Dr Gaz J Johnson

And here's a rare early photo of their first meeting. Mum's on the right, Marge giving her some serious side-eye (odd really, as they got on like a house on fire over the years!)

[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS] 1 NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]: Hello there 2 [A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk]. DAD: Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids? 3 NT EMPLOYEE: Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail! 4 MUM: That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids? 5 NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]: Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot! 6 NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]: Listen - that's their call [Calls emanating from the landscape]: tut-tut woke-woke 7 NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]: They are extremely sensitive and fragile... But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery. 8 KIDS [pointing]: There they are! [Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure]. [Little people noises]: woke-woke tut-tut woke-woke 9 [Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]: Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house. [Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]: tut-tut woke-woke 10 MUM [pointing]: What's that one doing there? NT EMPLOYEE: Oh, that's so sweet… 11 [We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away]. NT EMPLOYEE: I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph… 12 [We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]: Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE? [ends]

If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...

Big happy birthday to dear Old Mother Llama, and by a strange coincidence, my lovely Auntie Marge.

Had a quick chat with them both, neither of whom I suspect will be swinging from the rafters partying later.

Well there goes Christmas.

Sigh.

Sounds, sadly, oh so familiar for Mrs Llama. You two are clearly medical sisters! Much sympathies.

Better that I guess than a nastier diagnosis, but can understand what an embuggerance it can be. Mrs Llama is prone to these. Every time I have a stinker of a cold for a week, she can have weeks/months of it - one reason we have the 'Quarantine Bedroom'* these days!

*May or may not be the shed

Okay, now I am Dr Two-Jabs Johnson for the season again. After missing my free flu last week due to >checks notes< ill health, caught up with it at my local friendly pharmacist's.

Naturally, I'll be wrapping myself in blankets and sympathy for being such a brave soldier for the rest of the day 😂

No one ever told us, AI was ever going to be this way.

Clap clap clap clap clap...

Working through the editing of my last hike video, & discovered I walked through the home village of Moondial's author.*

Activate traumatic flashbacks to that one!

*Moondial! Moondial! Moondial!

#youhadtobethere #IFKYK

Or when contractors leave snagging that is >easier< to sort yourself rather than a lengthy phone call, days of waiting, and then a day waiting in.

Plus, hey, post-digital age skills once AI eats the interwebs and we're back to a barter economy! 😂

Personal highlight of the day there, 15 gooses strafing the library barely above the roof top, illuminated in the golden light of the setting sun.

Rather magnificent to see, even they were too fast for me to snap a picture.

As in all things, it's all about da gooses.

Fun activity for a damp day :)

Another of my grandmother’s gems. Sadly, while I have the instructions, only two of the pattern pieces remain so I can’t make it

You'd be a peach in a hat like that!

Lovely 20s style!

Darn it, just noticed my Weds campus walking group isn't on this week (it's half term in Warwickshire - that was last week in Leicestershire so I'm always out of step - so to speak - with it)

Honestly, what else do I come to campus for?

Oh right, my job! >laughs<

Oh I love these annual stories...and am always baffled by WHO goes to these sorts of events anyway? They always look a bit naff at the best of times.

Hmn, porridge pots seem to be very much a hot oat drink. I assume you only use a thimble of hot water if you actually want something resembling a solid breakfast.

Not a fan.

Well, it's nice weather for ducks on campus today. Less fun for those of us walking across campus to our offices.

www.instagram.com/p/DQYrueyDde...

Still, escaped a goose mugging today for once, so that's a positive start!

Doctor Who 2026 Christmas special confirmed by BBC The BBC says it remains

Ah well, have to watch some classic Who for Christmas then.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Lovely, insightful & fascinating conversations with Philippa and Dawn at LSE & Huddersfield Presses respectively this morning.

Off to chew over our discussions for a bit now 😀

I'd have gone with Rhubarb as the hero 😁

'You've not heard the last of Barbados Slim, now goodbye forever!'

The chances of an exchange visit was a million to one... but still they come!

Where's the ones with a 'happy ending'? Those were side splitting! 😂

More fabulous old knitting patterns of my grandma’s. Mostly 80s and earlier. Gotta love those looks

My old boss just said 'Orac' as well...so far it's a (tiny) landslide!

Oh no, THAT's what the old machine was called. Okay, so Orac's back in contention.

As you'll see on Insta, I subconsciously built the rig in a tasteful TARDIS blue box...

I've a feeling my machine before last was Orac...it eventually died with a black screen.

I could call it...the Earth!

I have reached the most important part of my new PC build. No, not the first boot, O/S install or configuring the pretty, pretty RGB lighting.

Giving it a new name. After 'K9' for the old machine, time to move on to something suitably geeky for the new one. Or overtly retro maybes...

Looking at holiday cottages - and let's just say with this one, you're never far from a bath!