Two ladybirds huddled together in the crook of a Philadelphus branch
A mass of ladybirds hibernating on a Philadelphus branch
Smug Philadelphus-hibernating ladybirds enjoying the spring sunshine and feeling superior to yesterday's less well-organised ladybirds who have to make do with brush bristles.
When you said that you get paid if people borrow your books from libraries I went to see if I could find any on my app even though I already have them all. I found the audiobook of Yokel on Libby, Listening to you read it is such a lovely way to insert small pockets of joy into my day.
A ladybird asleep on the bristles of a brush in a logpile
After years of having to import ladybirds to the garden it's now properly wildlife friendly and has a healthy population of its own. They like to sleep in the woodpile so we introduced a log-brushing protocol to avoid accidents. However one has now decided to sleep in the brush.
It's one of my favourites too. The stories and the pictures are a joy
We have two dogs, Pip and Toodle, at puppy classes the vet nurse taught Toodle recall by calling her name first. somehow shouting "Toodle come" seems worse than just "come", but it has stuck and I have to use it. Pip is older and just recalls to his name, because I taught him..
That's a lovely painting. You've captured him perfectly
He gets dragged into judging the dog show at the fete and has to manage not to upset all his customers. Pretty much all village fetes in the UK have some sort of dog show, they have silly sections like "waggiest tail" and "best 6 legs", so not Crufts. If you're lucky they also have ferret bingo...
I was walking my two dogs on their leads through a field with cattle in it, which had signs saying "cattle in field, keep dogs on leads" and a woman let her off-lead dog run up and attack us. When I kicked out at it and shouted at her she shouted back that people like me shouldn't have dogs....
We know they are tofu, but we called them puffed toenails for years until we found out, so we still call them toenails...
My grandma taught me this, she'd call it "giving the house a good blow"
Well that brightened up my morning after I emerged from reading the news. Thanks Tom
I pre-ordered two because even full-price from Blackwells they cost the same as one from the Evil Publishers. The recipient of the second book was given it for Christmas and has just excitedly messaged me because they've started reading it and found your signature 😊
All my cats have had outdoor access, on average they live to 18 or 19 and haven't had traumatic deaths. Locking the cat flap to keep them in after dinner and until breakfast keeps them safe overnight and gives the local wildlife a break from being poked and stared at.
The funniest thread you'll read today.
Best school dinner day was chips and cannelloni!
If it's one night, like it used to be, then we can all cope. But these days it's not about the joy and magic, it's about people desperately having to get drunk, so it spreads across both weekends so that they can make a night of it and have a party. That's what annoys us all.
There was a pizza place in the market square in Lytham St Anne's called Market Square Pizzas, their pizzas were square, and delicious
Noo! You have to wander around bumping into things in the twilight while turning on multitudinous small lights, they are the rules..
We've got one of those!
Westbury
It depends where you live. In a lot of the UK the land isn't suitable for arable farming so we have animals grazing outside, we use their dung as fertiliser. If you want to be vegetarian fine, but it's not compulsory for anyone who supports the environment. Pesticide and herbicide use is problematic
He brought the people of Devizes out to protest against him. For anyone who isn't familiar with Devizes that's a pretty big achievement
There was one in Preston wasn't there?
My copy of EWSY arrived today. It means a lot knowing how much you've had to go through to get this one out into the world. Also, while the dust jacket is glorious, I love the funky orange book hidden underneath it. It's very you! I can't wait to get started reading it.
We went down to the bar in a dodgy hotel in Cairo years ago for a beer, unfortunately a lounge singer occurred. He dedicated "Sex Bomb" to my husband and his expression was exactly this.
The madness of being shouted at for things out of your control can happen in real life too. Our neighbour said that another neighbour went round to complain that their cat was eating her cat's food. Her husband thanked her for letting him know and that he'd have a word with their cat about it 😂
Take care of yourself Tom and I hope you get better really soon. Glad you found a sane doctor in the end. Alice Roberts signed bookplates for her recent book which are stuck on the page, can Blackwells send you those to do from home? It would save you the round-trip at least.
It's a nice idea but it's more a medieval house that could be anywhere. Is this part of a bigger thing where you can explore streets?
More important is how they got from being stranded by bad weather in Milford Haven to Yarmouth? Is there a cross-country portal that we aren't being told about? Are the BBC hoping we won't notice so they don't have to explain that bit?
I only opened a Substack account because of you, but I deleted it last year because it was just too annoying and the ethics were worrying. So I'd love to be able to read yor longer pieces somewhere else
