The package containing a small gift, Xmas card & homemade fudge I sent to my dad & his wife in Portugal on the 15th December at cost of £16 has finally turned up at Portuguese customs who are asking about receipts & charges and all sorts. Never posting anything there again. Bloody Brexit.

Today I’ve been writing an article on exotic pet ownership in the past which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I’ve enjoyed it so much I need to somehow cut it down by 440 words.

The thing is, subscription model, I do want to read the article & I’d pay you for, say, a month’s content to do it - but not risking 6 months & inevitable slip into annual fee when I don’t notice trial is up. In the old world we bought one copy of a paper or magazine, can’t this be better replicated

Perk of the job. A Robert Gillmor calendar for 2026. We license his images at Mary Evans Picture Library.

I put my hands up. I have always, since they first emerged from their riverside tree trunk homes in the ‘80s loved Jill Barklem’s Brambly Hedge. So y’day did the Brambly Hedge trail in Epping Forest & ticked off seeing all the mouse carvings like I was 4. Even got a sticker.

Yep, that’s me. Up in the dark on NYD pounding the streets. The reason for this insane performance - a) if I don’t go straight away on arising I won’t go at all and b) I sat on the sofa for half of yesterday eating my own body weight in cheese & home made fudge. Happy New Year everyone.

Stop calling it ‘twixtmas’. It’s Christmas. Still Christmas. End of.

Haberdashery shop, Manchester, 1976, photo by John Bulmer.

'Still life of asparagus.' (1697) Adriaen Coorte's still lifes set against a plain dark background, are enormously appealing to the modern eye, his work fell into obscurity in the 18thC and 19thC; a reappraisal about his career was published in the 1950s.

I watched Goodbye June yesterday and was in bits. Beautifully done IMO but hits hard if, like me, you’re one of four siblings with a mum who we lost to cancer.

Against my better judgement, I made an appointment for the dental hygienist today. 😬

Very sad to hear about Chris Rea. My very tenuous link to him is that his uncle was our ice cream man when we lived in Ferryhill in the 1980s.

Ah, this is nice…

How to solve London’s traffic congestion in 1938. Bryan de Grineau in the illustrated London News sketches a double decker bridge at Blackfriars, roads resting on tall buildings and ramps leading to a roof car park outside what looks very like Selfridges!

I love how everyone wore bonkers hats in the late 1930s and nobody batted an eyelid. Hoping the forthcoming Schiaparelli exhibition at the V&A might trigger a renaissance of the flamboyant titfer.

Finding some of the promo postcards we did when I ran a website called Pesky Kids, selling unusual & vintage style kids wear. Featuring my eldest (sulky blond boy in Western shirt) and middle one (in flat cap) + friends/neighbours’ kids. My two are now 30 and 24.

Have week off work (can’t remember ever having annual leave left in December but it’s been a funny old year). One job is to go through boxes of old crap, except, hang on. This isn’t crap. This is me top of the year for #history according to my Spennymoor Comp report in 1985 (Maths was less glowing)

Went to perve over property around Teesdale/North Yorkshire yesterday but bit hard to see anything to be honest. So we went to the Black Bull Hotel in Reeth, had mulled cider, played pool & darts with my 13 yr old nephew before sister dropped me at Darlington station to go back home.

Welcome to my new gaff.

Really regretting not buying this googly eye book in an antiques shop in Barnard Castle on Saturday. Still, I’ll have the joy of my sister pulling that face forever more.

Still feeling pretty gutted that Lewis went in #strictly last night. He was the highlight of every show for me. 😞

Corner Clothes Shop with Mary Quant advert, photo by Middlesbrough photographer Graham Smith (b.1947).

Off to Teesdale for the weekend to stay with my sister and see @nerinapallot.bsky.social at Bowes Museum tonight. On the 8am LNER from KX. Early start for a Saturday but I have a pistachio pastry from Buns at Home and the seat next to me is empty so all good.

Does anyone else save up their contact lens cases and send them off for recycling? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

Made decision tonight to buy expensive wallpaper I REALLY love for spare room as Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal gave 30% off at Wallpaper Direct. AND I LITERALLY FELL ASLEEP ON THE SOFA, WOKE UP AT 12:06 AND MISSED THE DISCOUNT BY SIX MINUTES.

Been going through old BBC Good Food magazines from the ‘90s before recycling (part of an ongoing declutter). The food scene has changed beyond belief in 30 yrs (keeping v.few recipes). So has the price of wine.

Gave the kitchen dresser its pre-Xmas wash and brush up. Except Feargal is pretending he’s done it.

It's Friday. It's the shortest amount of time anyone has ever owned a trouser press. youtu.be/tNqn5bKmKNc?...

This came up on my Etsy feed and now I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.

If I win the lottery this week i’m buying this. Aged 8, i was captivated by the book but literally clueless about the riddles so never stood s chance. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Finished reading this yesterday (had been sitting in my to-read list for a year). Absolutely loved it. Then straight into watching the Channel 4 adaptation which was brilliant. Just how I envisaged in the book. I note the author was executive producer. Casting, costume, sets, everything - spot on.

An original Margaret Tarrant watercolour from the book ‘Joan in Flowerland’ on Antiques Roadshow just now. We represent all Tarrant’s work at Mary Evans Picture Library as part of an exclusive arrangement with the Medici Society so lovely to see this.

What. A. Game. 🤯

On train on way back from Wolverhampton where I’ve given a talk to the Western Front Association branch there on Fortunino Matania. Lovely audience & excellent West Midlands hospitality & sold all the books I brought along so returning with an empty suitcase (apart from the cake they insisted I had)

Hello all the companies I bought something from once, or who I showed a smidgeon of interest in who all now email me EVERY SINGLE BLOODY DAY. Just stop. Once or twice a month is fine or I’m going to leave you forever.

Oooh, Heath Robinson is on #antiquesroadshow with Peter Higginson. My book ‘It’s all a bit Heath Robinson’ is about his WW1 cartoons (I also give a talk on this!) and nice to hear a mention of the Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner where I did my John Hassall exhibition in 2021.

Finished #couchto5k this week. Yay me. With thanks to Steve Cram for his support along the way.

Off to Colchester (to see my granddaughter - and son & daughter-in-law!). Thank you to the lady at Manor Park who went out of her way to hold the train doors for me as I dashed down the steps. It’s a small thing but heartening.

Mesmerised by the incredible symmetry of these beautiful dahlias we’ve grown this year. Nasturtium still going in the garden (as are many things) so a little luminous autumn posy for the mantelpiece.

Just sent off what I hope is final copy for issue 3 of Royalty in Britain this being a feature I’ve had to write at last minute as one planned dropped (grrr). Have been working on it nearly every weekend since July & feel mentally exhausted. Almost a full time job but I’ve already got one of those!

Shocked by the news about Diane Keaton. Think it’s because she always looked fabulous, timeless, ageless. I know everyone will be sharing this picture, but, what a look. It really struck a chord with me as s teen. And she kind of stuck with that vibe all her life. Another great from my youth gone.

It’s National Curry Week so why not tuck into, er, a delicious tin of Brand’s Beef, Chicken or Veal curry? Complete with shameless cultural appropriation. (Found in The Tatler 1961 today).

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

Wow. A Jilly Cooper question at the end of #universitychallenge tonight. What a coincidence but how apt.

Omg. I’ve got two questions before the teams did on #onlyconnect The only other person to witness this is the dog so just casually mentioning it here.

Back from a trip up to Teesdale. Came back with a big chunk of Cotherstone cheese and one of these bad boys from Grant’s bakery in Corbridge. Never understood why peach melbas have never made it beyond the north east but suppose that’s what makes them special. #peachmelba

Have recently joined the Woodland Trust. Just got my welcome back. Didn’t expect to see Nile Rodgers on the cover of its magazine!

Wanstead Flats at 6:30am this morning.

Because I don’t have enough to do, an acquaintance has given me 10 massive quince & I have promised to make membrillo. Peeling them is taking ages & at this rate I’m going to miss University Challenge.