Setting off with my vorpal blade to fight the Jabberwock aka the Benefits Agency over autistic child's confusion about what she is and isn't entitled to. Of course it's about to pour with rain.

So cheered this morning by a quartet of geezers in their 60s in the coffee shop, talking first about all the historic soul gigs they went to in the 70s, followed by the use of surtitles in live opera, followed by the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. 'Nah, it's about the nature of existence innit'. 👌

Sorting through bookshelves and I seem to have read a LOT last year that I now remember absolutely nothing about. Quite enjoyed at the time, presumably, but even reading the back page synopsis brings nothing back. Is it them or is it me?

I see my local council is advertising for a new CEO at £200K on the same day they have announced mass redundancies. If they want a new comms officer, I'm available...

Went to see A Complete Unknown and loved it so much - we seem to know no more about Dylan at the end than we did at the beginning and that is hard to pull off but T Chalamet does it somehow. Bravo!

At this point she is the most intriguing woman on planet Earth. What is going on with her? Will we ever know? Does she even know?

Didn't watch the inauguration for blood pressure reasons but next-day pics reveal Melania's hat as the one good thing about it.

The high street might be dying but I've been v pleasantly surprised by the suddenly high quality of the buskers there. An excellent trumpeter earlier in the week, a lovely opera singer today.

I'm so sad about Bristol Old Vic theatre school ending its undergraduate courses. Yet more obscene writing on the wall for the arts in this country.

I keep forgetting I'm on here, but I'll wish everyone a very happy new year now. (Especially people in NZ and Oceania, where it is already 2025.) Have a great one 🎆.

Cleansed my palate after Mufasa with Tar on Netflix, which was excellent. I will be thinking about this all night.

Just back from Mufasa, nobody disliked it, nobody loved it. Great scenery and sets, rubbish songs.

True joy = coming home from grocery shop to hear the Redhead practising recitatives from Don Giovanni. Makes me feel my life has been worthwhile.

Darragh's having the whale of a time playing with my wheelie bins. On my way outside for the fourth time to try and claim them back...

It's making we want to throw up that Trump is at Notre Dame and I'm not. I would actually enjoy it! No fair 😢.

No more Gregg Wallace on our screens - a nation rejoices.

How do I find out if my local cinema is open today please @cineworld.bsky.social ?

Incidentally I'm less a part of the Twix migration than a person who constantly loses passwords. Fingers crossed this site will be kinder to me in that respect.

Can there be a better use for a snow day than sitting in Coffee Jazz rereading The Dark Is Rising? I think not.