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I'm not someone who follows rules, but if I were to write down my intentions and actions, this guide would be pretty damn close. Also, I love the coffee rule. Have you tried waiting an hour and a half before drinking coffee? There's a good video from Huberman about why to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3b9QKo_VpM

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Cheers, Nolan! When I'm fully back on coffee again, I'll give this a try. At the moment I'm limiting my caffeine while my blood pressure meds get properly calibrated, so I'm mostly drinking chai tea - but hopefully back on the coffee in a very limited way sometime in the future. In the meantime, a thermos of chai might be my early morning stand-in.

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I love this idea of making use of the liminal time we’re in this way! If it counts, I’m teaching my kids how to make homemade pasta today. In return, they’re going to “teach mom how to do art.” I wish them luck with that last part as I’m truly awful.

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I love this! And please teach me too, because I have no idea how pasta is made from scratch and now I *really* want to know.

(How have I got to the age of 53 and only just discovered this hole in my basic knowledge of basic stuff? ANOTHER hole? Just how many ARE there?)

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It’s delicious! And a lot of fun to make, if you have time.

I think this all the time. How do I not know ANYTHING?? 😂

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Fun read. Lots of book rec. What more can I ask. Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you so much for reading!

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I enjoyed this post, a lot. The walking back idea is perfect. And it's nice to know I'm just one of those who take their morning coffee outside. Going to share this...

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Thank you, Miriam. :) And no, definitely not just you with the outdoor-coffee thing! It's also nearly the time to crack out the mulled wine, so I'm looking forward to lots of excuses to do that too.

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Inspired to have coffee without walls now (and I now live walking distance to a beach, so...).

And also thanks for the book list - my husband will be thrilled for me to have more.

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Hooray! Perfect excuse. I use the beach too, because it's only 5 mins from my front door - it feels a much easier win, somehow, much more enticing to drag on a big coat and go to the beach, even if the weather's foul, versus "going outside" in any other way...

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Not pointless or weird at all. Great things to do all year. Thanks for posting them, Mike.

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Thank you, Kate! But I will work harder at making my next post pointlesser and weirder - I have a reputation to maintain, and all that...

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Just brilliant. Thank you.

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🙏 Thank you, June!

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Dec 20, 2023Liked by Mike Sowden

This is really rather awesomely marvellous. Thank you! So marvellous in fact that I have shared it with rather a lot of friends. 👍

Hope you’re feeling better soon. I’m in the uk too and there are a lot of folks here who are tussling with viral lurgies of one sort or another right now. Hope you’re well enough to add another ritual to your crimbo limbo. 🤞

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Dec 22, 2023·edited Dec 22, 2023Author

Oh, thank you, Parker. Appreciate it. :)

Already feeling a lot better here! Yeah, as you're aware, 'tis the season for cold winter squalls that drive people into cafes and shops to huddle together and microbacteriologically mingle. Not great, so I'm all for getting a faceful of rain instead.

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Islands of Abandonment is a great book - everyone should read it 🙂

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Agreed! Fantastic piece of work, so luminously written. I'm about to go through it again on behalf of this season's theme of the science of islands. I gather Cal is working on her next book right now - I hope it makes a splash like that one did...

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It is incredibly well written. I did an online narrative non-fiction course with Cal earlier this year through Moniack Mhor and she is an excellent tutor; I learned so much. She mentioned that she is working on her latest book - on wilderness/wildness, I think - she's certainly been visiting some interesting places of late. If you haven't read it, Thicker Than Blood is also worth reading. Maybe you could do a read along of Islands of Abandonment in the vein of @footnotesandtangents 😜

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Love this. I want to try the "walk back" this week.

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I would absolutely love you to report back - I mean, I could be cheeky and also ask for it to be illustrated in your very own style, but I know that's probably a bit much considering your workload. But your observations, using your unique brain, would be something of a Christmas gift to me and everyone else. So I'll be a bit cheeky, and ask for that much. :)

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Well hmm.....

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👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

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