If you have a post you want to nominate, please leave a link in the comments below.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 2nd.

[Posts originating from the U.S. that incorporate Groundhog Day as a theme will not receive special treatment!]

If you would like to help with the judging for the next Post of the Week, then please follow this link.

Dervala: Against Depression.

When we’re talking, he often has to stop and go somewhere else in his mind. That’s when his face takes on a rigid cast, and while I wait for him to come back I can see the lines that suffering has drawn. They’re different from the usual laughing, talking, and frowning lines. These ones come from holding still, not from moving. He can’t stay in one position for long, and sometimes, when it’s very bad, he’s short with the three children whom he adores.

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Our judges said:
An unflinching, clear-eyed, and ultimately life-affirming account of the author’s struggle with what she argues remains a dangerously misunderstood condition.

I simply loved the phrase “Plain old normal days tasted crisp and delicious”. If only they all felt like that. Far too many of the blogs I read are flippant and disposable - there’s nothing wrong with that, but it is good to read such a considered post once in a while.

This piece looks at depression in a way that makes it unmistakably recognizable for those who have lived with it and beautifully communicates it to those who haven’t. There were other solid entries, but the gravity and grace of this one places it in a special category.

The next Post Of The Week will be announced on Sunday evening.
Please note that nominations for next week cannot be accepted until then.

In no particular order :

1. ASCII with “A SysOp forever“
   It’s not every day someone sends me such a complete story about the people behind a BBS, and it’s certainly an even rarer event to have someone send along a vintage photo of the sysop with their BBS in front of them.
2. Dervala’s “Against Depression“
   When we’re talking, he often has to stop and go somewhere else in his mind. That’s when his face takes on a rigid cast, and while I wait for him to come back I can see the lines that suffering has drawn. They’re different from the usual laughing, talking, and frowning lines. These ones come from holding still, not from moving. He can’t stay in one position for long, and sometimes, when it’s very bad, he’s short with the three children whom he adores.
3. Glitter for Brains with “Windy Cassocks“
   To which we have to ask ourselves, why do Christians hate we gays so much?
4. My Blonde Moment’s “In Which I Don’t Do Things By The Book“
   “What?!” Came the defensive retort from the man old enough to know that (sadly) wine may be made from grapes, but it doesn’t contribute towards one’s five-a-day. “I eat out a lot.”
5. RJ Adams ‘SparrowChat’ with “It really is time to move on“
   Five years, and they’re still searching for human remains at the site of the 9/11 attacks in Manhattan.
   and finally
6. Tired Dad’s slightly sweary “Ballet/Twat“
   Powering-on said laptop, he begins to earnestly tap away. Occasionally glancing around to make sure everyone can see that he owns an expensive computer, and is a person of such importance that he needs to use it now. There is a whole forty minutes until the end of his daughter’s ballet class. Valuable time. Time a gentleman of his stature cannot waste.

If you have a post you want to nominate, please leave a link in the comments below.

The deadline for nominations is Friday January 26th.

Update: This week’s shortlist will be posted shortly. Apologies for the delay. It’s early days, folks…

The Overnight Editor: The 000-999 of London.

You know ambergris - whale vomit, used to make perfume? Well noctilukre is like human ambergris.

It’s an accretion of all those London nights out - all the booze, the pub-smoke and club-floor grime, slowly built up into a solid deposit inside the body.

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Our judges said:

I. Loved. This. Post. From the early morning battery acid breath to his final call for more drinks.

I laughed, then cringed, then laughed some more until I thought I’d puke up Noctilukre. It’s a tour worth exploring, these parallel Londons. I’m familiar with a few, but didn’t quite realize they were itching to be documented. Last time I wretched up a pearl, it turned out to be bridgework … and I’m not convinced it was mine.