The Between Time...

... for Knots in the String.

That curious time between Christmas Day and January First when we all seem to float in some nether world, neither here nor there, with no real purpose and even less direction.

It feels comfortable. I float between Marie Kondo-ing the house or sitting on the floor reading old poems I wrote when writing a full novel seemed too arduous. I find quotes from various sources written on scraps of paper, and I transcribe them all into the latest journal.

I read Philip Pullman’s gigantic finale to the Book of Dust series. I’m used to holding a Kindle as I drift to sleep and if it falls onto my face or chest, it does no damage. Pullman on the other hand, could break my nose.

I think of the new year approaching and the expectations people place upon themselves with lists and resolutions. I decided many years ago that both were pointless. Once, I read a quote, possibly from Julie Burchill, that ‘Lists are the Haiku of the ambitious…’ I am a list maker, not at all ambitious and expect nothing from this next year with one exception. I would like to have a year of good health, be it for me, my family or my friends, perhaps even the world at large. Perhaps the world should write its own resolution…

Online, there’s much talk that 2026 should be a ‘slow’ year. That we should take time to make time. Be soft in our spare moments – listen to gentle music for the soul, read slowly and long, not scrolling a paragraph here, a statement there. Steer clear of news media – it shatters the peace like a stone against glass. Ignore influencers because really, what are they when social media is taken away? When all is said and done, they are glorified advertisers, are they not? Make your own small choices in daily life with confidence. Move away from the group mentality. Learn to savour solitude – the peace that passes into the blood vessels and threads itself like silk through our bodies and minds.

Take up a knitting needles, a crochet hook, a needle and embroidery thread. Cook slowly as if you are performing a tea ceremony. Immediate calm.

Garden – a place where problems become less so that when hands dig into the soil, something magical happens - a transfusion of life.

Walk. Not grabbing the required footsteps, but steadily, mindful of one’s surrounds. Of the soft susurration of the sea, of the whisper and roar of wind through forests, of chiming bird call - a holy chorus.

Like this evening when we walked in golden light from the beach up through the cattleyards to the car - the softness of the light, the slow flight of a bird, it conspired to drop us down to the lowest gear.

Switch the phone to silent, or better still, off! Become analog. Remember the days of a house phoneline, and perhaps of an answering machine, when we returned calls when we felt like it. Are we so self-important that we have to be available at all hours? Of course not!

I’m halfway to beginning my slow 2026. I have no social media on my phone, nor emails. In order to access those, I have to be sitting at my laptop. I often let my phone go to message bank and that will continue. I will read more, listen to audiobooks and music more. I will stitch, garden, and walk. I’ll dance but not perform. I will cook food from our garden, savouring the fresh flavour. I’ll spend as much time as I can outdoors, at peace with the surroundings. I’ll write letters, make preserves and cakes for my family. I’ll buy few new clothes because my lifestyle is simple and built around dogs, walking, ballet and gardens.

And I will write books because the truth is that writing, with all its wordage, its escape into the imaginarium, is perfectly slow – letter by letter, line by line, chapter by chapter. It will take me from the world’s frenzy to a place of peace and serenity and I hope you can find your slow life as well…

Music? It had to be this: