Comparing bubblegum to power pop, Mojo writer Dawn Eden said: “Power pop aims for your heart and your feet. Bubblegum aims for any part of your body it can get, as long as you buy the damn record.”
I’m starting to think that Napoleon’s thing about generals is also true of goalkeepers
⚽ #ChelseaFC #cfc
Day 3 after the half marathon, and I now feel like I’ve been hit by a car rather than by a truck
So that’s progress
My Crucial Track for 24 March 2026 - “Hurt so Good” by Susan Cadogan
Post a cover that’s done in a different style than the original version.
“Hurt so Good” by Susan Cadogan
Maybe one of the classic reggae cover versions. This was originally a Bee Gees song - their version is great too.
“Hurt so Good” by Susan Cadogan on Apple Music
This is from Crucial Tracks. My profile is here.
I quite enjoyed Conclave. It’s a bit bonkers, but there’s good things about it. There was a bit at the end I found moving.
My weekend.... football, basketball, curry, low alcohol stout, the wonders of Woking, the spookiness of silver birches, and Seamus gets a new medal
A mixed weekend
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Saturday’s football and basketball were disappointing. To be fair we never do well at Everton
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vegetable dansak at the Jaipur in Woking was lovely, if not over-cheap
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I discovered that I quite like Guinness 0.0
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the Surrey half marathon was lovely. Half rural-suburban, half properly rural…it made a change from running around Bath and London (with cheaper hotels than either)
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there was an avenue/patchy forest of silver birches
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I love a silver birch, but en masse they felt a bit spooky
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got a reasonable time - 5th fastest of my 16 attempts. Still slow AF, though :)
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the Arsenal and Totteringham both mucking up made Sunday’s football both amazing and great
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listened to another Fags, Mags and Bags (hence ‘both amazing and great’). Love that show
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Seamus was pleased with his new medal
My Crucial Track for 18 March 2026 - “All Along the Wild Atlantic Way” by Aoife Scott
What’s your favorite song to listen to while cooking?
This is top of my ‘Kitchen Irish’ playlist. A couple of reasons. It’s a great song. It’s upbeat and cheerful, and it reminds me of a couple of trips to the west coast of Ireland…to Lahinch, and the Cliffs of Moher, and the Burren, and the sea.
Much as I like the place where I live, it’s nice to have these things in my minds eye while I’m sorting out my tea
“All Along the Wild Atlantic Way” by Aoife Scott on Apple Music
This is fromCrucial Tracks. My profile is here.
Today is Saint Cyril’s Day, among others. I feel a bit sorry for the saints whose day is the day after Saint Patrick’s Day.
Powershell to get current certificates in the servers store
invoke-command -ComputerName $ComputerName -command {
Get-ChildItem Cert:\LocalMachine\My |
where-object subject -like "*sh*" |
where-object notafter -gt $(get-date)
} |
select pscomputername,
@{l='path';e={$_.psparentpath.replace('Microsoft.PowerShell.Security\Certificate::','')}},
thumbprint,
subject,
notafter,
name
Lovely. It’s like what you’d expect a programme with Michael Palin and Mackenzie Crook to be like, albeit they aren’t the stars of the show.
Watched: Small Prophets Season 1 🍿
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all those celebrating it today
Pic By NateBergin - Own work, CC BY 4.0, Link
Powershell to get certificates that have been applied to IIS
invoke-command -ComputerName $ComputerName -command {import-module WebAdministration ; Get-ChildItem IIS:\SslBindings} |
Select-Object PSComputerName, IPAddress, Port, Hostname, Thumbprint, Store
Including the ref in the pre-match huddle was a bit weird….even weirder for the ref I suspect!
⚽ #ChelseaFC #cfc
This is fab. Alexis Petridis picks his twent best Nancy Sinatra songs…and there are a few I’ve never heard.
He’s missed The City Never Sleeps at Night (Boots' b-side), though
The Guardian - How do these grab you, darlin’? Nancy Sinatra’s 20 best songs – ranked!
I was listening to Paul McCartney this morning and he says that the wren is his favourite bird.
Everyone should have a favourite bird, I think.
second half of the Chelsea match clashes with the boy’s basketball.
I could do with Chelsea being two or three up by then to settle the nerves
⚽ #ChelseaFC #cfc
#TodayILearned that
Rococo takes its name from the French word ‘rocaille’, which means rock or broken shell – natural motifs that often formed part of the designs, along with fish and other marine decorations. The acanthus leaf (Acanthus mollis), or rather a heavily stylised version of it, was also a signature motif.
It’s not FDR that we’re dealing with, sadly.
I have only just twigged that all of Yes Minister is on the BBC iPlayer
This will make my lunchtimes more chucklesome
Jim Hacker is the only Prime Minister to have studied at the college I went to
One of the things I like about by-elections is discovering new places names. ‘Gorton’, ‘Denton’, and on the telly this morning, ‘Longsight’. All very good.
Shame my side lost though
I heard a good new-to-me made-up word this morning (although aren’t all words are made-up?)
fauxstalgia - nostalgia for something you never experienced in the first place
My Crucial Track for 23 February 2026 - “Red Right Hand (2011 Remaster)” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
What’s a song that grew on you over time?
“Red Right Hand (2011 Remaster)” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
This gives me the chance to share my Nick Cave joke.
“Take a little walk to the edge of town
Go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms,
Like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires, in the humming wires
Hey man, you know you’re never coming back
Past this square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man”
Nick Cave. Good at songs, rubbish at giving directions.
“Red Right Hand (2011 Remaster)” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on Apple Music
This is from Crucial Tracks. My profile is here.