First of 2023, and the notebook opens the year in a hard-covered book Our Linda bought me in the January sales, which turned out to be the best notebook I've had before or since. Right trainer, black with a white sole, laces gone entirely — not frayed, not one missing, gone, which is its own category and I record it as such. It were on the conduit path at Blackmoorfoot, set against the wall, and 'set' is the word the book uses, meaning it were sat square rather than tumbled. I don't go into how. That's not the point of what I do.
The book gives cold but dry, ground firm underfoot, which is the best January has to offer round here and you take it. Flask conditions good — the tea kept its heat the full morning, and when a January flask performs you note it, because plenty don't. Cheese and pickle. I had ten minutes on the stool, and I'll be honest, as the book is: more of that ten were for the view across the water than for the shoe, which weren't going anywhere.
One photograph, came out reasonable. I remember the morning better than most from that year, or I believe I do — first-of-the-years tend to stick, the way you remember front doors and not corridors. What I actually remember is the water being that flat grey a reservoir goes when there's no wind to bother it. The trainer I couldn't picture for you now beyond what's written. That's what the book is for. A steady opener, and 2023 turned out to be a year worth opening steady.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.