We always get boxes of twelve eggs, the full dozen. Usually two or three for the week. And each time a box gets down to the wondrous half a dozen or fewer, I switch the eggs out from their cardboard crate to the little plastic tray we got with our fridge.
It's nice to see them out in the open. With their speckles or tiny feather remnants, being small, stout or tall. I notice them under the counter each time I make a tea or feed the cat, always sat so expectantly.
When do we still get to say "I'll take half a dozen", or a dozen, or a baker's dozen? The butchers. The florist. The bakery. The hardware shop. It seems to be caught in the same territory of taking a shopping bag and a scrap of paper up to the town — "the olden days".
Six – half a dozen – is also my favourite number. I find it so tidy. It's manageable and plentiful. Six eggs can make three meals. Six squares of chocolate is (sometimes, but rarely) too many to eat at once. Six minutes is two songs.
It's just enough, with a little more for later.
Welcome to eggbox. A mini-series within basic-ly to document and capture 'things'
The trove of stuff that has accumulated in my mind’s rolodex means I'd now like to outsource some of this internal memory storage to SubStack. And it’s where the idea to eggbox them came in.
There are things I (we all) become deeply obsessed with, do on repeat, and tell everyone about as soon as we next meet up; things that get discovered by the algies or just plain old luck and chance; and things I've loved forever and their meaning simply deepens over time.
each eggbox post will feature:
Half a dozen 'things' of the same theme or format.
That I love.
As a list.
With little or no context.
To be imagined neatly placed into each slot of a half-dozen eggbox.
eggbox /1
songs from the last year (‘24-’25)
Which also are all by women… featuring one instance of Justin Vernon.
This song = the antidote.
2/ I Lied, I'm Sorry by Chloe Qisha
The drum on this bumps and baps and pops. May I please stake the claim this is an anthem in the making? Chloe is also cool. So cool it makes me question if people in their 20s still say cool in case I get to meet her one day.
3/ Whatever You Like by Asha Jefferies
If you're a filmmaker, please use this song to soundtrack the opening scene.
4/ i think about it all the time by Charli XCX feat.Bon Iver
There are so many elements it is altogether otherworldly. I will forever believe this was created floating in the cosmos :)
5/ Orlando in Love by Japanese Breakfast
Elegant and nautical?
6/ Tiny Screens by Chloe Slater
This absolutely tore through a pretty tame string of "Suggested for you" tracks one day. Listen to it on your next run, I dare you.