whimsy
- ramshackle
- skullduggery
- mawkish
- rigmarole
- discombobulate
- happenstance
- skedaddle
- gush
- ruffled
- amok
- chortle
- edible
- reverberate
- shuck
- musty
- impinge
- bosky
- dawdle
- curdle
- staunch
- wobbulator
- rigmarole
- rambunctious
- the vig
- higgledy-piggledy
- Laggards
- haunch
- gizzard
- shtick
- tatterdemalion
- interstitial
- skulduggery
- hugger-mugger
- scamper
- ruffian
- genial
- bramble
- truffle
- hankering
- scrimp
- absurd
- flounce
- flummox
- extrusion
- scramble
- pestle
- rancid
- scrofulous
- saunter
- wondrous
- befuddled
- spud
- machinate
- resonate
- gratitude
- scruple
- besmirch
- tardy
- slumber
- dimple
- bustle
- befuddled
- sinister
- husky
- razzmatazz
- tingle
- crepuscular
- gesticulate
- frazzled
- tamp
- grapple
- truckle
- rigmarole
- amicable
- gargle
- griddle
- gusty
- modicum
- miscreant
- dumpling
- liniment
- chevron
- snigger
- merge
- wrought
- gumption
- rabble
- ponder
- maritime
- surge
- meander
- blustery
- bliss
- rowdy
- pith
- damp
- machination
- chirpy
- engrossed
- ocelot
- frisson
- triumph
- drench
- griddle
- shudder
- quandary
- gloop
- ping
- furlong
- squirm
- reverie
- camaraderie
- lunge
- patter
- jaunty
- trundle
- linnet
- agog
- flounce
- brisk
- froth
- tinge
- lagoon
- curdle
- fizzle
- glee
- burst
- finagle
- pernickety
- stipple
- miscreant
- flummox
- tumble
- mellifluous
- stooge
- wry
- precipitate
- hirsute
- rascal
- wistful
- manky
- chaff
- skittle
- quench
- nuzzle
- ineffable
- poodle
- vestibule
- mishmash
- twelve
- chivvy
- snooze
- flannel
- giggle
- gusty
- parish
- vanquish
- startle
- muffle
- mischief
- pebble
- roughage
- jibber-jabber
- gabardine
- perspicacious
- munch
- quandary
- crumble
- reckon
- .
- merriment
- slobber
- musket
- mumble
- ragwort
- resurgence
- glimmer
- turnbuckle
- perch
- halcyon
- drizzle
- ethereal
- curdle
- shoestring
- bungalow
- skittish
- dream
- kelp
- reverberate
- mitigate
- miscreant
- jittery
- gleam
- shimmer
- convivial
- marmalize
- groove
- ochre
- swelter
- skirmish
- oblivious
- sprinkle
- moreish
- hankering
- pundit
- amok
- happen
- mulch
- flutter
- brunt
- sprightly
- happenstance
- baffled
- prattle
- crumple
- scatter
- sinew
- cherub
- abundant
- autumnal
- bedraggled
- fisticuffs
- trickle
- jaded
- crinkle
- lucid
- melody
- dozen
- muffle
- expunge
- rubble
- mirage
- cribbage
- palaver
- corroborate
- scrawny
- jot
- heft
- crepuscular
- digit
- scruffy
- embroiled
- guttering
- smudge
- rummage
- ado
- balustrade
- cattle
- stubble
- askance
- wanton
- jostle
- capacious
- scamper
- adamant
- frost
- purloin
- crackle
- tinsel
- kindling
- dunk
- mariner
- gist
- mollusc
- growl
- chirpy
- exuberant
- mumble
- creosote
- gesticulate
- hocus-pocus
- sprout
- satsuma
- stroll
- schism
- skew
- trickle
- ditto
- scrimmage
- middling
- epitome
- tabernacle
- spruce
- rickety
- mooch
- mishmash
- tomfoolery
- diffident
- twill
- crumple
- febrile
- chrysalis
- styptic
- griddle
- machinate
- swarthy
- wrinkle
- ceramic
- chipper
- antiquity
- stirrup
- thistle
- sanguine
- rife
- sprinkle
- pithy
- frothy
- nebulous
- truckle
- resin
- mulch
- hunkering
- batten
- codger
- shiplap
- fricative
- blossom
- desultory
- grinning
- skint
- valve
- behest
- parish
- filibuster
- dazzling
- snout
- malleable
- daub
- jettison
- tumultuous
- sombre
- nincompoop
- hillock
- grizzled
- chuffed
- stockade
- hue
- outwith
- jovial
- glitch
- mulch
- drizzle
- myriad
- flange
- fiddlesticks
- divot
- russet
- gravel
- albeit
- dunk
- totter
- Blighty
- guttural
- slumber
- foible
- cusp
- jettison
- effervescent
- yonder
- trot
- simmer
- clavicle
- behest
- manifest
- stickler
- fickle
- calypso
- tingle
- stove
- temper
- incorrigible
- peregrine
- bickering
- smidgen
- musty
- vestibule
- tryst
- glitch
- drowsy
- aghast
- luminous
- divulge
- shimmering
- mull
- cadge
- stanchion
- cleft
- hubbub
- tryst
- stymied
- combustion
- squat
- squabble
- festoon
- resplendent
- raddled
- natterjack
- swelter
- gormless
- schmuck
- toggle
- scamper
- giggle
- wallop
- balustrade
- sparrow
- lilting
- sniff
- hustings
- slake
- parsnip
- raddled
- nobbled
- paraphernalia
- hankering
- sizzle
- fricative
- smattering
- scant
- warble
- qualm
- buddy
- heft
- waif
- dromedary
- batten
- froth
- conkers
- gladden
- ribbon
- purport
- dithering
- scurry
- fume
- knuckles
- autumnal
- turmoil
- slouching
- wreak
- foist
- follicle
- raucous
- speckled
- tustle
- gabardine
- commensurate
- paradiddle
- muffle
- chilly
- piffle
- harbinger
- bangle
- gantry
- caper
- saunter
- vacillate
- tardy
- banjaxed
- hoik
- minion
- tousled
- nostrils
- amalgamate
- garnish
- skiff
- tad
- declamatory
- plinth
- rumbustious
- stucco
- strum
- hush
- bubble
- plangent
- rankle
- lustre
- mulled
- tinsel
- ponderous
- footfall
- tidings
- swaddling
- eggnog
- myrrh
-
what was the last gig that you went to?
-
it was one of the Gallagher brothers…but I can’t remember which one
He’s trying to curry favour so that we win Eurovision
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has given his strongest signal yet that a youth mobility scheme could form part of a new deal with the EU BBC News - Youth mobility scheme could be part of EU deal
I’m enjoying Austin (the Australian TV comedy, not the city)….but you can’t park up in front of Stonehenge like this
On the other hand the weather is very realistic
#TodayILearned that True by Spandau Ballet was written about Clare Grogan
I wrote the song at my parents' house, where I was still living at the time. As a working-class boy, I wouldn’t think of moving out till I got married. I was infatuated with Clare Grogan [the Altered Images singer and star of Gregory’s Girl]. I met her on Top of the Pops and, at one point, travelled up to Scotland to have tea with her and her mum and dad. Although my feelings were unrequited and the relationship was platonic, it was enough to trigger a song, True, which became the name of our 1983 album, too. How we made: Gary Kemp and Steve Norman on True
Gary Oldman in this week’s Radio Times
the last nesting place for mammoths in the whole of Wessex - Flanders and Swann on Stonehenge
I’d not heard this before. Flanders and Swann were a duo I just about remember that did comic monologues and songs
This is their take on Stonehenge. It’s in the genre of posh people lampooning less posh people, but funny anyway. YMMV!
Well wot’s this then? You’re not going to put up these great ugly stone blocks ‘ere, are you? You can’t do that! I’ve got Ancient Lights on my cave! Well, what is it anyway? A henge? Well, what’s a henge? You may call it megalithic culture, I call it vandalism! I suppose you realise this is about the last nesting place for mammoths in the whole of Wessex?
The whole thing is here:
YouTube - Built-up Area - Flanders and Swann
…and I got the words from: Ian Kitiching website - Built up area
My words or the day from 2015 to 2022, from absurd to yonder
ILike a poor man’s Suzie Dent I used to post a ‘word of the day’ on Twitter. They were words I liked the sound of, or the meaning of, or words that just kept popping up in my brain
I’ve just now cobbled together some powershell commands to pull stuff out of my downloaded Twitter archive. This list is the first fruit of that dubious achievement 😃
In a week of controversy, I hesitate to post this in case it sparks a pineapple-on-pizza level of division and rancour.
Chilli is better with broccoli in it
Happy 'Boys from the County Hell's day to all those celebrating it today
On the first day of March it was raining
It was raining worse than anything that I have ever seen
I drank ten pints of beer and I cursed all the people there
I wish that all this rain would stop falling down on me
And it’s lend me ten pounds, I’ll buy you a drink
And mother wake me early in the morning
The Pogues (or possibly Pogue Mahone when this originally came out, I don’t remember) - The Boys from the County Hell
Pet hate: the phrase ‘pension pot’
#TodayILearned that 'Bouncing Babies' by the Teardrop Explodes has been streamed 516,716 times, but 'I can't get Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop Explodes' by The Freshies has only been streamed 24,393 times
<img src=“https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/139254/2025/16772316772303-3.jpg" width=“300” height=“300” alt=“A vinyl record label featuring the text “bouncing babies” and “The Teardrop Explodes” with a yellow triangle design.">
A new entry for The Meaning of Liff, IT Workers Edition
Fugglestone. Noun
The state of mind when your old password is still locked in your muscle memory, and one half of your brain realises the old one won’t work any more but the other half doesn’t yet realize that it’s got to remember the new one
Annual-ish tweet / toot / post
The crocuses, or possibly the croci, are out in the Shire
Proposed new entry for the Meaning of Liff, IT Workers Edition
Bullock’s Horn - the situation in which you find yourself when someone asks you to help with something, and you go to consult with someone else who you think will know about it, and they direct you back to the person who asked for help in the first place
Wikipedia - The Meaning of Liff
Mark Thomas's Pet Hates
I thought these were funny. Comedian Mark Thomas’s pet hates, from The Irish Times , quoted by Colin Murray on Midnight Meets Midnight Meets
The way Desert Island discs doesn’t play the full song.
The smug class-ridden blather of [Radio Four’s] Today programme.
Anything that involves Piers Morgan and an absence of violence.
Harley Davidson motorbikes and the over 50-year-olds that ride them.
Anyone who has been in a gymkhana.
Any film with Josh Grogan.
Litter and the people who complain about litter.
The Proms.
Christmas markets.
Dyson, the man not the machines.
Ageing.
The BBC notion of balance and inpartiality that invariably sides with the overdog and the establishment, but still manages to say “well we’ve had complaints from everybody, so we have probably got it about right”.
My children ‘borrowing’ my clothes.
News about the Royal Family.
S**t coffee that costs £2.50
Buying water in plastic bottles.
Macaroni cheese.
Having to throw away half of the weekend papers.
People talking about their piercings.
Garden centres.
John Lewis Xmas adverts and the coverage thereof.
Q and A’s
(NB: Tories, capitalism, sexism and racism come under serious hates.
There was a very ‘Radio 4’ exchange on the radio just now
The Christmas Radio Times is now defunct…..goodbye old friend
Back to work thoughts. As they almost said in The Go-Between “2024 is a foreign country. They did things differently there”
Gratuitous seaside postcard
Like weekends, December is too short
By my calculations, it’s only 15 sleeps until Gavin and Stacey
