When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens And learn to spit.
The opening stanza of Warning, the much celebrated poem by Jenny Joseph (1932 – 2018). The English poet wrote it when she was 28.
Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent . The opening stanza of the acclaimed stream of consciousness poem The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot (1888 – 1965). Eliot was born in the USA, but died in London, having taken up English citizenship in 1927. Other celebrated works of the Nobel Prize in Literature winner in 1948 include The Waste Land, The Hollow Men and Ash Wednesday.
What a very sad loss. The beloved star of films and TV shows such as Home Alone and its sequel, Beetlejuice, Schitt’s Creek, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Studio and Six Feet Under. Thank you for the wonderful performances you leave behind Catherine O’Hara.
“Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.” Macaulay Culkin
“We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.” Michael Keaton
“Really don’t know what to say… I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honour. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.” Seth Rogen
“Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always. Always.” Pedro Pascal
“Catherine O’Hara brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed…such a loss for her family and friends, and the audience she graced as friends.” Meryl Streep
“This is shattering news. What a wonderful person, artist and collaborator. I was lucky enough to direct, produce and act in projects with her and she was simply growing more brilliant with each year. My heart goes out to Bo & family.” Ron Howard
Homer: (relieved) Krusty! Oh, thanks. Thanks a lot. You came here to save me. Krusty: (faking sincerity) Yeah… That’s what I did. Don Vittorio: My apologies to you. I almost made a grievous error. Goodbye, Krusty. Krusty: Wait.He can’t kill anybody if he doesn’t know which one’s the real Krusty. [Krusty quickly switches them both around numerous times] Don Vittorio: I am confused. Homer: Hehe. Good one, Krusty.
Homie the Clown may well be my favourite episode of The Simpsons, and this is definitely up there as one of my favourite scenes. I’ve quoted The Simpsons countless times, including in greater description in one of my earliest posts.
I was so thrilled when I published The Gameshow last year. It came out even better than I’d hoped and thankfully, reviews have been positive. They all mean so much. I don’t normally reblog but with longtime blogger Beetley Pete wrote about it I just had to share it.
In my last post I shared some of the incredible photography from the World Sports Photography Awards. They were so many other fantastic entrants I just had to add some more. Do you have a favourite?
Photo 1:Grand Prix Silver winner: The Underworld by Beatrice Ryder da Costa Photo 2:Basketball: Breakaway for the Leadby Bob Donnan Photo 3:Boxing: Uppercutby Alexis Goudeau Photo 4:Cycling: Vistas desde el abandonoby Aritz Arambarri Goenaga Photo 5:Urban & Extreme: Klickflippin’ Indiaby Martin Bissig Photo 6:Venues & Views: Championship Viewby Andrew Hancock Photo 7:Athletics: Tokyo Rocketby Kenjiro Matsuo Photo 8:Basketball: by Emilio Comos
As a big lover of sports and photography, I just had to add my favourites from the recent World Sports Photography Awards (WSPA). It’s a prestigious competition that has been running since 2020, covering 20 categories.They’re all so eye-catching. Do you have a favourite?
Photo 1: Grand Prix Gold winner: Carlos’ Shadow Hits A Ball by Edgar Su Photo 2: Grand Prix Bronze winner: India v England layers by Richard Heathcote Photo 3: Racquet Sports: Kim Nayeong – WTT Foz do Iguacuby Abelardo Mendes Jr Photo 4: Motor Sports: Emerging Fordby Mwangi Kirubi Photo 5: Equestrian: Equine Reflectionby Morgan Treacy Photo 6: Rugby union: New Zealand Hakaby Andrew Dowling Photo 7: American football: One Player. 110,000 Screaming Fans.by Christian Gresko Photo 8: Winter Sports: FIS Freestyle World Championships, Women’s Aerials in St Moritz by Claudia Greco
“If I had my way, I would remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.”
Some amusing words by one of the world’s most famous children’s writers Roald Dahl (1916 – 1990). Less sunshine does means more time for reading though!
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The world’s most famous ever physicist Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), who discovered relativity and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. I hope you all have had a great start to 2026.
Alex Raphael 