Ah, well at one time I was responsible for the annual campus map update so all the arcane knowledge of building levels and staircases seems perfectly normal to me

I used to work at the top of that staircase :-)

Should be in your substack backend, if nowhere else

I would maybe be interested, though feel free to ignore if you’re after writers of books specifically. I haven’t had a regular writers’ group since March 2020 and it’s the social side I probably miss the most. It’s probably early 2020 the last time I saw you in person, too.

Richard's fundraiser for Marie Curie Help Richard Smyth raise money to support Marie Curie

Just did a really long run so I am once again sharing my Leeds Half Marathon fundraising page in the hope that we can muster £2000 for @mariecurieuk.bsky.social by race day on May 10. Please share. Don't make me tag my 2 (two) famous followers. Leave me my dignity. www.justgiving.com/page/richard...

The End | Binge-Ready Fiction Podcasts & Audio Fiction Directory The only listener-focused fiction podcast directory with over 1,500 binge-ready fiction podcasts, audio dramas, and other audio fiction. All shows listed have reached a season finale or the series co...

Anyone looking for audio fiction to listen to, I've found this website this week: www.theend.fyi
'Binge-ready' i.e. there's at least one complete series/story to listen to already, no waiting for the next instalment. (It now lists my own sitcom Lee-Ann's Spare Fridays, too)

For those experiencing similar bad weather to the hail here in Wharfedale instead of being able to hunt for Easter eggs, may I offer an episode of my sitcom in which Gina is absolutely not on a treasure hunt because they’re for kids.Contains some of my fave lines creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...

They’re not something I’ve regularly encountered, but I saw a couple recently and yes they truly do cleanse the soul, but they also kind of look like a bat caught in a giant web or net of some sort and I find it hard to fit the two images together.

Riccall and Cawood, and Harolds Godwinson and Hardrada National history becomes local

I was most interested when the new 'did Harold sail to Hastings in 1066?' theory came out last week because my dad lives near Riccall and we love a bit of local history, so it set us off on a short quest jacquelinesaville.substack.com/p/riccall-an...

Funny Story by Emily Henry Michigan-set rom-com about an awkward librarian

Are you looking for a funny romance novel set near Lake Michigan? I happen to have reviewed one here
jacquelinesaville.substack.com/p/funny-stor...

Inkcap is back. Hello. We are relaunching – and we have big plans.

Today is an exciting day: I have relaunched Inkcap!

New website, new branding, lots of in-depth reporting on nature in Britain coming your way.

Please share & help me get this thing off the ground.
www.inkcap.co.uk/inkcap-is-ba...

Would you have expected a grudge-bearing knife at all though?

You must’ve done something to offend it. We have half a dozen of these purely because I am not to be let near the Proper Knives.
Was it perhaps a fan of Tarka the Otter before you ruined its joy forever with your inconvenient fascism radar?

I couldn’t wait for mine so signed into the website to look. I reckon I could buy 57 bags of vegan marshmallows with my payment. In reality I’ll probably buy one and put the rest in the rainy day fund. Thank you anyway :-)

It has ‘smoothed out’ their faces somehow, they don’t look quite like the same people; sort of like the well-nourished modern actors playing them in a docu-drama perhaps. So I think while you may gain immediacy through colour, you’ve lost the authenticity of who they are.

Good point.This was my dad’s immediate response to reading the story in the Guardian. My dad lives close to Riccall and walks by the river there often. It’s also tidal, there would be maybe 2 hours per day I believe, where you could sail upriver, so no element of surprise by fast arrival.

Thanks. So I guess each new traveller probably knows someone who’s been before and the knowledge gets passed around. It has always baffled me!

Possibly a daft question but how did any of them know where they were going? How did Tostig know to go up the Humber, then Ouse for and what direction to march to York? How does Godwinson know the quickest route to Tadcaster, etc? Without maps, do you ask directions at a monastery?Hire guides?

It was all looking lovely in the sunshine this afternoon.

You are making the whole process of clearing my dad's bookshelves of inherited nature-related books quite perilous. I may never dare share photos of my bookshelves again, once they're all transferred.

Battered 1900 hardback of Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Seton Thompson

Brought a stack of books home from my dad's, looked them up online & with this one I thought 'I recognise that 'tache, was it on Bluesky recently? Oh no is he a fascist?!' Spent 5 mins scrolling your feed, couldn't find it, went back to my Profile & it's the 2nd post down. Only a nature faker, phew!

I have moved down to a level 2 jumper today. There has been sunshine.

Sadly I looked this up the other day, despite neither being nor having a mother. The lady who invented it (in the USA) intended it to be ‘s for one specific mother. And it’s in May. UK still uses Mothering Sunday but sometimes calls it Mothers’ Day so put the apostrophe where you like :-)

Snapshots from the Second World War Some of my Grandpa's pictures from the early 1940s

Second photo down in this set of WW2 pics is a man with no trousers who has been in our family album for 80 years. He’s not a relative or even someone who became a family friend as far as I know but I can’t bring myself to throw him away! open.substack.com/pub/jacqueli...

Are A.I.-Generated Videos Changing How We See Animals?

Enjoyed this interesting @nytimes.com piece on fake AI videos of animals being improbable. But really it isn't a new phenomenon. COME WITH ME BACK TO 1903. 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...

Ah, the amount of time I spent in Borders not buying Interzone.
I’m sure there was a Wendy’s in Leeds about 30 years ago though, I have a vague memory of a date there when I was in 6th form and still thought American stuff was cool (see also the retro diner at Meadowhall)

I looked through the replies earlier and it gave a similar warm feeling to watching an episode of Detectorists, quite an achievement

I misread it at first and thought ‘he missed a trick there, should’ve said happy.. oh, he did’

Be Funny Or Die by Joel Morris

Yesterday I finished reading @gralefrit.bsky.social's Be Funny Or Die, which I've been dipping into since it came out. It's excellent, and among other things it made sense of something that's bothered me for years: why do people cut drama a lot more slack than comedy?

A comedy says ‘I’m going to make you laugh’ and if it doesn’t, it’s immediately obvious it’s failed. A drama doesn’t have such an obvious test. I can be wrapped up in the outcome without ever crying for instance. I might get to the end before I realise that overall there’s something unsatisfying.