I've always liked the pubs hidden down alleyways and side streets of big cities. Finding them feels like you're peeling back the surface layer of the metropolis to find a hidden gem inside, whether that gem be shiny or a little bit of an uncut diamond in the rough of a dive bar. Something about just having a few of these in your back pocket can make a bustling city your city. The Midnight Pub is the internet's version, although I prefer the Small Alley entrance in Gemini space!

I'm now a patron of The Midnight Pub and have set up a (sub-)capsule/room at the pub too. You can find it on the web but it's more fun accessing it via Gemini space! I still need to do some decorating of the web version of my capsule, probably with a variation of the Lagrange Midnight Pub CSS theme I'm currently sporting on Write.as.

I seem to be into poetry writing at the moment. This morning I was up early, sitting in the rocking chair with a sleeping babe, drinking my coffee. I typed out four different haikus on my phone, all trying to capture this early spring morning in Cardiff as seen and heard through my window. It's apparently a favourite physical setting of mine for poetry writing, having also composed poems last August and another in February.

...on the outcome of the US election, everyday life continues. I've just started 6 days of leave (10 days in a row including weekends), sorely needed after an intense period at work. It will coincide with Wales coming out of a period of national lockdown. It'll be an odd one, the first time since the start of the pandemic that Wales will have less stringent rules than England. I'm most looking forward to resuming our social bubble – while all these virtual tools have been great, I do like seeing people in more than 2 dimensions!

I miss the pub. An impromptu drink after work before home. Meeting up down the Albany on a Friday night. Pub quiz at the Pear Tree Inn with my regular team on a Sunday night. The background noise of other social drinkers, raising a glass, chewing the fat and putting the world to rights. The casual relationships built up through time with landlords and bar staff at local haunts. Cask beer!

I may add a search bar at some point but for now, you can also navigate posts according to hashtags, grouped below in a way that makes sense to me and evolving as I post more. Expect a mixed bag. Some of the posts will feature the tagged topic as the central focus of the post, others will merely touch on it. If you'd prefer to scroll through a timeline of posts, head to my Archive.