Daniel Sell
London Defaultism
I was just sitting in St James Square considering if a very posh child sitting nearby had more expensive socks than me. I concluded that they might. Mine are some sort of goat wool and I’ve been wearing them for over 6 years now without a hole or a stain, so they’re definitely worth it. Their socks were the kind of posh where they were likely mostly similar to a pair of Addidas’ but the logo was smaller and a very nice elderly man fitted them. If I wasn’t so heavily invested in goat wool I would see the appeal.
I am in the basement of the London Library. All my creative life I have been told that it’s precious to want a quiet perfect place to work, that no matter where you go you’ll be there waiting. Well let me tell you, sometimes the problem is other people. The basement is totally tits. I’ve been learning a lot about Buddhism and there is this theme on the bodhisatva path that if you acknowledge the space between things, peace will naturally occur, that if you take things ‘as they are’ you will always be tranquil. That is my basement. In here I don’t have to try, I can just be in the unchanging silence, immune to the outside world until 5:30 (or 9pm on Tuesdays). There was once a couple of posh uni students yah, yahing away in the stacks but a librarian shushed them so it’s all good.
The best silence is one that contains the possibility of noise. Being sealed in a septic tank in the woods is nice, I’m sure, but you don’t have to work for it. Being in a building full of people where silence exists holds a tasty tension, an implied community.
Melsonia is moving to the basement of the Iglootree(.com) shop this month. I’m looking forward to meeting people in real life who want imported smut and 16th century grimoires. My people.
Posted on August 21, 2025
Previous post Things I Learned From Talking To One Of The Biggest Book Distributors In The Uk This Weekend Big bookshop chains want books to look a certain way