Ecce! Aurora Borealis

The Arctic Circle is the skull-cap of the planet, within which the sun does not set in mid-summer and does not rise in mid-winter. Funnily enough, both my visits have coincided with these two equinoxes.

Mid-summer is a time when sudden warmth and twenty-four-hour sun leads to astonishing growing conditions, and exploring the forest feels like dropping in to the set of Walking With Dinosaurs; weeds two metres high, dragonflies the size of small birds, and mosquitoes which require no microscope for a spot of entomological anatomy.

I happened to visit the Norwegian Arctic during the period of all-day darkness, and amazing as the sepulchral landscape was, it did seem a good time to stay indoors and make things.

The creative darkness of the Arctic winter might just have been the starting point for this, the first notebook I know of to come from within the Circle - and it fits right in to the hardy wild-country aesthetic. The Norderly is a perfect partner for my very large letter opener from similar climes, for a start; here it is with a handle made of - isn't it good? - Norwegian wood (and no, don't worry - this doesn't really come to the office with me).

So what's the Norderly like as a notebook? Well, it's pocket-sized, sturdy, and filled with excellent paper which behaves well with either ink or graphite. Now available all over the world thanks to a collaboration with Nero's Notes, I think you'll like it. Slartibartfast, naturally, is awfully proud too.