That’s so weird - I heard about, for the first time, and looked up this ice-cream only this morning. There was a failed petition to change the name, which generated a number of counter petitions.

Someone I know was working with a person who has a therapy dog. Apparently the dog is trained to understand when they become overwhelmed and just sit on them. It sounds like it has a similar mechanism to these techniques.

Our house is about 150 years old and we dug down to the dirt floor in one of the downstairs rooms. We found suspicious white bits, and had to send a sample off. Luckily it came back clear. It was unlikely anyway, as asbestos wasn’t in widespread use here in the 19th century.

However, we do have corrugated asbestos roofing on our “scullery” but it’s in one piece so can be left until we renovate that part, then disposed of safely. It’s pretty common to find it on sheds and outbuildings here.

I have everything I need for a Nadja of Antipaxos costume, but I don’t think we’re going anywhere.

Oh, you don’t like bonfire night? Fireworks too loud? /s

Three shares, folded in half, then in half again. Maybe two squares if it’s quilted.

Stop trying to make fetch happen

Yeah, I guess so. It’s probably so they put lower overall salt on the packaging.

Not only “spices” but paprika and white pepper too!

I’ve been using Daylio for years.

It’s designed to track moods and the activities associated with them, but it’s adaptable, so I use it to track my headaches. It’s very easy to use and it doesn’t feel onerous to record the information.

Man I love those books. Only time I’ve finished a series and gone straight back to the beginning again.

Thank you for your dedication to the search. I love this.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

You’re Wrong About podcast has an episode about this with Blair Braverman guesting, that I think posits a decent theory. Blair also appears on episodes about the Andes plane crash and the diphtheria serum run, both of which are well worth a listen.

When I worked in retail, I had this wanker of a middle manager who would ask how I was getting on, and when I said fine, he’d always say “It’s not rocket science, is it?”

He was mid twenties and only a few years older than me. He used to call female employees “babe”.

One time I watched him get a withering telling off from a customer. The customer wasn’t in the right, but it felt like a little bit of retribution for all us “babes”.

Steven Pacey reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series is outstanding. The books themselves are among my favourites, but Steven makes them even more special. He has different voices (and accents) for the characters and manages to stay consistent with them. His pacing is also excellent.

Of course it’s in Scunthorpe.