Zoe Thorne

Nice! For me, it'd be Night Watch, Thud, Men at Arms and The Last Continent (which was my first ever Discworld). But like you say, it's a tough decision and I'm already second-guessing myself.

To be fair, it's hard to pick just four influential books! I was quite tempted just to go for four Pratchetts...

Wow, given that TC&TC blew my mind, that's quite the recommendation then!

I need to read Embassytown because it sounds brilliant. I was like that with The City & The City. I'd never read anything like it before.

Four books to get to know me

Ahhh love China Miéville!

The baby has a doll which she refers to as *her* baby. She kisses it, feeds it etc, all very sweet. This morning, she pretended the baby was crying, signed 'loud' and then walked over and chucked it in a bin. Good to know at 3am tomorrow that this is clearly a valid option.

This is such a brilliant scheme and makes a real difference to kids and schools. If £1 a week is something you could manage, please do consider joining the Big Green Books 500 Club.

After class, I went to sleep on the floor in the corridor and was gently woken by another teacher who told me to go home, while trying to keep a straight face.
Given that when I'm drunk, I either hug everyone, take my clothes off or go to sleep, I am just grateful for the option I went for that time

We were usually two of the most active participants in class discussions but kept schtum all lesson to avoid being found out. I'm about 95% sure we failed on that front, but we were such goody-two-shoes that the teacher wasn’t going to report us and was probably trying not to laugh herself.

, which then turned into a bottle between us. Neither of us really drank so we were soon sloshed. Then we remembered we still had a Philosophy & Ethics lesson that afternoon.
We staggered back to school and attempted to hide our drunken state, through muffled giggles.

Notable mention is the time I accidentally went to school drunk. I'd just had an exam (A Levels were modular back then) and my friend and I went for a pub lunch to celebrate. We were trying to be sophisticated then so ordered a glass of red wine each (we were trying to learn to like it) (cont.)

I have only bunked off school once, and that was because Terry Pratchett was coming to do a book signing in the nearest town. My parents were on board because they rightly figured it would be a bigger impact on me than whatever lesson I missed, so they backed me up. It was worth it.

Thank!!!!

They are amazing!

Happy birthday mother written in the sand on a beach. I have never asked her to call me mother.

The middle class child strikes again 🤦‍♀️

Quadruple-egging it at breakfast this morning - I hope @aaronsays.co.uk approves.

Thank you! Currently eating gazpacho but will be hitting the cake soon 😊

I'm on the beach and my kids have teamed up to build a motte and bailey castle, with the baby fetching shells to decorate it, and I'm just sitting in the sun watching them. Before that, 6yo came up, sat down next to me and said, "Humphrey, Xanthe, shall we have a bit of a bask?" 🦈

Oh, and John Finnemore once told me he'd trust me to look after his cat (hypothetically).

I *like* this game.

Plus, of course, I have an entire standup routine about being told by a nurse that I have a "lovely cervix".

Any student who accidentally called me Mum.
My 6yo told me I was the best parent who has read to her class because I do the best voices.
Related to that, the time I put on a Welsh accent in a museum (because said 6yo asked me to) and the (Welsh) curator believed I was genuinely Welsh.

Image of the mechanical ladder outside the Louvre Text below says WENN'S MAL WIEDER SCHNELL GEHEN MUSS (When you need to move fast) Underneath is more German text which translates as "The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min - quiet as a whisper."

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'

10/10 response, no notes

👀

For Wordle, Bracket City etc, if it takes longer than 5 minutes, I run out of dopamine and get annoyed.
For things like a crossword or sudoku, I can enjoy it for much longer, but it's usually to keep me busy on a train etc so not necessarily daily.

This morning, it's "Uptown Funk Top Ranking" which I think would probably work better musically anyway.

Unless "strangle the horse" is a euphemism, she's doing rather different things to the horse in that.

@canyoustranglehrse.bsky.social I can confirm that you cannot strangle the horse in Barbie Horse Adventures.

That is an incredible coat.