Confronting a cat. Austin ran away while barking very quietly as he retreated to emphasise his courage. Also we travelled upstairs in a Routemaster Bus for the first time and he loved the views. #dogs

Osho's piano school on Lambeth Walk includes an amazing museum of Black British childhood; what's visible from the window just a tiny fraction of his collection. Should be an intangible national treasure.

Bart. Platina, Lives of the Popes. First publ. 1479, revised by Onofrio Panvinio 1562, with woodcut portraits added 1590, this the 1610 Cologne ed. On topic for me as covers Roman history Platina also wrote the first printed #cookbook!! De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine, 1474, on Roman fine dining

I enjoy what virtually everyone appreciates — nature, our pet dog, praise for music or a book, pride in others' accomplishments; pleasure in sports, references to history. Those I follow, likewise. Joyce Carol Oates, in her takedown, described in a few words what is beautiful and has meaning in life

Red and Blue Composition, by Ad Reinhardt, 1941 (flipped), 📸 by Andrew Mordzynski

Charing Cross to Embankment, Leicester Square to Covent Garden, and Excel to the O2 Dome (who needs that route up in the sky when there are myriad good tube/DLR connections) are the least useful one-stop routes on TFL Underground, DLR and Overground. Today I tried The Cable Car.

Classic cars Lower Marsh, Waterloo. A regular event so it's quite usual to see classics in this part of London but never dull. Well-deserved pride in ownership and restorations.

On a ship, the Thamesis built 1930 in Holland & docked Albert Embankment. I already smashed a glass full of red wine on the deck when the boat shifted a bit and the deck table was sloping and slippy. I bought a replacement then they very kindly comped me a third and gave Austin water and snacks 🔥💯

New: 12mo 16th century #Antiquarian numismatic book gems both with exquisite typesetting, multiple types, multiple layout formats, Latin, Greek, Italic, various spacings, different font sizes, decorated letterings, woodcut images, marble inscriptions. Aurelius Victor, 1591 & Strein, Families, 1579

ArtXLagos 6-9 Nov 2025 International art fair Music Film Design Literature & Art Keynote speakers El Anatsui, Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, Yinka Shonibare, Wangechi Mutu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ibrahim Mahama and more ArtX prize & support for early career artists www.artxlagos.com/programme?ut...

My mate Sam brought over his new girlfriend for drinks. While I chatted to him and played with Austin, she helped the twins build an IKEA bed and wardrobe. Keeper.

The river Thames, home to 125 species of fish, even sharks, over 400 invertebrates, and various large mammals, including seals and Austin the puppy

Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3 📷 D. v. Recklinghausen 🏺

"A personal bugbear is people walking side by side: “double wides” or “triple wides”. What’s the biggest phalanx he’s seen? “Sometimes you get a linked quadruple-wide, at which point …” With a heavy sigh, he shakes his head. Yup. Rambling Families in Phalanx 🤬 www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

New in my library, revised ed. du Choul's numismatic Ancient Roman Religions (quarto, 1672, Wesel, Hoogenhuyse). Same French text as first ed (folio, 1559, Lyon, Rouille) but plates entirely re-engraved with bolder print and energetic style, compare e.g. portraits of Pompey the Great in first pic

Autumnal #London

"Teen Vogue Will Fold Into Vogue dot com" - Danya Issawi, fashion writer The Cut, today Teen Vogue has run first class political coverage for years, making the right calls on issues major news orgs wouldn't touch. So its owner, Condé Nast, cancelled its independence www.teenvogue.com/news-politics

cracks me up every time to see how Austin strolls so casually towards the swan full of puppy bravado, the swan hisses, Austin, surprised, halts abruptly in great alarm, sits down on his butt to make defensive plans and in a fraction of a second scarpers away as fast as he can. #dogs

Austin visits the Prime Minister at Downing Street Austin visits Buckingham palace Austin visits Parliament Austin goes shopping in Piccadilly

1. Austin the Terrified's first meeting with a swan. The swan hissed. He ran away.

Three #Halloween cowboys 👻😄

Safe distance from London but not as safe as the American Numismatic Society will be from New York once it moves to Toledo Ohio #numismatics

At the Mountains of Madness is a science-fiction and cosmic horror novella by H. P. Lovecraft, written on scrap paper Feb-March 1931. It details a disastrous expedition to Antarctica in September 1930, and what is found by a group of explorers led by Dr. William Dyer of Miskatonic University.

Dude I have entire wings of my family who I call cousins and they're basically just people who came over for a meal and never left

Found a quiet circle in the fifty five thousand square foot (one White House or three-fifths a typical dance hall) dystopian IGA lounge at IST. Not especially luxurious but all usual stuff and most pax don't make it to further nooks so worth exploring to find a good perch. Utterly Soulless.

Russian food. Beets, odd potato dishes, fish with small bones, pickles with pickles, canned stuffs that taste so heavily of tin it makes my fillings hurt. And vodka. The vodka is good. 1924Istanbul for dinner met all expectations. Gloomy, brusque waiters, dark wood. I had a very good time. Vodka.

"people are overworked and tired" 💯 It takes a god-genius-level leader (Zohran?) to steer the overworked and tired towards the true fight. Be happy and grateful if a handful of peeps turn up for your "Crocheting for the LibDems" coffee-morning. Stay kind to the overworked and tired who couldn't.

A disabled woman's PIP claim was rejected three times while she struggled to work and manage debilitating pain of multiple chronic health conditions This exactly matches my twins repeated PIP rejections despite debilitating #sicklecell disease. No help system exists www.aol.co.uk/articles/too...

Bouncing round the red light district of Istanbul like a drunken sailor [sound on]

The Suleymaniye mosque built 1550 included a multi-domed complex of welfare institutions for the poor, sick and hungry, with a colonnaded courtyard restaurant, Daruzziyafe, in continuous use for 450 years. Always my favourite, sad on this Istanbul trip to find it now closed. These are my memories:

Istanbul. 1. View from my office towards an Ottoman bathhouse still in use today 2,3. Pandeli restaurant above the Spice Bazaar. Blue tiling consumes you. Old tradition food 4. Serpent bronze column built for 479 BCE Greek victory at Plataea over Persians, relocated to Hippodrome 324 CE

"Ssalongo Kibaate Aloysius in the small Ugandan town of Mbirizi showed me thousands of negatives he had in a burlap sack and I was blown away" After the 1990s discovery of Malick Sidibé, how many more sacks of photographic negatives remain to be found? continent.substack.com/p/review-how...

In 1738 Louis XV tore down a wing of Fontainebleau palace. Destroyed walls included magnificent frescoes by Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570) frescos in the Galerie d'Ulysee Fortunately I have a copy of the frescoes, Les Travaux d' Ulysse, Paris 1640. 57 plates This post is not about Fontainebleau

Today in Jeremy's salad: romaine, collard green, c cucumber and rose

The president said the new ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building”, wouldn't be "touching it", and would pay "total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of". Press sec. Karoline Leavitt said "nothing will be torn down" The East Wing was demolished October 2025

Austin came visited me at Heathrow - Green Man pub, dog friendlly at Hatton Cross - where I'm staying overnight in transit from Dublin to Istanbul, along with Isaac who wanted to collect a box of cigarettes. Despite the picture Austin was extremely pleased to see me. I'm just hugging him a bit tight

The Royal Lodge, Windsor, home of the Prince formally known as York. Snapped it as I was flying into Heathrow today.

Rarely gets an outing but this 1952 Super Oyster is really special. The porcelain-like dial, traces of radium burn, such delicate hands. Beautiful. Perhaps the most under rated Rolex type, a semi-bubbleback perpetual, no need to wind. Travel watch for Istanbul

Japanese trains are amazing. If you do your maths right you can estimate the speed of this train through Odawara, Kanagawa. End carriages are 27 m and the standard ones are 25 m in.lenght. Total of 16 carriages.

Austin. Austin has never stopped zooming long enough to take anything except a blurred photo, but a Roman Republican coin die engraver captured him perfectly about 2170 years ago

Following the recoinage of Edward I in 1279, things turned around, literally....... . One penny . = Two Halfpennies = Four Farthings

Rather attractive ed of War and Peace at Quaritch: I want. Read W&P as a kid, time for a re-read. Wartime ed. in English, signed by Clementine Churchill (1885-1977) in the wake of the Battle of Stalingrad, with a pasted in note from the Agniya Maisky, the wife of the Soviet ambassador to the UK.

Istanbul next week via Ireland. Two modest travel watches; Seiko Marinemaster and Rolex Super Oyster.

Four times Rolex. Four times Grand Seiko. Comparing and contrasting I wonder which looks best?

How to properly store, care for, and disappear a Rolex 1503 Oyster Perpetual Date with gold case and gold rivet bracelet #dogs

Four red double decker Routemasters on Westminster bridge. Millbank tower to the left. Elizabeth Tower (with its more well known bell), Parliament and the Thames. And Austin.

This extraordinarily vibrant green-glazed jar was made in China in the 8th century.

Austin Fast as Fuck (with apols to voiceover originator) #dogs

When travelling with any common big mass-market paperback it's perfectly ok to tear off the pages as you read, to lighten the travel load and obviate the need for bookmarks