Such beautiful music, and lovely to sing it in a small group. Ok we might not sound like The Sixteen, and we were only 13, but it sounded pretty good

Casually mentioned to an American colleague that I have a rehearsal at 8pm on Thursday. “You really stay up that late at night?”

Auroral visible in Belgium tonight

Clear sign of an alien abduction near my house today

A thousand wax cylinders refurbished and digitised: some are already available to listen to here www.mim.be/fr

The Night Manager: we couldn’t be bothered to think of a new story so we’re doing the old one again. #nightmanager

Des chercheurs identifient des traces d'un océan disparu sur Mars

A beautiful madrigal

Fascinating, horrifying story

A good example of the only things to unite Belgians being food/drink and football

The man who invented the Wheatstone Bridge (beloved of A Level physics students in Britain, at least it was 40 years ago) also invented the concertina (beloved of sailors, according to Captain Pugwash)

Dreamt I was the accompanist for a singer and woke up panicked I couldn’t remember the chords for the introduction

Just watched Casablanca for the first time •Brilliant film: the plot moves so fast •Ingrid Bergman is beautiful (and beautifully lit) •Everyone is so thin. Is it all the ciggies? •It’s full of quotes! •The music! •So many actors who had fled the nazis •To think it was made before the end of the war

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I thought learning to play left hand on the accordion was tough: now my brain is trying to cope with chords in the right hand on a button accordion

No snowpocalypse yet where I am, although it is snowing now. 5-10cm predicted this morning. And windy so probably drifting too. I have my walking boots in the car just in case I get caught out

Can’t decide if this would be amazing or terrifying. Volcanoes in the Auvergne might wake up earlier than expected

Just finished last year’s sloe gin, just in time to bottle this year’s

Take your mind off everything with a fabulous ceilidh in Brussels in Friday January 30th, while supporting an excellent charity. Once again I’ll be pretending to be a Scotsman while playing the accordion

So busy photographing the snow I didn’t notice the dramatic sky

Very glad that #thetraitors has started again as my accordion playing improves significantly since I practise instead of watching it

New Year’s Cat

Just had my second ever hen harrier sighting, just a few kilometres from my first, a few years ago

While making a list of songs by Robert Burns for a future gig I was trying to type The Birks of Aberfeldie. First autocorrect gave me The Burka of Aberfeldie, then The Birkenstocks of Aberfeldie…

In Brussels and like Scottish dancing? Here’s a great event which always sells out quickly so book early! I’ll be playing the accordion 🪗 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

It’s such a good app

My energy going into 2026

Pluribus is excellent TV

Einstein’s special law of space/time: a baby’s toys will expand to fill the available space, no matter how many times they are cleared away

Made the stuffing (thanks Delia), picked up the turkey (panic in the butcher’s as some orders wrong) and the cheese / cold meats order (very well organised). Just the bread order and tomorrow’s cougnous* to go and that’s it until cooking the turkey tomorrow *Brioche in the form of a baby Jesus

The 2025 Headline of the Year Nominees 🧵

I held my own grandmother’s immigration records in my hand (in the Belgian national archives: she was a refugee to Britain, and never left)

Found this in the back of some music. Quite tempted; If Not Funny I’ll Refund Your Money! It dates from some time after 1988, but I wonder how much of the material would still work (if it ever did)

If I ever catch up on my ironing I won’t have enough space for all my shirts

Brilliant (but small) gospel choir at my local Christmas market

Amazing location for tonight’s ceilidh. It’s a music school stuffed full of teenage virtuosi, but none of them play the accordion I bet

This is lovely. Although the bottles all look suspiciously full to me. And surprise appearance of a melodeon in the opening scenes

Strange Christmas ‘hamper’ from my (American) employer this year: jam, honey, cereal, party snacks, tea bags, cheese and an apple.… I hope it’s been kept refrigerated. But at least it’s European produce this year rather than inedible American cheese and salami that I’ve been sent in the past

@apiln.bsky.social Important news from Lincolnshire

Belgian WWII veteran Albert Libert has died aged 108. He was the last living veteran who fought in the 18 Days’ Campaign (May 1940 when the Germans invaded Belgium). Truly the end of an era. 🇧🇪

I saw a one man band fall down a flight of stairs earlier but don’t worry, it sounds lot worse than it actually is.

It’s that time of year again

So tempted to buy this but no children of an appropriate age in the family

Important map. Now I know why my blue cheese consumption is heavily Auvergne-centric. Incidentally, Forme d’Ambert is my favourite way to swear in French

This is the kind of exciting discovery you expect to come from the Olduvai Gorge, not a damp field in Suffolk

Lots of lovely stories about the benefits of being a member of a choir here: I agree with them all

Waiting for the first of four concerts this weekend to start. But who really wrote this music?

Lucky this book comes with additional safety warnings.

It took me a lot of searching but I finally found a performance of this lovely chorus from an opera by Gounod that I’m the rehearsing with a choir