Steve May

No point being furious if something goes wrong on your recce run. That’s why you do a recce run - because it doesn’t matter when it goes wrong. Sounds to me like your preparations have done their job. Good luck on Thursday.

I while back I heard this song that I found oddly moving for reasons I couldn’t put my finger on. It was had a bit of an early 90s feel with a voiceover about a girl listening to very loud house music. I heard it a few times and never found out what it was. But it’s been bouncing round my head ever since. This morning Mary Anne Hobbs played it and I grabbed the title. It’s Beulah Loves Dancing by Planningtorock.

Can’t beat the sound of a Merlin.

? I recently heard a song by someone called Billie Eilish and I’d never heard of her but I thought it was terrific. Great video too. Apparently she’s incredibly famous and has been for some time. It all passed me by. Sorry kids.

Underworld. Beaucoup Fish. Very loudly

We have had two young tawny owls in our back garden. They seem to live in different trees and like to talk to each other long into the night. They are very loud - we have had to keep the kids windows closed because they kept getting woken up.

Didn’t think much to Toast of London. I think Matt Berry’s standard character isn’t strong enough to carry a whole show. As a supporting role, it can work. Dark Place was quite good but a long time since I’ve seen it.

Last night, we started on What we do in the shadows. It was okay, but I saw the film a few weeks ago and that was much better. I’m still chuckling at Rhys Darby saying “Werewolves, not swearwolves” With the exception of The IT Crowd, Matt Berry never quite seems to be as good as he should be.

Fun fact: I, Claudius inspired the first series of The Sopranos

One from a year or two back, but the Mrs and I have started on The Young Pope on Sky Looks gorgeous, well written, thought provoking, great soundtrack and Jude Law is superb. It possibly will help if you were/are Catholic.

Be careful - if we win this work, I will be in Denmark every week for months. You might not be able to get rid of me!

I shall be on my way to Copenhagen later today. Typical business trip: get up at 4.30am, fly to somewhere, get a taxi to a site on an industrial estate, spend all day indoors in a room with no windows, get a taxi to a hotel, eat a room service burger while working until 1am, sleep, get taxi to industrial estate at 8am, spend all day indoors in a room with no windows, get taxi to airport, fly home. Arrive at home to be asked “Was Berlin/Copenhagen/Brussels/Wherever nice?” Answer “I don’t know”

Tried that - it’s not the same without a copy of What Hifi from March 2006 to read.

My barber has retired. He was great. £3.50 for a five minute buzz cut. No chat, all done while the sandwich shop next door makes my lunch, and if there’s a queue it’s short and there’s a three year old copy of Top Gear magazine for me to read. This is a disaster So I need a new one. This is a big decision in a man’s life Every one I look into wants to lift at least fifteen quid off me, wants me to book in advance or waffles on about wet shaves or hairstyles I simply don’t have enough hair to stand a chance with No, I don’t care about “a cutting edge approach to modern barbering”. I don’t want to choose between three “master barbers” all wearing stupid waistcoats and beards like hipster idiots. I don’t want “an award winning coffee while I wait” because I don’t want to wait. I just want a quick haircut for a fiver, in and out in under ten minutes. ?

“As see through as a window with no glass” That seems a very odd comment. I don’t think the Guardian makes any attempt whatsoever to hide its agenda and never has. You’ll no doubt be shocked to discover the Telegraph supports the Tories... Anyway, David Squires’ football cartoons are quite brilliant and if you don’t read them on account of the Graun’s editorial line the loss is entirely yours.

It’s often said that you can judge the decline in insects by the number of squashed ones on your windscreen. And it’s been a long time since I’ve had a really grim windscreen. I set out the other day and the M6 was shut so I had to drive from Wiltshire to Yorkshire on back roads trying to avoid even the traffic diverting away onto A roads. Downside, it took about eight hours. Upside, the windscreen was utterly grim with dead insects, which cheered me up considerably.

Plenty of bats out in my garden again this year. I don’t know where they come from, so can’t count. But I haven’t noticed fewer than last year.

Just saw that, very sad news

Absolutely fair.

Watched the last episode just now. Staggeringly good.

I love The Beiderbecke trilogy. Medium sized Trevor Chaplin is a hero of mine.

You are a barbarian.

I didn’t know there was a podcast. I’ll look it up. Thanks Last night the 90 seconds on the roof scene was excruciatingly tense. I remember reading once that young Soviet Army conscripts were given a choice between a few minutes working at the reactor site or a tour in Afghanistan.

Just watched the first three episodes of Chernobyl on Now TV. Absolutely superb. I’m sure there has been artistic license applied for dramatic effect, but even so, what a story.

? It’s one for the pub. It’s so fantastic that no one believes it. At my wedding, my best man - who I’ve known for only twenty five years - actually went and asked my mum and each of my sisters if it was true. They all assured him it was. I’m not sure he believed them.