The Ig Nobel is incredible , one year an Indian guy won it for calculating the average surface area of an elephant and during his acceptance they had an elephant hold up a sign with the surface area of the scientist on it, they do showbiz better than the Oscars

I can’t believe I’ve not heard of the Ig Nobel prize before but I love it

Mid-Autumn festival at Out of the Blue Drill Hall and a chance to make our own mooncakes

Collecting the @argonautbooks.bsky.social Halloween totes (with a spooky book) is becoming an annual tradition but think this year’s kraken design may be my favourite to date - I absolutely love it!

It was a dark and stormy night … and going to one of @argonautbooks.bsky.social spooky season events to hear Vanessa Santos talk about her short story collection ‘Make a Home of Me’ was a good way to spend it

For #nationalpoetryday one of my favourites: Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout by Gary Snyder

I do like a vampire/gothic romance and this list looks good - I did enjoy Twilight (though never made it through the sequels) but have to admit these all look more fun www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/b...

This was our last bedtime story of the evening in honour of Jane Goodall: ‘only if we understand, will we care, only if we care, will we help, only if we help, shall all be saved’

Well worth reading Chris' deep dive into the legal proceedings. #genealogy #ancestry #FamilyHistory #archives 🗃️📚

Marking #MathsWeekScotland at National Museum of Scotland with a talk on maths and myths (Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui … or the brocken spectre phenomenon?) and a wild maths trail around the natural history galleries

Had a very specific craving for an old school Chinese takeaway set menu, and watched the first proper night of Strictly with lots of friends over (and we still somehow have too many prawn crackers)

*Finally* started watching the AMC Interview with the Vampire series - consider me seduced. Cast are fantastic. This is what Autumn evenings are made for.

Stockbridge’s sustainable fashion week kicks off tomorrow and, for any budding dressmakers/BBC Sewing Bee fans, the Bethany shop is well worth checking out - lots of materials, vintage pattern books etc

Catching the Autumn light over the Chinese hillside gardens at the Royal Botanic gardens in Edinburgh

Some of these are really good (and quite a few would make non-lab working lives easier too)

John Singer Sargent at the Musée d'Orsay

Something of an annual tradition - Fat Bear Week starts this week for those who want to vote www.explore.org/fat-bear-wee...

I’m on the waitlist at the library (along with a few others!) but spotted the National Book Token Booker shortlist competition - link here if you fancy a chance at winning the shortlist: www.nationalbooktokens.com/win/win-the-...

Booker shortlist is out

‘Tis the season www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its...

I mean, definitely a way to hook me in 📖

#SuperSeabirdSunday seeing the gannet colony on the Bass Rock up close from a boat out of North Berwick

Castle shopping - thought maybe the Aberdour one was more of an entry-level castle though 😂

Went to see a physio about my troublesome Achilles and have a plan, got my seasonal flu shot and settled down now with coffee and a cookie to (finally!) listen to last Podyssey episode on Medusa

🦑🎟️ ALL HALLOWEEN EVENTS ARE LIVE NOW - LINK FOR MORE INFO BELOW 🎟️🦑 That autumnal feel is in the air, you’re eyeing that thermostat more each week, Christmas stuff is starting to appear in Tesco, it can only mean one thing: tickets for The Fourth Annual Argonaut Halloween Extravaganza out now!

This is one of my favourites but some really powerful graphics - many of which I’d seen before but hadn’t connected back to the same creator

Sometimes celebrating small things feels like the only thing you can do: today, getting almost as excited as my daughters about the new book published this month by Katherine Rundell called ‘The Poisoned King’ (& sequel to the excellent ‘Impossible Creatures’) with beautiful block illustrations

Getting a box of 25-30 books every month with 30 days to get through them while sacrificing everyday activities like cooking & cleaning sounds amazing (also excited about the infinitely more manageable shortlist)

Staying up late to put tomorrow off is never a great sign

I love trains - by far my favourite mode of travel

A few scenes from Edinburgh’s Georgian House. Kitchen and storerooms in the basement are impressive: a townhouse built for entertaining on some scale. Hard to tell from the front view across Charlotte Square that it’s right in the centre of the city. The Old Town must have felt like another world.

Very impressed by the information developed by the team @n-t-s.bsky.social at Georgian House to showcase the stories connected to LQBTQ+ history & also Edinburgh’s colonial past. Would highly recommend checking out the programme of upcoming events - book launches and book fairs feature!

An inspiring & uplifting evening @n-t-s.bsky.social Georgian House with @lighthousebks.bsky.social for the launch of Anthony Delaney’s book Queer Georgians. Good to hear (as a former historian) of the method, sources, rigour - & I loved hearing of histories reclaimed of joy, belonging and community

Attempted some bucolic Autumnal decorations across an apple strudel. Result was a little more like a napalmed woodland - I can’t quite unsee the squirrels. It was delicious though.

No idea what was the thinking behind this building opposite the entrance to Edinburgh zoo on Corstorphine Road. Willing someone to take it over as a home and just really lean into its weirdness though.

Saying hello to Edinburgh zoo’s capybaras, and a farewell to Haggis the Pygmy Hippo

Caught the final day of King James VI & I @nationalgalleries.bsky.social and so glad I did. Knew bits and pieces about James and his reign but this was an excellent and nuanced overview told through portraits, documents and artifacts

I love this

This should be George Street, Stockbridge, Gorgie, The Shore or Chambers Street. #Edinburgh doesn’t uniquely need parking, merge pavements and tree-less streets.

Tilda Swinton’s advice for radical living (from an old copy of Vogue spotted at Glenogle pool cafe) - I liked these

Heron on a lone rooftop vigil (normally covered in pigeons, magpies and crows)

Finished this last night and enjoyed - historical fiction, magic realism with some very good characters & the sort of world building that Bardugo’s really good at. Only downside, pulling on usual jeans and a jumper this morning feels.. a bit of a downer after reading about their clothes, fabrics etc

This looks good - event from Lighthouse Books and National Trust for Scotland launching Anthony Delaney’s new book ‘Queer Georgians’ at the very lovely Georgian House lighthousebookshop.com/events/launc...

First Friday Night Mixer @nationalgalleries.bsky.social linking with the King James VI exhib - loved the talks on Jacobean perfume, fashion, patronage and the very moving reading by Mairi Kidd on the trial of Margaret Bane. Seeing James in his finery casually hanging out at the bar was a nice touch

Caught my eye after trip to North Berwick! A new biography of Robert Louis Stevenson by Leo Damrosch which looks good www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/b...

Took the plunge and got a second-hand Brompton C line. First trip out today went well, it has a home and I’m really happy with it.

In honour of Keanu Reeves’ 61st birthday (that really doesn’t seem possible), next up is ‘The Book of Elsewhere’ by Reeves and China Miéville - a collaboration that I’m kinda intrigued by

Here's something a bit different. We've been reporting from Edinburgh to try to get to the bottom of a mystery in London. Princes Street is the Scottish capital's most famous shopping street — and it's gaining the *exact same* tatty gift shops as London. www.londoncentric.media/p/edinburgh-...

Bit hooked on a Korean drama series called Bon Appetit, Your Majesty that’s drip-feeding episodes which almost all make me feel hungry