Tom Rollinson

Jocelyn Brooke is good as well, as recognised by Anthony Powell.

Tawny owl

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

What an admirably clear statement from the Jewish Leadership Council, especially when all of those involved must surely have been dealing with so many other urgent challenges in safety, security and grief + shock today before having this further divisive and distracting intervention to address too.

From The Dangling Man by Saul Bellow: “In the old days, when we had a flat of our own, I read constantly. I was forever buying new books, faster, admittedly, than I could read them. But as long as they surrounded me they stood as guarantors of an extended life, far more precious and necessary than the one I was forced to lead daily. If it was impossible to sustain this superior life at all times, I could at least keep its signs within reach. When it became tenuous I could see them and touch them.”

Saul Bellow nailing* the importance of physical media (cf:, lps, cds, dvds, etc) from The Dangling Man, 1944.

* for me, anyways

Some of the early ones are amazing, eg the 2000 episode on Romanticism. I intend to listen to the lot in sequence, just 25 years' worth to go...

Wordle 1,545 1/6

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Don't know, there must be something in the air today!

I learned a new word there, Moira, many thanks.

Completely correct. That sort of thing is also rife in umbrella company tax scams.

What a privilege to be at The Oval yesterday and witness those innings by Root and Brook. Best of luck to England this morning!

Common Fleabane, Common Burdock, Spear Thistle and Hemp Agrimony at Dinas Island today in sunny Pembrokeshire.

Sign for furniture showroom that reads SHACK OF SIT

As for my favourite spoonerized business name, it will never not be this furniture showroom in New Zealand...

Large Skipper, female Common Blue and Mint Moth, seen at Le Marais de Montceaux L'Étoile today. Also a remarkably clear view of a (non-singing) Nightingale (no photo, alas).

Female Essex Skipper, Marbled White and slightly blurred Spotted Fritillary, all seen on a short roadside stop in central France today.

Many thanks.

@mothiduk.bsky.social Good afternoon, would you be able to ID these moths for me, please?

Maybe the idea is "thick as a ..."

Salad Burnet and Hedge Bedstraw, two new plants for me, seen today at Albany Park in Enfield.

Does that mean it is definitely safe? If so, fantastic news (I speak as a life member).

Thanks very much.

@mothiduk.bsky.social Could you please help me identify the moths in my first 2 images here, and just confirm that the third is a Common Swift? Many thanks.

Another terrific read.

Yes, and I would also be extremely embarrassed to be found beginning a sentence with the words "Yall wanna".

Why give in to vandals and philistines, though?

You are 100% right on this, don't listen to Lynskey and the rest of them.

Hugely looking forward to it.

Architectural details at Leicester Square I had somehow never noticed before.

Totally disagree.

@bbcradio4.bsky.social Completely agree with everything Hugh Grant has just said on the Today programme about the continuing power of the press in this country. Why don't the BBC and others decide for themselves what is newsworthy, rather than always taking their lead from Murdoch and Rothermere?

Very sad to hear this. One of my favourite authors, one of the few I would happily reread forever.

@jonathancoe.bsky.social Having watched Fedora a few weeks ago I simply had to reread your Mr Wilder And Me, which I finished a few minutes ago. What a wonderful read, and such a moving hommage to a great film-maker. Plus I loved the scene with the Brie.