Rob Chapman

Pretend It's A City is on Netflix if you have that. Well worth a watch.

"the poster girl for a certain kind of crusty but erudite and essentially good natured New York archetype, intellectual and judgemental and walking the line between rudeness and frankness with engaging grace." Yep. My kind of person.

That Fran L profile in the Observer just crackles with wit. It seemed v apropos coming to it off the back of the Virginia Woolf Diaries. Completely different eras and circumstances of course but similar smarts. She's coming to Manchester in September. I'm going to try and get a ticket.

Did you notice all the people who said I was wrong and that we are evolved enough to do the socialisms did it through the medium of angry shouting and sarcasms?

Did you see the photo an hour or so ago? Our colander overfloweth.

Just heard J King's Everyone's Gone To The Moon. The string arrangement (I assume Ken Jones) jauntily pre-echoes more sombre and reflective elements of both Plastic Palace People & Montague Terrace In Blue. Similar glissandi and mood and the outro of EGTTM is like an abridged ending to PPP.

And the mint patch. Did I mention the mint patch that will soon start to go over unless we make some of out own mint sauce pronto. August is generally our self sufficiency month but this year is bonkers. And I haven't even been blackberrying yet.

Too sweet. Home grown garlic, our own herb vinegar and olive oil. Simples. I haven't even mentioned the lettuce and the 3lbs of tub spuds from not even seed potatoes but just some that had grown eyes in the paper bag. Oh and the kale is ready too.

C has just weighed them. 2 lbs of French beans and the runners haven't even started yet.

The scary thing is we're only just getting started Bruce. I've already given the neighbours a load for doing the watering for us.

I don't get angry. Kept at a distance I find them amusing and sadly predictable.

Update to earlier erroneous bean post. C is getting among them. We have gluttage.

I didn't realise how well I'd captured the moment till I looked at that photo again this morning. It blew my hat off too.

There is that, but on the other hand I've come back from holiday v refreshed and up for the crack momentarily. But yes, it's time to issue myself with a cease and desist notice.

I'm finding the concentration on Fran herself rather than the sentiment interesting. 'Wealthy socialite', ah yes. Playing the euphemism card.

Do I engage with them or just block them all?

I don't know about naturally (there's been a fair bit of bloodlust and human sacrifice after all) but yes I think we are on the whole decent creatures too.

I am I remember Ray Brooks with Sid James in Taxi years old. RIP.

I think it's a fairly modest and realistic one. I think people are the greatest fun, just not equipped to build Jerusalem.

Trotters up. Watching highlights from the last 2 days of the 5th test that I recorded. Eating smuggled back 2 year old Comte and my own tomatoes and cucumber. Sunday afternoon Bliss.

Boy is this post bringing out the twats. "Gee, but it's great to be back home."

Nice show. I think the first of out French beans are ready too. The runners still mostly flowering.

No, from your restricted levels of terminology and easy reach for isms I wouldn't imagine you can.

And it's also a big hi hello to Buster who describes himself as 'hostile to fascists', and much else besides it would appear. Is it the angry beard Buster? You certainly have a very grrr beard.

One thing I did miss was Bluesky Tracker. Telling me who has me blocked is my new flies to wanton boys jam and I think I am going to start greeting the new ones by name. So it's a big hi hello to Andrew Lorimer who describes himself as "a spiritual man, love, tolerance forgiveness" without irony.

It's funny y'know because I never got on with her novels at all but as a diarist she's a whole other level of laconic.

The footnotes of course are never dull. One gem I learn among many is that when she saw the Diaghilev Ballet Co, twice, in Oct & Nov 1918 each time they shared the bill with a variety of music hall artists. This was a revelation to me. I would have got legacy mileage out of that in PAOC had I known.

On week 2 of the hols I read Virginia Woolf's Diaries 1915-19. It's a good job I had restricted data and internet access as I would have been blooskying the **** out of it 10 times a day. I came to VW a sceptic. I am now convinced she was one the great chroniclers of the early 20th C.

The wonderful Fran Lebowitz, one of my favourite human beings, in The Observer today "Human beings are not good enough for Socialism." This has long been my view. It's a great idea in theory but we're just not sufficiently evolved as a species to enact it.

btw - if anyone had had reason to contact me on my personal e mail while I've been away Zen Internet - for reasons best known to themselves have locked me out of my own account and I need to speak to their tech people to see what's going on.