I've written about the Haldon Hills, a landscape you have probably have never heard of. I love it, and you might enjoy reading about it.
deepdownthings.substack.com/p/the-ancien...
I completely forgot that Tom Stoppard was also responsible for adapting Anna Karenina for Joe Wrightβs film (2012). I donβt feel that Tolstoy mixes particularly well with TV and film, but that film really wasnβt bad at all. (Iβve read AK 3 times so am reasonably qualified to say this).
Every exit is an entrance somewhere else.
A bookcase opens to reveal a doorway in a large country house library
We love a secret doorway.
π·The secret door in the Library at Osterley, London by John Hammond
Nigel Slaterβs The Christmas chronicles (grey hardback cover with gold embossed titles and four slender tree boughs) on a wooden table
Itβs time
The stone bridge with numerous bends is shown in a soft autumn light
Other work by the Ladybird artists
βStopham Bridge in Autumnβ
Artist: SR Badmin
Although with 4 kids and one modest income, he needed to!
When I was a child my dad would watch the budget coverage on the BBC with paper on a clipboard and a retractable pencil, working out how it would affect us. Nowadays the BBC website has a calculator on it. Dad was performing fiscal responsibility, I now realise.
Theyβve been talking about the Budget for so long Iβve only just realised when it is, having been stuck in a permanent loop of βnearly budget, when is budget?β
Bertie is the very spirit of Christmas chaos
Just had an alert in Outlook asking me if I wanted to send an email during my work hours, on Tuesday 8am.
Sir, I donβt start work at 8am, so that wouldnβt be during my work hours.
Also, I havenβt finished work for today. I finish at 6 or 6.30. When did Microsoft start deciding my work hours?
a book page with a coat of arms showing a skull, next to it is written Caterine Morte
they had goth baddies in the 17th century as evidenced by the fact that a woman named Caterine Morte had a skull coat of arms
I have had this exact same issue today, where it threads individual replies to a bcc email I sent. Extremely annoying!
If, like me, this utter betrayal by Labour is making your blood boil, can I ask you let them know your feelings here www.gov.uk/government/c...
Swahili detected ya vas lyublyu English On the other hand, Lydia
For reasons, I found myself Google-translating the Russian expression βΡ Π²Π°Ρ Π»ΡΠ±Π»Ρβ, but because I couldnβt be bothered to turn on Russian script on my phone, I put in the transliteration, βya vas lyublyuβ.
It means βI love youβ. Or at least I thought it did.
It is hat hair season and the time of year when I wonder why I bother to comb my fringe at all.
Itβs giving
Hideous haunted hotel corridor carpet featuring blurred figures and faces
Genuine hotel corridor carpet I saw in France once. I think it contains the souls of former guests.
Road sign for 'Skirmish Paintball'
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
Todayβs announcement by the Home Secretary marks an unprecedented and damaging departure from the UKβs long tradition of offering people sanctuary and the chance to rebuild their lives.
The side of an woman's effigy tomb showing the bottom of her dress and her feet (she lays on her back). The dress is depicted as many wiggled folds of fabric, and we can see the soles of her small shoes.
A close up of the side of a Viennetta - white ice cream with three 'folded' layers on top of flat layers. It looks a lot like the folds of drapery in the other photo.
ok, yep - I defy anyone to work out which is which
To suggest that having lived a life so grim that even an English tribunal will grant you asylum, and to have somehow managed to get here at great risk to life, is a "golden ticket" is absolutely fucking contemptible. Shame on this so-called Labour Party.
I am both intrigued and repulsed π
A date latte??
I hate portmanteau words but βslopagandaβ is magnificent
A small pumpkin with a carved face depicting a mix of horror and exhaustion sitting in a large flower pot filled with weeds on a rainy day
Quite how this pumpkin manages to capture the November 2025 mood quite so accurately, Iβm not sure.
The scene looks as if it has come straight out of the pages of βwhat to look for in autumnβ but is not. The scene focuses on the woodland floor and the creatures who live among the lovely rusty leaves
Other work of the Ladybird artists.
The Beech Wood
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
My issue with this is that the study involved a closed box of chips - gulls will be even bolder if the box is open. (Or in my recent case, the fried egg bap).
βIn 2019, researchers at the university also found the secret to protecting your seaside chips from scavenging gulls was to stare at them.
The study revealed birds were more likely to steal food when they avoided the gaze of their victims.β
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Iβve suspected this for a while, but the arrival of my new (work) laptop has confirmed that the search function in the newer Desktop version of Outlook is terrible. This explains a lot.
