What a beautiful thing is a moth!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from this very seasonally confused amaryllis (pro gardening tip: apparently the way to get an old amaryllis bulb to flower again at a random time of year is to shove it outside, forget about it, and let half the stalk be eaten by snails).

Kitty is beginning to regret jumping on the feline fashion for wearing fur coats.

I realise one flight doesn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but for Sky News to apparently have a helicopter chasing Andy Burnham's train while the planet is burning is completely insane.

Amused while out on a (rather warm) run this afternoon to overhear two people enthusiastically talking about singing Smith's Responses. I was possibly the only passerby who had a clue what they were on about.

When I was at Peterhouse in the '90s half of the fellows still seemed to regard women as a weird alien species, and we certainly never sang any music by female composers in the chapel choir. It's wonderful to see how far things have moved on since then.

Had a dream last night that I was in van full of potential murderers (in a cosy crime Agatha Christie sort of scenario), who at one point all got out and sang Josquin's Nymphes de Bois. One of them was a cracking countertenor. Because obviously.

I have no photographic skills whatsoever, so I realise this is never going to be @chrisgpackham.bsky.social's #foxoftheday, but I was delighted to meet this little urban beauty round the corner from my central London home at the weekend. Nature can thrive in the unloveliest places.

If I was making an album of music for Margaret of Austria I'd be tempted to call it 'Regretz, I've Had a Few'. But this album (with a much better name) is absolutely gorgeous, if slightly melancholy chansons are your thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=811U...

Numpty of the Year Award goes to my cat, who has somehow just managed to fall backwards into my toilet. One way to cool down, I guess...

Massive kudos to the woman I just saw out running while wearing a hijab and long sleeves/leggings in 30 degree heat. That takes proper commitment.

Life was a bastard and refused to provide me with lemons, but thankfully the nice shop down the road sold me some.

Absolute scenes in central London yesterday, as it was overrun with noisy youngsters.

I've just learned that as a child Kim Il-Sung played the organ (it's on the internet - it must be true), which makes me wonder how many directors all music are actually frustrated wannabe dictators.

I'm not sure that the Argos website really needed to erupt in confetti when I completed my purchase. I was buying hoover bags, not cracking the secret of nuclear fusion.

Can I please have my country back from right-wing thugs now? Thank you.

My indefatigable 84 year-old mum is helping organise a charity event, and as usual she's roped me in to bake for it. If you want to eat a gingerbread dinosaur in salubrious surroundings, get yourself down to Cleaver Square in Kennington this Saturday. northlambethparish.org/christian-ai...

@lauriestras.bsky.social Did you see that you've got a shout-out in this article?

I know it's the state opening of parliament today, but I think the weather took 'All hail to the king' a bit too literally.

T-Rex tremendae majestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salve me, fons pietatis.

There's another, much larger, UK city beginning with 'B' that's had major issues with bin collections for well over a year. I wonder why these leaflets don't mention it. Could it be because Birmingham City Council is run by - let's see - Labour?

Good to see Caroline Lucas saying this. There can never be an excuse for antisemitism or any other form of racism. I'm definitely leaning towards Green in the upcoming elections, but I don't want to vote for a party where these issues aren't dealt with robustly.

Just come home to find the weirdest spider I’ve ever seen. It’s flat! Properly flat! I actually thought it was a printed image at first. The internet tells me it’s possibly a (non-native) selenops.

Heron on my run yesterday. I can't help thinking that when statuesque herons see people rushing crazily past in running gear they must be thinking 'WTAF'? They possibly have a point...

I've just seen someone's job title described as 'Senior Solutions Architect', and can't stop laughing. I'm now thinking of changing my own job title to 'Corporate Bollocks Detectorist'.

New bookmark

Happy Easter! www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDMY...

Hot cross…blobs? Apparently they taste better than they look (not tried one myself as I’m vegan and they’re very much not).

Profoundly moving performance of Pärt's Passio by @thegesualdosix.bsky.social this evening. 'Enjoyable' is the wrong word for such a raw meditation on grief and suffering, but the performance was outstanding - time seemed to stop and condense into this moment of anguish.

At St Martin-in-the-Fields to see the @thegesualdosix.bsky.social. Or, as I explained to my teenager (who’s not into classical music), ‘They’re like a boy band for posh people’.

Bumped into the utterly charming @zackpolanski.bsky.social while out running in Westminster earlier, who was kind enough to overlook my general sweaty, dishevelled, tongue-tied incompetence and take a selfie for my 16 year-old (who'll be helping campaign for the local @greenparty.org.uk next month)

Feeling very blessed to live in a place where I can turn on the radio as I cook dinner and stumble across a discussion of Monteverdi's use of echoes, followed by a searingly beautiful performance of Duo Seraphim. Radio 3 is a treasure.

I know I'm very late to the party here, but I've just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, and god it's good. Raw, and beautiful, and angry, and hopeful, and with a narrative voice that just sings from the page.

More evil: yesterday I bought some secondhand Dr Martens, and my cat didn't even wait for me to take them out of the box before colonising the box in question (pictured below). I know Dr Martens have air-cushioned soles. This does not make them actual cushions.

Came downstairs this morning to find that this evil furry monster had vomited all over my glasses (which I'd left on the table overnight). Sometimes I wonder why I love her.

See also: Citrus fruit in red plastic netting, which sheds tiny bits of plastic when you open it, and loose citrus fruit generally costing more.

Loving this cello concerto by Dobrinka Tabakova on Radio 3 right now.

THREAD. A collection of excellent scarecrows I have met on walks in the countryside. You will find the all-important caption to each photo in the alt text.

Obligatory Dewi Sant photo from today’s run through Green (or should that be Yellow?) Park.

@jameshandscombe.bsky.social As the parent of a child at HSFW, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your comments in today's newsletter. They were wise words in a divided world, and ones that some of the people working just across from you in Parliament would do well to learn from.

Third batch of the season, and I have reached the ‘I never want to see a Seville orange again in my entire life’ (or at least not until next year) stage of marmalade making.

My cat has never been fed by anyone in her entire life, and if there appears to be food already in her dish then you're merely imagining it.

Just saw my first Waymo driverless car on the streets of London. Call me a Luddite, but there was something very sinister-looking about it...

Tit Hall by (nick)name, bunch of tits by nature, it seems.

@tomshakespeare.bsky.social Happy New Year from my very sticky kitchen (I’ve just had a little lick of it, and I think it’s worked out ok)!

This afternoon I’ll be singing carols outside while freezing my bits off for at least 90 minutes. Wondering if I can take a companion for extra warmth.

Something a bit unusual for the season, from our new @peterhousecam.bsky.social Choir disc: Byrd's Ne irascaris, Domine re-arranged for Christmas, as heard in Peterhouse Chapel at Christmas in the 1630s open.spotify.com/track/51kurW...

Just managed to catch my cat in the nick of time as she was about to lick the brandy butter. Which would have been...interesting (if hilarious).