I’ve just realised it’s year ago today that my mum died unexpectedly. It‘s interesting how grief affects people differently, I was over and done in less than 8 weeks, others grieve for years. Mind you, given that one of the kindest things the vicious bitch said to me was “youre worth less to me than

After the excitement of the shite St.Pauli/Köln game, I’m finishing of the day with some philosophy. I know how wanky that sounds, but it’s Stoicism; the philosophy that Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis based their respective versions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy on I credit the practices with being

4 games left for St. Pauli to preserve Bundesliga status 🤞

Boooooo 1-1.

aaannnndddd that’s St.Pauli 1 up against Köln with 21 minutes left.

Ahhhhhhhhh crap. Rest in peace Phil Campbell, thanks for all the riffs and sore necks. Another hero of my youth gone but not forgotten. Time for a Motörhead binge.

Hehehe. Nice little delivery from @lithiumkicks.bsky.social this morning. T-shirt & badge are excellent. @gingeknievil.bsky.social message was a lovely touch.

Officially a pensioner as from today. Kinell!!! !!

Ha! Just seen that Jacs in Aberdare has pulled Michale Graves gig (former Misfits vocalist & proud boys loving, fascist POS). That's both Welsh gigs gone & plenty of other venues are dropping him. Bit more effort we can kill his whole tour. Community action works!

March ‘89, start of my RGN training aged 19. I’m back row on the right.

Standby stomach here comes banana.

The U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that Oatly can’t use the word milk in their advertising of their oat based drink. It’s based on the argument from the U.K. dairy industry that milk can only be used for products that come from animals. That’s kinda wild given that coconut milk has been around for

Welsh mountain badger face sheep sound like the stuff of a fevered nightmares, but they’re real, very real. I think they’re beautiful.

This is absolutely hilarious from #PMQs today. Ayoub Khan MP says rubbish is "building right beneath my very nose" as he looks down at the Reform MPs sitting below him "It's becoming a serious problem in Birmingham"

Bloody hell, a couple of dry spots on the back roof. Haven’t seen one of those since November!!!!!

@gingeknievil.bsky.social I think I remember you explaining the @lithiumkicks.bsky.social logo a while back. I can’t find the post, I’ve forgotten what you said, other than it being very interesting & well thought out. Any chance you could re-explain it or tag me in the original post, please?

We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has bought a t-shirt and/or the singles today. Your support is insane! #BandcampFriday is very much alive and artists are getting 100% of sales. You know what to do! Cheers. We love you!!! ❤️ 🔗 lithiumkicks.bandcamp.com/merch/single... #LithiumKicks

This morning’s soundtrack has been provided by Dropkick Murphy, Lithium Kicks and Skindred. I’m a bit confused now about whether to mosh, bounce or Newport helicopter.

Yesterday, Robert Jenrick & Suella Braverman continued their governmental legacy of stunning incompetence, by voting to lift the 2 child benefit cap, contrary to the other Reform ghouls in parliament. Doesn’t bode well if Farage can’t competently marshal only 8 MPs, does it?

Catch Me When I Fall, the double A side to I Want Something I Don’t Care About. Light on the whoas and yeahs but beautifully heavy on the La-La-La-Las, another humdinger from the Lithium Kicks. Probably the most subtly disguised love song I’ve come across. lithiumkicks.bandcamp.com/track/catch-...

Like your pop punk packed full of whoas and yeahs? Then this could be the release of the year, so far, for you. Superb to see Ginge Knievil, and his new band, come roaring back with this bouncy, catchy tune.

I managed to stay calm the whole time though. I guess that’s that’s the result of meditating 2-2.5 hours a day for the last 8 weeks.

That’s been a fun weekend. Gear box seized solid brining the car to a sudden halt, on a blind bend, on an unlit country road, Friday evening. Fortunately it freed itself up after 5 sphincter twitching minutes, so we could drive the last, tense, hour home. Unfortunately neither us had any faith left

@toribillsfriend.bsky.social thank you for the follow. I had no idea #sobersky existed until you liked my post. I was looking to link with others in recovery but didn’t know how to. Now you’ve given me the chance 😀

9502 days sober. When I remember how much of a mess I was in when I was drinking where I’ve got to is astounding. So much to be grateful for 😀 #sobersky

Insomnia’s biting again. I could lie here and get pissed off, I could lie here & do something constructive or I could lie here & post about it. I’ve done one now I’ll do another.

9500 days sober or 26 years 3 days sober. I’m pleased to say the least.

Christmas summed up in 2 photos. Left overs pizza for Boxing Day grub & the bonsai nursery in progress. The pizza was superb, I’ve little hope for the trees as I’m effectively a serial killer of plants.

I took refuge in the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, hence my altar’s Tibetan style-ish. I heading down a more Theravada path at the moment.

I picked up Ajahn Brahm’s book Kindfulness a few weeks back. It helped boost my meditation practice from 20 minutes a day to 2-3 hours. I’m feeling happier, calmer, peaceful. I knew I’d feel worse when I let my practice drop off, but still allowed it to happen. Why? Curious, isn’t it?

I’m want to try bonsai as a new hobby. For Christmas I’ve got seeds, growing kit, heat pad, lighting, books, newbie enthusiasm and the ability to kill plants just by looking at them. What could possibly go wrong?

Coroner’s report says it was a morphine overdose that killed mum, we were expecting amitriptyline. It’s a bit of a shock & raises more questions than it answers. Now we’ve got an inquest to get through. This whole saga feels never ending.

Mum died 8 weeks ago, It’s the funeral tomorrow. We still haven’t got a cause of death, one possibility is a prescribed amitriptyline overdose. We weren’t close &, TBH, it’s not that tough at situation but it’s tougher than I thought it would be. Does that make sense?

New CD through the post day, a re recording of Wolfsbane’scfirst album Live Fast Die Fast. See that back piece tattoo on the back cover? That’s me that is. No, seriously, it really is.

Brummie-hardcore-punks, @healerofbastards.bsky.social with their subtle, understated, message. Probably best not to listen unless you want to be singing the chorus all day. Rest of the album’s just as superb. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSdq...

Dunno who did this but I’m borrowing it for this thread.

Word of day is ‘unasinous’ (17th century): united in stupidity. A riff on ‘unanimous’: which comes from the Latin for ‘one mind’. ‘Unasinous’ means ‘one ass’.

Sounds like a plan

Today - yeah, today’s a good day to be alive. From teenage addict, to hospitalised in my 20s not expected to make 35, to sober, alive & thrive at 55. It’s an approximate date. I was drinking 200-250 units a week when I got sober so my memory’s pretty fucked from that period.

Kids today will never know the thrill of a 70s style advent calendar. The struggle of finding the window, fighting to open it then the bated breath reveal of nothing but a poxy, badly printed picture. They were shit. Much better nowadays with chocolate in them.

@struttski.bsky.social I just saw your post on howling mad Wolfsbane fans, don’t go on there often. Thought I’d swing by & say hi. Are we the only HMS on here?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Jj... #Wolfsbane the greatest band ever? Probably not, definitely my favourite though. Here’s Loco from the 88 Tamworth Rock Festival. The 4 kids headbanging & punching the air at the bottom left of the screen L-R Huw Davies, Me, Jon Tell, Dave Cockbill 🤘 #HMS

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been meditating for shorter more frequent periods. I’ve gone from half an hour once a day to between 10 & 20 minutes 4 times a day. I’ve noticed, today, that my tinnitus is quieter, less intrusive & less bothersome. With hindsight, I’m not too surprised by this but

Amazing news! The UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 21st December #WorldMeditationDay. The resolution explicitly recognises the scientifically proven benefits of meditation for mental and physical health and wellbeing. This is a real milestone. pls RT. #deepermindfulness #mindfulness

So, big coat weather then, yeah?

Day 1 of my #AdventCalendar

Talking of Mindfulness, I’ve been accepted on to Going Deeper, a course to take mindfulness practice deeper and potentially the first step to becoming a teacher. Hoorah.

Apparently the professional body for mindfulness in the U.K. is called BAMBA, the British Association for Mindfulness-Based Approaches. I reckon British Association for Mindfulness- Based Interventions would have had more comedy value. Oh deer, I went there.

Today will be fuelled by this lil beauty from NWOBHM stalwarts, Judas Priest. It’s the 30th anniversary special edition, which is now a teenager at 14 years old. In turn that means it’s 44 years since the original release. FFS I’m old.

Want me to pleasure you aurally? Here’s some Social Distortion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jar...