Tweets for July 2021

Bio: Kazoo Academy & Barrel Organ Disco/Yorkshire Almanac/translator Romance & Germanic languages & Russian/old-style jazz trombone & vocals/brass bands/allotmenteer

Thu Jul 01 00:40 Periodic, hilarious reminder that some people are even worse than the Brits at managing democracy
Thu Jul 01 04:50 My Ukrainian nuclear fireman is warming up for the match on Saturday
Thu Jul 01 09:53 Btly was notoriously unpleasant many years ago, and looking at it now you wonder what % of residents were actually glad when JC was killed
Thu Jul 01 10:59 Just when you've settled into the flow, they nail you with "carers"
Thu Jul 01 22:16 Historia de Barcelona, 2/7: #otd * 1836: Trasládase el mercado de la Bocaría al local que fue convento de San José (16) * 1842: Restablecimiento de los Jocs Florals (110+32) * 1844: Cómo el enchufado Joaquín Bastús intentó robarle el trabajo a Pablo…
Fri Jul 02 11:09 Comment: @YWHelp Hi Mark, I think the leak stopped and has now restarted, so if you could tag me for updates that would be great!
Fri Jul 02 22:26 Historia de Barcelona, 3/7: #otd * 1383: Pedro IV de Aragón manda quitar las horcas de la ribera para dejar sitio para la casa lonja (67) * 1918: Pla: La Maria, una vella minyona, que ara és a casa, després d’haver servit molts anys a Girona, sento que…
Sat Jul 03 11:14 Morning @ChemicTavern, wondering whether you admit kids. Thanks!
Sat Jul 03 21:36 RT @Samfr: Please can they show a Ukraine fan crying so I can do Crimea river. Thanks.
Sat Jul 03 22:36 Historia de Barcelona, 4/7: #otd * 1356: Empieza a correr la fuente de la Plaza de San Jaime (0) * 1525: Grande y extraordinario terremoto (29+6) * 1899: Disturbios en Alicante, Valencia y Barcelona (56) * 1909: Más bombas (69) * ☼ 05:21-20:29, 15:07…
Sun Jul 04 13:54 The notion that I should translate burlesque fiction into Spanish reminds me of the old Sam & Moos (Max Tailleur) joke about losing money on every job but surviving because one has so many
Sun Jul 04 14:37 I always thought that boot dubbin < dobbin, i.e. that it was made of horse fat, which is the best (Shakespeare Merchant of Venice: Thou hast got more hair on thy chin, then Dobbin my phil-horse has on his tail)
Sun Jul 04 14:39 Comment: The toddler wants all westerns to be refilmed with the same soundtrack but showing the expressions of the horses instead of the humans
Sun Jul 04 17:44 I hate Mr Tumble
Sun Jul 04 19:08 The sights.
Sun Jul 04 19:17 Would anyone dare publish "this [noun] are" in this grammatical context in Spanish? Not necessarily against, but curious
Sun Jul 04 21:25 Job Senior, the 19th century Wharfedale Hermit and pioneering polyphonic overtone singer This is a new thing I'm playing with in those stolen moments at bedtime
Sun Jul 04 22:47 Historia de Barcelona, 5/7: #otd * 1446: Secuestrar a todas las prostitutas en el convento de las Arrepentidas durante Semana Santa libera dinero para el altar (279+27) * 1522: Vuelve Carlos I desde Alemania tras su elección como Rey de Romanos (23) *…
Mon Jul 05 18:17 Comment: @ibexsalad Jesus, Mohammed...
Mon Jul 05 19:02 Comment: @stephenpollard @SkyArts But is it art?
Mon Jul 05 22:54 Historia de Barcelona, 6/7: #otd * 0985: Die quod Barcinona interiit: Almanzor toma Barcelona con ayuda de los moros de Baleares (155+209/i) * 1110: Un cierto Guillermo Ramón hace testamento antes de ir a luchar en Tierra Santa (186) * 1519: Carlos I…
Tue Jul 06 03:34 Dense cloud cover & heavy rain, but blackbird knew it was dawn
Tue Jul 06 19:00 Some genius thought that putting cloth condoms over the bells of their instruments would stop brass bands infecting us all & allow their event to go ahead, but how do you get a mute in? "Some had more holes in their fabric than a stripper’s stockings."
Tue Jul 06 19:06 Comment: Here's Iwan on contesting vs community
Tue Jul 06 23:09 Historia de Barcelona, 7/7: #otd * 1535: Llega noticia del sitio de la Goleta, llave a Túnez (26+1459/i) * 1758: Se refunde Tomasa, la campana mayor de la catedral (10) * 1800: El real y supremo consejo de Castilla aprueba las ordenanzas del Gremio de…
Wed Jul 07 14:36 Yeah, but a grouse moor is closer to farming than these rural pleasure parks
Wed Jul 07 18:41 Joe (21 months) has suddenly discovered that he has a shadow, & it terrifies him. Fortunately this is not a major problem during an English summer
Wed Jul 07 23:18 Historia de Barcelona, 8/7: #otd * 1466: Muere en Granollers el pretendiente al trono aragonés, Pedro de Portugal (23) * 1859: Un viaje de manicomios, y el proyecto para el de la Santa Cruz (5280+45/i) * 1918: Pla: En els pobles tothom es coneix, més o…
Thu Jul 08 05:53 Comment: I pointed out to his mother that if he always looked at the sun, he'd be able to go to Spain on holiday
Thu Jul 08 06:10 Intellectually coherent Brexiteers will hope that England lose: the union is based on the subordination of England (cf. the Serbs in Tito's Yugoslavia etc) & their success threatens the union from within as Brussels threatened it from without
Thu Jul 08 19:19 My dear daughter, P blows 4-foot bubbles, not because he is a better person than me, but because he is a materials scientist with a stash of glycerine at work
Thu Jul 08 19:34 Several of the numerous pathetic things re the Church of England's drive to sell off its churches to developers & adopt the Book of Tupperware: Methodist churches convert more easily to flats, & the CoE hasn't a hope of doing party plan religion better than existing vendors
Thu Jul 08 21:22 Comment: @petersymon The ethical investment stuff was clearly designed to distract attention from the arms, drugs & money laundering empire that has amassed their 9 bill.
Thu Jul 08 23:29 Historia de Barcelona, 9/7: #otd * 1588: Guerra contra Tortosa por no dejar pasar al conseller en cap con vara levantada (27+19) * 1918: Pla: És incomptable el nombre de persones que es pensen que no han de morir mai, que estan absolutament segures –en…
Fri Jul 09 23:39 Historia de Barcelona, 10/7: #otd * 1452: Simon Sala abre un burdel público (41+19) * 1574: Quemados cuatro sodomitas (10) * 1848: La calle Regomir y las fiestas de San Cristóbal (487) * 1855: Campamentos en los campos de trabajadores en huelga y…
Sun Jul 11 00:54 Historia de Barcelona, 11/7: #otd * 1565: Las autoridades visitan a Juan de Austria, que quiere unirse a la flota antiturca (14) * 1919: Pla: Biblioteca * 1939: Cena eufórica en el Palacio Nacional y el Pueblo Español (137+943/i) * ☼ 05:26-20:27, 15:00…
Sun Jul 11 11:36 Is the football over?
Sun Jul 11 22:03 Historia de Barcelona, 12/7: #otd * 1842: Inaugúrase la Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación (8) * 1957: La Vuelta a Francia llega a Barcelona (44+38/v) * ☼ 05:27-20:26, 14:59 horas; ☾ luna menguante, iluminación 49,38%, antigüedad 22 días *…
Mon Jul 12 07:46 Last night was a victory for sensible haircuts (Why did the England players immediately take off their medals? Superstition? Handing them to the accountant for safekeeping?)
Mon Jul 12 08:20 Not very Philip Larkin
Mon Jul 12 19:33 "In the end, working to change conditions is much more important than obsessively curating the words and expressions we use to describe them." Also, "person who was incarcerated" instead of "prisoner", etc etc, means an end to doggerel, to all poetry
Mon Jul 12 19:38 Comment: Another example. The video is utterly charming, but as soon as a girl turns off her device and goes outside she hits reality. Take refuge inside, watch more affirmative videos, & become a Twitter activist, or stay offline & learn some skills?
Mon Jul 12 19:45 Comment: What's the science on footballers' haircuts and performance? My guess is that most mad haircuts are B-list players thinking this will make them great, while A-list players sometimes have moments of weakness
Mon Jul 12 19:56 In which the Baron goes the full Tardis
Mon Jul 12 20:00 We're getting so much rhubarb, chard, ... from strangers with allotments that maybe we need to reconsider the plot plan
Mon Jul 12 21:46 "The Diocese of Dork" is my all-time no. 1 Google Books metadata fail
Mon Jul 12 22:15 Historia de Barcelona, 13/7: #otd * 1431: Muere Violante, segunda esposa de Juan I de Aragón (15+6) * 1452: La reina huye de una epidemia en Barcelona (31) * 1714: La tropa quiere rendirse, la administración negociar, la gente luchar (333) * 1899:…
Tue Jul 13 20:09 Comment: @lordbonkers @AnthonyEaley7 @GrimArtGroup One L in popular parlance: The Shit and Shovel
Tue Jul 13 20:15 Meanwood playground & suddenly the gang of mums with tats rush out. Toddler wanders into vacant wendy house & comes out with a handful of turd. It's the UK, not backward Spain, so no running water. When did the Brits decide that public health/diet no longer merited public water?
Tue Jul 13 20:47 Timetable valid to 1/1/3000: that's what I call a reliable bus service (X84 Leeds/Ilkley)
Tue Jul 13 22:22 Historia de Barcelona, 14/7: #otd * 1565: Juan de Austria desiste de su intención de unirse a la flota para salvar Malta de los turcos (5) * 1589: Nuestra Señora de Montserrat salva a un clérigo mientras se baña en el mar (510) * 1855: Ejecución del…
Wed Jul 14 22:27 Historia de Barcelona, 15/7: #otd * 1472: El ejército de Juan II que sitia a Barcelona corta las aguas que venían a la ciudad (0) * 1918: Pla: He estat uns quants dies sense escriure * 1919: Pla: Quim ha arribat avui a la penya amb una cara intensament…
Thu Jul 15 18:38 Glorious
Thu Jul 15 22:38 Historia de Barcelona, 16/7: #otd * 1469: Dos monjas paran una pelea entre dos caballeros (39) * 1785: Establécense los serenos (9+29) * 1787: Una entrada en Barcelona desde Montserrat (778) * 1848: Fiestas de Nuestra Señora del Carmen (135) * 1899:…
Fri Jul 16 08:24 trombone droop
Fri Jul 16 14:39 It is very kind of Tesco to provide delivery work to so many people who say they have terminal pulmonary disease, although it must limit their ability to help infirm customers
Fri Jul 16 19:22 Comment: @tombcn Are all staged political events of the future going to feature audience gagging?
Fri Jul 16 22:45 Historia de Barcelona, 17/7: #otd * 1533: La emperatriz manda 156 abanicos a las cortes en Monzón (40) * 1551: Ataque francés (69) * 1787: Barceloneta, el puerto, la fundición, los mercados, el teatro (1603) * 1918: Pla: Els amics * 1936: Debate en el…
Sat Jul 17 22:53 Historia de Barcelona, 18/7: #otd * 1845: Primer parvulario (14) * 1918: Pla: Cap al tard, he anat al mas * 1922: Francesc Macià crea Estat Català (0+8) * 1936: Tensiones en la Olimpiada Popular (859) * 1937: Companys deniega permiso a los anarquistas…
Sun Jul 18 06:33 To affluent Greens celebrating that all the testing & price rises = a huge reduction in air travel, i.e. that their favourite holiday destinations are chav-free: why not they just propose a foreign travel ban for anyone earning less than 50K?
Sun Jul 18 20:23 Comment: @tombcn Are you saying that July 18 should be abolished, like floor 13?
Sun Jul 18 20:29 The @asda_mobile migration from @EE to @VodafoneUK is an ongoing shambles, so transferring my valuable custom (& Nokia 105) to @tescomobile
Sun Jul 18 20:31 Comment: @tombcn Hotter in Leeds than Barcelona, I believe, & not much fascism on view, except the lady with the three out of control dogs at the paddling place
Sun Jul 18 20:43 Comment: @tombcn I think we were about 45 on that, so wine & considerable time spent lying gasping at the leaves & swallows above I know the current baron. Nothing scientific coined by any of his should be taken seriously
Sun Jul 18 22:59 Historia de Barcelona, 19/7: #otd * 0940: Llega el embajador judío del califato de Córdoba en una misión de paz y comercio (547) * 1131: Muere Ramón Berenguer III (19) * 1639: Salses se rinde a los franceses (151) * 1848: Fiesta de las llaves en la…
Mon Jul 19 14:12 Comment: The notion that if foreign travel is to be made a scarce good to save us all, then it should be rationed rather than becoming the preserve of the wealthy. Ditto car driving
Mon Jul 19 18:30 Comment: @bassett_della @PaulMcCartney @maryamccartney His pupils do!
Mon Jul 19 20:36 Toddler getting better at recognising ripe blackcurrants, gooseberries, wild strawberries, but still needs policing around inedible berries. Blackberries here way later than Hackney, but they're everywhere. First bilberries for many years on the Chevin the other day
Mon Jul 19 20:43 Hypotheses re prehistoric human language dev present themselves constantly on observing toddler: association of particular phonemes with particular emotions eg s bad/challenging, b good; word extension when monosyllables & pointing no longer enough make oneself understood
Mon Jul 19 20:59 Comment: And again
Mon Jul 19 23:09 Historia de Barcelona, 20/7: #otd * 1263: Disputa entre el rabbi Nahmánides y el fraile y judío apóstata Pablo Christiani (283+492/v) * 1571: Sale una flota de Barcelona para luchar contra el turco (373+362) * 1629: Sale el virrey para mejorar las…
Tue Jul 20 07:47 Local politico complaining that English transport policy is still radial to Westminster obviously hasn't tried getting a bus from one Leeds neighbourhood to another
Tue Jul 20 19:20 Great bloke teaching his young son to swim in Meanwood Beck - just about deep enough at paddling place. Son wants an education (quotes Oxford, Yale). Us: Become a plumber, AM fit some of the 30 million heat pumps being inflicted on us, PM go swimming, retire at 30
Tue Jul 20 20:14 Galium aparine plague names: goosegrass (blue) vs sticky willy (red) in Brit English 1939-2019. I guess willies are more widely available than geese
Tue Jul 20 23:18 Historia de Barcelona, 21/7: #otd * 1464: Ahogados y quemados dos supuestos homosexuales (17) * 1838: Empieza la gratuidad en la primera enseñanza (167) * 1899: Disturbios bajo bandera francesa (75) * 1918: Pla: Segon dia de la festa * 1936: Incendios,…
Wed Jul 21 14:47 Comment: @ChrisNickson2 If you don't get a better candidate, I'd love them! (One reason I originally got into playing music was to avoid dancing - up on the podium with the band instead of tripping over my infant feet - but trauma overcome.) Based in Headingley, but get all over the place with the pram
Wed Jul 21 20:04 RT @Transblawg: Removing Traces of German.
Wed Jul 21 20:08 Comment: @Transblawg No great love for the boys in grey, obvs, but I found the following & other echoes of the Bohemian Germans all quite charming & moving a couple of years ago - another project on the shelf
Wed Jul 21 20:12 That shockwave through the head when it realises it's dealing with Dutch, not French
Wed Jul 21 20:37 Comment: @Transblawg I believe that in an ethylic moment @DanielWunsch agreed to join me in tracing Stamm's footsteps from the highlands down to the Eger, carrying a small barrel organ & singing settings of Goethe & other rubbish
Wed Jul 21 21:19 RT @DrFrancisYoung: No, not the remains of a fortified medieval monastery set into a Tuscan hillside, but Gothic blast furnaces near Telfor…
Wed Jul 21 21:31 Comment: @SkyNews @lordbonkers Why doesn't anyone say "golf balls the size of hailstones"?
Wed Jul 21 22:05 Comment: @glassyben How will anyone know? Impossible to stay awake
Wed Jul 21 23:22 Historia de Barcelona, 22/7: #otd * 1319: Fundación de la Orden de Montesa, que recibe parte de los bienes de los Templarios (24) * 1640: Muere en Perpiñán el nuevo virrey tras intentar castigar a los responsables del descontento en Cataluña (436+17) *…
Thu Jul 22 18:34 Ruly in the NY Post! William Warner, Albions England (1596): It was obiected, though vntruely, That they weare ydle, Hell lackt Guests, and men on Earth waxt ruly.
Thu Jul 22 18:39 Julie, a voluminous mix of Kent, Yorkshire & Mayo gypsy, talks to everyone. The toddler runs to hide behind me: - Sorry, she's going through a shy phase. Some people put it down to Covid. - Is she fack! She's just a cheeky sod. I worry more about over-friendly toddlers.
Thu Jul 22 20:10 Working away in ferocious heat, but beer & Mozart's Gran Partita generally see me right (old post: )
Thu Jul 22 22:23 Comment: @petersymon The GP would surely work better than that. Disappointed that the orchestra was sequencer not kazoo
Thu Jul 22 23:26 Historia de Barcelona, 23/7: #otd * 1802: Se manda construir la fuente propuesta por el diputado Canaleta para la visita de Carlos IV (142+15/i) * 1897: La Esquella resucita al dentista aficionado y poeta popular, el Noy de Tona, después de que su muerte…
Fri Jul 23 23:35 Historia de Barcelona, 24/7: #otd * 1639: Alegría por la noticia de la llegada en Sevilla de la flota de Indias; Olivares sobre un conflicto personal catalán-napolitano: los superiores han de ser de todas naciones y de ninguna (53+320) * 1833: Empieza a…
Sat Jul 24 19:35 Bloody marvels: the view north down the Holme valley to Holmfirth from Wilmer Hill; baaing in a field with the toddler & being followed by a flock of curious sheep; discovering by walking there that George & the Dragon in Gnosall is (are?) at last open again.
Sat Jul 24 23:43 Historia de Barcelona, 25/7: #otd * 1714: Misa y gran bombardeo para celebrar el cumpleaños de Berwick (368) * 1834: La apertura de la plaza de toros de la Barceloneta sirve para recoger fondos para los asilados de la Casa de la Caridad (9+159/i) * 1835:…
Sun Jul 25 23:46 Historia de Barcelona, 26/7: #otd * 1452: Menú al convento de Santa Ana en el día de su santa (34) * 1472: Juan II toma Montjuic gracias a sus "grans besties" (27/i) * 1636: Fiestas para la mujer de un general italiano filoespañol en la guerra de Flandes…
Mon Jul 26 06:54 Comment: @HeadingleyNo1 @leedslibraries It's the drive-in dry-cleaners, no less!
Mon Jul 26 06:56 Headingley Hill, before trees were uniformly massive, before HMO landlords stopped maintaining gardens, & before infill
Mon Jul 26 18:56 Someone once gave me "The hungry caterpillar" in Turkish, & now I hear a Turkish mum singing (out of tune) "Head, shoulder, knees & toes". Are there no secrets left?
Mon Jul 26 19:09 Siblings to my Hackney Brook regeneration scheme just keep popping up everywhere
Mon Jul 26 23:56 Historia de Barcelona, 27/7: #otd * 1538: Carlos I sale para Castilla después de concluir la Tregua de Niza (21) * 1835: Las bullangas de Barcelona: los gobiernos civil y militar amenazan mientras preparan su huida (510) * 1909: Huelga general y ley…
Tue Jul 27 08:55 Google/YouTube just tried to hide/delete all my brilliant anthropological bullfight videos from Riópar, but humans fought back & they are saved
Tue Jul 27 08:59 Comment: Go to the Submit An Appeal screen, inspect the element, drill down to <video id="video" class="style-scope ytcp-html5-video-source" etc. Copy URL to a new tab & the download functionality is restored. Twats.
Tue Jul 27 09:48 Watch (before it's banned) Ramon Julibert singing in Paseo de Gracia metro, Barcelona, in about 2011
Tue Jul 27 10:25 Comment: @tombcn Good, for a dad!
Tue Jul 27 19:36 Only the female tawny owl has been out on the past two nights, & she's been pretty noisy, so hoping the male is OK & hasn't just buggered off
Wed Jul 28 00:00 Historia de Barcelona, 28/7: #otd * 1458: Solemnes exequias en la catedral por Alfonso V (21) * 1481: Entra por primera vez Isabel la Católica (13) * 1787: El apetito gigantesco de la comitiva del embajador turco (576) * 1844: Fundación de la sociedad…
Wed Jul 28 05:45 Comment: The male tawny has been heard in the distance. Maybe he's after a particularly big mouse chez the nuns, rather than speaking to us from another world
Wed Jul 28 08:28 Playing on the high slide with the rough girls has given the toddler a massive confidence boost, with both positive and negative consequences
Wed Jul 28 17:20 Why don't herons eat the fish in the Roger Stevens pond at @UniversityLeeds ? Clearly visible from the sky. Are they addicted to kebabs too?
Wed Jul 28 19:10 Tom Bowling playing trombone with Besses in 1905 Use of vibrato is interesting - solo cornet & the others seem to play it straight
Wed Jul 28 19:21 Comment: @Transblawg Haha you think everyone's a sailor
Wed Jul 28 19:34 Disappointed but unsurprised that no one on Twitter has noticed that Simone Biles is an anagram of lemon ibises - a hitherto unknown species, now joining its red, green, and white colleagues in pecking crabs to death
Wed Jul 28 20:31 One of the other Tom Bowlings
Wed Jul 28 20:31 Comment: @petersymon That's a very good idea. Did you get it from me?
Wed Jul 28 20:32 Spanish giggles
Thu Jul 29 00:14 Historia de Barcelona, 29/7: #otd * 1529: Carlos I sale en la escuadra de Andrea Doria para volver como emperador (28) * 1571: Nuestra Señora de Montserrat salva a siete pescadores de los moros (332) * 1639: Cinco muertos en peleas entre catalanes y…
Fri Jul 30 00:18 Historia de Barcelona, 30/7: #otd * 1460: Prohibidas las telas de lana extranjeras para proteger a los tejedores (23) * 1466: Los poderes locales proclaman rey a Renato de Anjou frente a Juan II (22) * 1636: Pasa una gran flota franco-holandesa por la…
Fri Jul 30 05:50 Weather predictions without exact rainfall are worthless
Sat Jul 31 00:29 Historia de Barcelona, 31/7: #otd * 1848: Fiesta de san Ignacio de Loyola (48) * 1909: Escaramuzas y ejecuciones (200) * 1926: Atentado del "neurasténico" Domènec Masachs Torrente contra Primo de Rivera (149+5) * 1929: El ayuntamiento advierte que ya no…