 plunges to one-year low amid market turmoil, as Goldman Sachs raises chances of US recession to 45%
• you get the idea

OPERATIONS: Ten pages a day for the next 24 days. Development in the evenings after dinner. It feels like spring. I’m in search of fresh new things.
STATUS: Spent all yesterday working in the garden. Moved six bags of broken hardcore, planted trees and plants, finished building a mound and added a berm, cut the grounds out of used coffee pods to mix with ericaceous soil to make a feed and top-dress for the blueberries, weeded and watered, listened to a few podcasts over the phone’s speaker and otherwise looked at the screen maybe three times in five hours. Today I am tired and aching but I feel great. Finished the day with wine from Norfolk, artisan preserved meats from Dorset and Italy, and handmade cheeses from Britain and France. Much civilised. I’m wrapping up work at five so I can lollipop a holly tree to create understory space for another rhubarb crown and three Siberian dogwoods I picked up for a quid each for my winter structure.

THINKING ABOUT:

The manifesto was a continuation of art by other means.

100 Artists’ Manifestos, Alex Danchev

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter. Now: DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHZARD EDITION, THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT audio drama podcast, THE STORMWATCH COMPENDIUM. Forthcoming 2025: FELL: FERAL CITY new printing, THE AUTHORITY Compact Edition, The LIGHTS OUT Anthology.