John’s hill. Nothing between us and the gale but dungarvan. :)

We had a big cast-iron dinner table blow off the back porch! It’ll take two of us to put it back.

Thursday is always a very good day in the @irishtimes.com

More than a week boi: here’s my starter pack: Montalbano, Beck, A Village in France, Captain Marleau, Maigret (both of them), Wallander. And lots of folks love Spiral, but it just didn’t work for me.

Please don’t do that. You’re perfect just so. But do watch!

Ohhhh Randalllll. Have I got something for you. Check out the streaming service MhZ Choice. It is amazing. Series from all over non-English speaking Europe, mainly mysteries. All of Montalbano (like 30 of them). Henning Mankell, Beck, the original french Simenon. Really great stuff.

Have you seen the tv shows? Fantastic!

Waiter looks pissed.

I had vowed not to read a word about this whole sorry episode. Thank you for convincing me otherwise.

Never, ever, underestimate @dieworkwear.bsky.social He’s one of the best things on social media.

Sigh. I used to get yelled at for my rare $200 dinners by people spending $500 for nosebleed lakers tickets — for games that were free on tv.

Didn’t do those either and neither did my staff. Still, we were lucky then (and incredibly profitable). Different world today.

Ah sure, none better!

Your mileage may vary, as the kids used to say. As a 30-year editor of one of the biggest food sections in the world (days sadly passed) I can’t think of more than a handful of stories generated from a press release. And that’s receiving more than 100 a day.

Fascinating performance by Tommy Tiernan on just that. Even more, he says stories don’t even need to make rational sense but by evoking a sense of wonder they work on a much deeper level.

Just months from pub on my first book I had the same thing happen. Holed up in a cabin for a week and rewrote the whole thing. My friend The Very Famous Author said “that’s very craftsmanlike if you.” Totally made it worthwhile.

And waterford!