At a community meal at my church the other night, someone read out a pantoum poem. It reminded me that I wrote a pantoum poem myself, back when I was in school, and I thought it was rather good. In fact, I still do, so I’m going to inflict it on you.
Continue readingSnooker potty
2 May
I’m told that one of things that is endearing about me is that I am obsessed with strange things. So in the hope that this is true, I’m going to bang on about one of those things here – snooker, and specifically the World Championship. If you find snooker about as interesting as I find cricket (slightly less interesting than reading flat-pack instructions in a language I don’t speak), feel free to skip.
Continue readingThe plural of Bible
12 MarYes, the plural of Bible is Bibles (although “bible” in itself comes from the Greek word for “books”, which is a plural already). But the way of developing the plural of Bibles is apparently being a Christian for a long time.
Continue readingWoman Alive podcast
5 FebI appeared on a Woman Alive podcast last year, talking about sex trafficking and the End Demand model, and it has finally gone live.
Continue readingProper (names) etymology
28 JanI love etymology, which is the study of the origins of words. I’m fond of languages and linguistics in general, so that makes sense.
Continue readingMy year in review – 2024
29 Dec
It feels like I’ve had my head down all year and barely registered what I’ve been up to, so I’ve just scrolled through my calendar, photos and blog to find out what I actually did do this year!
Continue readingThe Great Gingerbread Tournament
20 Dec
As you probably know, I make a gingerbread structure every Christmas. And as you may also know, I love the Snooker World Championship. This year, these two passions have been combined:
Continue readingRamblers Round Glasgow
18 Nov
It’s been a while since I did any talks related to Hugh Macdonald, the Victorian Glasgow journalist whose book I annotated in 2022. Last year seemed full of them, when the new edition had just come out, but this Saturday was the first in a long time, and possibly the last (although I’m still open to invitations).
Continue readingNew book! And article.
31 OctYou wait months for some new writing from me, and then two come along at once.
Continue readingBooks of the year
25 OctI’ve just provided Shepherd (a book rating site) with my top three books from October 2023 to September 2024. (Weird cut-off points, I know.)
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