what sort of idiocy is this?

 You'll have to be pushing your wheelchair / pram pretty quickly to make that gap.

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One Dove - Breakdown

Jeff Beck (with Rod Stewart) - Morning Dew

Before The Faces and Led Zeppelin's first album (and the support of Farage), Rod Stewart was magnificent.

From the Jeff Beck 'Truth' album (which is also a corker).

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the assisted dying bill

 About bleeding time. I watched my mother die in palliative care and she should have been put out of her misery long before she passed away. We asked the care unit but they said they couldn't do anything, and l was even tempted to put a pillow over her myself as it was that bad, and let's face it, they wouldn't have done an autopsy. Currently, sick animals get better end of life treatment, so hurrah!.

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The Beach Boys - Forever (A Cappella Mix / Remastered 2001)

the new health centre in catterick

Fancy having a £110 million Health Centre?  We've got one that's just about to open, which is good news for me in my advancing years. Hurrah!

 

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the incredible hulk in look-in

 It's hard to believe it now, but at one time this was essential viewing (at least for me and my mates). Don't make me angry!!!!!!

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batman - what's a hroom?

Took me a minute to get it but very good.

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rod stewart's looking a bit rough (and supporting farage)

Rod's let himself go a bit.

And is also talking crap.

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The Beach Boys - Forever (2022 Remaster)

Bruce Springsteen - Lost In the Flood (Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London 1975)

Secret Knowledge - Afterworld - 1994

One Dove - Breakdown (Secret Knowledge Light Mix)

closed for renovations band

 

trump / truth

Very good.  More please. 

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Tom Jones Live in Athens 2025 - This is The Sea (The Waterboys Cover)

woops! bar tab not paid!

It's bad news when you get home from the pub and discover you haven't paid your bar tab! Tonight's private Facebook message from one of my long suffering landlords.

And as l said in my reply, l was joking about 'forgetting to pay' earlier beforehand (and he's not adding the extra pint)..

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no - l said the west bank!!!

Well this made laugh. 

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in todays least unexpected news...us strikes didn't destroy the iranian nuclear programme

Well this is reassuring. The first casualty of war is the truth as someone once said. I can't believe Trump lied about the success. My flabber is well and truly gasted, and a lesser man than me with a smaller vocabulary might even say he is full of shit. 

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Self Esteem - The Deep Blue Okay (Later... with Jools Holland)

Self Esteem - Mother (Later... with Jools Holland)

psycho the rapist cartoon

 

Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones) feat. Taj Mahal | Playing For Change Song Around the World

Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder) | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

an ai stonehenge story of no more than 1000 words

This was on the Afterword site, and demonstrates the advances AI is making.  Very clever.

 Mike: Please write me a short story of no more than 1000 words about a man and a woman, strangers, at Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice.

Strangers at Stonehenge
The crowd pressed forward in the pre-dawn darkness, thousands of pilgrims shuffling toward the ancient stones. Maya clutched her thermos of coffee, wondering why she’d driven three hours to stand in a field with strangers, watching the sun rise through rocks that had stood for millennia.
“First time?” The voice came from beside her—a man about her age, maybe forty, with kind eyes and a worn leather jacket that looked like it had seen many solstices.
“That obvious?” Maya smiled, grateful for the human connection in the sea of faces.
“The wonder in your eyes gives it away. I’m David.” He gestured toward the towering trilithons ahead. “I’ve been coming here for fifteen years. Never gets old.”
“Maya. And I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this many people.”
David chuckled. “Twenty thousand, usually. But something about sharing this moment with strangers from all over the world—it’s oddly comforting. We’re all here for the same reason, really.”
“Which is?”
He considered this as they shuffled forward with the crowd. “To witness something bigger than ourselves. To connect with people who stood in this exact spot four thousand years ago, watching the same sun rise through the same stones.”
Maya had come on impulse, fleeing the empty house that still echoed with her ex-husband’s absence. She’d told herself it was about experiencing history, but standing here now, she realized it was about not being alone with her thoughts on the longest day of the year.
“Are you here for spiritual reasons?” she asked.
“Partly. But mostly for the continuity. My father brought me here when I was twelve, right after my mother died. He said some things are too ancient and too beautiful to let grief overshadow them.” David’s voice carried a comfortable melancholy. “He’s gone now too, but I keep coming. For him, for me, for the connection to something enduring.”
They found a spot near the outer circle as the sky began to lighten. Around them, people sat in meditation, played gentle music, or simply waited in reverent silence. A woman nearby had brought her teenage daughter, whispering explanations about the monument’s alignment. A group of friends shared a breakfast of pastries and laughter.
“I got divorced six months ago,” Maya found herself saying, surprised by her own honesty. “I keep thinking I should feel liberated, but mostly I just feel… untethered. Like I’m floating without reference points.”
David nodded. “After my wife left—that was eight years ago—I felt like I’d lost my place in the world. Like I was reading a book and someone had torn out all the pages that explained who I was supposed to be.”
The eastern horizon began to glow, a soft amber that painted the stones in golden light. The crowd grew quieter, more focused. Maya felt the anticipation building like a held breath.
“How did you find your way back?” she asked quietly.
“I’m not sure I have completely. But I learned that some anchors aren’t other people—they’re moments like this. Rituals that connect us to the long story of being human.” He paused, watching the light grow stronger. “My marriage ended, but my need to witness beauty didn’t. My father died, but my connection to what he taught me about wonder didn’t.”
The sun’s edge appeared on the horizon, perfectly framed by the heel stone. A collective sigh rose from the crowd, twenty thousand people exhaling together as light flooded the stone circle. Maya felt tears on her cheeks, unexpected and cleansing.
“It’s extraordinary,” she whispered.
“Every year, I think it will be less magical,” David replied. “Every year, I’m wrong.”
They stood in comfortable silence as the sun climbed higher, painting the ancient stones in shades of gold and amber. Maya realized that for the first time in months, she wasn’t thinking about what she’d lost or what came next. She was simply present, part of an unbroken chain of humans who had gathered to witness light returning to the world.
“I think I understand now,” she said as the crowd began to disperse. “Why you keep coming back.”
“It’s not about the stones, really. It’s about choosing to show up for wonder, even when—especially when—life feels uncertain.”
As they walked back toward the car parks, Maya felt something shift inside her. Not healing exactly, but a recognition that she could carry this feeling with her—this sense of being part of something larger and more enduring than her own small story.
“Same time next year?” David asked as they reached the place where their paths diverged.
Maya smiled, feeling the first genuine lightness she’d experienced in months. “I think so. For the continuity.”
They parted ways among the crowd of strangers who had briefly become a community, united by their willingness to rise before dawn and witness something ancient and beautiful. Maya drove home as the sun climbed higher, carrying with her the memory of light flooding stone and the quiet wisdom of a stranger who had reminded her that some anchors transcend circumstance.
The stones would wait for another year, patient and eternal, ready to frame the sun’s return for whoever needed to remember that they were part of something larger than themselves.

a trump wars reminder

 

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the lads are flagging

On the train back from Glasgow. Some people can't deal with the rock and roll lifestyle.

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glasgow punk all dayer

 Setting off for this at stupid o'clock in the morning.  Anticipating good weather, plenty of beer, and lots of loud music, so it should be good!

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Spiritualized - Electricity (Official Music Video)

Spiritualized - Come Together (Official Music Video)

bloody spiders! the reason l avoid the garage

My garage, rather like my house, needs de-cluttering and sorting out, but this is one of the reasons l avoid doing so. Horrible long legged bastards! Kill 'em all!!

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the new mojo (and feed your head cd) looks good

 I like the look of the new Mojo Magazine that's just arrived through my letterbox, especially the free 'Feed Your Head' CD, which is a follow up to the  same named one from many years ago. The earlier one (below) was (and still is) one of my favourite compilations, and is currently next to the CD player in the kitchen, so l hope this new one is on the same kind of level. Fingers and toes all crossed! 

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grooming gangs, the tories and reform - a reminder

When Kemi and poundshop Lee try to exploit the grooming gangs scandal and inquiry, remember this.

 

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close up of a paperback page

 I love these close up micro photos. This is the edge of a paperback page.  Nothing is as it seems.

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the tennis suddenly looks interesting

 I was mooching around listening to music (as l tend to do) and had the TV left on from watching the news. It was showing women's tennis and when l did glance up, this was the scene l witnessed. I think maybe l've been missing out not watching it in the past.

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more books!

I've got boxes of books l still haven't read and l am trying (very slowly) to sort out, and bookcases overflowing with others l have read, so what do l do? Something sensible? Of course not. Some of todays haul is below.  I need a bigger house (or an intervention).

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the aliens and pyramids cartoon

 Very good.  More please.

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Bob Dylan - You're a Big Girl Now - Blood on the Tracks New York Sessions - Organ Mix

james bond has got some competition from ricky gervais and biscuits

 Can't wait for the new franchise!

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omega's upcoming marc bolan auction

 If only l had more money (and space). I'm already jealous of whoever buys the handwritten lyrics book as l'm salivating just looking at the photographs (what a lovely mental image). 

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It's a Beautiful Day - White Bird

Mark Lanegan - The Beast In Me (Full Song)

america - this is why l love you

I've been to America many times and travelled some of the country, and this is a reminder that it's not just MAGA dickheads in the land of the (for now) free. The 'No Kings' marches show the side of America l love, but it's a pity more of the population didn't vote Democrat. l suspect that the Latinos that voted for Trump are regretting it now, but Trump didn't exactly disguise what he was going to do if he regained power, so it was all out in the open. Anyway, enough of that.  A splendid turnout.

Meanwhile in saddo land.......

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manchester united unveil their new goalkeeper

 The new football season is a long way off, but Manchester United have just unveiled their new goalkeeper. Looking at those legs though, I don't anticipate his kicking ability will be up to much.

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chess - l love and hate you

Chess - It's a game that can be learnt easily so you can play games and enjoy them (even my brother can play) , but once it gets hard, it gets very hard (fnaaar). Stuck with this?  Look up 'En Passant'. Black's still buggered though.

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where's health and safety when you need them?

I'm not scared of heights and have been on many roofs in the past doing one thing or another, but this is madness, and despite the fact l have done many mad things, you would not catch me up that ladder for love or money.

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ballymena's racist thugs

I agree with 100%.  A lot of them may be youngsters, but that just shows how much hatred they are being fed at an early age. Once again, if the political discourse is based on hatred and blaming immigrants for societies failings rather than facing up to the real problems, violence will eventually erupt.

From here

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