Silversprite

A field of cut wheat, with trees in the distance, under a mostly clear evening sky.

A rural lane. On the right hand side is a hedge. On the left is a tree which is blocking out the sun. To its left is a cereal crop field.

A harvested cereal field. In front of it is an old metal fence, and a hedge. Above the fence are the branches and leaves of a tree.

A rural lane in Worcestershire, gently curving to the right. In the distance is the evening sun, not far above the horizon. There are hedges on either side of the lane, and fields on the other sides of those.

(2/2) ...into crispy human bacon is waning.

Travel between now and Halloween is inevitable. But I might have chance to see the sea, and eat quality pastries with difficult to pronounce names in tiny cafes while reading apocalyptic academic papers. Multitudes, contain, etc.

It's been a summer.

A rural lane, loping over a bridge. Two shadows, of a pole and of the photographer, are on the tarmac.

A cut wheat field, surrounded by tall and mature trees. The sky is mostly blue and clear.

A broad expanse of a field of harvested wheat. On the other side of the field, under a mostly clear sky, are some trees. The sun is near setting just off-camera to the right.

A double track country lane, next to a hedge and a mature, leafy, tree.

(1/2) Enjoyed a decent evening walk; over bridge, down lane, across field, through thicket.

On the cusp of mid-August. There's a heatwave forecast, the fourth of this long summer, but with the hours of light noticeably shorter, and the sun fractionally lower day on day, its ability to turn us...

The Tesco (not a big Tesco, I think it's technically a Tesco Metro) in my small Scottish town has already put displays of Christmas tubs of chocolate out on display. My partner was horrified.

The big Tesco south of here has pallets of Christmas tubs of chocolates out the back.

The August Bank Holiday is 2 weeks tomorrow. Traditionally, that's when the supermarkets start to put out the Christmas puddings and mince pies, but Sainsbury went earlier last year.

Festive foods are imminent.

Nipped into Lidl just before they shut because Sunday. Did my public/Bluesky duty by enquiring when the Christmas Marzipan Stollen Bites will be in stock.

Response: "Not yet. But not long to go."

#FestiveSeasonStartsInAugust

(2/2) 4 shillings for 12 issues of the vicar's monthly whining was a lot of money back then so I never saw a copy in a house in Wickhamford.

However. There were two publications I discovered in local hedgerows as a child: a porn mag, and a copy of the Parish Review.

Make of that what you will.

The front cover of the Badsey, Aldington and Wickhamford Parish Review from May 1959, price 4/- per annum.

A section from the regular column written by the vicar in the May 1959 parish review. In it, he notes the fall in the number of communicants in the Badsey church.

A section from the regular column written by the vicar in the May 1959 parish review. In it he notes thsat the time for Holy Communion service on Ascension Day in Badsey church used to be 5am, and argues that 6.30am isn't early. He continues to be dramatic about early service times.

A section from the regular column written by the vicar in the May 1959 parish review. He begrudgingly notes that many people prefer an evening service to an early morning service, but asks that people fast for at least 3 hours before evening communion.

(1/2) Sidetracked by the May 1959 Parish Review for the villages of Wickhamford (mine), Badsey and Aldington.

As he did regularly, the vicar of the time goes off on one about locals not turning up for his early morning services. And finishes by asking that people have their tea earlier.

I'm assuming this is a seperate operation from the whole chilled food selling thing and doesn't lead to instances of "One vanilla ice cream. What do you want in it? Chocolate flake or pickled onion?"

The ice cream van noisely circling this village is also selling small jars of home-peeled pickled onions.

That is *surely* peak rural Worcestershire.

A variation on the "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" meme, which reads "USE LIBRARIES AND LEARN STUFF". As in the original, the text is centred and white on a pure red background, with the outline of a crown over the text.

My riff on this from around 2010, which ended up being the placard waved by a few demonstrators in protests against public library closures.

www.flickr.com/photos/silve...

Logistically tricky 16 days coming up, as I might need to go to certain places at very short notice.

Overnight bag is packed. I've practiced with the other things - laptop, phone, chargers, toiletries etc. - and I can be ready in 4 minutes if extremely pushed, though 15 is much more comfortable.

Malteser Reindeer chocolates, seen in Asda on August 8th 2025

Malteser Reindeer chocolates, seen in Asda on August 8th 2025 Also visible tubs of Celebrations

First sighting in the wild of Christmas 2025... @ernestgbilko.bsky.social

YouTube video by RUNDMCVEVO RUN DMC, Jason Nevins - It's Like That (Official HD Video)

Caught the end of #totp. Absolutely monster track, and video to match. Run DMC, Jason Nevins - It's Like That.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLGW...

(2/2) ...heard or thought of that name since leaving for university life, decades ago. After he passed away, it became a shorthand for evading work e.g. "You're as lazy as Cunger".

Huh.

In a way, every Worcestershire village probably had a Cunger.

Some still do.

(1/2) Good grief! Jaw just dropped.

The society who do a pretty good website on Wickhamford (my childhood village), Badsey and Aldington, have done an article on Cunger. Which was the nickname of a well-known person from Badsey.

Before my time and I haven't...

www.badseysociety.uk/people/jones...

You know every now and then they find the mummified remains of someone in the Andes, left in the open to die for some reason, and the cold climate has meant that over the centuries it looks like their skin has just been severely overstretched but they are still clearly identifiable as human?

A snip of a screenshot of the weather forecast for part of the midlands of England over the next few days, showing daytime temperatures between 24C and 31C (with mostly sunshine), and night temperatures of between 11C and 16C.

Next week's forecast is nudging "the stock of ice cream vans will melt before you can eat it" territory, and seems a bit much for what is mid-August.

My interest in football is so minimal, whenever I see Jürgen Klopp* on the tele my reaction is usually "how does he have such impossibly perfect teeth?"

(* explainer: he was the manager of a team in the Mersey region, Everton or Tranmere United or someone; he now does tv ads for Trivago)

I think if YOU think it's dead, you're not doing it right 🤷🏼‍♀️

The sign on a display in a branch of Marks and Spencer in Worcester, England. It says "SLIM-FIT SUIT A close-fitting jacket and slim trousers for a modern fit, with stretch for comfort. £140" Next to the text is a picture of the upper torso (and chiselled jawline) of a man wearing a cream-coloured jacket over a white top.

Having to hurriedly buy a new suit as putting it off for so long. Partially as I loathe clothes shopping in England, have reached the age where M&S is the default place for most things (shoes excepted: that's Clarks).

Though going for a darker colour, as this one has "The Man from Del Monte" vibes.

A grey cat, asleep on a striped bed. The cat is mostly on the bed, though one rear leg and her butt is hanging off the side.

How? How can you possibly be comfortable, sleeping like this? Is this why you snore so loudly? #cat #weird

Post someone who looks good in a hat.

Unconfirmed report of Christmas Puddings on the shelves of one Worcester shop. Will, in the interests of food and science, investigate tomorrow.

We should allocate funding to places that produce research that makes a difference to people's lives and is produced in an environment that supports researchers to do interesting work rather than pit them against each other like Pokemon. That's my controversial opinion for today.

a woman wearing a blue hoodie with the letter a on it covering her mouth Alt: Gif of a woman holding her nose and mouth like there is a bad smell.

Am sure BO releases spores like mold.

The inside of a bus. The poles are painted pink. A senior is sitting on one of the bucket seats up front; otherwise, the seats are empty. Out of the window can be seen a high hedge.

I've been extremely lucky with the buses today; waiting times in seconds, not minutes or hours. I should remember this whenever it (regularly) goes slightly or very wrong.

"People who refer to Ledbury as 'Ledders' should be shot."

#Herefordshire

On bus #4.

Old man wakes up, asks to no-one in particular "When does Wimbledon start?", then falls asleep again.

Thankfully he's not the driver.

Trying to remember the old rule that you could reliably pinpoint which part of Worcestershire someone lived in by how they pronounced, specially:

"Ham and eggs"

This wasn't always a positive thing as it was a kind of class/prejudice index, depending on who said it and who was listening.

A small bowl of salad leaves, strawberries, burrito and thin ham, on a table.

The inside of a largely empty bus, with just two other passengers. The poles are painted pink.

Pit stop in Worcester for a small lunch at my usual, but annoyingly named (vowels removed because trendy), haunt.

Now on bus #3, heading sort-of towards Upton upon Severn with 28 jars of quality honey to drop off.