Category Archives: Interior

Oct 27 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Gogol Bordello, again

Sunday 26th October 2025, 9.15pm (day 5,176)

Gogol Bordello, 26/10/25

Happy birthday to the wife: I shall leave the exact number unstated (though you could work it out from looking at past October 26ths on this blog if you really felt like it). One of the weekend’s organised entertainments was to see Gogol Bordello at the Albert Hall in Manchester; they therefore become the first rock band (or should we say Ukrainian-American gypsy punk rockabilly band) to appear on here twice. Until I looked it up I was recalling our first encounter happening in 2017 or something like that but their first appearance turns out to have been 14th December 2013; nearly twelve years ago. Blimey. I’m impressed they have sustained the energy levels all that time. But I suppose Eugene Hütz (putting in a second personal appearance, on the left) is younger than me. (Although he’s older than Clare.) Well, good luck to you my friend — perhaps we will catch up again in 2037, if you’re still leaping about the stage at that point.

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Oct 26 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

The great Movie Sort of 2025

Friday 24th October 2025, 3.35pm (day 5,174)

Movie reorganisation, 24/10/25

Maybe fifteen years ago these were in some kind of alphabetical order and general state of organisation but like molecules in a viscous liquid, they slowly rearranged themselves over time. Returning them to their original state of order has been a days-long job, only finished as I post this (Sunday morning). And it took all that time to find L. A. Confidential (which is what prompted the Sort Out in the first place).

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Oct 23 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Last, and first, wills

Wednesday 22nd October 2025, 12.35pm (day 5,172)

Wills, 22/10/25

No attempt at artistic merit today, but this was, I suppose, a significant event and worth documenting. Along with a couple of witnesses, Clare and I gathered in her room in town (hence the various accoutrements in the background) to sign our wills. I have made it to 56+ without having troubled to write down any wishes regarding what should happen to my estate once I finally stop doing this blog…. sorry, I mean, die. But here they are. I am sure there are no big surprises within either one, but at least it is now officially unsurprising.

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Oct 16 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Condiments

Wednesday 15th October 2025, 12.35pm (day 5,165)

Condiments, 15/10/25

Life remains unexciting and I doubt this is going to change in the near future. At least lunch was taken somewhere new. The rebellious spark in me wants to just swap a couple of these around. Not rearrange them totally — that would be messy. But, yin-yang style, maybe exchange one of the mayos with one of the ketchups. Doubtless someone would spoil the effect by putting it back: they wouldn’t be able to resist (not if they were anything like Clare, anyway).

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Oct 08 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space (used)

Wednesday 8th October 2025, 7.55pm (day 5,158)

Spiritualized CD, 8/10/25

When Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space album came out in 1997 it was a definite moment in the growth of my musical appreciation. I pulled it out of the pile somewhat randomly this evening and listened to it for the first time in years, but it still works. Apparently this version, packaged like a giant pill-box such as you might get from the pharmacist, is a ‘Special Edition’ and might well have been worth something in 2025 had all that careful replica packaging not been ravaged by repeated plays down the years. Digging it out was the most interesting thing I did today, anyway.

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Oct 05 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Nightjar in red

Friday 3rd October 2025, 7.40pm (day 5,153)

Nightjar in red, 3/10/25

The Nightjar bar sits under the Picture House so is a logical place to go for a pre-movie drink, as was the case this Friday night. And a word out to the movie, too — Spinal Tap 2, which, pleasingly, was extremely funny and in no way diminishes the original, something definitely not always the case for many such sequels.

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Sep 28 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

In the Water and Steam Museum

Friday 26th September 2025, 11.20am (day 5,146)

Water and steam museum, 26/9/25

A city the size of London is going to need a lot of water. And unlike, say, Manchester, there are no high hills particularly nearby, in which one can build reservoirs and let gravity do quite a bit of the work of moving that water to where it is needed (water comes all the way to Manchester from the Lake District a hundred miles away through gravity alone). Therefore, some serious pumping is required. What used to be the Kew Bridge pumping station, and is now the London Water and Steam Museum, contains the biggest beam engine ever built, a gargantuan see-saw with a steam engine at one end and the pump at the other. That colossal object was impossible to photograph adequately, but these instruments will do.

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Sep 25 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

For the reader at seat 32C

Thursday 25th September 2025, 11.35am (day 5,145)

My archives, 25/9/25

And that reader was me, today. Third and, for now, last day working at the National Archives. What’s in the files and boxes? Well, let me get on with writing the book, and some of it, you will find out.

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Sep 25 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Banjo skeleton

Wednesday 24th September 2025, 1.10pm (day 5,144)

Bano skeleton, 24/9/25

This agreeable piece of whimsy sits in the Cafe Torrelli outside Kew Gardens tube station. I don’t do advertising on here but lunch was pleasant, and I ate better than this guy seems to have recently.

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Sep 16 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Rainy Monday

Monday 15th September 2025, 8.20am (day 5,135)

Rainy Monday, 15/9/25

Some might say we haven’t had enough rain in 2025 and probably they have a point, but there’s been quite a bit lately, and today it was obvious even at 8.20am that there was going to be plenty more. So profoundly uneventful was today that this is basically the same shot as on last Monday — only without the boots and with more water outside. But I had work to do, so what the hell.

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