- Have been on 3 big corporate websites this morning and on all, found multiple 404 errors within 2 clicks from the front page. Sloppy. #
- @andatche it's here. we stole it from you. ha!! in reply to andatche #
- @xbaz hurrah for benignness, boo for the lose of teeth – top ones or bottom ones? Boron has hilarious smiles after losing his top fangs :) in reply to xbaz #
- On http://votematch.org.uk/ I matched with @TheGreenParty (already a member) & Lib Dems (I'm voting for them at #ge10 to oust our Labour MP) #
- @leftbeingrealis I'm not that surprised by that tbh. The drugs thing did seem to be quite an omission in the questions though. in reply to leftbeingrealis #
- @leftbeingrealis I'm reluctantly voting LibDem. No Green candidates here & LibDem is the only way to get rid of long-serving, crap Labour MP #
- A busy week wrangling many, many kids ahead of the Bingley Little Theatre production of The Beggar's Opera at the weekend. Should be good :) #
- Wondering whether it's worth trying an anti-glare screen for al fresco laptoppery. I think something to shade my eyes would help a lot too. #
- @left_realistic i have one or five pics you could use. although only "better" if you define "better" as "including a mick jagger impression" in reply to left_realistic #
- Enjoying the novelty of not having to rush to Bingley so early this evening – get to watch the show tonight :D #
- Last show went well, the kids did a fantastic job. Felt like a proud mum to all 38 of them! #
- http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/ – I matched @thegreenparty on everything except Democracy (LibDem). Good way to compare policies side-by-side #
- Looking for a film to match my mood: somewhat melancholy but not sad & with some optimism. Someone make a mood-to-film matching website plz. #
- @IdleSi I was thinking Police Academy. in reply to IdleSi #
Authorlouisa
1) Seen through the binoculars, the silver birch tree’s trunk looks completely flat – stylised flat like the cutscenes in Fable II, but its dangling branches look like a stereogram. We pass the lenses back and forth to both enjoy the optical illusions.
2) I don’t have to go to Bingley. The day is my own.
3) As our dinner cooks in the oven, we bring down armfuls of books from the bedroom to fill the newly fitted shelves in the dining room. It’s disturbingly pleasing to arrange them – in sets where appropriate and by theme elsewhere. The spine colours of the Bloomsbury edition of TC Boyle’s novels and the red of the Vintage press books look wonderful against the purple wall.
1) News of a funny scene backstage slowly spreads throughout the cast and crew – it evolves as it travels and I correct the details to explain how it came about.
2) The crowd hoot, holler and clap at the end. Everyone agrees it was a fantastic performance, the best of the run.
3) The boys sing the drinking song “Fill Ev’ry Glass” louder and more raucously than ever before — in their dressing room after the show is finish. The highwaymen’s leader Macheath – who had been attempting to liven them up all week – exclaims what I’m thinking: “why didn’t you do that on stage?!”
4) K – my fellow tutor – appears backstage after watching the show in the audience and admits she was close to tears by the end. It’s been an exhausting few weeks but I think they were tears of pride not just relief it’s over. They done good.
5) The girls – the queen bees of the class – expand their circle to include me. The nerdy teenager within me is always thrown when this type of thing happens and it takes me a moment to realise it’s ok to join in.
6) I spend most of the after-show party talking to various people about the upcoming election, overjoyed at how politically aware the kids are even though some of them won’t be able to vote for five years.
7) I’d expected it to be just snacks and mostly gone by the time I got there but the food the hosts have laid on is delicious and plentiful – just what I need after a week of sandwiches-for-dinner.
8) They gather around her, the friends of her sons, and tell her it’s alright to cry.
1. At five days old, the ginger beer plant is satisfactorily gloopy and the sourdough starter smells divine.
2. Even though the general backstage consensus is that Thursday night was better, John is impressed by the show – the music, the costumes and the kids alike. I clap like a proud mum throughout.
3. Sleepy Lily droops in John’s arms as he carries her to the car.
1. The new floor reflects the light around the soon-to-be-decorated walls. I imagine how bright it will be when we’re finally finished: I can’t wait to work down there.
2. Her tail hits the water in a rapid beat.
3. The wool is tangled. It’s such fun to undo the knot.
4. Backstage, we mouth along the words to most of the songs but it’s only the last one that we join in the dance – the surge of joy that it’s very nearly over for another night.
1. Mia declares that the wild garlic smells “difficult”. She picks leaves throughout our walk though and later, when I’m waiting at the bus stop, I find one she’d hidden in my pocket.
2. I must have a smirk on my face because all the boys leaving hair and make-up tell me to stop laughing at their new orange-tans & slicked over hair. I might be curl-biased but I think the girls’ hair looks great in ringlets.
3. I’m transfixed by how her pumps perfectly match her hoodie – both a lovely dusky purple-pink.
© 2025 Louisa Parry