The Besotted Wretch; bookshop, cafe & welfare rights advice, Abbeydale Road, Sheffield, in January 2016. When the same 2 guys came back to try to rob us a second time we knew we'd probably be better off closing down. We worked more or less for nothing, but have no regrets. It was a dream fulfilled.

The wreck of the Monreith, Dhoon Bay.

Nothing but repeats on TV this evening, folks, so how about a game of dominoes instead? Confession: I'd never heard of artist Horace Pippin (1888 to 1946) till about 10 minutes ago but I love his work already.

Silhouettes in Kirkcudbright today.

Stranraer, also known as The Clayhole, or Cleyhole. It's a bonnie wee town, in which we happen to have a house for sale. £100K will do nicely so we can move to what's currently a holiday cottage near Kirkcoubrie. 0.1% discount for Bluesky friends, or 0.2% if pie & custard are included in the deal.

Seasonal thoughts by Julian Baggini. Less cheerful than my usual posts but that's because I come here as an escape from all the bad stuff rather than wasting time preaching to the converted. In reality I agree with JB on pretty much everything he writes here. www.julianbaggini.com/seeking-midw...

Take some well-deserved time off with Glenn Gould & his seatless old chair performing - & humming along to - JS Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1981. This performance lasted 13 minutes longer than his 1955 recording, & IMO those 13 minutes make all the difference. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klqj...

Forgot to mention that the football team I love, Wigtown & Bladnoch, won 2-0 on Wednesday. Their first win for 2 years meant that the Wigs (a) doubled their goals for the season (b) quadrupled their points tally & (c) climbed off the bottom of the table all in one evening. Fantastic!

Kirkmaiden churchyard in today's December sunshine. There's a touch of sea in the picture if you look closely.

It's been dreich again today but we're all cosy now. 3 days till the solstice & then we've got snowdrops to look out for.

Give this ensemble a menu to look through, and see what happens. Extraordinary, and very lovely indeed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSh6...

Biographical note: I'm an atheist but I don't agree that the Devil has all the best tunes. Here's some wonderful Xmas music from the Baroque period to illustrate the point... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns4O...

Killantringan Bay, South Rhins, Scotland.

A wee part of Torhouse Stone Circle, Wigtownshire, Scotland, in rare winter sunshine.

Ian is my first follower & followee. What a guy!

Never knew it at the time but I was lucky to visit Sycamore Gap in 2019. 4 years later the famous tree was no longer there.

It's my birthday, the sun's been shining & I made friends with a couple of donkeys. Life doesnae get much better than that.

44 High Street, Kirkcoubrie. EA Taylor & Jessie M King were artists & designers during the Art Nouveau period, and were instrumental in establishing the town as an artists' colony.

This wee film makes me want to go to Ireland again soon. The hopeless love of Patrick Kavanagh for young Hilda Moriarty. www.youtube.com/watch?v=G27W...

I'm 69 this week. Would never have made it this far without my beloved.

Be nice to reclaim the word "cynic", which wasn't supposed to mean "heartless scoundrel who gains an unfair advantage by cheating". To be cynical is to be sceptical of propaganda, grandeur & displays of false benevolence. Nothing wrong with that.

Met a lovely person in the Machars today who went out of her way, in spite of not being great on her pins, to follow us & recommend a cafe & pub in the area. What a sweetheart.

In a perfect world all sentient beings would be donkeys.

The man in the middle of this group of hairy heavy metal exponents is John Beano. John went on to run a wholefood shop with his partner Anne in Matlock Bath and was probably the nicest man I ever knew. I still dream about him & probably always will.

Left the car unguarded for 2 seconds and found an unexpected passenger sitting in the back.