Two events, one global, one local, changed the pantry forever. Both involved mooses; the Strait of Hormuz or blocking thereof, and a moose of the “Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie” kind - not the large Canadian variety. There is a wee, more sleekit than timorous, beastie loose about this hoose. In the pantry at approximately 10.30pm. Usually, there were only tins in the pantry, not sleekits, but there was also a packet of soy flour, which...

Does anyone here like card games? I have created an original card game called Thirteen Cabins . It is played with a standard deck of cards. It's theme is based on the "killer at summer camp" trope most commonly identified with the "Friday the 13th" movie series, but has existed since, at least, The Hardy Boys novels. Theme aside, Thirteen Cabins is one of the most unique card games that can be played without using a special deck (i.e. Magic the...

Ruth’s story, coercive control, Fab Swinging, BBC, Radio Wales. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0ns3q5d Broadcaster Cartin Nye suggests over one million people in Britain have tried Swinging. That’s around 1—60 of the population. I think that’s bollocks. While my sympathy here was for Ruth, I don’t quite get what for example choking, beating and hair pulling have to do with sex but I do accept they did happen to her. Rough sex is as foreign...

Reminder: Only 1 Month Left To Go!

Filed by Fletcher Moody — Literary Correspondent For most of my career I have been refused. Ignored, deceived, shut out, looked through. I had come to think of it as the natural condition of my profession — that the writer and the correspondent stand on opposite sides of a glass, and the glass does not open. Then, at a literary reception in London in the mid-1960s, Patricia Highsmith agreed to talk to me, and I learned that there are worse...

Prime Minister, Andy Burnham cut ties with Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after accusing their leader of War Crimes. Citing a recent UN repot that declares Israel continues to commit genocide. He read from the report which claims they "deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children", and that the killings continued even after last October's...

After Brazil beat Scotland 3—0, without even trying very hard, John McGinn said in the post-match interview, ‘We gave everything.’ Steve Clarke said something similar. ‘We gave them the goals.’ Iconic Scottish commentator, Archie McPherson summed it up by saying this was the pishest Scotland team he’d ever seen—and he’s over 90. When it gets to a stramash, I tend to agree with Archie. It was nice being in the World Cup. There was none of the...

You know when you pop into LIDL for one of their scrumptiously delicious seeded sourdough loaves, and you think to yourself ‘Do NOT buy crap you don’t need’, and you answer yourself (hopefully still inside your head), ‘Certainly not Stanley!’ Then you come home with your scrumptiously delicious seeded sourdough loaf, and a folding fire pit. What IS that? It is the lure of the middle aisle. It is the siren, nay, the Lorelei’s call of our times...

Englandshire, and Europe, are suffering under severe heat, forked lightning and flash floods. Most distressingly, folk are drowning in open water the length and breadth of the Continent, underestimating their strength or the effects of cold water on too hot heads. A day to open the windows and keep the blinds closed. Once upon a time, I’d have packed a picnic, and skipped off to the beach with a book. Even though it’s a good 15 degrees cooler up...

A not very good Scotland team play a not very good Brazil team in the hope of qualification for the next round of the World Cup. The first time I remember this happening was the World Cup in 1974. We’d beaten Zaire 2—0 and we drew 0—0 with Brazil. Billy Bremmer had a great chance to snatch it late at the back post. We went home undefeated and with a certain glow. Scotland have already been defeated. Morroco won on merit. Quite simply, they were...