"They all agree wives aren't invited." Deliciously unglamorous portrait of life at a London advertising agency in 1970, centred around the annual Christmas party. Includes some spectacular hairdos and some rather outmoded attitudes to, well, everything. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

I’m not sure if that mattress is meant to be in that room. #EstateAgentPix

My grandad survived the Somme in WW1 only to be blown up in his own home in WW2. James William Howarth. Father of twelve, Everton fan and a bit of a laugh by all accounts, sorry not to have met you.

It’s a bit knackered, but I love this t-shirt of my Manc husband.

We had our old metal gateposts replaced & turns out the guy who did it also worked on Anthony Gormley’s pieces. What I learned from this encounter was a) there is a rejected version of his angel stood in a farmer’s field in Barkisland, & b) this fellah has “scrubbed Gormley’s knob with a brush”. 😳

Mental health gets its own special cupboard.

Came out without his waterproofs, so I’ve had to improvise.

The person who lived here loved their home. #EstateAgentPix

Funeral pigeon update. Tony has laid an egg! #LoveStory #🥚

Tempted.

6.30pm dog walk. #LifeInANorthernTown

Funeral pigeon update. Tony’s feathers have grown back and a place has been found for him/her in the Forest Flock pigeon sanctuary in Wetherby. His/her true love has a place there too. #HappyEndings

The original Soft Cell backdrop, pulled from a Leeds Poly skip by @thinkamigo.bsky.social

Leeds Poly fine art was TOUGH but had a sound studio where people could spend 3 yrs, with a grant, making music. After graduating Marc Almond & Dave Ball still came in to use facilities & no one stopped them. Months later they were number 1. I’m feeling nostalgic for subsidised anarchy in education.

The industry might have overlooked my book, but I’m fucked if visitors to the house are going to. #BuyMyFuckingBook™

The first firework of the season & the dog is under the bed. But I’m ready with his skullcap, valerian & soothing playlist, perfected over the years & shared here for your own traumatised hounds. You might not like it, but don’t blame me, blame the dog. He chose ‘em. open.spotify.com/playlist/2US...

Ran out of paint or just couldn’t be arsed? #EstateAgentPix

She’s got a writer’s ear and an artist’s eye. My favourite combo. @regretteruane.bsky.social I really rather loved it.

Is he allowed to keep his ‘Randy’ title?

Have joined a pottery class. Keeping things on message.

Putting @vannorden.bsky.social’s idea out there, in the hope it gains traction. #HarryCross #Lampposts

Sometime in the noughties. Banging on about the same old things.

Mel Brooks said my cat was handsome.

To boost his pension, my old mate Mark is selling 1950s records over on Facebook. I hope you guys buy some cos he has neither the temperament nor the eyesight for lollypopmanning. Find him there at Mark’s Rock and Roll records for sale.

You’re a day late, mate. #Rapture

Absolutely captivating 1987 documentary about identical twins Freda & Greta Chaplin who moved & spoke as one. A sensitively made exploration of their intense co-dependency, obsessive behaviour & complex shared life story youtu.be/eAD9YbPNbCw?...

And here she is. #JannHaworth

That’s not good is it. #EstateAgentPix

It was the Laugharne Weekend. The journalist, whose identity I was a bit coy about revealing back in 2013, was Mark Ellen. He can eff off too.

Years ago I wrote this piece about national treasure and dreadful old c**t Peter Blake. Have just dredged it up for my new best friend @typetheclouds.bsky.social who had the good sense to buy my fucking book™ at the Hastings book fair. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/ja...

I’ve come to Hastings book fair to see the sea and sell a few books. Early indications are I may do neither. #BuyMyFuckingBook™

Ben Shahn #BOTD 1898 Book cover for SJ Perelman's The Rising Gorge, 1961 📚🎨

Found it. #MartinParr

I love this podcast. Pick any episode, but perhaps this one is a timely place to start. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Tony the funeral pigeon update. Still waiting for feathers to grow back, b4 being released to a sanctuary. In the meantime a romance has blossomed with its cell mate. Theyve even build a vertical nest (see thread) which tho a beautiful thing, suggests a poor understanding of how these things work.

Top cat.

Tonight’s band having a bit of a pre-gig sing-song in the Rock’n’Roll B’n’B.

Regretting not buying these.

We had a lovely day out in Liverpool to see @wildtwin.bsky.social’s exhibition at Dorothy in Jamaica Street, and the site of my 1973 ear piercing in Williamson Square. I bloody love Liverpool and it’s only the absence of desolate moorland that prevents me moving back there tomorrow.

Gail knows her onions.

I’ll be at the Hastings Book Fair on Saturday 13th September, 11-4pm in the Observer Building, brandishing my fucking book. Hope to see some south coast Blueskyers, on my whirlwind one date tour. #BuyMyFuckingBook™

I cannot lie, the view disappoints. #EstateAgentPix

That Salvador Dali designed the Chupa Chups logo.

Tony the funeral pigeon seems very content, nodding off in the bosom of a teddy bear. #StopReleasingBirdsAtWeddingsAndFuneralsYouWankers

Tony the funeral pigeon update. On antibiotics. Is showing no inclination to fly off - happy to be shown around green house in the hand of bird rescue volunteer.

Funeral pigeon update. She’s survived the night & is pottering about. A small fundraiser has sorted trip to vet, prob for antibiotics. Looks like she’s been the victim of a bird attack - white ones struggle to survive in the wild. So if you’re planning on releasing 🕊️ for a wedding or funeral, DON’T.

For anyone acquainted with my book… I’ve found a poorly funeral pigeon. (Axe is purely coincidental.) #BuyMyFuckingBook™

Sad to hear Tosh Ryan has died - another cog in the M’chester music scene gone.Thinking about his partner Lindsay reminded me of the most unintentionally funny book I’ve read.The scene where she dances naked for some band hoping to sign to Factory should have made it into 24 Hr Party People for sure