The titanium ring with the lithium battery in it thing reminds, a little bit, of the neck collars in Battle Royale. {thinks} Might rewatch this, though it now seems a bit on the nose / a little too close to a near future tech-fascism possibility.

More cat.

With a trained librarian, right? RIGHT?

More apples, left outside houses for anyone to take a few (or many).

Catching up on pictures. A short walk around the village this morning was refreshingly autumnal. Clean air, wet roads, wet apples in boxes for helping yourself to outside several houses. Notably, an extra layer was required. Not quite the season for gloves, but getting closer.

Cat in box. That is all.

Aural palate cleanser. Also from the 1970s: I Feel Love, sung by Donna Summer. The most thumbs-up comment is: "This was not Disco, this was a Trance song ahead of its time." www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zqq...

On the train last week, a phone rang. The fragment of tune sounded like an 8-bit version of something extremely distantly familiar. It's taken me several days to figure out what that tune was. Worth the effort? Not really. Some things are best left alone. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwdM...

Signed up to be one of the judges in a village autumn show not far from here. Pleasingly, I've been assigned my preferred categories: * Baking: scones (plate of three). * Baking: sponge cakes (large). * Amusingly shaped vegetables. Haven't done this for a while, so need to practice. Advice?

Pleased to report that, with less than 3 months till Christmas, the local Lidl have cut the cost of a standard box of 6 mince pies from £1.49 to £1.25. Hopefully the start of a supermarket festive food bargain-fest. Your move, expensive M&S and eyewatering Waitrose. #WarOnChristmasMincePiePrices

Good to be back in a place with many trees. Because trees. #trees

Just getting ready to pose for my compulsory UK ID photo.

Not saying my childhood village is or was stuck in a time loop, but these were names of residents from the 19th and 20th centuries, not medieval times.

"Which Decimus Agg are you referring to? Decimus Agg the Elder, or Decimus Agg the Younger? Or *his* son, William Decimus Agg?" (conversations about the history of my childhood village may sometimes be incomprehensible to others)

A DM worth mentioning (thanks, Sue): "Shouting Elgar, Elgar, Elgar!" is the middle class alternative chorus of Underworld's Born Slippy.

In the local tourist office. A tourist is asking about music. Staff: {long spiel about Elgar} ...and Harry Styles and the original drummer of Led Zeppelin came from the same Worcestershire town. Tourist: Oh! Did they know each other at school? Staff: {long silence} No. Bit of an age difference.

Damp from being plucked in a cold orchard at dawn, then moved into a comfortably warm kitchen. Imminent second breakfast.

Pre-dawn. Held the cat flap open. The moggy stared, sniffed, took a blast of sharp air to the face and retreated to use the litter tray. Went myself into the orchard, swathed in layers of cotton and wool, holding a meltingly hot coffee. Frost on the grass and ripe apples almost too cold to hold.

I feel like my little boat is half full of water but every fish swims by to prop it up

Today's person overheard using the phrase "I know my rights!" was an old man here in the public library, unhappy at being told he could not light his pipe inside the building.

It's taken me 35 years and five ZX Spectrums to complete The Hobbit. Feels like a bigger deal than buying my house or having my family. I kept this quest secret for so long, I can only mention it here. Now I'm finally in a comfy tunnel-like hall, feeling like I've won at life.

Purves, Noakes, Singleton and a rugby team writhing around on a giant bed. Ban this filth.

Early morning means dealing with a loudly mournful cat by retrieving her favourite toys - various coloured springs - which she's knocked under furniture during the night.

"Away in a manger, No crib for a bed. The little lord Jesus, Has a great big square head." And that's why several of us were removed from the school nativity play one year. Which was a blessing in disguise as we didn't have to go to the many hours of practice.

Someone on MetaFilter has had a reasonable stab of how this week, Rapture Week, will play out in the USA and elsewhere:

Malvern Pudding! "...apples in custard, with a demerara sugar and cinnamon crust on top, like a Worcestershire creme brulee." Have not tried it in years ... no, decades. The next door neighbour in the 80s frequently made it. Now I want, again. www.theguardian.com/food/2025/se...

If the first part of this does happen, then the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize should go to ... the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

pfft this rapture could’ve been an email

The word of the day is dissatisfaction. Because today I am wholly dismayed to be correct in assuming the Rapture was bullshit. I was hoping my neighbor would get sucked into Jesus's roomba so I could adopt his lykoi. Seriously, who doesn't want a fucking werewolf cat???

I made an angel food cake. If there isn't the rapture, there should at least be cake.

A certain someone, over on the other side of the Atlantic, is possibly on for a rage-induced aneurysm on 10th October when the Nobel Peace Prize winner is announced and it's not him. (current favourites to win are the Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan, and Yulia Navalnaya)

Overheard, again in Worcester, in the cafe in Next: "My God, look at the state of everything. {long ramble about politics, climate change} Even Pollyanna would be on cocaine just to get through the day." (silently awarding points for the literary reference)

Wish I'd taken a photo of the sticker reading "Mobility Scooters for Jesus", but the driver was zipping along the pavement of The Tything, towards Worcester city centre, at some speed. Pondering the possible interpretations of that wording.

Overheard in the street: "Huh? What the bloody hell is a 'Rapture'? Do you get Tesco Clubcard points for it?"

Oh you're annoyed about shops Christmas displays being up in September? Well look what I just found in Sainsbury's

Lidl have gone not-quite-full-on Christmas. I say not quite as, oddly, despite the presence of stollen bites, there's *still* no whole stollen loaves. And with only 94 days left till Christmas... www.timeanddate.com/countdown/ch...

Chilly at work, but the only warm clothing I have is the recently-delivered Santa sweatshirt that reads “NOTHING FOR YOU, WHORE”, so that’s not an option #careerlimiting

Third night in a row I've been awake at this time. Not cat-antics-related but too many things roaring round my head, unfed tigers in a circus ring and the tamers have lost control. Noting the Autumn equinox is mere hours away; it feels time to write another round of letters to friends near and far.

Metafilter, the community weblog that has survived since 1998 and has been a tremendous resource for many, has been forced to block access from Mississippi, due to their horrendous age check law. https://metatalk.metafilter.com/26761/MeFi-blocks-access-for-Mississippi-users

That'll do pig. That'll do. [burps] Also had a roast.

The true place of worship on a Sunday in Britain is the garden centre.

While roundly dismissing colleagues for weeks for using AI to write emails, briefs etc I have just realised I have been writing that 'I have a brian'

This is the quiet(ish) hour on Bluesky, when most of the UK and Europe is asleep (or, in this case, going out in search of biscuits) and the USA is either heading to bed or thinking about it. Anyone else awake out there?

Going out into the suburban Birmingham night in search of Oreos. Appropriately, the clock tells me it is 4:20 as I anticipate ending up at a garage (gas station) queuing behind stoners buying industrial quantities of chocolate hobnobs. Is there an app to have biscuits delivered to your bedside?

I don't fully understand how the heck we are already a quarter of the way through this century.

What movie do you consider "perfect"?

Not a great drinker nowadays, but enjoying a glass or two of something ambient after that. Kudos to BBC Radio commentary. I still haven't seen Worcestershire play this season, and have one more chance to keep my "attendance at a match every season" streak, since 2003, still live. #pears

And ... breathe. Heck of a finish to the final, the season, and this summer. Been a long seven year wait for more silverware but that's the trophy for the Pears in the bag. #Worcestershire www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

I'm an optician. Have been for 16 years now. I still get freaked out when I look inside people's eyes.