Ice block in front of mini fan on a 34 degree day. Am I pissing in the wind here?

This is a bit of a cringey desperate post but needs must….😢 I’ve just lost a couple of thousand self publishing a book - I’m a hybrid author (published traditionally and self published) and I decided to self publish my book I was most passionate about to have total control. BUT….

My son stopped speaking to me once, when I belted out along to Holding Out For A Hero on the car radio and he was on the backseat with his two friends. He was mortified, but something about Bonnie Tyler's hits just always makes me want to celebrate being alive.

What've i missed so far?

When I hear the term ‘tradwife’ my first thought is a group of women in bowler hats, playing Sweet Georgia Brown on clarinet, banjo, cornet and tuba.

Just watched Martin Kemp doing a Sunlife ad and my Autumn years are tauntingly calling me.

Maybe we're just not as good as we think we are. #watchingfrombehindacushionnow

Germany and the Netherlands right now

At least I might not have to worry about whether to get up at 1am on Monday any more. #BloodyFootball

What an absolute queen. How lucky we were ❤️

🤞🤞🤞

Some neighbours are having a big garden party and have hired a saxophonist as 'entertainment'. He has just played Shape Of You and has now moved onto Every Breath You Take. If it wasn't such a furnace inside the house I'd be shutting these windows.

Daughter (early 20s) has just said (sarcastically): "From what I've read on social media, I'd love to go back in time to the summer of 1976, because they all sound like absolute legends."

In London, this feels like the worst heatwave we've ever endured. As I prowl the house, seeking heat respite, I keep thinking of a quote from Withnail & I: "We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell. Making an enemy of our own future. What we need is harmony, fresh air, stuff like that."

In an attempt to cool down, we are about to watch Groundhog Day.

About to get on my bike to go to work and I'm not sure I'll cope 🔥🔥

I dreamt last night that Jason Orange from Take That was selling weed from a shopping trolley in our 'hood. He also let me take sexy photos of him in a cowboy hat that I showed to all my colleagues. Make of that what you will. I blame the thunderstorm.

Is the problem really that we're trying to fit too many parties into a two party voting system and that we'll just continue to be dissatisfied until someone has the backbone to do something about it, but probably at the cost of their own position?

Hydration break, my arse

The joys of having an 18 year old who has just had his last A-level. I need to be up for work in 3 hours.

One of my very favourite authors. This lady helped me to see Iran in all its awesomeness and awfulness. What a sad loss to the world 💔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Fuck off, Tony Blair. Again.

Braved the Hades heat this morning to head to the V&A for its Lost Music Venues exhibition. Trekked through endless bloody trinkets, only to find it opens on Saturday. Still, I saw Twiggy in the cafe, which partially made up for it. She's still beautiful.

It is carnival week and on saturday there is a torch light parade.

Caroline is making sense here.

Could our voting system be any crappier?

Reform came last in my ward. I'm going to take it as a win that my immediate neighbours aren't fascist.

Just voted in favour of minor past clumsiness and silliness - as opposed to grifting, racism and cavorting with paedophiles and rubbish billionaires. The press can scrape the barrel as much as they like, but nothing feels as good as Green Hope 💚

Am in The Hague for the weekend. Just been through a tram stop named Frankenslag 🤔

I knew there had to be a reason I never warmed to Mumford and Sons. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

I really am enjoying David Attenborough's Secret Garden on a Sunday evening, but it really is stretching the definition of what a regular British garden looks like. 'Grounds' or 'land' would be a far more accurate description.

In 1997, my friend and I snuck into the Roundhouse to see Suede by running past the doorman. It worked and - lo and behold - the very same method was used last night at the White House. Unbelievable. Literally.

Just woken up and read the news. I should probably show a bit more compassion, but my first thought instead was that this is just going to make them all even more tedious and tiresome than they already are.

Anyone need a single train ticket from Liverpool to London at 20:43 tomorrow (Sunday)? Boost so it can get used 😉

Am sitting in the dentist's waiting room. It's only a check-up but I still have a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. It has only just dawned on me why 2.30 was the only appointment slot available.

Saw Kneecap this evening at a Banquet Records gig. I got in the moshpit for FENIAN, because I wanted to feel alive and young. Partway through, my HRT reminder alarm went off, my knees hurt and I needed a wee. I made it to the end of the track then scuttled towards the back. It did feel good though.

The sun is shining here in the suburbs. The couple next door are arguing in their front garden and a teenage boy has just cycled past singing Pearl Jam at the top of his lungs.

Just watched Bugonia. Misery on steroids.

The one about the dance settee.

Graffiti artists included a hopscotch on the pavement under the railway bridge that they've recently decorated. It was fun this evening watching commuters have a go as they walked home.

Trump attending a fight at the same time as the peace talks tells us all we need to know about his indifference towards anything other than his immediate whims. As if we needed any further evidence.

Two horses were 'humanely euthanised' today at Aintree, according to the BBC. Put through absolutely hell then killed. What a stupid, pointless, hideous event. If you really feel the need to have a flutter, there are dozens of other events with consenting participants.

Took my old Dad here last night. He struggled on the steps but was very determined to get down into the cave and tap his toes to some boogie woogie piano.

I enjoyed this street art, complete with poster, today in Paris.

Don't put....ducks in the toilet?! 🤔

My Dad has just arrived, because I'm taking him to Paris tomorrow for his 85th birthday. This is the map he's brought with him. From 1960.

I have a compulsion to add "Ro-land" after every "I'm only trying to help you..." that is said in our house. My daughter says I must be the only person in the world to do this. I'm sure she's wrong.

Eldest daughter sent a photo from the Roman baths in Bath. All I can see is Michael Spicer, who I actually think is quite brilliant, but the Romans foresaw his presence on this earth.

Pretty sure he's off to warmer climes than Jesus.