whimsy
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jogging in the countryside, and
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being a man of a certain age who needs to pee fairly frequently, and
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it being the height of stinging nettle season
Not sure how, all of a sudden, I’m quite so old….but I’m lucky to have lasted so long
I saw these today, near Canary Wharf. I imagine they come to life at night, when everyone’s asleep
Watching an episode of the Cleaner and they refer to a sea monster called the Oilliphéist
Apparently
“an Oilliphéist cuts the route of the River Shannon when it hears that Saint Patrick has come to drive out it and its kind.
In a comic addition to the story, the monster swallows a drunken piper named Ó Ruairc (O’Rourke). The piper is either unaware of his predicament or is completely unperturbed and continues to play inside the Oilliphéist’s stomach. The monster becomes so annoyed with Ó Ruairc’s music that it coughs him up and spits him out.” The Olliphéist - Wikipedia
the temperature has dropped, and the fingerless gloves are back on
I feel Dickensian
Some music-related AI pub signs
Oasis:
The Pogues:
The fifth Beatle:
The Waterloo Sunset:
#TodayILearned that
While humans are split between right-handers and left-handers, elephants have a preference for which side of their trunk they use. Wrinkles reveal whether elephants are left- or right-trunked, study finds
Pam Ayers has a pile of wood and rubbish in her garden which provides a habitat for hedgehogs and insects and such
She has a genius word for it. It’s her ‘nonfire’
A friend has met Paul McCartney a couple of times
I thought about what I’d say if I ever met him.
I came to the conclusion that I’d ask him what his favourite Elvis song was
I dreamt last night that I met Sir Paul in a cafe. I’m a bit disgruntled that in my dream I neglected to ask the question
My favourite pub name is The Conquered Moon
By the way…everyone should have a favourite pub name - what’s yours?
The Conquered Moon was a pub on Bemerton Heath which shut down many years ago
I searched online for a picture of the pub sign. I couldn’t find one, so I got an AI to do this
More to come
It’s Saint Swithun’s Day today
Saint Swithun is very much the British equivalent of Punxsutawney Phil
St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithun’s day if thou be fair For forty days ‘twill rain na mair
A friend who is a painter and decorator introduced one of his colleagues as a ‘brother of the brush’
I thought that was cool
I hope the blackberry berries are as prolific as the blackberry flowers are this year
From a bit in last week’s Times in which various writer-y types recommend books for the new Prime Minister (I hope)
The last thing the next prime minister should do is to read a book about political history. He’ll draw all the wrong lessons - they always do - then spend the next five years worrying about how he’ll be remembered. Since one of the most important political assets is a sense of humour, he’d be much better off with PG Wodehouse’s The Code of the Woosters, a valuable reminder that behind the stern façade of even the most formidable politician, there lurks the potential proprietor of a lingerie shop.
Dominic Sandbrook historian and columnist
Another proposed entry for the next edition of The Meaning of Liff, this one for people of a certain age
Lydiard Tregoze: the amount of time it takes to realise that you’ve got the wring flipping glasses on
Proposed entry for a future edition of The Meaning of Liff
Lockeridge: the time spent staring into space, wondering what that password that you use every day might possibly be.
I think it’s important, on a Monday morning, to set one’s goals for the working week.
My goal for this week: stop spelling ‘Terraform’ as ‘Terrafrom’
Last night I was reminded that:
…is a bad combination
🏃
Today in the UK we are celebrating Oh-my-god-i’ve-somehow-forgotten-mothers-day-oh-no-i-haven’t-its-just-the-rest-of-the-world Day
It’s all very traumatic
Our AI overlords may be about to take over and enslave us all, but I’m reassured that St Pancras still auto-corrects to St Pancreas
