PhilippaB

Ooh.
Interesting extract in the G today about Mbappe's personal team.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...

As you can see here, right from the very first day he entered our house, Jim found great difficulty in getting settled and making the environment his own.

THREAD.

3 & 1/4 years ago, with no warning, a brilliant orange farm cat wandered over from the draughty barn where he'd been living, in rural Cornwall, & decided he wanted to live with us instead.

We decided to call him Jim.

This is the first photo I took of him, on that night: December 1st 2022

I won the quiz, by the way. hehehhehe

Plus bonus random mention of Bristol City...

A Mexico '86 shoulder bag, official press edition.

A Mexico '86 shoulder bag, official press edition, reverse side, showing the official sponsors, including Camel cigarettes and Cinzano. Oh, the old days, hehehheheh.

On my Facebook memories today - authentic journo swag from Mexico '86. Just look at those sponsors...

So, overall, not a bad time. Now, to work...

Trip to the shops. Took it easy this time to see if that stops me locking up - which worked. Took 30 mins but that included taking rubbish out, chat in shop about Iran, a discussion with a vulnerable person who wanted to know about my stick, nearly getting hit by a lorry and yelling at the driver.

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

Something I have just said to my cat - "Don't lick the oil painting!!!"
I feel like it should be later in the week.

OK - because I can't stop thinking about this - another possibility. It doesn't mention if he had any 'dry runs' or trial floats that were less successful. Maybe he had to wade out of the river grumbling a couple of times before he established the optimum size and stability of the ice sheet.

On the Guardian:
"Mandelson’s downfall is one of fastest ever seen in British public life"
Dunno about that, 1997 was ages ago.

Screen shot from Paul Embery’s X account: Respect to this police officer. Confronted by radicals demanding the arrest of a Christian preacher on the grounds that Whitechapel "is a Muslim area" she was calm and professional and gave them short shrift. Let's see more of this from the police. Has a video of a woman police officer talking to a group of Muslim men

This clip is all over the other place and has made its way onto GB News and Talk TV so I’ll do a bit of an explainer here too!

The clip doing the rounds is of a fantastic police officer telling a group of Muslim men that a Christian preacher nearby is entitled to freedom of expression.

🧵
1/19

Maybe the bet was made on Mardi Gras and it took a few weeks to organise everything.

Ben Chillwell & Diego Moreira of Strasbourg

*NEW POD* The Team give RCSA their flowers as OL's winning run ends, Monaco upset leaders Lens, yet more problems for OM, and Rennes turn a new page.
soundcloud.com/frenchfootballweekly/ffw-j23-all-sass-a-la-meinau

Oh, and when I make couscous I often add tomato sauce/tinned tomato juice to the water, and/or add sweetcorn or veg to that before adding the couscous to bulk it up a bit and make it more interesting. Lovely hot or cold.

Seeds are cool! My Dad has psoriasis and read somewhere that they were good for helping with that, so now my parents have a jar of toasted seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, lin, and pine-nuts) to one side to add to pasta or salads, which add crunch and texture as well as good oils etc. So tasty.

Last time she gifted me a giant insect (wing-ed and hoppy) I was trying to collect it with a dustpan and brush when it launched itself towards me and I fell backwards onto the piano and ended up having a CT scan of my back, so I am not comfortable with this situation...

There is what I suspect is a giant wing-ed insect outside. I can hear it rattling. My cat can hear it rattling. I fear we have very different priorities about this insect. I want it nowhere near me or the inside of the flat. Plume evidently wants to catch it and 'gift' it to me. Pray for me.

cc @kevvwill.bsky.social

Now I'm no big city bobsleighologist but it seems to me they've gone to the wrong end of the track

Yup, and also as Feeble Franglais and Proto-Romantic Wordplay are single-sex schools, where do the boys in western Europe and the girls in eastern/northern Europe go?
Several levels of not-thought-through here...

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Wesley Said celebrates

*PODCAST* Also on Spotify, Kris, Jez and Tom reflect on a chaotic week in Marseille both on and off the field, while Lens go top as PSG fall. Elsewhere Auxerre win a 6 pointer and it's another 'nul points' for Nantes!
open.spotify.com/episode/4aws...

The guys talk about Marseille again. They didn't want to, but Marseille keep *doing things* so it's kinda unavoidable...

A day I will never forget, being allowed to step into Maurice Ravel's house in Montfort l'Amaury for a private visit. This is Maurice's "travel piano", which he took with him everywhere, beautifully bashed up.

Oh Christ yes. Explaining that made me feel like the Ben Affleck 'fictional characters' gif...

To be honest, sometimes I'd get it to do something random because I didn't know any better, and the CTO would rock up at my desk with a panicked expression and say
"How did you...get it...to...do...YANNICK!!!"

More seriously, I worked for a software (BI) company, and you'd fairly regularly hear:
"But it's not supposed to do that"
"I know, but THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE DOING"
in the engineering space...

YES!!! That's exactly it.