May, 2021

Wonderful piece by Kai Roberts, An Appreciation of Weird Fiction of L.T.C. Rolt. “To anybody who lives amidst relics of the Industrial Revolution, the surroundings depicted in a number of Rolt’s tales should be very recognisable indeed and little evokes a sense of desolation and existential dread quite as effectively…

Discovered this in Oxfam this morning. Very pleased. It’s a themed anthology of texts about animals from the early 1970s. With a stylish cover by Ivan Atanasoft, there’s a real sense that a great deal of thought went into the curation of the book’s design. Some striking interior images, including…

My professional reading for next week arrived today, Robin Alexander’s A Dialogic Teaching Companion.

I’m glad I ignored their protests at the start and didn’t have a “fun last lesson” with my Year 11 class today. Instead, we staged a role-play debate on the issue of hunting with groups taking the roles of various lobby groups and a panel of judges. As the debate…

Great to see these volumes of The Art of Hergé arrive this evening. Ordered them from a Scottish shop called Paper Tiger. I can never get enough Tintin.

I’m not going to get a chance to watch this 4 hour 4k epic until the weekend. The kids will have to battle me for the TV!

Been listening to Clark’s newest album, Playground in a Lake today. Enjoyed it a great deal. I’m sure I can hear the influences of Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Satie, BoC and even Vangelis. It’s quite moody throughout and seems to go to some dark places and wouldn’t sound out of…

So that’s how they should be laid out!