Recent WhatsApp messages from my mother, in order. 1. I can't send messages via WhatsApp, can you see this? 2. Did you hear there was a murder in the village last week? 3. I've got a cold so can't actually message right now 4. The press are describing the village as 'quaint' but it's not quaint!

It's time to send us your meter reading.

I also saw some alpaca (or llama, idk, I'm not Chris Packham), a Type L box, and also acquired some pudding and tarts from Bakewell.

Some signs from the ringing weekend in Derbyshire, including a peal board from 1944 (not a lot of wartime peal boards, due to restrictions on ringing at that time).

Ringers' floor.

I passed through a number of towns in Staffordshire and Shropshire today and Jesus fucking Christ the amount of union jacks out was incredibly oppressive. Here be racists, and no mistake.

Your ghost is neon green.

Racist graffiti on the bus? Stick a sticker on it.

Have to say, this is pretty much the exact opposite of what I look for in a gadget repair shop.

I am on a train that smells very meaty.

Also me, at the supermarket self-checkout, trying to choose between the 'Vegetable', 'Fruit' or 'Other' buttons.

I really feel quite strongly that Mandy, Indiana should do some more gigs near me.

Faintly traumatised by tonight's quarter. I treble bobbed so badly that eventually the conductor changed the method to plain bob just so we could get to the end of something. Ugh.

Bell maintenance session abandoned due to everything in the belfry being covered in years of pigeon shit. Hardly ideal.

Tinnitus, but all it does is make you think you might have left a tap running in another room.

Let's get you logged in...

I have spent an hour searching for my passport, which was, of course, in the place I looked first, ie the place it should be, but I had just not looked thoroughly enough.

"Dear Michael" I write to the man named Matthew who got my name wrong in the preceding email.

I'm like a pristine, freshwater pearl.

Another successful quarter of Plain Bob Minor. I am even starting to enjoy the experience.

Yes, I do know how convincing AI videos have become. No, I don't need you to show me some to make your point. Stop it.

Love it when musicians decide to go for a little wander about the stage mid song. Like, yeah I was looking forward up to now but now I'm going to go see how the drummer's doing. Don't worry though, I know when to go back to the front, I got this.

A bit more belfry art, a tower grab, and my first ever successful quarter of treble bobbing.

Another quarter! Plain Bob Triples from the 2. Quite chaotic and almost fired out more than once but it came round in the end.

The beach is much better in autumn when all the tourists have gone away.

I am trying to give tech support to a user who is consistently not following the instructions I'm providing and is somehow confused that their problem has not been resolved.

Another successful quarter peal! Compared to Saturday's, this one was almost pleasant. Nice, even bells. Good times.

Fish pedicures. What the heck was all that about.

I called the bells into Queens and back without messing it up. This. Is. Progress.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary of this, whatever this was!

Today it was my turn to struggle through a quarter. More Plain Bob Minor, on unfamiliar, bouncy bells and for a wedding. I need a drink.

I am alone in a dimly lit church. Come at me, ghosts.

Very exciting to find one of the new solar powered pillar boxes.

First quarter on an inside bell since 2019 ✔️ A single lead of Cambridge Minor ✖️ Blisters ✔️

My local Morrisons has replaced the in-store Timpsons with piles of pumpkins and a plastic skeleton.

It's not their fault, but I am irrationally suspicious when people don't have a middle name.

My brother, who does not have reliable access to the internet, often sends me questions to research, apropos of nothing, and with a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to spelling.

I ♥️ illegal immigration.

Unfair.

People who say 'thanking you' instead of 'thank you' exist in a weird bracket in my mind, along with those who reply to posts with things like 'Chapeau good sir'.

Just misspelled my own name when signing off an email, as 'Alive', which is, yeah. Yep. Ok.

I am doing London.

Hello to London's best bridge.

Google Photos wants to know some cat names. And remind me of a highlight. And also my finest artist achievement.

This evening I rang a quarter of Plain Bob Major on the treble where each backstroke involved the risk of scraping my thumb against a 15th century red sandstone arch.

I'm solidly confident that there is no god, but every time I see a romanesco cauliflower, a little sliver of doubt slips in.

When a product doesn't want to go as far as actually suggesting you buy it.

One for the geologists.

World's shit, but I saw some goats and pigs and cows today. And some creepy mannequins (the only kind of mannequin).

Did you ever look at the news and feel like you were going crazy?