Four years. Amazing what grows if you just hit everything with a crowbar.

Get an e-bike so you can ride over the hills to the next village and do The Weird Machine Pilates and then ride home with this view

The weather in Pewsey this weekend is suddenly looking absolutely phenomenal for those that like crop circles etc

Finished reading the Lord of the Rings books yesterday for the first time. This Tolkein guy is quite good it turns out, keep an eye on that name. Ran to one of the highest points in Gloucestershire this morning, extremely middle earth vibes.

I can't read the name Joseph Pilates without thinking it's a joke name like Brian Karate or Sarah Physiotherapy

I just don't think you've listened to enough pumpkins

Gwennifer Raymond plays harder than you

You're telling me a vibe coded this website?

Slowly building back running distance means I get to see places I haven't been to for almost 2 years. Been looking forward to doing this route again for a long time

The only day of the year I look forward to getting up at 4:30am. Walk up the hill, find the 8ft suave pig and the fiddle player; a wee pagan jig until the sun comes up, oh look the pub is open.

Just a friendly otter in the sunshine doing laps in the canal on this morning's run, totally fine, didn't lose my shit at all

Songs to rush in the bath to

Sometimes 'techno fascism' is a bit hard to tie down exactly but Palantir have just fully come out said "We are fascists. We like fascism. We are building technology to do a fascism".

I, a 40 year old person, have passed my driving theory test. Will be going to lazer quest and bowling to celebrate later. Ask your dad if he can drive us

I get a surprising amount of satisfaction from creating (extremely sick) architecture diagrams. It's the kind of technical drawing I wanted to do as a kid but I didn't hear the term "distributed systems" until after I'd started (and quit) an actual physical Architecture degree.

First wild orchid of the year

I have made a complicated spreadsheet with lots of colours which means long distance running must be happening again

I am slowly building a running habit again, which means more time by the canal at surprisingly early times of the day. Had a short race with a Herron this morning which I did not win

@monkchips.com as per your suggestion/stern request, I have paid real money to replace the Portland copy. Looking forward to it

It's nice when the tech conference is actually a people conference

It's nice when you meet people from the internet

@toni.bsky.team Hi Toni, apologies for the direct approach but I'm sort of out of options. I raised a bug *15 months ago* that prevents me from unfollowing people. It's quite a fundamental feature of bsky to choose who you follow - but I can't. The bug was acknowledged but nothing has been done.

Picking up a side project I have been building on-and-off for 12 years. Looking at the commit history, it's always this time of year when I decide to delve into it again. I even appear to have made the *exact* same commit almost precisely 3 years apart. Definitely going to finish it this time eh?

I was once laughed at by a bar lady in a 'rock bar' in Brussels for requesting smashing pumpkins Mayonnaise because "it is too soft", yet here it was in this morning's Peloton session bar lady so who's laughing now? (It is still her).

Have you ever been threatened by a pudding menu?

Science mountain, painted church, wooden bums, cosmic pig

SMOOT

Tops off bbqs out it's happening

One of my favourite gigs from last year was watching a local duo dressed as sweetcorn playing bangers with a recorder and a lot of vocal loops. They've got various tour dates this year, you should go and see them. mermaidchunky.bandcamp.com/album/slif-s...

Went for a walk based purely on the novelty pub name, did not disappoint

I've had this bottle for nearly 10 years. I've carried it on international trips (and back again because sometimes you shouldn't drink everything). I've had it longer than my dog and my mortgage and it's somehow still drinkable and even a bit of Woodford reserve still going.

What if you just booked Zyggurat to play the local pay-what-you-can community cafe that's also a bike repair and bouldering centre and the ticket sales paid for people to eat dinner who otherwise might not?

- Lovely illustration ✔️ - Personal connection to the image ✔️ - Shipped across the seas by the in-laws ✔️ - FIVE FUCKING PIECES MISSING ✔️

I've never been scared of a cake before

Made Nigellas No-bake Advocaat & gingerbread cake. Mix double cream, mascarpone, icing sugar, custard powder & Advocaat into a single raw material. Hoof in figs, macadamia & crystallized ginger, then layer it between packs of cake from the shop like a gout lasagna & leave in the fridge for 24 hours

A relatively new entry to the festive canon but already a firm tradition: sitting in a hot bubble bath with a glass of champagne while Oren Ambarchi and Ricardo Villalobos fight over Jim O'Rourke. RMTO(ITB)

Absurd. Deep into the many layered day of gout, a 6th purple dachshund has been found in the camembert dish

Just one more thing...

Pleased to announce Yamaha have sampled my internal organs and I'm now available on your favourite keyboard

I had a look last month at updating bandcamp wrapped for 2025, but it seems they've blocked or changed the 'undocumented APIs' I was using to make the whole thing work. Was fun while it lasted, hope they make their own, buy music when you can.

Woke up to a "moderate fog warning" which actually meant "everything is invisible now". Went for a run up a big hill and broke through the cloud inversion, all the surrounding hills just turned into giant land clouds. 5 out of 5.

Just beat a "top 100 London law firm" at their own game, been awarded full claim, costs, compensation and interest by court order. Am I now the 99th best law firm in London?

Whomst among us hasn't felt a little vacuum about snackie all done

Listening notes: "Like the Pet Shop Boys doing hip-hop, or if Trent Reznor smiled now and again"

Signing up for the neighbourhood kids trick-or-treat route as an excuse to pumpkin, which is itself an excuse to avoid computers at all costs

A post punk psych rock high concept ultra running themed instrumental band playing a local in-store? This was not the cross-over I knew I wanted but I'll take it.

Unreasonably excited about new incense day. Fully ready for this to be my middle-aged golf/candles/minions phase but it's just incense.

A local arts collective bought a train shed that Brunel built so you can go and sit on a nice sofa on a school night and watch a bunch of lads doing improv electro jazz and it's really quite good.

Biscuit left the gourd harvesting too late and several of the edible contenders have been relegated to the decorative league.

I am unlikely to ever buy a Telepathic Instruments Orchid but I will almost certainly watch the 12 minute instruction video again www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbO1...