Today's highlight was a visit to the nearby elephant sanctuary's Advent Spectacular. It was gloriously ramshackle and utterly charming. Camels doing pantomime was not something I ever expected to see! Also, elephants make really odd noises

'The crow's song' by Catherine Hyde, UK illustrator and artist based in Cornwall #WomensArt

Successfully didn't sacrifice @kerismcd.bsky.social to the black basalt monolith on our walk this morning. I felt it would have been a tad rude, given that she's running a CoC game this evening

You have often heard me repeat the founding phrase of Hookland: re-enchantment is resistance. This is the county’s core truth. However, I will point out that that sometimes re-enchantment is also an act of intentional sabotage.

A misty morning walk around the Schloss, past the old church, the black basalt tomb in the woods, and the ruins of the previous castle

Emma Haworth, contemporary London-based painter known for her observations of the streets and parks, with a hint of otherworldliness #womensart

at a certain level of any creative or intellectual collaborative job the main task is sin-eater: to fix what you can and get blamed for what you can’t, secretly knowing how much worse it would have been if you hadn’t done what you did.

I think the three Italian gentlemen at the table next to us have thoughts about us ordering lattes after our meal. I have heard various terms for coffee muttered in rapid succession

Berlin by Night

You wouldn't think that it would be that hard to find a sodding great Erzgebirge pyramid in Alexanderplatz. And yet...

We're both chortling at the fact that the A/C in the hotel room claims to be calibrated to the Kelvin scale

Hublet has just admitted that he made exactly the same mistake getting here the only other time he stayed here. Why do I leave him in charge of directions? I love him dearly, but he can literally only navigate correctly around Indianapolis and the Metro Centre

At the hotel. We picked it because Hublet had been here before and knew how to get to it. Only, he didn't. Well, a little bit of extra walking won't hurt us. Too much.

Hello again, Schiphol. You're looking a lot tidier than you were in October. But, once again, KLM claiming to be on stand on time when there's a 5-10 minute bus trip to the terminal building is nonsense, especially when they also didn't park "on time."

Ah, that null time between eating and waiting for your gate to be announced

In the airport with our breakfast. A but if a queue to dump the suitcase but a pretty quick trip through security thanks to Hublet not packing a paper phrase book this time. (It’s what he frequently got pulled for in the past)

Those of us who have to travel to the US on a semi-regular basis knew this would be coming. Which is why I’m letting mine lapse and won’t be visiting again for the foreseeable future

Yep. It’s definitely stupid o’clock

LFTs clear, so we’re good to get up at stupid o’clock and get whisked to Oz, sorry, the airport. How much sleep we get will depend on whether the guttering stops making wind-induced weird noises outside our bedroom window.

Getting ready for 2026 like

A great M R James ghost story, livestreamed at 7pm(UK) on Christmas Eve and available to watch anytime. Pay-what-you-can at link below

Packing is done, so only pre-travel LFT and Crimble cards to do. While I should test tomorrow morning, we’re getting up at 2 am and I won’t be co-ordinated enough at that point (and I don’t what to rush and/or flub it)

First meeting of the day done and dusted (7 am is a tad early, but time zones). Another one in a few hours. Then making sure everything is squared away for me to head to Germany, an Erzgebirge pyramid, and a games retreat

Apparently, there is a very big Erzgebirge pyramid at Alexanderplatz, Berlin. Many moons ago, I wrote a Cogs, Cakes & Swordsticks scenario that involved one. I hope that may cause some joy on Wednesday when I go to see it on my slow wend to the Kraken

This year has been quite unforgiving on so many fronts. I need to rediscover my joy in life and gaming. But I am so tired.

For those of us who frequent the NEC for UKGE: it used to look a lot different

Great news. This is a beautiful book

I live in Wales and today received my Join Us letter from Reform UK, complete with SAE which I posted back to them, immediately, empty. If every other person in Wales did this, Reform would spend over £1.5 million on postage. Not sorry. Join me Cymru.

Wake Up Dead Man was superb. Some nice misdirections, beautiful call outs to classic crime fiction (I may have quietly squeed at the main one), and I didn’t quite figure all of it out, which was a wonderful treat. Highly recommended.

Off to see this at the pictures today as my pre-birthday treat

Tonight’s movie watch was Troll 2. It made about as much sense as the first one, but was still highly entertaining

Bit of a major oopsie in the Death on the Nile game. Just checking the mind map to make sure I’d covered everything before heading into the big reveal scene, only to discover a summary of everything that happens in that scene front and centre /1

The cracking breakfast from the farm shop: homemade sausage patties, bacon, fried egg, and Swiss cheese on a toasted brioche bun. It might not look like a lot of food, but blimey! It was.

We discovered a couple of months ago that a local farm shop does cracking breakfasts as well as selling locally produced and themed sweets. We needed some more of the themed sweets for next week’s Kraken, so we forced ourselves to have breakfast there as well. So. Full. Must. Sleep.

Grabby hands

A parcel is due to arrive this morning from a place in Rothbury, roughly 40 miles from here. Only, Royal Mail sent it to Warwickshire first, presumably because there are no parcel sorting offices in the entire northeast of England anymore?

Playing the Poirot Death on the Nile game again last night. It’s set in 1975, and the staff on the Karnak apparently have a weekly roleplaying game session. So the question is, had D&D reached Egypt by 1975?

Please keep supporting indie ttrpgs. It’s more important now than ever! Play something new, gift them to friends and family, share your favourites on socials, rate and review on @itch.io. Thank you!

It looks as if Molly, the Folly’s housekeeper, has a sideline going. Should we tell Nightingale?

The dive back into editing briefly arrested when I found the note I left myself about the need for a box on the policing of Britain’s waterways. As you might expect, it’s not exactly straightforward!

Molas, textiles using a reverse appliqué technique by women of the Indigenous Guna people, Panama #WomensArt

Blue canarye yn the outlette by the lighte swicche Who waccheth ovir thee Make a litel dovecote yn thy soul

In a stunning turn of events, I have completely unpacked my suitcase from the weekend. It’s usually a much slower, drawn out process. Not that I necessarily have room for all the stuff I bought or was given this year!

Back at my desk, so it’s art briefs, meetings, replying to Dragonmeet emails, and returning to editing the next scenario collection

Finished rereading Moon Over Soho on the train, so dug out Whispers Under Ground. I can still read the date on the receipt: June 2015 (and bought from Waterstones in Newcastle)

Home. Time to let Mum know I'm home safe, then pizza for tea. Also need to get my brain in gear for Waters if Leith tonight!

Goodbye, London. It's been another interesting trip, even if it wasn't quite the one I was expecting! Recording tonight, then back in the office properly tomorrow. For now, though, work reading

At King's Cross far too early but didn't want to hang around at the hotel. May have to find another coffee shop as my favourite wants this table back in 20 minutes

Lovely evening at the Atlantis Bookshop. It’s such a warm and welcoming space. Very tired now but content. Packing will have to wait until the morning