Another weekend, another beer festival. This time it was to « Stout Sure Meuse » in Namur. Black beers and sours only! In a former church that still very much looks and feels like a church!

"I practice ethical non monoworky"

Today started with the out of hours vet but we’re all doing much better now. Fred has a very sore mouth but has had his antibiotic injections and coped pretty well overall. Well done to the vet for getting two piqûres in without losing any fingers.

Off to the vétérinaire de garde with Freddy this morning. Naturally, it’s raining and I have no transport. Please send good not-hiding-from-the-cat-carrier thoughts.

Children’s lit and classics friends: join us for a discussion on disability and belonging. More info here powerofsadness.wordpress.com/belonging-th... And you can book in here forms.office.com/e/TzeiHiWp2n Caroline Lawrence will be with us online, excited for it! Hope to see you there!

Trying to find a not too pathetic or weird way of saying I’m not doing so great at the moment and would really appreciate a kind word or just a hello. I would absolutely love to hear about what you’ve been doing, especially if it was weird or funny.

I’m finding the restoration of order after the kids’ 2 days of kitchen devastation oddly therapeutic. Don’t tell them.

🏉 "More brands need to start looking at women’s rugby. We’re the only sport really in the world that has a place for all shapes and sizes, all backgrounds. and we are accessible. We are welcoming to everyone." Fab interview with Red Roses star Sarah Bern thenewwomenssportmagazine.com/back-in-blue...

Scary Nijntje #Nijntmerries

Goedemorgen uit Amsterdam! Een volledige dag van musea en cultuur gepland.

My bank thinks I will be “excited” by them changing the name of their payment app. Just more pointless nonsense.

On my way to Amsterdam for karnemelk and belegde broodjes. I may also buy some new socks.

On a commuter train and just going to put it out there: if I started talking about my job, it would be more interesting than the work conversation I’m being subjected to. Marketing, brands, blablabla. But more importantly, I just wouldn’t.

My pic of the week. This delightful dog belongs to a café in our neighbourhood. Or perhaps the café belongs to him.

The Guardian has gone TOO FAR this time. It's a British paper; we say "half-arsed", not "half-assed". FFS.

Remember to shout "Where's your Turnip" at any trick or treaters who knock on your door today.

Very pleased with my decision to take today off. Starting my long weekend with the excellent @backlisted.bsky.social Hallowe’en episode on Wuthering Heights. One of my absolute favourite novels and absolutely a horror, not a romance. #Vindicated #TeamEmily

The title of this report “Cats and their stats (CATS)” makes me unreasonably happy www.cats.org.uk/about-cp/cat... Also, who are these people who don’t talk to their cat?

For the second day in a row, radio station La Première ensuring I get my morning coffee by playing a song so terrible that we are forced out of bed to save our brains. Where do they find this dross?

I feel soothed just reading this. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...

Apparently it's okay to be sick of the UK and become an immigrant elsewhere but somehow it's not okay for people to be sick of their countries and become an immigrant in the UK.

Ergste wat mij betreft is dat Yesilgöz met deze uitslag gewoon kan aanblijven als leider. Na alle schade die ze heeft aangericht.

Heeft iedereen zijn verkiezingsbingokaart weer bij de hand? #nederlandkiest #verkiezingen2025

Ooe, een groot feest vanavond bij de D66 maar “heel stil” bij GroenLinks- PvDA #NederlandKiest

Celebrating our anniversary in front of Dutch election coverage. Four minutes until polls close! #NederlandKiest

Noch rooken, noch spuwen #InDeBuurt

I sometimes refer to my grandmother’s best friend’s daughter as my cousin, because our families have now been close friends across 4 generations and they are the closest thing I have to extended family here. And don’t even get me started on whether I have 1 sibling or <counts fingers> 4.

Why is it inappropriate? Seems to me two things here: one, that you're implying that seeking asylum means you're violent or dangerous, which is gross and racist, and two, that you don't want to risk your constitutents meeting these people and seeing that they're normal human beings.

I recall in the 60s, Remembrance Day was one solemn Sunday morning. That was it. It was a moving occasion at our local memorial and attended by actual WW1 and WW2 veterans. Unlike the mawkish weeks long competition for the most tasteless display of a poppy that it's become Often, less is more.

I have a feeling that this will die a death on bluesky but I am doing the kids’ bit of the Christmas gift guide for Time Out and if YOU are a London-based business selling something cool for kids this Xmas that could be photographed really quite soon – get in touch..! (do we still do #journorequest)

They were not kidding. Poperinge Bierfestival really is het gezelligste bierfestival van ‘t land. Splendid stuff.

A pre-Halloween horror film article I wrote last year. Enjoyed doing this one because the approach the editor suggested was not the obvious Top Ten format, and slightly eccentric (for the most part I tried to avoid the usual suspects).

I’ve had a lovely chat with an older lady on my train today. She is annoyed about timetable disruptions, digital ticketing and the modern world in general, but enthusiastic about Virginia Wolf, the opera, Chantal Ackerman films and living in Antwerpen.

Very excited to be heading to Poperinge and "Het gezelligste bierfestival van 't land" this weekend. DJ Gregoir, we’re on our way!

I cannot get over how absolutely ludicrous they look harassing people doing laundry. Somehow I didn't realize fascism would look so fucking stupid

Ils tournent in de buurt.

I feel like I will be repeating this until I die, but here is your reminder that AI neither understands what you are asking of it nor what it tells you. #academicsky #journalismsky

Last post-cataract-surgery eyedrops are dropped and we are DONE. Eyes both looking healthy, my vision is loads better than before surgery and I don’t need to go back to the ophthalmologist for a whole year. Whoop!

Someone robbing the Louvre with nothing but chainsaws, a ladder, and parallel parking was not on my 2025 bingo card

Everyone on my timeline seems to talking about food and now I urgently need to eat a (woke) curry and also some pickled herring with raw onions and black bread.

Er dreigt iets helemaal mis te gaan in het Amsterdamse stadsarchief, zeggen Charles Jeurgens, Fred van Lieburg en ik in Het Parool www.parool.nl/columns-opin...

Seriously considering cobbling together my own AI agent to triage my inbox and send "fuck off" emails to every single org emailing me needlessly

Define your music taste with 8 artists - X-Ray Spex - Half Man Half Biscuit - Patti Smith - Stromae - Buzzcocks - New York Dolls - Stiff Little Fingers - Bug Club

36€ per ticket (inclusief éen bier). No thanks!

Yesterday my etsy shop had preciously one view. (And i think that was probably me) If you like my stuff please repost. An eccentric millionaire with lots of empty wall space could be scrolling your timeline right now. marswasrubbish.etsy.com/listing/1579...

That’s our bedroom window in the background!

I went to Liège for the opera (which was very good) but I’m mostly excited about my first trip on the TRAMS, which came into service earlier this year.

Dear gods, I’d forgotten how embarrassingly rubbish being young and drunk can be. I’m currently at a tram stop in Liège with a bunch of cackling, shrieking students whose future selves should be dying of shame.

DO NOT MISS The Word for World: The Maps of @ursulakleguin.com, Architectural Association, Bedford Sq, London. It's truly beautiful. (I've never been involved w a project that's had massive banners before, it's v exciting). Spend time with the maps, inc my niche fave, The City Ansul from VOICES 💙

not having a robust public transit system is lesbophobic. gay girls need medium-long train rides so they can fall asleep on each other while coming back from fun day & weekend trips that take an unexpectedly sweet and flirty turn