Ah...we have travelled to the Shire and have entered our spiritual home. All is right with the world (well obviously it isn't but just give me this for a couple of hours, eh?)

Roger Deakins really is the Robert Mapplethorpe of cinema, IMHO. Fewer butt plugs and cocks, though.

One of our occasional newsletters has just been sent out to our subscribers but you can also read it here: mailchi.mp/e07a5d7c07c7...

Oh yeah, those are the words I really want to see on my PC that 'just needed a little Win11' update: 'Your keyboard is disabled whist we update your firmware...'

Help! Pub conversation: is the Mos Eisley Cantina Theme in Star Wars IV a Charleston? It had never occurred to my OH. I've only ever heard it as a Charleston... please advise

Holiday. Best pub in town.

This, in the York Tap, on York station. Around the other side of the circular bar was a full complement of Timmy Taylor beers. Allowed myself a smirk

Hey, Toto, we're not in Kansas any more...

So, you can tell it's autumn. We've just made a large batch of hot and sour green tomato curry paste. Most has gone into the freezer for winter meals.

Another day, another interminable call queue at HMRC. At least I haven't been put through their IVR system, and an extra bonus of the hold music swapping between two tunes - at least that's a novelty.

More adult gardening today. Where adult = remembering to do jobs at the right time. Spring me will congratulate autumn me for spending time planting narcissus bulbs

The glamour of being the COO of a tiny, underfunded CIC. Saturday- QAing old laptops to be donated to clients and fixing door locks with a pair of pliers. Yesterday sewing replacement seat backs for our loved, but tatty chairs for clients. Today was all about writing funding bids.Beer O'clock?

In which we learn that fabric cutting wheels are A) Chiral B) Really sharp C) Much harder to use (safely) than Sewing Bee makes it look and, in not unrelated news: finger tips bleed A LOT.

First time cider-making since we revamped the kitchen room. Humongous sink was a very good choice. Fully opening bifold doors enabled us to set up the press in shelter but with plenty of circulation space. Gigantic decorating sheets left by our builder were awesome for covering the whole floor /1

Brilliant to welcome 119 visitors on another scorching hot open afternoon!

One of the best reasons to live where I live is that, at night, I can hear tawny owls hooting away, but it's still only a 10 minute walk to a really good pub and a Waitrose.

I know I say this regularly, but my lovely young team @techresort.bsky.social are utterly amazing. When they ask me a simple question, I rarely give them a simple answer - I tend to give them information so they can work it our for themselves. I appreciate how irritating this can be...

Huh! interestingly useful digital took from HMRC. A complaint I made is overdue (from the usual SLA) so had resigned myself to getting grumpy on the phone. Logged into GG to get numbers etc and on the front page was a "when can I expect an answer" tracker. Actually quite useful!

Today has elicited initial excitement, followed by a weary sigh of resignation.

So, having taken photos, developed and scanned them, I'm now obsessing about the names of my albums on Flickr. That's going to be my day now. #nerdsGonnaNerd

Supposed to be writing a funding bid whilst listening to TMS. Nothing is getting written. It's too tense.

Ok, I know this is niche...but Michael Vaughan = Dave Podmore. No?

My pizza dough is making a break for it

In other news (well, not really "other") I'm filling out stupid paper pension forms on the day that gov say too few people of the generation below mine are saving sufficiently for pensions. I dunno, what about making the whole thing simpler to understand, eh? (I've had to fill out 7 sides of A4)

Today's infuriating digital crapness. I'm completing paperwork for my occupational pension. I want to do it digitally. According to the paperwork I can do this via the website. Can't sign in - accepting the fact that maybe I wrote the password down wrong I do an account recovery first by phone /1

Great illustration of how repurposing local gov kit helps for longer than you might think... Yeah, yeah the naming thing was so we could see them on the network and give old geeks with too much time on their hands and this is what they do

Big shout-out to @sussexcommfound.bsky.social and The Southern Water Goodwill Fund. We now have a grant in place to work with partners in Hastings/St Leonards for digital inclusion, kids' sessions and some work experience!

With the right structure and a bit of flexibility a system like could work. @techresort.bsky.social already has 6/11 employees who are in their first job. Financial support for social enterprises like ours could be a real game-changer. /1

Go on! You know you want to!

Listening to The Today programme talking to Indian and Pakistani leaders I'm thinking we might need Lord John Marbury...

Dun peopling... ...and relaaaaaaaxxxxxx

Ours is really the house of nerd. Yesterday we noticed that the French bean seedlings were growing so fast you could see the difference from hour to hour. 4am this morning sees me getting up to change the battery in the camera taking a timelapse. Sigh.

There's still spaces for our Architectural Tour on Bank Holiday, Monday 5th May! Learn about the design features of Martello Towers, and what changes have been made to our own Tower 73 over the years. Entry is free, but pre-booking via our website is essential! wishtower.org.uk/event/archit...

Once again for the hard of thinking orgs at the back of the class. If you send me unsolicited emails about ANYTHING at all, I'll just block and junk the mail. This is not a sales strategy. (me sighing at the 10th email I've just right-clicked and blocked today)

Back from working remotely for 3 weeks. Let's play "what thing that was perfectly functional when I left it is Windows Update going to break with updates" today, then? My second monitor. OK, admittedly almost the oldest bit of kit in my desktop set up. Prior to update: happily functional... /1

If you've got some insight or experience with people who are digitally excluded, please take part in this call for evidence. @techresort.bsky.social have made a submission and we're hoping there's plenty of other evidence too!

So, apparently, this is probably the remains of a Woodcock. Found in central Bristol - almost certainly a peregrine falcon meal. We think maybe it was Mrs PF's birthday and she fancied a change from feral pigeon. We did hear her mithering a lot before we found this. <gruesome warning>

Oooh! Much delayed train from Paddington now running fast (no stops) to Bristol. Awesome!

This evening we had 'all the bits left in the fridge' gratin for dinner. Very find it was too. Definitely worthy of inclusion in a cookery book

I know loads of people hate public transport but sometimes when you get off the train, walk out to the nearest bus stop and a usable bus is waiting for you to jump on, you know it can work.

It's Sunday at home so it's beer from the fridge and a board game. Today we cured all know illnesses! (Just)

These babies have certainly rewarded the bit of care we gave them

Went to the pub to watch some rugby and have some lovely cask beer. Surprise meet up with buddies we thought had left the area. Bonus!

Our lovely team will just tell me this was a pretty light day. But I remain in awe!

Gearing up for a spring clear out? Laptops and phones can be donated to @techresort.bsky.social techresort.org/projects/dev...

The replacement of the right-ctrl button with a "Co pilot" button is truly the work of the devil. Apparently no easy fix either. Never realised just how much I used r-ctrl. Sigh. Thankfully this is just my work laptop. Have to buy a home desktop soon. Will be scrutinising keyboard options

Lovely to see Pinky Pink's flowers opened. Poor ol' Julio's flower stalk clearly has a bit of a problem but buds are coming out - we may see flowers yet

There is weather!

Walk around the harbour to try a couple of 127 cameras. Brilliant to seen how well Bristol uses the harbour side. Since we were here, was rude not to come for a pint or two

Just witnessed peregrine falcon flyby sex. Wonder if it took?