#040 Cascading through the floorboards

Walking and cycling map / How to shut a door

Hello, and welcome to Diagram Club number #040. Hang on - a number starting with a 4? That’s a milestone.

This week: I produce a walking and cycling map of my locality, I wander aimlessly near an estuary, get to grips with a troublesome automatic door, and there’s an emergency in the postal department.

But before all that…

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[* Findings of very small and inadequate survey]

Cartoon of the week

It’s a map, drawn as part of my volunteering role at Essex Wildlife Trust Langdon. It shows how you can walk or cycle to the Cafe / Nature Discovery Centre (and can be downloaded from that page).

I live somewhere in the approximate area shown by this map, and I’m aware that when I talk to people they don’t always realise they could get to the Cafe / Nature Discovery Centre very quickly and easily on foot or on a bike. I’ve been intending to draw this map for a long time, and here it finally is.

I’ve written a bit more about this map for paid subscribers, below the Orange Line. And there’s more cafe news below, too, because I haven’t really been anywhere else or done anything else.

[Want me to draw you a map? Get in touch]

Additional cartoon of the week

Something a bit different. I was very sad to hear that Steven Buckley, a wonderful man who has been an avid supporter of my work for many years, died earlier this week. Steven enjoyed both my church-themed and my cycling cartoons. As Head of Communications at Christian Aid Steven commissioned various drawings, and I have posted one of them below. Later, as Director of Communications for the Church of England Diocese of Oxford he continued to use my work. And he was a huge encouragement to me as I set up Diagram Club, both in its previous guise and here on Substack. I had the privilege of being asked to draw a cartoon for Steven for Christmas 2024.

This, one of the Christian Aid cartoons, was designed to encourage volunteers, and let them know that their endeavours really were worthwhile even if collecting Christian Aid envelopes was sometimes challenging.

Sending love and good wishes to Steven’s family at this sad time.

Annotated photograph of the week

Title: Going to Leigh-on-Sea and walking to Southend, stopping here and there in cafes and on benches to do a bit of work, write down some things, and look out at the estuary.

Cafe News

1. Congratulations to Chloe, who is starting as assistant manager this weekend. New desk, notebook, biro, everything. I am so happy for her - it is a well-deserved development.

2. I needed to understand how to make the automatic door shut when it is open and causing an almighty draught. To quote myself: ‘How’s it got into this situation?’. So, I drew an instructional diagram for my own benefit. [Disclaimer: Everything is entirely made up except the shutting the door bit.]

Miscellaneous admin notices

My postal address is changing

I know, most of you didn’t know that I could be reached by a good old-fashioned letter. Well, I can, but this week would be a bad week to try, as my postal address is changing.

Unfortunately the building that houses my PO box in Manchester has, and I quote, ‘structural issues’, ‘dry rot’, and is ‘unsafe’. Essentially it’s falling down. So I am moving PO boxes to another run by the same company in case we all end up cascading through the floorboards. I’ll tell you the new address in a future message, just in case you’d like to write to me. [I have a lot of sympathy for the PO box company, by the way - not their fault at all.]

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Ecclesiastical cartoon update

Off-topic but possibly of interest. What on earth is going on here? It’s a snippet from this week’s cartoon for the Church Times.

A reminder, if it might interest you, that there are regular diagrams on the Facebook page for my church cartoons, thanks to the tireless endeavours of my team.

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My one speaking engagement this year

I don’t speak in public very often, and am (assuming there isn’t a flood of unexpected bookings) only doing one talk this year. I’ll be speaking at the Association for Church Editors AGM in September, in Birmingham. In the unlikely event you happen to edit a church parish magazine this will be the event to be at. I’ll be talking about the use of humour in church magazines.

Colour of the week (filler) and concluding comments

Estuary grey

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Thank you for reading - this email terminates here.

However, content continues for Diagram Club Paid members below The Orange Line. This week: All about the map I drew.

The plan is to be back before too long with issue number… well, I suppose it will be #041. See you then.

Dave
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