That London.

Meeting chums shortly for priceyish cocktails and then cheapish dinner; mainly looking forward to the company. Should get me out of the blue funk I've been in, for tonight at least!

If one of you is renting out a one-bed city centre flat in Leeds for a very reasonable price please make yourself known. I might even verify my ID to activate my DMs.

Ugh hate to overshare, but I need to vent... Have already had a little cry in the back office this morning. Double whammy of an upsetting (to me) WhatsApp from a sibling from whom I am largely estranged, plus some back-and forth emailing between me, HR and my union rep.

Oof, some of the Famous on Here come across a bit hoity toity. I get that Bsky etiquette is to not disagree with a post (either post a supportive message, or keep schtum). But this was someone agreeing with the original post? And someone famous for posts on language saying "consider not writing".

What happens now is that every dropped piece of trash, every inch of graffiti, every broken down subway train, every disappointing sandwich, every rat in Central Park, and every single crime gets blamed on Zohran Mamdani... by racists who never go near NYC. My tip as a Londoner. Shrug and carry on.

just....enjoy this

I think this one. Probably from Whites of Alverton (I don't think WHSmith had opened yet in Penzance when this came out).

Thank you to @ceidil.bsky.social for sharing today's inquisitive #FoxOfTheDay !

First day back at smelly work after a not terribly fun or relaxing half term (for various reasons). But my favourite security guard is back! After apparently having been sacked by the evil, and probably racist, head of estates (who is leaving; good riddance). That cheered me up on this grey morning.

Call me middlebrow but I've had it UP TO HERE with critically-acclaimed festival-fodder films that have an "ambiguous" ending. Oh, it's up to me, the audience, to interpret it? YOU'RE the fecking auteur, YOU tell me what happened.

Get rid of the lot of them. I hate single issue politics but I'd be sorely tempted to vote for a party which committed to starting a process to get rid of them. They had a good innings for hundreds of years but fucked it for themselves because no amount of privilege was enough.

Never take seriously those who ridicule low income people for having a smartphone or laptop. “If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???” Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is luxury, survive a month without it.

Good Afternoon from someone who's diet is going to consist of Haribo today (Over did the T&T Supplies). Week 24 of our 52 Week Challenge. A gadget or piece of equipment that you convinced yourself you needed, used a handful of times and has been sat gathering dust ever since? #Challenge52

Local boy who made good:

Ballad of a Small Player was a peculiar little film; visually very beautiful of course (and doesn't Berger love the red-green colour palette). Not as much Tilda Swinton ad I'd've liked.

@anniechave.bsky.social - for some reason I thought this might appeal to Fraser...

If you see this, post four female characters that you love.

Goodbye to her. She was wonderful.

O innocent times; shortly after I posted this, W emerged and announced that she had found evidence of bedbugs (she'd had bites but thought/hoped mosquitos). The household has been in an upheaval since, as we've been clearing out bedrooms in preparation for the exterminators' visit.

TBH, I always find it a let down if you've all gone out for a nice meal for someone's birthday, and you're looking forward to choosing a pudding and then a supermarket cake is brought out instead.

Ha, I was being a numpty; it does work.

A very offline cousin sent this to fam group chat. This story is breaking containment.

Bought a window vac on Friday in preparation for condensation season and it worked when I tried the "on" button, but I left it to charge as per instructions. Was looking forward to using it today (saddo that I am) and of course it's not working now. Bloody going to have to take it back tomorrow.

I actually found this fascinating.

Laundry done and hung out; coffee and toast time. Half term's properly started.

@jenbren.bsky.social Hope you managed to sleep OK and that things are feeling a *bit* less horrible this morning? 🥺

Nationalism is a shibboleth. The challenges we face are daunting. But we are not going to overcome them by hunkering down behind of imaginary lines scrawled on a map by medieval warlords. Our problems are transnational, and the solutions are too.

There was a hiatus in the rain for my walk to work this morning, and all the Fair Weather Fairy dog walkers and joggers stayed home, so I had the first park all to myself, and only one fellow intrepid walker in the second. Was lovely in the twilight with the wind in the trees.

I always find TFL helpful when I have to ring them; one gets to speak to real people, after not too long a wait (in my experience, anyway). They did email me afterwards to ask for some feedback which I was happy to do as I didn't have to enter all sorts of personal info.

Radio 4 interviewed some folks on AI yesterday and one proponent rolled out the usual 'people are scared of new technology' nonsense. People aren't scared of new tech. They're scared of the devaluation and loss of jobs, which is happening. They're scared of thirsty data centres. This isn't hard.

Three high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

Christopher Wren, Architect, Anatomist, Astronomer, Mathematician, Physicist, #BornOnThisDay [O.S.] in 1632, in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, England “Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice” (“Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you”)

Tea time! 🤤

There was an all staff email that there are Diwali treats in the staffroom, and I'm always stuck in the Learning Centre so I did a Reply-All for someone to save me something, and a teacher has just brought me up some choice morsels! 😭😭😭

Happy #Diwali to all who celebrate. Can certainly do with the lights on this dreary, dark and wet west London morning.

Who robbed The Louvre? Right answers only.

Had a couple of missed calls from my chum Russ recently, my late mate Terri's husband, so just rang him for a catch up. He's got a few big trips planned and I feel a bit sad as Tel was also planning trips with their hard fought-for* inheritance and she never got to enjoy them *looong story

Put some of the washing out for an hour or so but keeping an eye out for the rain that's due in.

Meeting a chum for lunch in a bit. Having a bit of elevenses in Fortnum's first. *sighs contentedly*

How is York coping without a Duke and Duchess? Will people in York be ok? Are the jobs advertised locally or will they go again to outsiders?

Waaaaaant!

I had a good customer service experience with a company recently, and would be happy to give them a 5 star review, but not so happy to sign in with my email to do so.

I believe you kids call this an ‘unboxing’…

Just inadvertently insulted the Korean student by asking him if the water bottle that I found when tidying up the other day, and has a Japanese brand name on it, was his - BECAUSE I FOUND IT WHERE HE NORMALLY SITS (I KNOW the difference between Japanese/Korean). Cringing myself into a pretzel shape.

Got a spare two million euros lying around? This gorgeous Brussels Art Nouveau masterpiece is for sale.

Still vexed at a thing I saw set in London: they are clearly in Shad Thames and the woman says the tube is shut so will walk to Charing Cross and in the next scene they are at the London Eye but walking east, and suddenly they are at Tower Bridge and where she needs to be is "just over the bridge".