GOOOOOOOOOOOOD morning. Whatever day it is today, I hope you have one. Let us get among it, as the Romans said.

I was going to just shout GAY! GAY! GAY!, but I felt that might not convey the depth of feeling. 😂

Other people have said this far better than I, and I don't want to do this in a performative social media way. *However*. I think it probably bears repeating/saying... Big huge massive REAL love on the final day of Pride month. To the GAYS and also the LESBIANS and also the TRANSes(?). And also the other beautiful array of lovelies across the spectrum. Whatever you be, you've got a staunch (even though I don't really know what that word means) and unwavering friend in me. I feel like 'ally' has lost its meaning a little and gets bandied around a lot, sometimes perhaps by people who wear it as a badge without really understanding what it means. No disrespect to those who show up and are counted. But I'm in it. I believe it. I live it. And I love you. And I mean it. The world is a better and brighter place with you in it. And if you ever waiver and think you're alone. You ain't. There are people who will stand up and be counted, even against prejudice and hate, and withstand the ignorance and nonsense. For you. For us all. X

(This feels so performative, sorry. Love ya. X)

I prescribe some Gary Moore. Take two and call me in the morning. X

STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

You should be listening to some blues rock and roll

Well I must say I've had a fucking delightful evening. Dragged my sorry ass out for a run, when I literally couldn't think of anything worse. Ran about 1k to the meeting point. Awful. Dreadful. Misery. Did a little run in the park before meeting people. Pain. Anguish. Dread. Horror. Met everyone else. Had a laugh with one of the old boys who's coming back from serious injury (and he's later years so is taking ages to get back but is persevering at own pace and is frankly an absolute legend). New members. Nice chat. Nerves for them! Lots of nerves. Explain we all hate running but also are very nice and they're in good company. Super trail run tonight. Through woodland. Bracken! Jungle! Within about 5 minutes I was OK. 15 minutes in I felt magnificent. Ran those hills. Found my pace and rhythm and was then in it and could have gone forever. What a marvellous feeling. What marvellous company. Top tier stuff. Even ran home after up a big hill via the supermarket. Did people laugh at a fat sweaty bloke in a bright yellow top too tight? Sadly yes. But I don't care. And I'm now listening to the best of the Doobie Brothers, having a post run drink and making cauliflower curry. Absolutely terrific. Love and power to you all, you glorious miscreants. Xxx

In the gap of 25 years or whatever of me not using buses, the way people use buses seems to have changed. More people say thank you. Buses sometimes wait for people running to catch. They sometimes forget to stop and people often don't start trying to get off the bus until it's started moving away from the stop. Have we collectively just forgotten how to bus? THINGS WERE DIFFERENT IN MY DAY. YOU SAID THANKYOU AND YOU GOT THE GALLOWS.

You know what they say? Runs out bums out. No one says that. But I must go running this evening. And I do not wanna. I should start writing these like Conan-Doyle. There are few adversaries so insidious as the quiet conspiracy between fatigue and a sultry summer evening. My reason informs me that the prescribed run remains both sensible and attainable; yet the evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of postponement. The oppressive heat hangs upon the air like an unwelcome witness, and my enthusiasm, usually so reliable an accomplice, has vanished without so much as a calling card. I conclude, therefore, that I cannot be arsed to run this evening. Damn you, Moriarty!

This is bullshit

Wordle 1,837 X/6

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Good morning world. My entire family appears to be furious and/or sad this morning. Apparently this is for vague 'hormonal' reasons. I choose to believe it's yet another government experiment to destabilise old Ben before I become too powerful. Likewise making me run for the bus. But if we turn that frown upside down at least I was able to run for the bus and despite now being a sweaty mess I made it and am now hotfooting it on the way to work and to glory! I'm gonna do so much glory today. I hope you have a top 50 day. An unexpected surprise. A windfall. Perhaps a happy accident. Or just a green light day where everything goes your way. May it fill the gaping void in your soul. Glory for your holes! I love you goodbye. X

This is exciting. CERN bids farewell to the Large Hadron Collider and enters the Long Shutdown 3; a major programme of maintenance, consolidation, upgrades and installation work that will prepare the Laboratory for the next phase - the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HiLumi LHC).

https://home.cern/cern-bids-farewell-to-the-lhc-and-enters-long-shutdown-3/

Trans rites, is that anything? I'll be honest I don't really know what the word means and in my head it's like a summoning spell.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiit's MONDAY! Let's do this.

I like the Dark Knight trilogy as much as the next person but you cannot escape that conceptually Batman is very silly

Punctuation

Dental floss changed my life

Not saying I'm not keen on buying new clothes but just walking down the road and the bottom fell off my shoe

Had a really terrific evening with my little brother in law last night. We get on so well and it's so nice to go and hang out in male company that isn't sports or booze related but just an easy night. If you're ever looking for alternatives, I strongly recommend Turkish spots. Never even really occurred to me before but of course it's where all the cool young Black people go out on a Saturday night because there's a higher contingent of Muslims? So semi outdoor music and food places where you can have shisha and aren't primarily geared towards alcohol. Extremely lovely vibes. Feel like I've discovered something that will make a material difference in my life. Increasingly people are cutting out alcohol and it's been challenging finding out what that means for their / our relationship, when so much historically has been based around the drinking culture in the UK. So I absolutely love that we can pivot away from that and still go to slightly edgy bar-vibe places, and partake in ridiculous coffee and shisha to still feel 'vicey' but ultimately remove the alcohol element. They also sell beer there and I saw some people have one or two, so we said we'd get all the brothers down there for a night out as it would be a very unifying environment, giving everyone what they need. I also imagine would be great for the meat eaters aswell.

So we went to this place for 'pre-match' and was going to wander up to try and blag our way into a social club after (I reckoned we could pretend to be members and it would be less messy than a pub) but it turned out this Turkish place was showing the football anyway and also had a belly dancer! Something I didn't know I needed. All football matches should involve belly dancers somehow. Can we somehow have a match with a team of belly dancers? I feel like I've said belly dancers too much. Is that the right expression or is that sexist?

TLDR - turns out I can watch the football sober as long I replace beer with Turkish coffee. Had about 8 pints.

Edit - link if anyones interested - https://helvadere.co.uk/

No big deal. One of the kids has got on stage to sing and play the piano just like Elton John. That's very normal. Just the talent of Elton John. On the fucking piano. And singing. At a school fair with a hot air balloon. I feel like I've had a stroke.

My wife's school fête is ludicrous. We were lucky if an old ice cream van turned up in the playground. I just spent an hour on the gin stall and everyone paid with black cards.