Ben not in Spain

They are leaving no depth unplumbed. Terrible people doing unspeakable things, and apparently revelling in it.

I love him to bits, but he’s a pain in the arse.

Life with a springer

That’s true. Not sure Id want to be in Dubai right now (or ever really). She’s currently looking at flights via Singapore. 😳

I take a slightly different approach - set a target for alcohol free days. 200 this year, and well ahead with 40 so far. And I’m always slightly surprised how easy it is to go to social fixations and drink water. Like you, I now feel if I had to pack it in, I’d be able to fairly easily.

Yep, they're much better than they used to be. They've already been booked on (already cancelled) new flights... she's going to need to be very zen about the whole experience.

Good morning ORCs! A short trip out yesterday and wonderful to see cherry blossom and daffodils everywhere. Maybe spring has arrived. Eldest daughter stuck in Sri Lanka unable to get back through Doha, which is a bit of a worry compounding the general new sense of dread…

‘Well she was just seventeen…’

Happy Birthday! 🥳

My MA on Middle East politics is of a somewhat older vintage than your degree, but nothing changes that much in the Middle East and so my analysis is the same.

Good morning. Another sedentary weekend beckons, but no Six Nations 😢 Last night we watched the first couple of episodes of Dirty Business. If you want to spend the weekend furious, there’s no better route.

This is the way.

That’s really about it. Although in truth sensible parties are in pretty short supply.

I know, but still… But it is one of his many issues.

It's a lot of trouble to go to to avoid fixing Mrs Miggins' commode.

As would I if I had to deal with Chris Mason and co.

Finding Dickens It's never too late for the books you should read (but didn't want to)

I came to Dickens very late in life and loved it - bennotinspain.substack.com/p/finding-di... - but I also agree that you don't need to have read him to enjoy Demon Copperhead. It stands alone fine.

This is an issue. Can end up listening to the same bit over and over. And then occasionally when I’m listening during the daytime I’ll have the feeling I’ve heard a bit before…

Usually I just go right back to sleep and I don’t need snacks. Some nights - last night - it doesn’t and I listened to about an hour’s worth. The danger is that the book I’m on is at an exciting moment or near the end and then that properly wakes me. For those times I have a reserve book.

SnoozeBand™ The world's most comfortable headphones, designed to improve your sleep.

I sometimes wake up a bit during the night and have found that listening to an audio book is very efficient at getting back to sleep, so mainly so as not to disturb Mrs H I invested in one of these, and they’re really very good. www.snoozeband.co.uk?gad_source=1...

I enjoyed Demon Copperhead. A very clever Appalachian retake of Dickens. For this, some of the girls’ commentary on the absurdity of their father’s mission offers a lot of black humour. But I’m only two parts in, so I can imagine it gets less amusing from here.

Good morning Rob - so sorry to hear about your loss. A broken nights sleep - very noisy bed neighbour with bad cold - spent a fair bit of it listening to the Poisonwood Bible, which is dark and darkly funny. Have a good one!

Good luck with the trip!

That is a level of organisation that may be beyond us! Something to aspire to, in an any case.

It’s not great if your forget to buy milk, but it’s very beautiful and peaceful

Oof, that’s a pain about the car. The rain here has left potholes like the Grand Canyon.

Ooh fish and chips at the seaside. A lovely treat. It definitely feels more spring like. Yesterday I worked with the door open while the dogs lazed on the garden. Doubtless winter has one last bite to come, but for now it’s rather nice.

Good morning Guy. A beautiful sunrise on its way to start the day here.

It didn’t quite match your experience! But it was good to see Agnes in thy environment and clearly comfortable and to meet Simon McDonald. The food was unexpectedly good. PEter Carey had a big moment in the 90s although I never read him.

My left is the ‘evil eye’ too. Lazy eye they called it when I was a kid. Good luck tomorrow. Ankle is fine. In the rest phase for another couple of weeks and it’s starting to be a bit boring / frustrating! Looking forward to the rehab and trying to remain patient.

What’s the book club book?