Circular skylight with complex decorative ironwork and a classical frieze.

Glamorous roofing at Edinburgh Waverley

A digitally modified double exposure of St Pauls cathedral in shades of red and white.

St Pauls schismatic #london

A selection of model heads wearing various types and colours of headgear, in the window of a shop on Kilburn High Road

Heads of the High Road #kilburn

Photo of a winter tree in a park in bright sunshine

Photo of a winter tree in a park with the sun setting behind

Queens Park #london

Paperback cover of Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo. The illustration shows a black cat in a lighted window, looking over a yard covered in fallen leaves.

Books read in 2025: Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo. There is a melancholy to this whodunnit set in a red light district in post-war Tokyo, and to Why Did The Well Wheel Creak?, the story of a doomed family, which is also included. Kosuke Kindaichi is the modest and engaging sleuth.

Paperback cover of The Appeal by Janice Hallett, showing a black and white drawing of a village, spattered with blood, and under the title the text "One Murder. Fifteen Suspects. Can You Uncover The Truth?"

Hardback cover of The Killer Question by Janice Hallett, showing a thatched pub named The Case Is Altered. Under the title is the text "The sudden-death round will be murder..."

Books read in 2025: The Appeal, and The Killer Question, both by @janicehallett.bsky.social using her techno-epistolary form (emails, text messages, voice notes, transcriptions) whose ambiguity and potential for deception support brilliantly twisty mystery plots.

Paperback cover of A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine, showing a young woman's face with eyes closed, next to a collage of autumn leaves.

Books read in 2025: A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine. A summer idyll turned to tragedy, the psychological repercussions of buried crimes. Forensically dissects and exposes the streams of consciousness of its variously flawed characters. Prices are paid, but not always how you'd expect. #booksky

Paperback cover of Ring the Hill by Tom Cox, showing hares, birds and a figure walking up a hill capped with a tower.

Books read in 2025: Ring the Hill, @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social 's memoir of hills and houses, landlords and landscapes proceeds by association, moving through memories with a lyrical mycelial meander. Wryly humorous and evocative. #booksky

Church of the holy rude #Stirling

A photo of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, digitally altered with a red sky and white/yellow stonework.

Seasonal Scott #edinburgh

Mind expanding stuff from @lrb.co.uk
"He says an image can be ‘a giver of being’, ‘une donatrice d’être’. This is to suggest that the human mind and its images, in dreams as in the theory of relativity, are creators of each other."

Three wintry trees in a light mist

Mist for the solstice

Double exposure of two classical statues of women in expressive poses in Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK. The colours are tweaked to bright red, green, yellow and purple.

#bath #photography

The box fills the frame, fire red and soot black.

The noise isn't wailing like a person, more like when metal grinds on metal, when something huge is horribly broken. Too loud, Unbearable. It has me now.

Very close to the box now. It reflects fallen leaves. Its top is open.

Knocked on door to ascertain if burning smell originates in house. No answer. Think not anyway. Acrid smell is everywhere. I should not have touched the box.

A closer view of the box. It is very red. What's it doing there?

Object appears to be made of glass or plastic, but warm to touch. Too warm. Smell of burning.

A red transparent box sitting on the front wall of a London terraced house.

Routine patrol notes: Report of "disturbing" object, wall of number 115. Caller claimed to hear "wailing" noise. I asked if noise came from house. Caller said no, from inside box, then hung up.

Two autumnal trees in a grassy park, with grey skies.

A skeletal sapling against a stormy sky in an urban park

Autumn ominous in Queens Park #photography #NW6

I think the most charitable interpretation is that they are tragically uninformed about the basics of nutrition.

I've had multiple individuals tell me that their bodies are so uniquely constituted that they would wither away to an anaemic husk on a vegan diet, or that they tried it once but VISCERAL IRRESISTIBLE CRAVINGS FOR FLESH overwhelmed them.

Soto Zen Buddhist Assoc.
“We must have compassion for all, and we must remember that compassion is wisdom in action, and compassion must never lead to apathy or passive acceptance. We support action arising from our bodhisattva vows to end suffering, practice good, and manifest good for others."

Racist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic views aren't 'controversial'. I thought we had got to a stage where we agreed these things were backwards and vile. The sooner we start calling bigots by their name the better

coloured pencil drawing of a fish and bubbles and what might be seaweed in a bright psychedelic style

a little psychedelic fish #drawing

Old fashioned lamp-post with a small sign with arrows pointing left and right, in red paint. Left is "mayhem", right is "carnage". Between the two is a skull and crossbones.

A box of plastic toys with the sign "Wrestlers £3 each or 2 for £5"

Stained glass image of two badgers designed in such a way that it looks like they only have three legs between them.

A basket of animal skulls.

Painted sign of a pirate with slogan "Them that dies are the lucky ones"

More #weird #Hastings

That sounds fantastic, what a great idea.

A black box with hand-painted goth-related slogans inside and out, mounted on a fence at West Hill, Hastings, England. This side says, simply, GOTH.

A black box with hand-painted goth-related slogans inside and out, mounted on a fence at West Hill, Hastings, England. The inside bears the names of bands: Sisters of Mercy, The Damned, The Cult, Cocteau Twins, The Mission, The Jesus and Mary Chain..

A black box with hand-painted goth-related slogans inside and out, mounted on a fence at West Hill, Hastings, England. This side just says: The Cure.

The #goth box of #Hastings

A papier mache processional giant named Mr Fishy in Hastings museum. A nearby sign says "please do not touch Mr Fishy"

Please do not touch Mr Fishy #Hastings

Photo of West Hill in Hastings, England, and across the town to the English Channel

Photo of the old town in Hastings, England, a narrow street of shops, pubs and cafes. There's a shop called She Sells Seashells and a French style Tabac sign.

Reading this thread has been a real affirmation of joy, thank you! Also - booked a last minute weekend break at the seaside, but there was a snafu with the booking so thought we wouldn't make it. But it got sorted by superb accommodation lady and now we have great digs in lovely quirky Hastings!

Deal to get ChatGPT Plus for whole of UK discussed by Open AI boss and minister Exclusive: Deal that could have cost £2bn was floated at meeting between technology secretary Peter Kyle and Sam Altman

Argghhh, please.... a secretary of state who can't recognise an over-hyped, failing exercise in mass plagiarism for what it is

🤦🤦🤦

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...