Olthwaite

Sketchers are fancy slippers. Comfy though.

We're entering the final days of our #RouteSummerReads promotion. Take advantage and claim 25% off books, including from pre-existing discounts. Enter Coupon Code SUMMER25 into the shopping cart at checkout ➡️ www.route-online.com

Good luck!

At a beer festival. A pale ale's tasting notes mention 'thick mouthfeel'. That sounds terrible - like a glug of hefty gravy with a skin forming.

'Dogs as small as indoor fireworks' - lovely.

The Dog Show: never have I seen so many dogs. There were dogs as big as buses and dogs as small as indoor fireworks; professional dogs slumming in the sticks, daffy family dogs grinning ear to ear, a bulldog with a man who resembled a bulldog, and girl gangs fussing over their dogs between rounds.

The Guardian always treats Gen Z-ers as gormless sheep who follow the latest trend. In today's paper they may be 'shedding their reputation for clean living'. When I was in my 20s (400 years ago), people of that age were as diverse as they are now, not always following the herd.

Blurb for Wedding Present tour describes them as 'semi-legendary' - semi-damning them with faint praise, but I suppose it makes a change from the usual OTT PR guff sprinkled with 'iconic' and 'seminal'.

Photo of a crouching man flashing his sock. Headline: 'The Restless Ones.' Text: 'They're interested in getting to the next place. Taking the next step. Wearing the next thing. 60 colours. Gives you a lot of room to choose. Crew-Sader in soft-walking Orlon acrylic. By Interwoven. For people who can't stand still. Interwoven. Another fine product of Kayser-Roth.' Above pic and text, a photo of socks labelled 'Interwoven, The Greatest Name in Socks, Crew-Sader, The Super Supersock, One size fits 10-13, $1.50.'

The Super Supersock! Advert in Grayston Unity, Halifax. Not really selling it to me. He looks twitchy, moody. Too many short sentences. Too many product names.

I wouldn't hesitate spending just a minute with him.

Bourne Slippy. Our hero has to complete a series of It's A Knockout tasks, including clambering up a greasy slope in a giant budgie costume.

A local corner shop is to stop selling newspapers from today. I reckon about two-thirds of shops near me that sold papers before Covid have stopped selling them. I still think newspapers are the best way to read lengthy news reports/features or stumble across great pieces/pics.

Ha-ha!

What a palaver! You're the customer yet you have to do all this for them.

Thursday night - Tickets available Friday day - Low ticket warning Friday night - Tickets available Saturday day - Sold out Saturday night - Tickets available

Time for a ticket update! 🎟️

Want in? This is the link you need: www.universe.com/events/independent-salford-beer-festival-isbfx-tickets-Y6KWQ4

Loved Dennis Morris' exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery. Marley & the Pistols pics are the headliners but there are some wonderful portraits of people in his studio and out and about - eg the lad with his sisters and briefcase looking slightly weary about having to look after his siblings.

Tee-hee! Same!

Hope you have a nice time. Went for the first time in yonks last year. Kelvingrove and Botanic Gardens were highlights.

Smiling behatted QM pulls a pint.

Queen Mother photo in Wood House, Dulwich. She used to do a Friday shift here apparently.

Indie mags - Ripe
Ales & grub pub - Babbity Bowster
Park & 9,000 plants - Botanic Gardens
Indie bookshop - Calton
Art - Kelvingrove and Gallery of Modern Art

Delighted to be working with

Lancashire libraries alongside our publishing brothers and sisters in the North of England.

@thebookseller.com
@lancslinguistics.bsky.social
@britishlibrary.bsky.social
@northernfiction.bsky.social

Reflections of water on a wall framed by a pillar and a tree. Flats in the background.

The always lovely Barbican. The building, the plants, the art, the nooks and crannies where people beaver away on their computers.

Passing through parts of London I've never visited before but recognise from songs/comedy shows - Balham (The Goons), New Cross (Carter The Unstoppable...), Brockley (Trimmer & Jenkins' song 'I come from Brockley/Near Peckham Rye/Lots and lots of houses?/Under a magenta sky')

Green Dot, Orange Dot, Blue Dot, Red Dot.

Summer loving, happened so fast Lady Chiddingfold, I met a lady, crazy for me.
Oh Chivers, how moving! Well-a, well-a, well-a, tell me more, tell me more #girlsowncc

Welcome to the Sunday caption contest. Give away ❤️s, retweet to encourage more competitors, include #GirlsOwnCC

Ahead of our ticket launch party tomorrow night, we’ve been looking back on the past ISBFs…how many have you made it to so far?

(Tickets for this year go on sale at 8pm on 10.08.25)

"Cleaning up" is definitely a choice of words when it comes to talking about people, isn't it?

My husband is a freelance writer and thanks to AI his takings are half what they were last year.
AI doesn’t have to worry about paying the bills or keeping a roof over its head.
If you need a talented writer please get in touch with Matt
www.mathew-owen.co.uk

Disappointed the Proms crowd don't whoop and clap when the Hovis bit comes on in Dvorak's symphony. It's the big hit, rattle your jewellery at least.