Doctor Who: Endgame

This is this first volume of the Eighth Doctor’s Doctor Who Magazine comic adventures, and it’s something I was delighted to get my hands on recently (as it’s kind of rare). I really love the Eighth Doctor’s strange and varied life, so I was keen to fill in this blank. Here’s an overview of each story in the collection:

Endgame by Alan Barnes
In this one, the Doctor pays a visit to Stockbridge (the fictional English town that was often used in the comics) and finds himself encountering the Toymaker again and meeting his future companion Izzy for the first time. Like most subsequent appearances by the Toymaker, it delvers on his premise better than the original serial, and it works as a great introduction for Izzy. I loved it.

The Keep by Alan Barnes
This is a short little story about the creation of an artificial sun that could help save humanity after the Earth is ravaged in the future. I feel like it was mostly there to set up what happens in the next story, but it was enjoyable enough and I liked how it tied into various episodes’ depictions of future Earth.

Fire and Brimstone by Alan Barnes
The Doctor and Izzy encounter the Daleks who are growing frightened of the power of their potential alternative universe counterparts. Not only does this comic actually feature the unused Spider Daleks (that would have featured in the cancelled 90s reboot), but it also confirms that Discworld exits with in the Doctor Who universe (I’ll always be delighted by this kind of crossover). The story is a little bit complicated, and ties into older comic adventures, but I still enjoyed it overall.

Tooth and Claw by Alan Barnes
This story introduces another companion for the Doctor: Fey Truscott-Fade. In this one the Doctor and Izzy arrive on the island of an eccentric rich guy who has invited a bunch of other eccentric rich people to gather in his mansion. Soon people start dying and, of course, a murder mystery begins. Fey is a highly capable secret agent from the 30s and I think the reason I like her so much is that she is just so different to other companions.

The Final Chapter by Alan Barnes
After being seriously injured at the end of the last story, Izzy and Fey have taken the Doctor home to Gallifrey in the hopes of getting him help. Of course, while they’re there, a conspiracy to topple Time Lord society unfolds. I thought this one potentially got a little too bogged down in Time Lord lore, but I also thought it had a really cool cliff-hanger which I never saw coming. If you don’t want it spoiled, then don’t read my descriptions of the following stories.

Wormwood by Scott Gray
The Doctor, freshly regenerated into a Nicholas Briggs-esque incarnation, lands on the moon along with Izzy and Fey. The three of them soon encounter The Threshold again, who have stolen loads of Earth artefacts and relocated them to create a little lunar haven. Soon they discover that the Threshold has a plan which essentially threatens all life in the universe. Although not the last story in the collection, it feels rather like a grand finale to the plot thread that started in Endgame.

A Life of Matter and Death by Alan Barnes
A simple one-off adventure where the Doctor is essentially put on trial to determine whether he’s a good or a bad person. It’s not got a huge amount of depth to it, but it is a decent little story that features a lot of familiar faces.

By Hook or by Crook by Scott Gray
Another short and light-hearted adventure. The Doctor and Izzy arrive on a planet and the Doctor gets arrested for murder almost immediately. In the end Izzy saves him thanks to some clever use of time travel. Another fun story without a huge amount of depth.

I really enjoyed reading through this volume, but it was a little less accessible than I would have liked it to be. I am a massive Doctor Who fan and there were a few times where I didn’t really understand what was going on, so I can only imagine how somebody who’s less invested in the setting might feel. Luckily, this didn’t happen too often, and overall I was delighted by these adventurous comic stories – they’re perfect examples of experimental “wilderness era” Doctor Who.

Rating: 8.4/10

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Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki

I’ve always liked Harley Quinn as a character and when recently looking for a comic to read during a flight, I spotted this on the shelf and thought that it would be the perfect choice. If you don’t know anything about Harley or Batman comics at large, you don’t need to worry at all – although it takes the basic ideas behind certain characters, it’s largely a completely original storyline that has no real connections to past iterations of Gotham City.

Here you’ve got a teenage Harley who is being raised by a single drag queen father who goes by the name Mama. Harley is a weird girl and something of a perpetual outcast, and though her grasps of right and wrong don’t seem very well-defined, you feel for her as a dumb kid who’s just trying to find her way – and I’m sure we can all remember a time when our young teenage selves had slightly wonky values.

You get to see her making friends with a young Poison Ivy – though this is very much a story that is rooted in reality, and in this version of events Ivy is just another girl in the school who is into environmental activism. Harley immediately latches onto her and thinks she’s really cool, though the two of them occasionally clash because of Harley’s less keenly developed sense of morality.

It’s a story of our times, dealing with wealth inequality and the disregard for ordinary working class people that is often displayed by rich property owners. It illustrates how someone like Harley, who is not particularly motivated by social causes, could end up being forced onto a side in a “political” debate, just by existing.

Also, I particularly liked how this graphic novel handled The Joker. At fist, I really didn’t want him to be in it, as I didn’t want him over-shadowing Harley and Ivy, but in the end I was very pleased with how he was portrayed. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it felt like he was intentionally written to highlight that it is really not a good idea to put the character on a pedestal and celebrate him as someone who challenges the hypocrisy of society, illustrating that his attitudes just reinforce the status quo in harmful ways.

I thought it was a really beautiful story, and although it seemed to end a little abruptly, I enjoyed every second that I spent in its world. I loved the positive focus on drag queens and the way that so many of he characters felt so real. It was gritty and it was engaging, and the art by Steve Pugh helps make it even more beautiful. I strongly recommend it to anyone, whether you’re a DC fan or not.

Rating: 9.6/10

Buy it here.

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Doctor Who: 73 Yards by Scott Handcock

73 Yards was quite possibly my favourite episode of the Fifteenth Doctor’s era of Doctor Who – which is ironic, since he’s barely in it. Much as I loved it though, it was one that I really hoped would receive a novelisation, because not only did I want some more clues as to what was actually going on here, but because it spans an entire lifetime for Ruby, and I was sure that there was much more that could be explored.

Unfortunately, Scott Handcock doesn’t expand upon the story in the ways that I hoped, but he does do a brilliant job of adapting Russell T Davies’ original script, and adds quite a lot of nice new details in the process. I have to say that I think it works just as well as a novel as it did as a TV episode. For those who need their memory refreshed, this was the one where the Doctor and Ruby inadvertently disturb a fairy circle, which causes the Doctor to seemingly wink out of existence, and Ruby gains a mysterious old woman who always stalks her at exactly 73 yards away, and can never be approached (except by others, who immediately become terrified of Ruby).

The biggest difference between the novelisation and the episode is that Scott Handcock has added in lots of little treats for fans. My favourite of these was that before Ruby meets Kate Stewart, she also has a meeting with Ace, who is one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who characters. It’s a fun scene, and one that seems to follow nicely from Ace’s appearance in The Power of the Doctor.

There’s also a lot of information about the history of UNIT and in particular, what UNIT has been up to during the modern era of Doctor Who. I did like this, because it tied a lot of things together, but I also felt like it didn’t do enough to address the developments from the Thirteenth Doctor’s era. On the subject of tying things together, it also gives an insight into what Ruby and her family were doing during the events of The Stolen Earth, and I loved that because I often think about how those events would have effected later companions – I don’t care that the cracks in time “erased” them.

Some of the ways in which the story was expanded where kind of unexpected. For instance, all the characters in the pub in Wales at the start get quite a lot of development – and while I don’t think that was particularly necessary, it did add just a little more emotional gravitas to a few moments. I do wish the later elements of Ruby’s life had been expanded like this though.

This is one of the best Doctor Who novelisations I’ve read (some of them are quite bare-bones) and if you liked the episode, you’ll almost certainly have a good time going through the story again in book form.

Rating: 8.1/10

Buy it here.

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The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith

This is Dandy Smith’s third novel and the third thing I’ve read by her. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed all of them so far, but this one has been my favourite overall. With the other two, my feelings were slightly mixed because of the fact that practically every character had a pretty mean, toxic streak – but this time, while the characters did have flaws, they all felt a lot more sympathetic to me.

So the story is about these two sisters who are the best friends in the whole world (a common theme in these books). Sadly, in the middle of the night one of them is kidnapped and never seen again… well, until about fifteen years later when she suddenly turns up again. The only problem is, she acts kind of off and refuses to share much information about what exactly happened during her time away. As more time goes by, more and more fishy things start happening.

The concept of a child abductee coming back as an adult and being very guarded about what happened in the interim is one I think is pretty cool for the premise of a novel. Meanwhile, the central “mystery” was one I felt quite invested in, and enjoyed getting extra little pieces of information and trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

There are actually two narratives happening at once though – the other deals with a brother-sister duo who are strongly implied to be incestuous and who live in a large family home under the thumb of an oppressive uncle. As I’m sure you can imagine, the two stories eventually intertwine (and not in the way I expected), but for a lot of the novel I was disappointed whenever it jumped back to this thread – especially as there’d be an interesting cliff-hanger in the other plotline, and then we’d have to return to these two. These sections are also written in the third person, rather than first (like the rest) which is mildly disorientating. They are good, for sure, but less good than the main bits.

Overall, any issues I have with the secondary storyline are relatively minor because the pay-off with how they fit together is pretty cool. I did find the incestuous insinuations to be a little gratuitous though. There were also bits along the way where I thought “Hang on, that doesn’t make any sense” only for it later to be revealed that I was absolutely right to notice that, and it was part of the story – which felt like problems at the time, but in the end, it was just clever writing.

If you liked One Small Mistake and The Perfect Match, then chances are you’ll probably like this one too. It’s a decent thriller novel and one where you’ll find yourself keen to pick up and more clues and pieces of information in each chapter. It’s a slower novel than the other two, but it feels more carefully thought out and developed. I think it’s the author’s best work yet, and I hope that this upward trajectory continues into the next book.

Rating: 8.4/10

Buy it here.

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Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

This is the eleventh Wheel of Time novel, and one with the sad distinction of being the last one to be published during Robert Jordan’s life, and therefore the last one that he wrote by himself before Brandon Sanderson finished the series. It’s also has the sad distinction of being a real low point for the series.

Not much of interest really happens, outside of the usual big bit of conflict that happens right at the end. It’s just all prepping for battle and talks about what needs to be done – very little that we haven’t already heard many times over in the books that lead up to this one. Yes, I mostly like the characters, aside from a few annoying traits, but it just starts to feel frustrating when most of the chapters lack any meaningful continuation of the plot, but are instead filled with spank scenes and the women getting naked for no reason.

It’s a real shame because the two novels before this one felt like a significant step up. Here you’ve just got allusions to the idea that something exciting will happen in the near future, and some characters getting married, but the romance was always the worst part of the Wheel of Time anyway, so that doesn’t do much for me.

Maybe Robert Jordan wasn’t really sure what to do with the series at this point, I don’t know. The best I can say is that things were better in the following novel, so you should read through this one so you can get to its sequel, which is a lot better and a return to form for the series.

Rating: 4.7/10

Buy it here.

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Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Like many Jane Austen novels, Mansfield Park is a story about lots of different characters who social lives intersect in various ways. It really all centres around a young woman called Fanny Price, who comes to live with richer family members in Mansfield Park, because her immediate family is not in a position to support her as she requires. As you can imagine though, her presence is the catalyst for some drama.

We follow Fanny from being a little girl to being a young woman and she is a character I felt quite fond of. She didn’t endear herself to me in the same way that the overly confident Emma (from Emma) did, but nonetheless she does stand out as one of the more intriguing Austen protagonists. I admire the way that she stands up for herself and how she gently challenges the bad attitudes of the time. In particular, she seems to quietly challenge slavery, which is pretty cool as it’s not a subject I expected to see broached.

Something I found pretty sweet was Fanny’s relationship with he brother William. The two of them don’t get a huge amount of time together throughout the course of the novel, but I always enjoy seeing thm interact. I just find deep and unconditional love between adult siblings very moving – especially in work from this era. Meanwhile, and I won’t spoil anything about what happens, but I thought the romance in this novel evolved very naturally and felt very believable in a way that it often doesn’t in older novels, so that was pretty great.

Admittedly, it has its slow patches, and certain portions of the storyline are hard to relate to from a modern perspective. For instance, one part deals with a group of people planning to put on a small stage production, and the response from many of the characters, including Fanny herself, is that this is a really scandalous idea that should be avoided. It’s hard to empathise with them having such an extreme reaction to something that seems so benign.

These things aside, I still enjoyed this novel. Not as much as I enjoyed Emma, Pride and Prejudice, or Persuasion, but it was a decent reading experience and I think most fans of Austen or literature from this time will enjoy it.

Rating: 7.6/10

Buy it here.

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Doctor Who: White Darkness by David A. McIntee

The fifteenth book in the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures novel is a perfectly self-contained outing for the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Bernice, but one that still manages to explore fairly unique territory for the franchise. It’s one of the slightly edgier stories in the novel line, but one that gets the balance perfect and doesn’t really feel forced or immature.

The storyline is set in Haiti and deals with the military tensions in the country around the time of the First World War. In some ways, it reminds me of an episode from the 1960s, because it is heavily tied to historic events and very much a case of the Doctor and their companions surviving during dangerous times in history, and I thought that was really well done. You can tell a lot of research went into it, and it’s an era that doesn’t typically get featured in a lot of historic fiction – especially in Doctor Who. This really helps give the story a unique feel.

However, this is a sci-fi element to this story – and it’s a really cool one. Amidst all the bits of armed conflict that the Doctor and friends are trying to navigate, Cthulhu cultists are on the move. This was especially appealing for me, because I have a huge soft spot for the Cthulhu mythos and as I am obviously a massive Doctor Who fan, it delights me to see the mythologies combined. It’s very true to the original Lovecraft stories as well, where you really don’t see a lot of the otherworldly creatures, and it’s all about the people working under their influence. It’s maybe a little too gruesome sometimes, but other than that, I felt this element was handled well.

While Ace is one of my favourite Doctor Who characters, by this point I actually found myself feeling more fondly towards Bernice than her, because she’s so far into her tough guy persona at this point in her life that it makes her seem a little obnoxious sometimes. At one point, she comes across as downright homophobic when talking to someone, which is sad for a character I’ve always read as being pretty progressive. Bernice, at least, feels like a genuinely likeable gateway character, with the Doctor being too far down the rabbit hole of being cold, detached, and enigmatic, and Ace in super macho mode. I think she really needed to be there, because I might have been a bit put off without any regular human people – which is a nice change from earlier where she got kind of side-tracked.

Occasionally it felt a little dry, and some of the language seems kind of uncomfortable and outdated (especially when coming from the Doctor’s perspective or the author’s), but I can partly forgive it when it’s trying to capture the tone of a certain historic era – I just think it should have been contained within the dialogue of the characters from that time. Nonetheless, it was one of the better VNAs, and one I definitely recommend to anyone who loves historical Doctor Who or the Cthulhu mythos.

Score: 8.3/10

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Harry Potter and The Problematic Author by Maia Kobabe

After reading Gender Queer last year, Maia Kobabe immediately shot up as one of the writers for whom I had the most respect. Eir writing style is gentle, compassionate, and informative and I strive to capture those qualities in my own work. I was absolutely delighted when I found out that ey had written a piece about the fairly tangled web that is J. K. Rowling.

Like many people my age, I was once a big Harry Potter fan – though admittedly, I was quite late to the party. I finished reading (and reviewing) the books in 2019, which was pretty much the last point in time before J. K. Rowling became passionately transphobic. I now no longer feel comfortable buying books (or other products) that will help line Rowling’s pockets, because her position is an inherently hateful one.

There are some people out there who would undoubtedly take issue with what I have just said – after all, her stance is usually angled as sticking up for “biological truth” or as simply being the stance of somebody who wants to protect women. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all, and Kobabe does a fantastic job of illustrating her journey from someone who seemingly made some poorly considered comments accidentally, to someone who is openly and actively anti-trans.

It’s not a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of fact that that is what she does and it’s chronicled here perfectly, with beautiful illustrations in Kobabe’s usual style. These aren’t innocent mistakes, this is conscious and continuous misinformation and anti-trans propaganda. But it’s not all about the transphobia, this piece is also about the important role that Harry Potter played in many people’s childhoods, and how it was even a refuge for many of the queer people that Rowling now attacks. It’s such a sad turn of events – and that’s what Kobabe was documented her.

It’s like a journey. It starts with the nostalgic joy that Harry Potter and the Wizarding World provided for lots of people, and the sense of community that it created, and then moves on to show the very tangible harm that Rowling has done to the LGBTQ+ community. The bits which document Kobabe’s childhood Harry Potter fandom is actually quite beautiful, and for anyone who doesn’t really understand the situation, or who just wants to feel seen after feeling betrayed by Rowling, this is well worth a read.

Rating: 8/10

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Abyss by Max Hasting

The book presents an historic narrative that details the events that lead up to the Cuban Missile crisis. Aside from the American slaughter in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this is the closest the world has ever really come to all-out nuclear war, and hopefully that will always remain the case. It’s an important lesson from history, and one that I think it’s important for everyone to be conscious of.

What I really admired about Max Hastings’ work is the way in which he was able to write fairly detached portraits of every figure he detailed. He doesn’t portray history as good guys and bad guys, but with different groups of flawed people with conflicting interests. He is just as quick to raise criticisms of Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev as he is to raise those of John F Kennedy – and he offers praise where praise is due too. In doing so, he does a fantastic of job of helping you to get into the mindsets of the ordinary people who supported them.

What’s more is that he does an excellent job of doing an historic portrait of the era in which these events took place. Obviously, this can never be truly comprehensive, because there’s no way to accurately wrap up a whole nation and culture in a short book, but he makes it really easy to understand the mindsets of the people in Russia, America, and Cuba as they went into this crisis, which of course makes everything easier to understand.

I also thought that it was really valuable for him to include a lot of contemporary media perspectives on the situation as it unfolded. It’s interesting to compare the ways in which the media continues to work to this day, and it’s a useful reminder of the ways in which reports at the time try to mould a narrative, and often without all the facts. It’s also useful to see how it sways public opinion, and consequently, how governments respond, and often not in the best ways.

Of course, the most interesting part details the crisis itself, but this would have been nowhere near as impactful without all of the context that Hastings provides before it. Altogether, it was a rather extraordinary sequence of events, and the most profound thing, I felt, was that two countries almost initiated a nuclear war, despite neither nation actually wanting to do so. This will always be the case and we must never lose sight of that. Our world leaders in particular must remember that nobody ever wants a nuclear war, and because that feeling is universal nobody will ever do it… but with extreme stresses and misunderstanding, somebody could do so without truly understanding what is happening or what they have done.

Once again, I want to reiterate that this is a very important lesson from history – one that illustrates that no nation really has its hands clean, despite how it might present itself, and how ordinary people will be the ones that end up paying the price as a consequence of governments trying to exert their power and influence too far. It’s a sad sequence of events, but also a very lucky and positive one in the long run.

Rating: 9.5/10

Buy it here.

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The Happiest Moments of My Life

I’ve been thinking a lot about the moments from my life which brought me the most joy – the memories I go back to if I ever want something to lift my spirits in a sad moment. I decided that this was something I should write about. Of course, there are hundreds, if not thousands of core memories and moments that have helped define who I am and which will bring me happiness anytime I look back on them, but I decided to cut it down to ten for the purpose of keeping this blog post focused. So here they are: (in no particular order, as I can’t really quantify their value, when they’re all so important to me)

  1. Back in 2024, my housefriend Eilidh and I went out to dinner at Nando’s for my birthday. It was a lovely day all round, but the defining moment that earns it a place among my most precious memories, was that while we were walking home, she said to me, completely out of the blue, “You know, if you died, I’d never be happy again for the rest of my life” and that’s probably the nicest thing anyone ever said to me.
  2. While that last one, contains something quite profound – this next one is a much simpler, quieter moment and I think the fact that it meant so much to me reflects the fact that we’re all probably having a huge impact on people without knowing it. But, anyway, in the winter of 2023, I was having dinner out with my good friends Sarah and Edward. It was an ordinary dinner with them, which means that it was wonderful, because I love them both, but what stood out was the moment we said goodbye. They both always hug me goodbye, but this time they both hugged me at the same time. “Gosh, that was my first ever group hug” I said, and I was genuinely overwhelmed. It probably sounds a silly thing to place so much emotional significance on, but even now, remembering that moment makes me very happy.
  3. While I’m talking about Sarah, let’s jump forward in time to something that happened just a month ago. Sarah and I met in 2015, and while taking a walk this spring, we were talking about how we should do something to mark the tenth anniversary of our friendship. In the end, I came up with the idea of us both getting matching Magic Stars tattoos, because Sarah bought me Magic Stars once in the early days of our friendship. So that’s what we did. We had a whole morning together, but the fun we had chatting and joking around with each other during the actual tattooing is something I’ll always remember fondly. “We’ve got a closer bond than marriage now” she said jokingly as we finished, and it always makes me happy to look at my star now – especially since Sarah is the only person I can say has ever saved my life too. A special friendship commemorated in a special way.
  4. Speaking of life-threatening things (though not the one Sarah had a hand in saving me from), back in 2021, at Christmastime specifically, I had just recovered from a very serious case of COVID-19. I was delighted that I was feeling better and was on my way to one of my annual Christmas meals. My friend George was driving me to the restaurant at the time, and we had a little chat before we went in. He wanted to give me a little present, a small stone with the words “You are loved” on it. He said, “We might be too macho to say it sometimes, but I love you and it’s important that you know that” which I thought was just about the sweetest thing ever, especially as he’s my second oldest friend. I keep the stone on my desk and it still makes me happy when I see it there.
  5. Speaking of George and things that happened in 2021, he also had a postponed wedding celebration shortly before the Christmas meal I mentioned. This was one of the first big outings I attended after being incapacitated with COVID for so long, and it felt really good to be able to go and enjoy myself. In addition to spending a lot of time with George for the first time in a couple of years, I also spent a lot of time with my oldest friend Davey, and his wife, Laura. “We should meet up with Adam more often,” said Laura, and I’m glad she did because now I see the pair of them quite recently and my life is all the richer for it. Reforging old bonds is very important, and we had so much fun joking and laughing with each other – just as we do every time we meet.
  6. From my oldest friend, to one of the oldest memories on this list – back in 2012 my good friend Tulin and I dedicated a special day to have a Christmas celebration together. Coming just after the university Christmas holiday started, it was such a warm and comfortable day – the memory of which I have returned to very many times. The specific best moment is hard to pinpoint, but I’d either say that it was when they asked for a hug soon after I arrived, which lasted quite a while. “What prompted that?” I asked, and they replied, “I just like hugging you.” I stayed the night that day, and the two other highlights are walking back to their house, walking hand in hand amidst all the Christmas lights, and last but not least, the feeling of utter contentment I felt as I got into bed and drifted off to sleep.
  7. Now, from a distant memory of winter, to a recent memory of summer. In 2023, I went to Portugal and it was my first time going travelling overseas. Alongside Rory, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and his partner Neus (who I am very fond of) I went along with a group of people who were mostly all new to me. Although I treasure the memory of the whole trip, if I hone it to a specific moment, I would have to choose sitting with my new friend Malena at the back of a ferry on a ride back from a place called Culatra Island. It was a hot day, but the sun was now setting (beautifully) and spray from the ocean was cooling us down too. Malena and I were talking about how lucky we were to be leading such lives and experiencing such things, and the fact that the two of us have grown to have a very close and valuable friendship in the years that have followed, serves as a fond reminder that incredible new experiences, and deep meaningful new connections can come at any time.
  8. Hoping back as far as 2008, I reached a milestone in my journey as a writer – I had written 99 short stories and was working on my 100th. My friends were all very supportive of my reaching this point, and I decided to write an overly-indulgent special story that brought in lots of characters from my older pieces, and used my friends and I as characters in the story as well. Everyone was very interested in it, especially my friend Egan. Though by my current standards, the story really wasn’t all that good, the level and support I had from all my friends at the time felt very special. It’s easily my most rewarding experience as a writer.
  9. Earlier this very year, I was invited to attend my friend Chloe’s hen party in Amsterdam. It was an incredible trip full of new experiences and new friends. I thought to myself, that I’d never have been able to enjoy this trip in the past for many reasons, from feeling anxious in groups of people I didn’t know, to hating being in loud pubs and clubs, to being too poor to go anywhere, to needing a lot of privacy for getting changed and sleeping. That reflection alone gave me a very positive feeling about my personal growth, but if I had to boil it down to a specific moment, it would have to be taking a boat cruise along with the group, and getting to a point where the captain of the boat said we were going under a certain bridge, that according to local folklore, if you hug while you’re passing under it, you cement your love for the person you’re hugging for all eternity. Chloe and I had a good old hug as we passed under it, and with all the significance that the captain placed on that moment, of course I’m always going to remember it for the rest of time. It’s what the bridge demands.
  10. Last but not least, I come to what’s actually the only memory here that doesn’t involve any of my other friends at all. In 2018, I travelled to Scotland to attend my friend Rory’s wedding. I arrived late at night and was by myself. I was absolutely starving after an extremely long train journey, so after I dropped off my suitcase, I wandered into town to find somewhere to eat. For convenience, I visited Nando’s. While sitting there on my own, I started to think of all the very many friends I’d been to other Nando’s restaurants with before and started to feel kind of emotional at the memory. Once I’d finished the deliciously nostalgic meal, I wandered through the streets of St. Andrews and admired the Christmas lights while thinking of all my fondest memories. With a heart so full, I thought to myself, I could never be lonely again. That’s even more true now than it was then, since, as you can see from this list, most of the happiest moments of my life happened after this moment.

I really enjoyed writing this, and I especially enjoy the fact that so many of these most precious memories are from the last five years. My theory about that is that, as you get older, your friendships grow deeper and deeper, meaning that you more openly share affection between one another, and are more likely to have a variety of experiences. Meanwhile, I also just think that people become more affectionate as they get older, and have a deeper level of empathy and emotional intelligence, making it more likely that you’ll have super meaningful moments with them. Generally, I feel very lucky for the life I had lived and I feel that life gets better and better as time goes by. Also, side note, a lot of my most beloved and cherished friends are not mentioned in this blog post, and if you’re one of them and feeling left out, know that the value of a friendship is not defined by big, special moments, but by your ongoing presence and the way that you make me feel whenever we’re together, so while it may not be easy to find a specific moment that I can write about in a clear narrative sort of way, there is no question whatsoever that my life is enhanced by having you in it.

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