Things to pay attention to in June

The solstice, temperate rainforests, a giant moon

My fortnightly free essays are on hiatus for a little while, while I work on some big projects. This is the sixth instalment in my monthly ‘Things to pay attention to’ series; you can read more about the project here. These posts are now fully accessible only to paid subscribers, but if that’s not you, all of my other essays remain freely available to everyone.

May was a good month for me, partly because it’s my favourite month, but also because I finished the second draft of my novel and acquired a ukulele. June has begun with me forgetting what day it is and sending this post out late, but I won’t read too much into that.

June is almost as good as May, I think, and a lovely post from

Victoria Harrison

landed in my inbox yesterday to remind me of its many delights: roses, pink skies, watering the plants in the evening. It’s at this time of year that I most lament living four floors up, and my resulting inability to open a door and wander out onto grass. It makes me feel nostalgic for my country childhood. There was always something so nice about going to sleep with the window open, the dusk light filtering through the blind, hearing my parents still pottering about in the garden below.

But I also think June is inflected ever so slightly with sadness. Summer is just getting going, but once it’s fully underway, it’s all too close to being over. The beginning of astronomical summer—the solstice—also marks the end of the lengthening days and the downhill slide towards darkness. It’s like perfectly ripe fruit, holding within it its own decay. I don’t think this is a depressing way to look at it, by the way. All of the best things in life are made more precious by knowledge of their impermanence. Including, for that matter, life itself.

I seem to have got very philosophical very quickly, so without further ado, here are the things I’ll be trying to pay attention to this month.

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June 2025