Yay it’s Thursday. At last. Made it, phew. What a glorious morning. Joy to be alive. I’ve quickly polished off my gran o la with yo gurt and berries and and nearly ready to take on the day. This includes popping to waitrose to buy some milk and then partake of a very fine cawfee. 11 am at the caff if anyone is around.
I try not to see or hear the news but some of it does get through and I sense that the Facebook empire has now started its decline, as did twitter before it and then prior to that the British and Roman Empires. There will be others I’ve missed, probs. Too many to list here but you get the gist. Nothing lasts for ever.
There is already a serious amount of crap here and I sense it is about to get worse. Not totes sure I’m quite ready to abandon Facebook yet as it connects me to a lot of friends around the world. The future isn’t looking bright for the platform though. Lorra shit happening.
So the question is whether bsky.social is the place to go. It looks more like a replacement for twitter than Facebook and I’m not sure it has any privacy controls. I’ve already started being followed by bots. Attractive women one and all. I have enough attractive women in my life thanks very much.
I already have around fifty real friends there. Mostly from Facebook but one or two new ones I’m pleased to see who don’t do the book. There are only fifty or so people I regularly engage with on Facebook. Probs less. However, sometimes I meet people in real life who are also Facebook friends who mention that they read my posts but don’t leave comments. Most of my friends list are people I’ve met in real life, a few international internetty types usually being the exception plus one or two others. I guess there is always philosopherontap for people who just want to read this stuff.
Still here for now but alternatively @huworourke@bsky.social is my handle. Mam was an O’Rourke, Huw’s my first name. I think @tref was already taken. I occasionally post stuff there.
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Extra jumper on today. My Ireland FatFace sweater. Together with my extremely warm Himalayan BlackYak sweater it brings me to just the right comfort level. If I was in an office I’d probably still be wearing two jumpers. I suspect it isn’t the temperature inside, which in the shed is set to 21 degrees C, but more psychological due to the icy conditions outside.
At eight fifty five the sun was still very low over the allotments beyond the back fence.
Got a bit of work type stuff to do today. Nothing too onerous that would get in the way of life. THG is off to the gym for her first class at nine thirty. Worrawoman.
I’ve decided that the family tree stuff has for now reached the point of diminishing returns and am easing back on it with a view to doing more work on the history book itself. Will keep you updated with progress obvs but it is more likely to be a 2026 finish than 2025. Whether anyone will want to publish it is a different issue.
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At 9.51am the shadows are still very long – over three quarters the length of the lawn.
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In waitrose to buy milk. Got a 50 pence off voucher for two pints. Every little thing helps innit. Also bought a bit of bacon and some halloumi. Now sat nursing a large lahtay in da caff surrounded by talk of garden centres and other age related subjects. Two blokes over there with laptops open presumably talking werk.
The caff is almost as crowded as the car park! The car park isn’t particularly crowded. It’s just that they are all in the caff. The trolley park outside the caff was full. I just rolled mine in and left it.
Couple sat opposite had been to Benidorm over new years eve. Fireworks display. Apaz. Think I heard it right. Don’t want to.make it too obvious I’m listening in.
There’s a walk at the end of the month. Terry, who they saw in the store, won’t be there as he’s going in for an op.
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The temperature in the sunny Waitrose car park had risen to a balmy one degrees btw Not the same in our shaded back garden. The sun ain’t getting up over the trees.
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Occurred to me btw, what with being about to celebrate my sixty fourth birthday in December this year, we should be thinking about renting a cottage in the Isle of Wight in the summer of 2026. Obvious thing to do really innit.
Can’t see us scrimping and saving to get there though. Not in my DNA. Also doubt we will have grandchildren to bounce up and down on my knee. Furthermore I won’t be out until quarter to three, unless it’s a long lunch.
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It is observed btw that the garden is mostly in shade at this time of year. The small bit that was in sunshine this morning is no longer thus as the sun, in its perambulation from east to west spends most of the day behind trees lining our boundary.