Yo, it’s been a minute. Somewhere between hectic life changes, moments of motivation lethargy, and well meaning intentions, I have a reason why it’s I haven’t written in a while. To be clear, I’d been meaning to make a an update at the end of Feb, but time slipped away. It’s a key flaw in my life that you will know when messaging me. To be fair, there are a bunch of posts I have started writing, but have not yet completed (I’m sure there’s a term for the act of doing that and I could probably ask ChatGPT and get the answer in two seconds, but I resent the idea of involving ChatGPT in any aspect of these posts).
Anyway, I feel it’s probably time to actually give some life updates, so here’s a few standout highlights and (in the interest of integrity and honest connection) lowlights from the last few months. FYI: If you can’t tell already, this will be very much stream of consciousness, to actually get words on page.
Grandad
At the end of last year, my grandad sadly passed away. He made it no mystery that his life would never be the same after losing his best friend, my gran, the year before and after a difficult year for him, he eventually found peace, having lived an incredible and admirable life. He was a character: pragmatic yet philosophical; solemn but warm; academic and artistic; a man who could be difficult, but who did everything in pursuit of what was right. He was a very accomplished man in his life, but was much more interested in sharing what he was passionate about and felt was important, than sit in his achievements.
Losing someone changes a lot in life: it’s prompts reminiscing; it helps you realise things you loved about them; exposes the gaps that losing someone will create; brings people together. I can say for sure that losing my grandad did all of these things. Losing him and my gran in a year created a big shift for both me and my family.
the caterpillar was apparently so very hungry
It was no doubt sad, but it has also been a chance to spend time together, reminiscing about favourite memories as a family, laughing about funny moments or quirks of our grandparents, going through photos of us all younger, getting to share family memories with my cousin’s partners for the first time. If there’s one key change I can take from the last 18 months of loss and grief, it’s that our family have become a lot closer through the experience, and I think that says a lot about my grandparents and the family they have created. I also think it’s exactly what they would have wanted in the inevitability of losing them, which brings me comfort.
One other change losing my grandparents has brought me is….
Moving House
One of the key things that comes to mind when I think of my grandparents is their home. It is a home they lived in for 50+ years, my dad and uncles grew up here and I obviously have spent much time here. It very much feels like the Burgess family home for our last few generations. Sadly, nobody in our family is really in the position to take on their home, but whilst we are in the process of looking to sell it, I am looking after the place.
I’ll be straight up, I don’t expect to live in a house or area as nice again in life (If I’m honest, I only use half of the house), but I’m making the most of my time whilst here. It’s pretty idyllic – situated on an Estuary in a little hidden pocket of homes off the river Fal, beautiful walks on my (literal) doorstep, friendly neighbours and just…quiet…it’s quite the shift from the residential areas of Camborne I won’t lie.
It was weird to begin with, moving into a place I’ve known my whole life in a different context. It’s got multiple generations of memories built into it (as well as all the old furniture) and for a while it felt like a longer version of the weekends I’d stayed as a kid. But as time’s gotten on, I’ve definitely felt more comfortable, and that I’m in my own place. There are obviously a lot of reminders of them, but I have taken this as a positive – being able to connect over shared memories and experiences.
I’m most excited for the Summer here – better weather, dips in the river, walking in the dry, being able to invite many people round and making full use of the beautiful place.
Speaking of weather…
Storms
January was fun: the week after moving house, into a cold old house, in the cold January, Storm Goretti had her way. I was actually off work the week leading up to the storm, and missed any of the news of the potential storm warnings, until someone mentioned it 2pm the day Goretti hit.
Chat of ‘oh this could be a blundery one’ was generally spoken of in the studio, followed by a quick nip to the shops just in case. 6pm, complete silence in the air. Like unsettling silence. You know ‘quiet before the storm’? I’ve never seen it so accurately portrayed in life. Then not a half hour later, she came on in. Power lost by 7:30. Blisteringly fast winds that turned the quiet whistle of air passing through the Creek, to a horrifying shriek.
I will say, cold lemsip was not the one. Neither was realisation of the boredom I can now foster without power. To be clear, I happily went without broadband for a couple months after moving, just for the sheer disconnection, but the no power truly made me realise my dependence on devices. Books did me for a while, but it was a struggle. Thankfully, I was ill, so I slept A LOT. Over a week after the storm, power was restored to my house.
The Good news: my parents have got a better sea view from their house, as Goretti took out multiple trees that were protected from being chopped down. Suck it Cornwall council, you can’t fine Mother Nature for unlawful deforestation. Also good news, firewood prices down here dropped just before a pretty chilly Jan and Feb (and March tbh).
Energy Curb
“Any health updates?” is a common question I’ve been asked recently. In short, not really…
Still no clear conclusions of the numerous tests. One downside of moving house is moving doctors and, despite the assurance of all health records reaching your new doctor, the complete disregard of all previous effort made.
One actionable thing is my previous medication for my thyroid has almost doubled in dosage with little, but not insignificant, effect. I was also put on some new medication for a while which seemed to curb my fatigue and reduce my migraines, but with the addition of heart palpitations and increasing my panic attacks, which according to my doctor is apparently a “no-go” as a long term solution. I’m still not 100% sold on that as a conclusion, how important is your heart anyway?
The biggest change to help accommodate my ability to live a normal life is I’ve dropped down to 4 days of work a week. Wednesdays off give me a working pattern of no more than 2 days working in a row (unless on special occasions), which honestly is a dream.
When first starting this, as someone described by mates as ‘famously always busy’, I struggled to let myself do nothing and rest. For the first few weeks, I was so obsessed with making my Wednesdays a good use of free time, resulting in me getting back to work more exhausted. I’ve now learnt to be a bit kinder to myself (difficult), now being able to answer the question “What did you do on your day off?” with “just chilled really”.
The obvious downside is I’m apparently unable to function working full time at the moment…but small steps. I love my bosses and the genuine care they have for me (and everyone else at the studio) and I do not take that for granted.
New Years
The New Years traditions continued, and I spent my end of ’25/start of ’26 in Cardiff as per usual. It’s honestly one of my favourite times of the year, carving out a 5/6 days and hanging out with some of my favourite people. Usually at Cardiff because Daf’s parents have always been the most incredible, accommodating, wonderful people. Now that Daf and Maura decided to get married to each other, they’ve pretty much solidified Cardiff as a constant for NY, selfish sods – I reckon that was their reasoning all along (that said, we’ve already planned out the next few years and I think only 1 is in Cardiff!). I also get very little pulling weight in the ‘centre-point’ of people convo, living 30 mins from the bottom of the country, which is fair I guess.
Personal highlights: Seeing Daf and Maura’s new house, in midst of renovation; destroying everyone at darts; spicy margs; mattress testing in John Lewis; Chinese food and board games (a NY tradition); a trip to my old Swansea stomping grounds and an afternoon in Mumbles.
Another highlight at New Years was the start of…
Book Club
Me and Laura Kelly love reading. We spend a lot of the time that we hang out chatting books: what’s on our lists, recent reads, recommendations and things to steer clear of it. So over NY, when Lura, Maura and myself popped to a cafe for brunch whilst Daf was sick, the convo of books naturally arose.
Now Maura, bless her, was clearly very jealous, as someone who really struggled to get into reading. We chatted about this and in that moment, book club was born.
Ok so book club is a strong term – it’s essentially the 3 of us reading the same book each month to help Maura read in solidarity. But that said, what else is a book club. It’s honestly been a joy, both to
Book Club reads so far:
Jan: The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
Feb: Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
Mar: The Martian – Andy Weir
Any suggestions very welcome! I will forward to the group.
Crawdads has probably been my favourite so far – having read this shortly after moving to a creek definitely helped for immersion. Going down to the creek side on low tide, surrounded by bird sound whilst reading about the swamp of North Carolina hit different.
My all time favourite quote from all books so far, was not from a book at all, but from Maura who revealed she spent half of ‘The Martian‘ with the added jeopardy of thinking that Mark Watney could just ‘fall off’ Mars.
Pottery
Pottery is still happening, but to be honest I haven’t been cracking on as much as I’d liked this year. I feel like with all the changes, pottery has had a back seat for a moment. Also, perhaps as a sign of this, I feel my throwing sessions have been a little hit or miss – sometimes everything you throw goes wrong, sometimes you’re in your throwing pocket and outputting banger after banger.
I’m considering looking at some pottery classes – as incredible as the ability to self teach, with guidance from colleagues, to a place I can make stuff, I would like to become a little more consistent – make some sets of the same shape, less failed pieces, etc.
That said, I’ve been able to make some of my favourite mugs so far, that I’ve been using in heavy rotation. I’m enjoying experimenting a bit more with shapes recently. That said, I still hate handles…but getting there.
Some recent throws, perhaps a new fave mug?
Misc Highlights
Ok, that’s all the main stuff. Here’s a few other miscellaneous photos from the last few months, then some music chat:
Music Listenings
General stuff I’ve been listening to a lot the last few months:
Gorillaz – The Mountain
They’re back! Not just back, Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett back. We talking Plastic Beach era back.
Following both their dad’s passing within 10 days of one another, Damon and Jamie take a spiritual journey through India together and return with the masterpiece that is this album.
The album naturally explores death and grief, with vulnerability but taking a lot from the Indian cultural understanding of death being a pat of life, seen with less sorrow and more celebration, and the idea that death isn’t all.
They literally took unused clips from previous album recordings with music legends that have now sadly passed, repurposing them for this album, emphasising the idea of material death not being total death.
The short film they made, comprising of 3 songs from the new song, is just beautiful. All hand-drawn by artists and animators, giving a truly 90s Disney, Jungle Book-esque aesthetic. I was listening to an interview with Damon where he said this video delayed the release because of the 5 months it took to draw, but man was it worth it.
Please listen to this album in it’s entirety, may already be my album of the year.
Top Songs:
Fred Again…
I’m back to Fred Again, again and again. I honestly don’t know what it is about him, but I just keep coming back and the more I listen, the more I love his music and him as a person. The range of emotion he can create across songs is absolutely nuts.
Been watching a bunch of his videos, a lot of the ally pally sets. If you don’t know he did 10 shows in 10 cities in 10 weeks, each unique, each with different guests, writing new songs between shows. THEN, he did 4 nights back-to-back at the ally pally of the same (night 4 here). This man is a marvel.
Top songs:
Less so much been ten days atm, a bunch more of his USB singles:
- solo, good vibe bop
- FEISTY – didn’t vibe to start but, since watching the video of Ian Hotko (unreal dancer from Slovenia) dancing to it at his show, it hasn’t escaped my brain
- Beto’s Horns feat. Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso (also love these 2) – has been a big repeater.
Also please please please check out the version of this with ‘Ezra Collective’ – absolutely UNREAL, true musicianship, chef’s kiss. - OK OK, Talk of the Town and Winny – heavy hitters
- Victory Lap, of course.
- leavemealone
- Jungle
Jean, Yebba
New album from Yebba, has been on repeat. Absolutely stunning vocals as usual. The range and diversity in sound in this album too…incredible.
Top Songs:
caramé, Angelina Mango
Surprise drop from Italian pop singer I love. Some fun little bops on here, as well as some kinder, slower tunes.
Top Songs:
As per, check out ‘Check ‘Em’ for my general rotation at the moment:
That’s all from me for now, catch you dreckly.
Joe B-Logs 