Thanks to all the volunteers and 609 other runner at a rather nippy but mud-free Woodhouse Moor #Parkrun in Leeds this morning. Always a great way to start the day!

Happy Christmas to me! Planning some adventures for 2026 already…

One of the good things about last night’s @skepwax.bsky.social event was seeing Bobby from Lightning In A Twilight Hour (there to support fellow original Field Mice member Michael, whose fab new band is The Gentle Spring) & picking up a copy of his beautiful new @elefantrecords1.bsky.social album!

The @skepwax.bsky.social extravaganza last night might have been my last gig of 2025…. Tho’ there’s still the possibility of making it to the @precrecs.bsky.social event next weekend. Anyhow, its been another good year for gigs, and pictured here, lovely opening acts Railcard and The Gentle Spring.

Muddy, sunny and a bit frosty by the river home at Kingston #Parkrun this morning. Times are slowly creepy back to where I’d like them to be (and a midweek run is definitely helping).

To hell with modesty.

This trip to #Brixham included two sea swims, Torbay #Parkrun and a wander round Totnes yesterday and a lovely sunny walk along @southwestcoastpath.bsky.social to Paignton (& bus back) this afternoon.

Sammy seal having her fish brekkie here in Brixham yesterday morning.

What are your favourite records or songs of 2025, Bluesky folks?

I hope you’ll bear with me as I count down my favourite 30 songs released in 2025. If you want to hear the countdown live, tune in now to 94.9fm in #Castlemaine or mainfm.net #jangle

Love > Hate Next year, thousands of us will come together in London to prove it. #Together we can show the far right has no place here. Save the date & join us: togetheralliance.org.uk

So great to have the @thamespathnt.bsky.social back open between Richmond Lock Bridge and Kew Bridge back open again after massive works to rebuild the collapsed bank - and lovely to see so many folks out enjoying walking it today too @richmondcouncil.bsky.social @richmondramblers.bsky.social

If Northern Picture Library had grown up, it would sound like this. Michael Hiscock plus Bobby plus Anne Mari plus Ian Catt = magic. Share far and wide. Elefant Records “Let your existence be the resistance” - There’s more to life than crooks. youtu.be/UBE9E4-CQRY

Foggy in the forest for #Parkrun today - I’ll have to come back another time for the viewpoints - but no mud or puddles was amazing after the week’s downpours. Thanks to the lovely friendly volunteers!

Wet day out in Plymouth including “Remember Respond Resist” exhibition at The Box and a walk to and round Firestone Bay, Devil’s Point and Royal William Yard (all of which would have made good compilation album names if only we’d been a Plymouth based record label) Oh, and a good lunch too!

Great to see so many people enjoying a swim from Breakwater Beach in beautiful #Brixham this morning (before the rain came I ) - water and air still quite warm (well comparatively), aside from the wind. Yes, I did join them!

A is for Andover #Parkrun today - adding to my A303 collection en route to Devon.

There was a stiff breeze across The Stray for Harrogate #parkrun - but the rain stopped just before 9am and the sun unexpectedly came out and I saw a rainbow. I’m blaming the mud for my very poor time this week.

Really pleased I made it to @leedsmuseums.bsky.social for the Music Leeds Us exhibition today - in which me and my old fanzines feature a tiny bit. A really nice trip down memory lane with lots of old gig tickets, posters and exhibits reminding me of my early gigs in the mid-late ‘80s.

So great to see @prolapseband.bsky.social (pictured here in all the colours) in London last night - highly recommended if you get a chance to catch one of the remaining dates on this tour.

Sun came out, rain held off and the autumn colours were fabulous on the Basingstoke Canal this afternoon (pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month).

Really lovely evening seeing @darrenhayman.bsky.social playing his Ship’s Piano album (on a ship, on a piano) in Canary Wharf tonight. I’d forgotten what a beautiful record it is.

Finally made the 3-mile bike ride each way over to Richmond Old Deer Park #Parkrun this morning - and it’s as friendly as everyone says. Great way to start the weekend, as ever!

It’s been a nice autumn day out on the #LondonLoop and Hogsmill River Walk from Ewell to Kingston today.

And this is great news too. New songs have been sounding amazing live (as have the old ones, obviously).

Oh yes!

Looking forward to seeing this Leeds music exhibition - in which I / my old fanzines feature in a very minor way - when I’m “back home” in Yorkshire in a couple of weeks. My early gigs / fanzine interviews etc in the mid-80s were largely in Leeds. museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/music-leeds-...

Nice to see the much-missed Ruth Miller of Po! fame getting an acknowledgement in this: www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

These waking tours look really great: A walking tour of the real Handsworth www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Lovely little swim from a tiny secluded beach on Miyajima Island near Hiroshima yesterday. Very warm here still.

Such good fun DJing and meeting a tonne of lovely people at the super-nice Anorak Days club in Osaka last night. Hooray for the international indiepop underground!

Should anyone happen to be in Osaka tonight, it’s the Anorak Days indie club night with the doubtless excellent “regular” club DJs and, err, me doing a couple of guest DJ slots. Looking forward to it!

Great to kick off the weekend here in Osaka with @walking-class-hero.bsky.social at the super-friendly Tsurumi Ryokuchi #parkrun - huge thanks to all the lovely volunteers for making it such a great event - and to the rain for not being quite as full-on as forecast. I even managed to run quite well!

Two Shinkansen trains almost nose to nose at Tokyo station. I last went on one of these in 1992 on your with Heavenly @heavenlyamelia.bsky.social @skepwax.bsky.social Hoping to see Mount Fuji out of the window (as we did last time).

Shibuya Crossing Tokyo on a Monday lunchtime.

We really struggle to get tickets for @banquetrecords.com events these days - so it was especially lovely to see #TheDivineComedy at Circuit tonight. Hurray!

This absolute beauty was reissued a couple of weeks ago and is still very much available in all good record shops etc. - still sounds amazing 36 years on from initial release.

Two consecutive late nights of gigs and too much beer aren’t the best training for #Parkrun - but wonderful Whitstable this morning coincided perfectly with a break in the rain, and the sun came out, and it was brilliant. 3rd week in a row of not braving a swim after a seaside Parkrun though.

Really special to be at #RamsgateMusicHall last night for the very magical first ever @brianbilston.bsky.social and the Catenary Wires show - what a fabulous lovely evening with lots of great company that was. Check out tickets for upcoming tour if haven’t already.

Thanks to @needlemythology.bsky.social and @kensweeney.bsky.social for giving me and @uncharteredstreets.bsky.social copies of the beautiful reissue of Brian’s Understand. I live handily near one of @needlemythology.bsky.social though on the wrong side of the river, so paddled over to pick them up.

Was planning to swim after the lovely Teignmouth Promenade #parkrun today - but it was windy enough for seaspray to cool us as we ran in one section, so I’ll have a swim at Breakwater in Brixham later. Lovely way to kick off the weekend as ever.

Preorder LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR "There's More To Life Than Crooks" 12" Maxi-Single [Limited Edition of 300 copies · Black Vinyl] Release date: *5-9-2025* elefant.com/en

Snuck out just in time for Bandcamp Friday. Really lovely stuff 👇 blueboy.bandcamp.com/album/a-life...

This should be on everyone’s turntable. Yet more great songwriting from Bobby Wratten elefant.com/en/video_ope...

And this is out tomorrow- what an absolute treat!

Oh yes!

My pleasure! One for @peterstone.bsky.social

We would have loved to have released this on #SarahRecords but sadly it was not to be. So great that it’s been reissued - it truly is a lost classic.

Long weekend in Blackpool for the Country Music Festival and #Parkrun in the lovely Stanley Park with @walking-class-hero.bsky.social. The sea isn’t looking too inviting for a dip so far though.

30 years ago today, me & Matt @unchartered threw away the thing that had pretty much consumed our whole adult lives - which was also our livelihoods - & threw a big party to say a noisy, slightly chaotic, somewhat drunken goodbye to our wonderful record label, Sarah.