June 2026 Round Up
June was too hot. In the UK, the heat record was broken on three subsequent days, each hotter than the previous one. Extreme heat is now something we have to live with, and we are woefully unprepared in this country. Our house was built in 1850 ish and is designed for damp, rainy days, not hot summers. Still, we will find ways of adapting. As I write, another heatwave is brewing for the start of July.
Life
I went to Leeds to see friends and Los Campesinos. The gig was great, but it was also great to get away and see a different part of the country.
My car overheated during the heatwave, which felt like a metaphor for things collapsing. Luckily the fix wasn't too much money.
I entered a poetry competition for the first time in a while. Still not that bothered about submissions but it was fun to get myself out there again. My poem aligned with the competition prompt, so why not.[1]
Books
Only two this month, but I'm reading a few chunky ones at the moment.
The Kingdom of Gods - N.K. Jemisen - The last book in The Inheritance Trilogy. This was less successful than the other two, mostly because the perspective has shifted again from mortal to godling. As such there's a lot of exposition in the front half of the book which is hard to get through. It's interesting as Jemisen usually saves the exposition for the back half, letting events happen first then explaining them later. The God perspective, while different, is harder to relate to than the mortals in the first two book. However, the second half of the book was much better, with threads linking together in a satisfying way. I still prefer the Broken Earth Trilogy, but the world of these books is rich, interesting and filled with nuance.
Saltwash - Andrew Michael Hurley I read Barrowbeck earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so picked up his latest. Thomas is meeting his pen pal in a hotel in a northern town that has seen better days. But lots of other people start to join and talk about a mysterious prize. Less folk horror and more grounded, this races towards an inevitable, bleak conclusion. Although it's only short, I found Hurley's writing style deeply affecting and the novella lingers with you.
Film
Enys Men - Following on from watching Rose of Nevada, I watched the other Mark Jenkins film i hadn't seen. It has a lot of the same stylistic tricks - shot in film and overdubbed- but is much stranger. Time is out of sequence, scenes bleed into each other. Apart from the weirdness, what I appreciate most is the sense of place; the film is rooted in the Cornish landscape and history. Possibly my favourite of his.
The Vast of Night is a small alien invasion film set in 1950's Texas. Its told almost entirely through long conversations and overheard sound, making the aliens seem truly unknown again. The constraints are the film's strength. I really enjoyed this.
Music
Once again I bookended the month with gigs. I started with Los Campesinos in Leeds, for a gig that marked twenty years of the band. It seems weird that I first saw them at Glastonbury 2008, but time marches on. Unlike some other acts of the time they've kept going and have attracted a younger fan base. I was one of the older ones there but loved it as always, screaming out the lyrics and going nuts to some of the more obscure choices.
At the end of the month we managed to get last minute tickets to Belle and Sebastian performing If You're Feeling Sinister... at Wasing Estate. The venue was in the middle of where but quite pretty, surrounded by trees. The band were really good. It helps that the album is brilliant, but it sounded much more muscular live, full of power and emotional heft. Way more dancing than I was expecting and way more sing alongs.
In between both, on the Solstice, we went to a standing stone near Stroud. The stone was only placed in May but people still felt a connection with it A local group of musicians played Terry Riley's In C, a looping, hypnotic modern classical piece for about 45 minutes. A good way to mark the longest day.
Final thoughts
(Can't remember where this one is from, sorry.)
I wrote the poem because I had a dream where I entered a poetry competition. I'd didn't win, but when I woke up I remembered the poem that did so tried to wrote it down. ↩︎
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