At the third of 3 great exhibitions from the Belfast Archive Project @ulstermuseum.org - Bill Kirk and Frankie Quinn before - and today the Bell Archive. Beautiful, rich, evocative documents of times and people past. An excellent series.

Live theatre - caught up in a story, enraptured in a moment caught on stage by the production team, the actors and the writer- literally on the edge of my seat and sharing it with others in a darkened room - feels so alive and exciting, a transcendent togetherness.

I engage with theatre (and art in general) to hear stories from all people and culture. But it is also a pleasure in the last month to have seen 2 plays by writers from my own area and relevant to my own story.

Thrilling theatre at Bright Umbrella tonight with David Ireland’s Ulster American - shocking, visceral and hilarious. Go see - gripping drama.

Nice to be back at the Strand Arts Centre for 2 good events today - talk on the building’s past and future and a showing of Singin’ in the Rain, preceded by a performance from the Soda Popz.

Belfast TradFest looks great this year so I probably should have made to more than this event but tonight’s - Brighde Chaimbeul and Chris Stout & Catriona McKay - was excellent.

At the opening night of Sam Robinson’s Spacebucket Rides Again - 2nd of his plays about growing up in Ballybeen. Great night’s theatre but difficult to be objective as this is basically my story

Ulster Consort gigs always have good music (tonight’s at St Patrick’s with pieces associated with the Sistine Chapel) but you also get to experience (and very definitely to hear) great church architecture. Allegri’s Miserere in particular was spine-tinglingly good.

What algorithm ( “or who?) decides the price of second hand books on Amazon? Bought Ladybird in a Loony Bin by Ian Cochrane last week for £4.99 plus P&P. Now available only for £42 (around what I had seen it for before). Other 2 Cochranes that I have read but don’t own are £60 and £87.

For someone who goes to a lot of theatre and lives in Ballybeen/Dundonald it has taken me a ridiculously long to catch up with the DLA but saw it tonight at @themacbelfast.bsky.social and there were some great laughs and both performers were good.

Excellent short film telling a story of forgotten local history. Very promising start to a project and account worth following.

This is great - so wide ranging, so entertaining, such a love of music and pop culture combined with insight and erudition.

A.I. n’t Written - improv with a twist (scripts by ChatGPT) at The Mac tonight - performed with great verve and funny,if not entirely successful. Promise for more shows.

Pruning bookshelves is difficult. Very rarely reread but difficult to give away a good book even if all it will do is gather dust. Then there are the ones that I will get round to reading someday 😁.

Interesting exhibition at Titanic Belfast of etchings by Lucian Freud with several accompanying short films. Usual problem though with the large print catalogue of merely reproducing the blurbs and not indicating how they relate to the paintings on the walls i.e. start on your left and go clockwise

11 events at the book festival and thoroughly enjoyed them. Such a diversity of ideas, emotions and people that I have engaged with in the last 8 days. A strong, very well run festival that is a tribute to the vibrancy of our cultural sector here. Thanks to all. #belfastbookfestival

Events at the book festival with the Seamus Heaney fellows are always a highlight - tonight’s with Declan Lawn & Adam Patterson, Fiona Benson and @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social - provided a good ending to a great festival. #belfastbookfestival

Thought this would be the highlight of the book festival - @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social new book- and after the launch tonight I eagerly look forward to reading it. #belfastbookfestival

The friendship between @lucycaldwell.bsky.social and @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social, the fun they have in chatting and their obvious intelligence and insight makes events between them a real pleasure. Tonight’s, on the latter’s new novel did not disappoint. #belfastbookfestival

Day six #belfastbookfestival and an event with Paul McVeigh - a writer I only know from his play Big Man but will have to read more of.

Thank to the very kind and helpful volunteer at the book festival tonight who asked if I needed a seat at the front because of my poor eyesight and then found me one. Exceptional stuff. #belfastbookfestival

2 more events at the book festival. Living on the Fringes with the always interesting Darren Anderson and Eoin McNamee (relatively little known to me). Then an eloquent, funny and insightful chat with Roddy Doyle conducted by Glenn Patterson. #belfastbookfestival

Should one read books fast or go slow and savour? Certainly sometimes I can read fast and more skim than read properly. Started this by Lucy Caldwell this morning on the bus and between gaps at the book festival finished on the bus home. Loved it.

Tired but buzzin after 4 great events at the Belfast Book Festival - nature and conservation with @rubyfree.bsky.social and- adapting short stories with @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social and others - translation with @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social and @wheekerbooks.bsky.social (great name by the way) …

2nd event at Belfast Book Festival and a tribute to the late, great poet Michael Longley with a series of readings of his work - had his distinctive voice rumbling in my head throughout #belfastbookfestival #BBF25

Anthem for Dissatisfaction by Gina Donnelly and Brassneck Theatre is excellent - vivid, moving, funny. I was totally engrossed. Catch it if you can.

First event at this year’s Belfast Book Festival and an interesting event on short stories from our part of the world (some names to check out). Also got to see the swifts flying about, part of every book festival. #BBF25

Roaches by Eavann Mallon at Sanctuary Theatre/Bright Umbrella - some strong writing but let down a bit by the pacing and staging - at times felt like we were hearing lines of writing rather than seeing drama and hearing dialogue.

It has been a great series of events at the Linen Hall this season and continued today with a tribute to the late playwright Christina Reid - performances of several extracts from her work and touching tributes from those who knew her.

Ocean with David Attenborough has much beautiful underwater footage but what will linger (and should) is the footage of the destruction caused by industrial factory fishing and their bottom trawling.

6 events at #CQAF25 - glorious weather, big audiences, good times - thanks to all @cqaf.bsky.social for a great festival (again).

Whenever I am up high in Belfast so I can oversee the town (as I was tonight) the urban romantic loves seeing the cityscape but the best thing probably is being able to see our magnificent natural setting #belfastfaircity

Dressed for Space by Patrick J O’Reilly - loved the venue (roof of CastleCourt), great staging, good performance (still got it), blend of serious, comic and SF didn’t always quite work but a wonderful theatrical experience #CQAF25

The VARC show @circusful.bsky.social @cqaf.bsky.social was great - that ineffable combination of physical grace, skill, strength, and perhaps above all wonder, that circus brings. On tomorrow too. #CQAF25

Arooj Aftab was good tonight, and at times really good, at St Anne’s Cathedral with a strong support act. Not my favourite venue - sound not great, freezing but great visuals/lighting. #CQAF25

Large tree across the road earlier with all the leaves and branches shaking in different directions in the wind and the sunshine adding a beautiful reflective shimmer. Chaotic and individual but all one connected whole - natural systems.

Córas Trio tonight as part of @cqaf.bsky.social - new to me but an exciting mix of improvisation, electronic sounds mostly playing trad tunes (and tonight with added visuals). Didn’t always gel fully for me but when it worked was very good. #CQAF25

Really liked this. So funny at times but also relatable and touching.

Bright sunshine, green therapy and fresh air at Stormont and an exquisite,short Anne Tyler novel (tearing up with the final paragraph on the 4A bus home) made for a great afternoon.

Didn’t get into the Bill Kirk exhibition at the Ulster Museum today (event on in room) but delighted to have got the accompanying book. Probably my favourite photographer and quite a few photos I haven’t seen so a real treat ahead. Exhibition on to June.

Ulster Orchestra concert tonight with Fiona Monbet was full of surprises and delights. Mixing styles and the jazz quartet with the orchestra to create all sorts of colours and moods. Well deserved standing ovation at the end.

The film Flow is beautiful, moving and enigmatic. It uses the particular arts of moving pictures and animation to create something that feels magical but hits home as real.

Only got to 4 events @imaginebelfast.bsky.social this year but they were good- always such a lively and varied festival offering food for the brain (and soul).

Loved this. Opened up new ways of seeing the world and understanding the history of architecture @barnabascalder.bsky.social. A very rewarding read.

Don’t think I suffer from coulrophobia but seeing this guy enlarged and in triplicate on the QFT screen tonight was a little unsettling.

Absorbing, and even better these days - hopeful, event at @imaginebelfast.bsky.social - Lessons from the Nordics and imaging political futures with @lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, @clairemitchell.bsky.social and Fearghail Mac Bhloscaidh in rewarding discussion.

An excellent read. Great science writing - lyrical and compassionate with great storytelling, offering rich insight and understanding. His books on cancer and the gene are also superb.

One legacy of @niscifest.bsky.social, and already happening, must be inspiring the young to a career in science. Almost all the questions at the postponed Steve Backshall event tonight were from kids and, as nearly always, they were the best ones.

This was repeated as part of the Dylan night on BBC2 on Sat. Entertaining mix with one bizarre version of Mr Tambourine Man by Lulu (c.25m 30s) that screams ‘70s tv variety programme to me.

Good architecture should promote happiness said historian Gavin Stamp - agree completely. But in books on the subject we so rarely hear what buildings are like to live in or use.