Nice to see that the universe is beginning the celebrations for my 60th, albeit a couple of months early :)

picture of northern lights and BBC headline

Just tried connecting to IP address 15.0.4365.2….which, sadly, is not an IP address, it’s a SQLServer version

#NeedMoreSleep

Out dog-walking this morning, and saw a mum and son walking to school, with the mum blowing bubbles as they walked along

I don’t know whether that was the only way to get the kid to walk to school, or whether it was just for the joy of it

Either way, it seemed like fun

gif of bubbles

One man’s proverb is another man’s ‘wtf?’

When someone else is screen-sharing, and I’m trying to point them to the right link or button or drop-down on some over-complicated screen, I’m reminded of The Golden Shot

For younger readers, the Golden Shot was a 1970s UK game show involving blindfolds, crossbows and Bob Monkhouse

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_…

This is very good…on getting physical fitness into perspective

“I always regarded fitness as my superpower. Something that I worked hard at, for sure, but something that gave me kudos. Keeping fit – I mean, really fit – seemed to me an admirable and noble pursuit. I could fit into nice clothes easily. I could push my body and trust it not to fail. Whatever other qualities I didn’t possess, whatever I wasn’t good enough at, I could walk into a gym or toe a start line for a race and pass muster”

A moment that changed me: I thought fitness was my superpower. Then I realised it was a ball and chain - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/08/a-moment-that-changed-me-fitness-was-my-superpower-then-a-ball-and-chain?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Room 101 was a meeting room

#TodayILearned, via mastodonapp.uk/@Probertd… that

“The original Room 101 was not in Broadcasting House as the BBC maintains but in 55 Portland Place.

It was where the Eastern Service held Committee meetings some of which Orwell attended, until the Indian Services office moved to 200 Oxford Street.

The point so far as Orwell was concerned was not death by impalement or drowning or the other deathly delights he mentions but attendance at meetings which, though beloved by bureaucrats, to Orwell and anyone else engaged in creative pursuits was a fate worse than death. For evidence and further details see A Life in Letters, p. 197”

Orwell at the BBC: Two Wasted Years? - orwellsociety.com/orwell-at…

Via mastodonapp.uk/@Probertd… .

Was up in London over the weekend and went to see the now not-very-new statue of George Orwell, at the BBC

I liked it very much - it reminded me of stylish comic artwork. I also liked the fact that he’s depicted ‘having a fag’

Statue of George Orwell, with a ciggie on the go

An amusing UK political story

The bloke who made it compulsory to bring photo id to your polling station got turned away today… because he’d forgotten his photo id

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/a…

We had to vote for a Police and Crime Commissioner today.

It turns out every one of the candidates were for the former, and against the latter…so i voted on party lines

crumpled polling station banner

I’m slightly worried that Alfie Gilchrist is going to spontaneously combust at full time ⚽

📷 photoblogging challenge #mbapr - unputdownable

Somewhat negated by the fact that I have clearly put them down on the floor for the photo, but I think this might be the only book I’ve got two copies of - Dave Marsh’s The Heart of Rock and Soul

Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock and Soul - the original edition looking battered and bruised and a comparatively pristine newer version

I really enjoyed all the hometown photos in the photoblogging challenge. Call me nosey, but it’s nice to get a sense of where everyone is. Thank you, everybody! #mbapr

This was my April, in #SketchNotes

From top left to bottom right

  • Guinesses in the Wig and Quill 🍺
  • studs in the Achilles ⚽
  • first Old Sarum run of the year 🏃‍♀️
  • slightly obsessed with Merlin - Shazam for birds
  • coastal erosion artwork in the Close
  • Wetherspoons and Toby in one day - yay, me!
  • mishap with my tablets
  • 3 goals in one evening
  • marshalling in the rain
  • took the dog in the car
  • saw the boy play (and win!) a University game on Youtube 🏀
  • More Christy - a Salisbury Christy Moore tribute band🎵
  • Southampton vs Watford ⚽
  • dog had a coughing fit, but OK now
Various doodles of stuff I've done in the last 30 days - the text in the post gives an idea of what's there

📷 #mbapr photo-blogging challenge - hometown

I’m not 100% sure whether this is the photo I took, but if not it’s very similar.

The Giant and Hobnob show the oddness of my hometown, I think

The Giant and Hobnob, used in processions since the 1500's

🎙️ Podcast episode in which A.J. Jacobs tries, and largely fails,to live day without plastic

www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/…

📷 #mbapr photo-blogging challenge - drift

I’ve got a vague feeling I’ve seen flowers like this described as a ‘drift’…bit perhaps that’s just snowdrops

a drift of crocuses...possibly

#TodayILearned that ‘scarper’ is rhyming slang, derived from Scapa Flow, rhyming with ‘go’….at least according to the attached

Scapa Flow was naval base - it’s probably best known for the scuttling of the German fleet at the end of World War One

www.businessballs.com/glossarie…

This podcast episode includes my favourite tale of quintessential British upper middle classness

A young Hugh Laurie asks whether his father can actually row before a boating expedition. It had not been mentioned before, not was it mentioned at the time, that his father had won a gold medal in the coxless pair event at the 1948 Olympics

podtail.com/podcast/f…

I got a bit damp last night marshalling for the Salisbury Hospice Midnight Walk.Terrific event though- congratulations to everyone who did it

<img src=“https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/139254/2024/img-20240427-232338.jpg" width=“337” height=“600” alt=“A rainy “Harnham gyratory” before any walkers came through”>the start / finish line