And Matt Goodwin who DID NOT win

A photo of three motorbikes and their riders going round a dirty track at what looks to me like dangerously unstable angles. The riders and bikes are covered in advertising, because this is speedway. I have no idea how it works. It's motorbikes going round and round a circuit. I'm sure it's fun though.

Cheery waves, youngsters. It's décadi 10 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. The news reminds me that I once lived in Belle Vue, a suburb of Manchester next to Gorton. It was famous for its pleasure gardens, they were long gone & all that was left was the speedway. Let's celebrate that.

That was ace. Absolutely zero production values, but that's not stopping them 🙂

That feels quite obscure, like they only played three gigs and one was in your front room.

A photo of a plumber. Well, technically she's a former plumber now. She used to work in Manchester but now she has a job in that there London. To be precise, the photo shows a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a bright flowery top. She has a greyhound with her. The greyhound has its tongue out and is wearing a cartoon skull and crossbones bandana. They are outdoors. The woman looks tired, disheveled but happy. That's because the photo was taken at the Krankenhaus festival and I've borrowed it from her Instagram account, @hannahtheplumbermcr. She'll need to change that.

Would you believe it? Today is nonidi 9 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. I've just had the plumber round to fit a new shower head, because the old one was crap and he's just installed a new boiler here. He's one of the good plumbers. Let's celebrate them.

two men looking at a cell phone with the letters lbg on the bottom Alt: two men looking at a cell phone with the letters LBC top right.

Andy Burnham on hearing the results.

I'm not entirely sure how a motley crew of tree hugging hippies and Muslim housewives were better organised and resourced than a party of millionaire media darlings. There's industrial strength terminology for Goodwin, the kind that good plumbers use, but 'sore loser' will do for now.

Hannah Spencer walking into Westminster, sucking her teeth, tutting, and muttering "tell you what, you've had some cowboys in here."

The cover of Love and Rockets comic. It says LOVE AND ROCKETS along the top, HERNANDEZ BROTHERS at the bottom. Gilbert and Jaimie Hernandez have spent decades mapping the lives, loves and adventures of Maggie, Hopey, their friends and enemies. This cover, number one in a relaunch from a few years ago features a drawing of six women in front of a police line up wall. The one on the left is in an orange skirt and jacket, has white gloves and handbag and looks well groomed and relaxed. The other women are from left to right in a green and yellow top, looking suspicious. Front and centre the next woman in blue jeans, white vest, holding a beer bottle and looking tired. Next to her is a mechanic with goggles and a big wrench, short hair and a mildly stunned expression. Hiding behind the mechanic and the last person is an embarrassed naked person just about hiding her modesty. The last person is in a short blue dress, has long dark hair and a mischievous grin. You'll recognise most of them if you've ever read Love And Rockets. If you haven't read it, you should.

Right then where are we? Oh yeah, French Revolutionary Calendar, updated celebrations on octidi 8 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. Today, a shout out to maybe the finest example of comic books there is, both in terms of storytelling, artwork and longevity. Love And Rockets, of course.

A photo of a three hundred and forty gramme jar of Mackays thick cut orange marmalade. That's what it says on the label, as well as that it's made with whole fruit. Naturally, the marmalade is orange coloured. Mackays is made in Dundee using traditional copper pans. I know that because I've a jar in the fridge and read the label on the back. Didn't like marmalade till four or five years ago, then wham, can't get enough of the stuff. Yum.

Bonjour tout le monde on septidi 7 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. I'm sure you've had your breakfast, but if you want a snack, why not treat yourself to some marmalade on toast? Celebrate the marmalade while you're at it. Marmalade sandwiches are for small bears and children only.

Congratulations on picking one of the handful of Blur: Not Shite songs.

A photo of a MacBook Air. Other laptop computers are available and are less smug and overpriced. On the screen is the symbol of The Internet Archive. It's a stylised black image of a Doric portico, or put more simply, a couple of steps below four columns supporting a long thin rectangle and a flat triangle. Think of a Greek temple and this is likely to be what you imagine. To be absolutely sure, the word ARCHIVE is above the temple, and down the left side is the word INTERNET. The Internet Archive apparently has a trillion pages. It's enormous, difficult to navigate and full of junk, but there's also a lot of gems in there, simply doing it to preserve digital culture. Even if some of it is mid nineties online shopping catalogues.

Morning to the rest of you French Revolutionary Calendar enthusiasts, & the just curious who wonder what the heck I'm playing at. It's sextidi 6 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. Today let's celebrate the most internet thing on the internet, all trillion pages of the Internet Archive.

The furbie organ lad is going to take some beating.

Not winning Eurovision with that.

Hey, somebody was bound to go for it🙂

A photo of a beaver gnawing on a twig while in a pool or river. The beaver looks pleased with itself, and so it should do. It's one of the first to be born in the wild in the UK for a very long time following a reintroduction programme.

Good morning, good tidings and good health one and all. It's a fine quintidi 5 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. We're going to celebrate wildlife again today, quite a bit bigger though. Reintroduced across the UK & doing great at sorting out the ecosystems, let's hear it for beavers.

Ah well, at least Hugh's surname had the correct spelling. I'm sure you had hours of fun explaining the different pronunciations of McAuley and McCauley 🫤

Number 11, any relation?

An illustration from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the RSPB. It's of a goldcrest clinging to a branch on a plain white background. The goldcrest is a tiny bird, joint smallest in the UK along with the similar but rarer firecrest. It's greenish above, pale below and has black and white wingbars. My bird guide describes the goldcrest as dumpy, which seems a bit rude. It is quite a round little thing though. It's distinctive marking is an orange gold stripe on the top of it's head.

Good afternoon sisters, brothers and anyone who is unsure or undecided. Today is quartidi 4 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. You could be fooled into thinking it's a spring day today. Let's celebrate the UK's joint smallest bird, one that's been visiting us recently, the goldcrest.

A photo of a woman singing live, in a spotlight on a dark stage. There are two musicians behind her. On the right, a bearded man plays a small drum kit. On the left, a bald man plays what looks like an acoustic guitar. It's slightly bigger than usual and it looks like it only has four rather than six strings. The singer is wearing a semi transparent dress with a blue floral pattern. She has short blonde hair. One hand is raised, the other holds a microphone. She is Mariza, the superstar of fãdo. It's very likely she's singing about someone falling in love and dying shortly after.

Here we all are on tridi 3 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. This afternoon I'd like to nominate Fãdo for celebration. For the unfamiliar, it's Portuguese goth folk. Everything is very sad, but sounds absolutely gorgeous. What's not to like?

A photograph of the kettle in the house of Pom. We use a stovetop whistler here. It's sat on the stove, ready to do its business. There's a steel back to the stove. The kettle itself is shiny and silvery, sort of a rounded triangle. The spout points to the left. Round handle on top, mostly blue insulated material to pick the kettle up safely. The knob on the lid is black. The whistle is a small oxblood red bird with its wings outstretched.

Would you believe it? We've made it to duodi 2 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. We all deserve a nice cup of tea or coffee, as you prefer. Best put the kettle on then, and while you're at it give it a little pat of thanks. Before you put it on though, when it's still ok to touch.

A screenshot of today's BBC weather forecast for Nottingham up to 1600. You can also see the summaries for tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. It's going to rain. Bah.

Who'd have thought we'd reach primidi 1 Ventôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV? The month of winds and hopefully the last month of winter. The rains still raineth around here, so keep the gear suggested over the last few days, and thank whatever for relatively reliable weather forecasts.

The Top Ten should be full of The Thoughts Of Chairman Nigel Blackwell† such as,

The singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope (x3)
And the Pope said to his aide,
WHO THE FUCKING HELL ARE SLIPKNOT (x3)
IN RELATION TO ME GETTING OUT OF BED?

†Have to add his surname due to the bad Nigel.

Even men with steel hearts love to see a dog on the pitch 🐕

A rather fanciful photo of a shower of umbrellas floating about in a pale sky. They're various colours, white, yellow, blue, red and green. It's sad that as I started writing this alt text, rather than wondering how the photographer has arranged the umbrellas, I thought gloomily that it's probably AI generated. Whether it's AI or not, we've been poisoned to assume anything a bit unusual will be now. Bah.

Hail folks and well met. We're at the end of another month in the French Revolutionary Calendar on décadi 30 Pluviôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV. But, even the month of rains has ended, hang on to your umbrellas because it looks like we've more precipitation to come. Praise the umbrella!

Could our Netherlands correspondents @richardjamesfoster.bsky.social and @littlegingerkid.bsky.social throw any light on this phenomenon?

A photo of a black kagoule on a white background. Shiny thing which will keep you dryish during a light shower, but is pretty useless in heavy rain.

Yo ho shipmates. It's nonidi 29 Pluviôse in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV, and it's stopped raining. But we're not out of the month of rain just yet, so be prepared for a showers. Best take your kagoule, or cagoule, or pac-a-mac, or emergency poncho. While you're at it, three cheers for them.

Dave The Leg? Nobody I know of that name, but hey, it's nearly 30 years ago 😯

Shellac, Leadmill 7 December 1996. Supported by Solar Race (🤷). I recall Shellac encoring with Didn't We Deserve A Look At You The Way You Really Are for a very long ten minutes.

Can't help with the others, I'm afraid.