Fucking Paddington is a bit quiet on all this recent royal news, eh?

Knew I'd seen that photo of Andrew leaving the police station somewhere before.

Last Saturday morning, playing some tunes at the crate-digging, I manged to give myself a papercut taking the first record out of its sleeve. This morning I manged to give myself a papercut taking a freshly delivered record from the cardboard mailer. Hardest game in the world, the old DJing, eh?

Ah, man, Sly Dunbar. RIP.

Of course the saved search on Ebay that had thrown up precisely ZERO positive matches for the past 5 months would email me a perfect match today, but £100 cheaper than the items I bought (open box, ex-demo) less than 24 hours ago! Eyes rolling into the back of my head fml etc. etc.

Just popped down to the beach to feel small and inadequate beside the relentless power of the ocean. And steezy Mary Poppins out there living their best life.

Thought we'd lost the kitten earlier until one of the shopping bags made a suspicious movement.

Decent spot for a winter drink, in fairness

Called it!

Dying laughing at the kitten, curled up on a footstool, grumbling and growling at the radiator for being too hot, but not annoyed enough to move even one inch away from it. I expect nothing more from a kitten that allows himself to be caught on camera like this:

Man, this dragged up a memory of 'the Echo man' from visits to Cork as a kid. Lovely to see somebody made a short film about him. These characters are as much a part of the character of our towns & cities as any grand architecture. youtu.be/mRZZHeJwpjE?...

I mean...

First Saturday of the new year and straight back to playing tunes in great spaces. Crate-digging never sleeps!

"I'll just quickly plug in this new pre-amp." 20 minutes later: "JFC! Where is the arsing other fucking end of this cunting cable, wtf is it snagged on now?"

Gorgeous winter light out on the first walk of the new year this afternoon

Was up in Oxford y'day and paid a flying visit to @riverman.bsky.social Records. Great little record store with good prices. Nice to see somebody still sticking to sound principles and pricing fairly, not doing the 'highest discogs price + postage' gouging that's becoming more common.

And last moon rise of 2025...

Sun setting on 2025

Just got on a train and the 'train manager' is a very cheerful American which, leaving aside the American pronunciations of place-names, is a totally incongruous and discombobulating experience on a British train.

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

A tale as old as time... Act 1, the setup: I bought a trifle. Act 2, the confrontation: Nobody else in the house likes trifle. Act 3, the resolution: I ate all the trifle.

Hot!

Lovely Christmas Eve stroll on the beach - done.

I'd go further and say it's almost expected

"I really hope I took losing out on 'employee of the year' with good grace at the boozy staff Christmas lunch" The good grace:

Sources say he's 5 minutes into regaling the disinterested staff with the Weatherall origin story of the name and shows no sign of letting up...

A movie that takes place where you're from.

Nah, mate, you just push those silly plants out of the way and use the terrarium as your personal stage. This is your time to shine.

Autechre. The performance last night in Bristol was incredible. Still processing it.

Autechre - Bristol tonight. If anybody is in Bristol or nearby and wants a ticket for Ae tonight, I've got a spare. (not arsed about payment as the stupid "refund insurance" is so restrictive I can't use t anyway so it'll just go to waste otherwise)

Yes www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLn...

It's mad that we've just accepted - in a an era when every gobshite and his mate can rig up a multi mic podcast - that mega-billion £££ football clubs can't add a few additional mics in their media centres so we can actually hear the questions being asked to the manager.

Share a cartoon from the past that kids today have probably never heard of youtu.be/C3-vnqMdjlk?...

Walking on the beach when it has this stillnes in the soft, diffuse, fading evening light with 'Autechre - Perlence subrange 6-36' playing in my ears is as close to a perfect way to unwind after another week working for the man as any I've found.

Éamon de Valera could have gone to the cinema to see Jaws but probably stayed in watching The Sweeney instead.

How well is our decision not to get any pets until after we finish some building work on our house going, you ask? This well:

I went to see Lisa O'Neill last night, and she really is a rare talent. Spellbinding show. Perfect mix of music, culture politics, storytelling, heart, and soul.

I had an unexpected visit to the eye-emergency ward at the hospital y'day after a finding at my routine eye check-up. In under 15 minutes the nhs consultant pew-pew-pew laser fixed a retinal tear and anybody who tells you we aren't living in the most amazing, incredible, sci-fi timeline, is lying.

Yesterday I told a bin to fuck off, if you want an indication my current stress levels. In my defence, it did try to trip me up, and when I turned around, it was acting all like, "Never touched him, ref! I am clearly an inanimate object!" But if VAR was in play, it was 💯 straight red for the bin.

Post a random Star Trek image

Learned today that I am no better at rendering than the last time I tried. Really expected not doing a thing for at least 15 years to have paid bigger dividends than this.

Everybody should have a cooy of this cultureshockuk.bandcamp.com/album/go-wild

Decided to go to the cinema to escape the rain for a few hours but the rain had other ideas...

Just bought one of those neverending bowls of noodles where I've been eating soldily for 15 minutes and it still looks full.

Lads, the scenery on the Costa Del Connemara really comes into its own when the remnants of a hurricane are passing through. 👌

Tune of the Day Benedict - Something (2024) #TOTD #vinyl #vinylcollection #discogs youtu.be/9-dxAGxEZzE?...

Tune of the Day Theo Parrish - Took Me All The Way Back (1997) Genuine random selection today, but it chose perfectly as I am slightly overexcited for his 8 hour set tomorrow at We Out Here. #TOTD #vinyl #vinylcollection #discogs youtu.be/2w1JB5YpHYE?...

Tune of the Day Marcellus Pittman - Skylark (Late Morning Mix Foool!!) (2006) Looking forward to catching Malik again at We Out Here this w/e #TOTD #vinyl #vinylcollection #discogs youtu.be/wfkCHb_GviQ?...