Don't all groan at once.
![Cartoon - in German - by Miguel Hernandez, from the series 'Hernandez - Gegen den Strich' ['against the grain'] Zarathustra - a man with a big beard, wearing a white robe and hat, being interviewed by a journalist with a microphone. Caption: 'Exklusives Interview mit Zarathustra' Zarathustra says,](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreiaplho552iuqh5to4s2xsqedy7h7y44h4htymhcrtf7lxjgahaidi@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Writer, reader, grammarian, shower singer, theatre addict, news junkie, eyeball-roller. European. Powered by Vimto. Love language, hate sushi. #FBPE Void where prohibited. Cannot be successfully delivered to your location. Please think responsibly.
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Don't all groan at once.
OK. -- #waffle1322 3/5 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⭐🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩⭐🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⭐🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wafflegame.net
Good guess. -- #Worldle #1322 (04.09.2025) 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
Meh. -- wördle.de #1331 - 5/6 ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
A lot more painful than it looks: -- Le Mot (@WordleFR) #1334 3/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wordle.louan.me
Not bad. -- Wordle 1,538 3/6 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Mostly by stocking up on air-freshener and bleach. Once he's gone, everything is going to have to be scrubbed clean, and it'll take weeks to air out the stench of soiled nappies.
![BBC News headline: How is Windsor preparing for Trump's visit? [picture of the orange fascist shitbag]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreibvl3vcezpac5dbvtpx4leb4s4i5yyoebfeiczlildjxqxbwqmqbm@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Today's inspirational message:
Need.
Fun fact: crawling up Boris's arse couldn't buy Nads a seat in the Lords, and this won't either.
Since you asked...
I know I keep saying this, but it really is too bad stupidity isn’t painful. (I mean painful to the stupid people, obviously. It’s excruciating for the rest of us.)
Yep.
She was, at least, once much less insane than she is now.
I would not be at all surprised. And not just Texas.
Cast recording WHEN?
In Kochi City Station there’s a statue of Berobero No Kamisama, a nude, pink, spiral-eyed figure who is the local god for drunkards.
Here we are now, entertain us...
Meh. -- #waffle1321 1/5 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩⭐🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wafflegame.net
Yowch. -- #Worldle #1321 (03.09.2025) 4/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜↘️ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬅️ 🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜➡️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
Ooh. I got the German one quicker than I got the French one. -- wördle.de #1330 - 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
No yellow squares. Brain hurts. -- Le Mot (@WordleFR) #1333 4/6 ⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wordle.louan.me
A lot more painful than it looks: -- Wordle 1,537 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Traffic.
Pinkish.
Absolutely terrifying. It's a long time - too long - since I was in Lisbon, but I've ridden that funicular.
Farage tells Congress that the Trump admin should "debate" the UK govt over the Online Safety Act's impact on "American individuals". So Farage, who wants to be UK prime minister, is advising another country's govt to act against our own for the apparent interests of their citizens, not our own.
Nope.
Of course it’s Florida. The stupidity is off the charts.
No, Ms. Pearson, Nigel Farage is one of the main reasons millions of us are ashamed of what Britain has become. The “common-sense majority” can only be thoroughly appalled by everything he stands for.
100 VICTIMS is astounding. Even more astounding, that's less than 10% of Epstein and Maxwell's victims.
Could someone please hurry up and leak the Epstein files? They need to be made public while the orange fascist shitbag is still well enough to feel the humiliation.
Jesus wept.
Of course he'd say that without the US everything in the world would die. He looks like the undead and he's still here flapping his gums.
Good. This absolutely is not about patriotism.
Is that... Trump?
![Experts stunned by archaeology student's discovery of ancient head carving with “unusual” features [picture of a young woman wearing a blue fleece. She's holding an orange/terracotta stone caved head, still with bits of soil on it, that looks weirdly like the orange fascist shitbag who is currently squatting in the White House]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreihy7qw5fo7iqfumwhbpofrp7wjdmdju54clhcwdw2rzjbyeyqydfm@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Today's inspirational message:
OK. -- #waffle1320 3/5 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⭐🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩⭐🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⭐🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wafflegame.net
Good guess. -- #Worldle #1320 (02.09.2025) 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
German Wördle in two. I need to lie down. -- wördle.de #1329 - 2/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Meh. -- Le Mot (@WordleFR) #1332 5/6 ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟨⬛⬛🟩🟨 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wordle.louan.me
OK. -- Wordle 1,536 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
You couldn't make it up:
Paging Babs Johnson. Can Babs Johnson please pick up the courtesy phone?
![Duolingo German question. Type what you hear [picture of Zari, a Duolingo character - a teenage girl wearing pink trousers, a blue top, and a pink hijab] [audio symbol] Answer: Warum sind Flamingos rosa? [Why are flamingos pink?]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreiaed4ucpoq75c4vbrvyfgkfidcbmrejfc5wx45bprqfp6bumflf3e@jpeg "Click to view full size")
For the first time since the first heatwave hit, the ambient temperature in my living room-room is back below 25C. (When there’s a heatwave this building heats up, and then it takes weeks for the stored heat to dissipate.)
NOT Mr. Shyamalan’s best work. I saw it with a friend; we found out afterwards that we each wanted to leave but didn’t say so because we were sat in the middle of the row.
Thoughts and prayers. (For Mr. Linehan, as few of each as possible.)
Labor Day was yesterday. Listen to Mrs. Sutphin:
Unfortunately it's very simple (as Ms. Williams notes): Angela Rayner is an intelligent, dedicated, hard-working woman with a Stockport accent who worked her way up from a childhood of absolute deprivation to a position of considerable influence, and for the Daily Mail that's pure rage-bait.
Don't say I never show you anything useful:
Today's inspirational message: ["Fine. We still need an idiot to take minutes."]
Ms. Badenoch's A-level results were apparently two Bs and a D. To put it VERY kindly, that hardly suggests the kind of intellect you'd need to get an early-admissions offer to Stanford.
Brain hurts. Too many punchlines.
OK. -- #waffle1319 3/5 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⭐🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩⭐🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⭐🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wafflegame.net
Oof. It's come up before and I should have got it quicker. -- #Worldle #1319 (01.09.2025) 3/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜↖️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
Phew. -- wördle.de #1328 - 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Grrrrr. -- Le Mot (@WordleFR) #1331 4/6 ⬛🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟨🟩⬛🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wordle.louan.me
Ooh. -- Wordle 1,535 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Join the queue.
Rainbow.
A PSA, no charge: trying to open a new packet of chia seeds (to put in overnight oats) at 1.30am without the overhead light on is not a very good idea.
Bummer.
In which a Chinese YouTuber builds a fully-functioning miniature subway train and station... for his cats:
This evening on Duolingo, a familiar experience: what to say to someone after you saw them in a really bad play.
![Screenshot of part of a Duolingo German story. [to set the scene - Jule is an actress. Bea and Lin are her friends; last night they saw Jule's latest play, hated it, and left before the end. And then the following day Jule runs into them at a cafe.] Bea: Wir waren total begsteigert! [We were totally thrilled!] Lin: Oh ja! Am bestern war der Teil, als du zwanzig Minuten auf der Bühne geweint hast! [Oh, yes! The best part was when you cried onstage for twenty minutes!] Jule: Danke! Das war lustig, oder? [Thanks! That was funny, right?] Bea: Total lustig! [Really funny!] Question: Bea und Lin sagen, ihnen hat das Theaterstück gefallen, aber... [Bea and Lin say they liked the play, but...] Multiple-choice: Sie fanden es furchtbar. [They thought it was terrible] Sie haben über ein Fußballspiel geredet. [They talked about a football game] Sie waren nicht im Theater. [they were not in the theatre]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreif7xpvlaa2te5p35hndzgqjrdrzxqbpkmidfuvvbf37ifr4r4ub5m@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Bananas may cure death. Who knew?
![Headline from The Independent: Eating these simple foods could drastically cut your risk of death, new study shows [picture of a lot of bunches of bananas on a rack in a supermarket]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreigpywgmsjvgokddhfyfdhi5yqoaqqyour6cft3uwq6egfpnhsouve@jpeg "Click to view full size")
My dad, who taught library studies, would have printed this off and put it up on the wall in his office:
The public conversation surrounding migration and refugees in this country - in many countries - is thoroughly toxic, and getting worse, and we hear very little about why people choose to undertake such dangerous journeys. This is one of those stories, and it's worth a few minutes of your time.
Phew. -- #waffle1318 0/5 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wafflegame.net
It's come up before. -- #Worldle #1318 (31.08.2025) 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
Yowch. -- wördle.de #1327 - 4/6 ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Meh. -- Le Mot (@WordleFR) #1330 5/6 ⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨 🟩🟩⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wordle.louan.me
Not bad. -- Wordle 1,534 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
The sex is in the heel Fierce as you can make it The sex is the appeal Kinky boys can shake it...
Please use his full name: Stan Dard-Lamp.
He’s absolutely correct. And he’s also one of the (very) few Democrats who fully understands the word “opposition”.
Nener nener, nener nener, hey hey, goodbye.
Possibly not for a long time. The last time it was revived in London was in 1988.
I would have liked to have seen it tonight - I love the score - but open-air theatre is no fun in the pouring rain. And they never cancel before showtime, even if the weather forecast is awful, so not going was the right choice. Unfortunately I doubt I'll get to see it before the run ends.
I was very lucky with the weather the night I saw Fiddler last year - not too hot, not too cold, and yes it was wonderful.
As it turns out, I got lucky - I didn't go *and then* I got a text telling me the performance was cancelled (apparently about fifteen minutes in, they never cancel before the start of the show). I'd expected to have to write the ticket off, but since they cancelled I can use it as credit.
In this case, it was spot-on - and the performance was apparently cancelled twenty minutes in because of the weather (which means I can use my ticket as credit for one of their shows next year). If I'd gone, I'd have got soaked and wasted the train fare.
All year round. It's a two-minute walk from the Place de la Nation.
Today's inspirational message:
Looks like I made the correct choice - the weather forecast was for persistent rain all evening, and the train into London would have cost me as much as I paid for the (relatively cheap) ticket, so I decided not to go.
I've always loved the Guardian's Q&A interviews. They're short, pithy, and often very funny, and Ms. Lawless's contribution just made me laugh out loud several times:
Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh! -- #waffle1317 5/5 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⭐🟩⭐🟩 🟩🟩⭐🟩🟩 🟩⭐🟩⭐🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wafflegame.net
Absolutely no excuse AT ALL for not getting this one first time: #Worldle #1317 (30.08.2025) 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
Yikes. -- wördle.de #1326 - 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Quicker than I got the English one, but today that's a very low bar: -- Le Mot (@WordleFR) #1329 4/6 ⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬛🟨⬛🟩 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 wordle.louan.me
Wordle, you displease me. -- Wordle 1,533 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I'm sure they're working from a training manual that tells them to use the client's first name because it builds a rapport and therefore de-escalates the conversation. It doesn't. It's just rude.
Ha! I've flown American Airlines out of Newark, actually - but not to the UK.
They couldn't use my middle name. I haven't got one. (My dad hated his, so my brother and I don't have middle names.)
To be fair, I don't drink at all, and even *I* might want alcohol before facing Newark Airport.
Yes, I realise this is stuffy and old-fashioned of me. HOWEVER. If you’re trying to apologise to me because your company screwed up beyond belief, the best way to go about it is *not* to address me by my first name, which suggests a level of chummy familiarity that you have done nothing to earn.
2025 problems:
What's better than boozing on planes? Top of the list: not having to sit near drunk people on planes.
![Headline from the Spectator: [picture of the tails of three Virgin Atlantic aircraft parked at an airport terminal] What's better than boozing on planes?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:criiz7t67jzchq7m6plznv7f/bafkreielo6fkawknut5etgk5beqe7mzrvtaupat3wgnfktgiyki42bi6pa@jpeg "Click to view full size")
CHICAGO…
It appears he isn’t dead. Better luck next time.