GreyShuck

I had the usual lessons at primary school, but at the end of those myself and one other in the class still couldn’t swim. In the half century since then I have never found the need or the desire to try again.

Film

• Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) - An early Scorsese very much of its time. Ellen Burstyn’s performance holds up well, but it is difficult to find much else of enduring value in this one today - other than a portrait of the times.
• Moana 2 (2024) - Entertaining and wholesome enough, but adding nothing new.
• Minikillers (1969) - a short film without dialogue starring Diana Rigg immediately following her role in The Avengers tv show, and playing on her Mrs. Peel character: pitting her against a criminal gang that uses killer dolls. Rigg shines, and there are a couple of Avengers-like moments, but this is largely a curiosity for fans.

TV

• Miles From Nowhere - kiwi Moslem comedy not a million miles from We Are Lady Parts.
• Whiskey on the Rocks - Swedish satire based on an incident with a soviet submarine in the '80s. The first episode was great, but not sure whether it will hold up.
• Thou Shalt Not Steal - excellent aussie comedy that improves with each episode.
• Obituary - Irish dramady with a cold-case mystery underneath, Siobhán Cullen puts in a fine performance.

I have always read, but it is only in the last decade or so - prompted by the internet, of course - that have thought about counting the books that I do read. Since then, the lowest in a year has been around 6 (an extremely busy year) and the highest around 60. A normal year is probably closer to the latter than the former. I am half way through my 3rd book so far this year.

However, just at the moment I am reading that book - Consider Phlebas - partly as e-book and partly as an audiobook, depending on where I am and what I am doing. Does that count? I am finding myself doing this more often lately.

No - I have worn moccasins around the house, at least in the winter, since I was a kid and make-them-yourself kits were in fashion back in the '70s. No idea how many pairs I have had since then.

Moccasins.

IMO just as likely that the lush jungle world of Tatooine will be the test site for the planet-killing superweapon du jour.

In my case this would something from the '60s and '70s in the UK then - and I suppose that stop-motion in The Clangers or Bagpuss etc wouldn’t really count, so probably between the gentle, character-based storytelling of Ivor the Engine (and that is a cut-out animation - but I’d think still qualifies) and the surrealism, punning and energy of Roobarb (and Custard).

The honey went on after.

My SOs homemade pizza this evening with goats cheese, 'nduja and a drizzle of honey.

I am a pagan. There are pretty much no widely accepted texts within paganism that make any statements about subject. In my experience most pagans are quite happy to coexist with other religions in general - and given that in almost all circumstances pagans will be in a small minority that makes perfect sense. On the other hand, most pagans that I know are far less happy to coexist with the more bigoted and hateful varieties of religion.

There is a strong feminist trend within paganism and this - particularly linked with the ahistorial but often assumed heritage of witchcraft, and the associated history of hanging and burning of witches - does not lead the more patriarchal end of the Abrahamic religions to sit well with a lot of pagans - and I know a lot who are far happier about visiting the roofless moss-covered shell of an abandoned church, with a hawthorn growing in the apse than they are visiting an occupied one (unless it is in search of a sheel-na-gig etc).

On the other hand, there is a strand of Norse paganism that crosses into white supremacy and neo-nazism, so that brings its own hate, bigotry and patriarchy. I do not know what their stance on other religions is.