Paging @rotster.net!

I made a thing! Seven things!

They're not as even as the woman on Instagram's but so far so good. Onto the last 15 minute rise before they go into the oven and then I need to clean the kitchen 🤣

Having a go at making ciabatta rolls this morning. Never made rolls before so could be great, could be an abject disaster. I will update in approximately 2hrs.

Can we have a moment of silence for my original model diagram...

OK, I unexpectedly heard from them today saying they accept pending minor revisions! Said minor revisions involve reanalysing one of my models with additional structural paths. The analysis took all of half an hour; trying to create a new SEM diagram that isn't hideous is proving more difficult...

Double rainbow over our house just now! 🌈 Could Pride Month have made it to the shires? 😂

When you need to sear a joint of beef but you've just washed your hair 🤣

I submitted revisions on a paper at the beginning of March and hadn't heard anything. On checking the portal today I've discovered not only are they sending it out for review again (sigh) but it's still showing as "recruiting reviewers". I'm not seeing this paper published in 2026 am I 😅

Really shocked to hear of the passing of @raulpachecovega.bsky.social. I have been following him for over a decade, first on Twitter and now here. He was a source of endless amounts of great advice about writing and I learned a lot about how to do academia from him.

In other hail-related news: MY BABIES!!! 😫 (Alt-text for all images: Cucumber and pepper plants with their leaves torn apart by apocalyptic hail)

When you've got a wobbly head but you're very good at problem solving

So big it set off the bird camera! The hail was about 2-3cm across, I've never seen anything like it 😳

BIG HAIL 😳

Don't mind me, I'm just gonna go ahead and unplug the air conditioner so I can plug in my electric blanket 🤷‍♀️

We fully committed to No Mow May and now look at the situation we're in 🤣

Spent most of the morning attempting to do in Camtasia something that ended up being far, far easier in PowerPoint. There's a lesson in there somewhere...

There is a blue tit fledgling in our undergrowth (apparently this is normal) and it is making me very nervous. I feel like I need to cancel all my meetings today so I can sit in the garden and ward off corvids with a broom 😆

Erm... could I possibly be a little bit chilly?!

The very best way I've found to explain what it feels like when even a tiny little piece of my schedule gets changed is to ask them if they've ever tried to move a photo around in Microsoft word

In related news, anyone else foolishly leave their washing out last night? 😂

Last night we had the most epic thunderstorm with the loudest thunder I have ever heard! This morning has started off blessedly cool; it's due to get 30°c later but not starting off hot at least gives a bit of a reprieve.

Behold, our first harvest! 😃😅

appetite and hunger are not a function of character or willpower, they are powerful biological drivers of eating behaviour when you try to override them by not eating, they make you think about food, as illustrated in this famous 1951 scientific treatise youtu.be/tt0OByKSLxM?...

The weather's a lot cooler today and I was going to go into town with my wife so I could go to the library and have a wander while she has her eyes tested. However I did a hypermobile and somehow disastrously injured my shoulder picking up my phone from the dining table(!) so I'll be staying here.

The kitten has been stood with her front paws on the windowsill for the last hour and every time there's a flash of lightning she ducks down for a bit and then once she's regrouped she's back up there. Possibly the first time she's seen a thunderstorm.

It is now apparently 23°c and I have run* through the house opening all the doors and windows in delight 😂 *well, shambled

A reminder (that I needed myself): If you ARE drinking more water in this heat and still feeling headachey, you probably need salt. Doesn't need to be fancy. A bag of crisps will probably sort you out. And drink more water than you usually do. (Salad counts, and is nice with a bit of salt.)

I can confirm that cat yoghurt treats (Webbox and similar) when frozen are ideal cat lollies. Old Fergus was a bit suspicious at first then miaowed for more when he finished it.

Last year's thread on how to deal with The Hot for inexperienced Northern drizzly people.

Putting away last week's washing which included... rather a lot of thermal base layers. Weirdest May on record.

Book 15 of 2026 The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey Started: 19/05/26 Finished: 25/05/26 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 I'm grateful to @jlkaufmann.bsky.social for putting me onto this because it was brilliant. My first Josephine Tey but definitely not my last. 💙📚

THIS IS NOT NORMAL

Last Thursday I made a fairly ambitious Gantt chart for our current project and then we had a heatwave and a three day weekend and now I am fully dreading going back to work and having to actually meet the deadlines I set for myself 😂

The kitchen is a furnace so I am treating it much like the 8000m+ death zone on Everest, i.e. you *can* go in there but you must have a strict time limit and when you reach it you've got to leave whether you've summited or not

The bastard starlings have eaten my lettuce seedlings!

Our neighbour has parked blocking the bottom of our path so you can't get my wheelchair out. He's been asked not to before. I don't need to go out today but am considering having a "medical emergency" at 2am that necessitates waking him up to move the car so I can "go to A&E"* * Or McDonalds 😂

Busy day (in the shade, with many breaks! 🥵) potting on all my various plants. Never ceases to be magical that these were just seeds a few weeks ago. We've got two types of tomato, mini cucumbers, chocolate peppers, pumpkins, patio sunflowers and cosmos.

Are these ready for thinning out yet? Left photo is lettuce, right is rocket. And how much space do they need when they're thinner?

And here was I thinking he might be an improvement... 🙄 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The 2nd paper from my PhD was published this morning 🎉

Shutting all the blinds to keep the sun out except for the one in my office which has to be kept open a foot or so because oldest cat likes to sunbathe on the window seat and the kitten likes to sit on the windowsill and talk to the birds 😂

A migraine and a four hour meeting are not all that compatible 🥴

The world is your oyster. Hard to reach, near impossible to open. You will probably slice your thumb in the process—how the f*ck do they do it so easy in the videos? There will not be a pearl. There will be slimy snotty stuff. It’s better with sauce. Repeat.

Today we have a plumber coming to give us a quote at 5pm so obviously all ability to actually achieve anything before then has gone out the window.

We are deeply unserious as a city

Two years today since this little clown came to live with us ❤️

I have always been on research only contracts so I've done very little teaching. I'm currently writing an e-learning module related to my current project and MY GOD it takes a long time doesn't it!?

Book 14 of 2026 Death Knocks Twice by Robert Thorogood Started: 13/05/26 Finished: 18/05/26 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 I love a locked room mystery and I really enjoyed this. Of course I didn't work out whodunnit (or how) but that's all part of the enjoyment for me! 💙📚