#024 That's not my parcel or front door

Secret Sale / Banana vote / 'I was just coincidentally present'

Good evening Diagram Club, and welcome to the first newsletter of 2025.

Anyway, Happy New Year, and I hope you had a good break and/or whatever else you do at Christmas and over the new year. In this week’s newsletter: return of more-or-less all the usual features, a perfectly-adequate number of cartoons, and, at last, your chance to have your say about banana ripeness.

Cycling cartoon of the week

I’m posting some cycling cartoons that haven’t been seen online before, and this week it’s ‘Essential things to take on a bike ride and what to do if you forget them’.

Annotated photograph of the week

This week: bananas, and in particular a lightly-annotated lunch-preparation scene. I know, this is below the level of commentary on a photo you’ve come to expect, and there may well be accusations of dumbing down, but… it’s cold and it’s January.

Would you choose banana 1 or banana 2? Vote below!

As for me: I’m not good with overripe fruit, and banana 1 is past it for me. Yes, I know, that’s not ideal from a food waste point of view, and I do my best to eat them well before they get to that point. I’m going for green and maybe slightly crunchy banana 2 every time.

Admin announcements, apologies, corrections and clarifications

Secret Sale

[Editor: Really hype this up] *Massive Shop News*. I’m running a Secret Sale, that I’m only telling you and no-one else about*, in my shop. There’s approx 18% off scoop-neck tops and longline t-shirts with my cartoon designs on. You’ll find the Secret Sale here: Dave Walker Shop - Secret Sale.
*Well, more or less. The news may get out, I suppose - what can you do.

Update on newsletter features

The Studio Playlist is taking a break for the time being. Annotated photo was basic, but at least I did one. Paragraph breaks have proved more popular than expected so will do more. Trying to limit waffle but not succeeding.

‘Fill this book’ challenge

As mentioned last week: If you might enjoy filling a sketchbook in 2025 with notes, maps, drawings, clippings, writing, collage, paintings, or anything else, then here’s a page of inspiration and suggested materials: Fill this book challenge.

“I missed an email or two. How can I catch up?”

There’s an archive. I know, you knew that. But Substack can be confusing. You can browse all past Diagram Club emails here: diagramclub.substack.com.

Sharing plea

If you like Diagram Club please share it on social media, in a letter, around the water cooler, etc.

Household Problem of the week

This week’s brand new drawing is about: Parcels.

To see all of the Household Problems drawings so far, categorised by topic, on one handy page, visit HouseholdProblems.com . Also available: @HouseholdProblems on Instagram, (which might yet be huge - never say never) and the Dave Walker Shop Household Problems dept.

Cafe news (brief)

Headlines:

• Passers-by advised against cycling down the icy hill. Me (to self, arrogantly): ‘I did cyclocross back in the day’.

• Tried and failed to have a vegan lunch (own incompetence). Will reattempt.

• Some said I contributed to the successful build of a fiddly perspex leaflet holder, others that I was just coincidentally present.

• Joined the (reduced in number - we missed you, Jean) Lovely Art Group and did actual art.

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Warming cartoon of the week

A new but probably short-lived series to warm you up through the power of diagrams while the weather is, here at last, a bit chilly. It’s a cartoon set in a church, but arguably more widely applicable.

Taken from my book Heroes of the Coffee Rota (Canterbury Press, 2015). Details of this and other books here.

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Colour of the week (filler)

Ice blue* (Is ice blue? Well, no, perhaps not, but choosing ‘see-through’ as a colour would, I suspect, elicit a sizeable barrage of complaints.)

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Concluding remarks

That’s about it for now. Thank you for reading. Content for Diagram Club Paid users continues below. This week I have news to share about potential events happening this year that are so exclusive I hadn’t thought of them last week.

Hoping to be back in your inbox very soon with issue #025, which not only matches the number of the current year, but is 25% of the way to 100.

Have a good weekend,
Dave
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[Editorial note (remove before sending): Picture of me here some weeks - just one taken in a mirror or whatever you can find]

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