Knitted Clanger
@knittedclanger.bsky.social
Retired communications manager who once knew a lot about banking strategy. Now mostly having a cup of tea and reading a Victorian three-volume novel.
I love the brilliant pinky-red stems of freshly fallen sycamore leaves. I have time to think about this today because I’m waiting for an earthworm to go away.
November 13, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I love the brilliant pinky-red stems of freshly fallen sycamore leaves. I have time to think about this today because I’m waiting for an earthworm to go away.
Reposted by Knitted Clanger
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
“Bassoons, Sah! Thousands of ‘em!” Well, three. Four if you count the contrabassoon. Packed house for a CBSO all-bassoon recital today. The players sway and dip with the music, cradling their bassoons as though they’re dancing with them.
November 12, 2025 at 4:06 PM
“Bassoons, Sah! Thousands of ‘em!” Well, three. Four if you count the contrabassoon. Packed house for a CBSO all-bassoon recital today. The players sway and dip with the music, cradling their bassoons as though they’re dancing with them.
It's #WorldBalletDay and I haven't done any yet. Might do a grand jeté into Aldi later when I pop in for some frozen peas.
November 12, 2025 at 10:30 AM
It's #WorldBalletDay and I haven't done any yet. Might do a grand jeté into Aldi later when I pop in for some frozen peas.
Horrid Victorian food in the book I’m reading: toast water and calf’s foot jelly; vegetable marrow in white sauce; mock turtle soup. Currently on the side of the lady vampire who rips a live hen apart with her bare teeth. Reasonable in context.
November 10, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Horrid Victorian food in the book I’m reading: toast water and calf’s foot jelly; vegetable marrow in white sauce; mock turtle soup. Currently on the side of the lady vampire who rips a live hen apart with her bare teeth. Reasonable in context.
Enjoyed the Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein but disappointed he cut the bit where they sing Putting on the Ritz.
November 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Enjoyed the Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein but disappointed he cut the bit where they sing Putting on the Ritz.
Reposted by Knitted Clanger
Men finally do something hot and everyone starts scolding them.
November 10, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Men finally do something hot and everyone starts scolding them.
Handsome Grade II war memorial in Lichfield, unusual for being in English Renaissance style. Birmingham architect Charles Bateman mostly worked in Arts & Crafts style (the Red Lion in Kings Heath is his) but the Staffordshire regiments served in Italy, so maybe a reference.
November 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Handsome Grade II war memorial in Lichfield, unusual for being in English Renaissance style. Birmingham architect Charles Bateman mostly worked in Arts & Crafts style (the Red Lion in Kings Heath is his) but the Staffordshire regiments served in Italy, so maybe a reference.
BBC coverage of the Cenotaph this morning. There are only 20 survivors of WW2 marching today, the youngest is 98. Little films of them speaking with deeply repressed emotion of the sea being on fire and watching their friends die at 19.
November 9, 2025 at 10:27 AM
BBC coverage of the Cenotaph this morning. There are only 20 survivors of WW2 marching today, the youngest is 98. Little films of them speaking with deeply repressed emotion of the sea being on fire and watching their friends die at 19.
Tonight it’s La Bohème from the Met Opera. If you ever wondered about how opera funding is doing in New York, please note their chorus of a million people.
November 8, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Tonight it’s La Bohème from the Met Opera. If you ever wondered about how opera funding is doing in New York, please note their chorus of a million people.
700 extra police in Brum tonight for the Villa v Maccabi match. Biggest local news so far, a policeman is up the spire of Aston Church. Whether this is for surveillance or spiritual reasons is currently unclear. Anyway, it's a nice spire.
November 6, 2025 at 4:49 PM
700 extra police in Brum tonight for the Villa v Maccabi match. Biggest local news so far, a policeman is up the spire of Aston Church. Whether this is for surveillance or spiritual reasons is currently unclear. Anyway, it's a nice spire.
Awake at 3:42 with a nosebleed. If this is my last post it’s because my phone doesn’t recognise me with tissues stuck up my nose. Also, if you want me to do a chore or help with something, I can’t hear you, I have tissues up my nose.
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Awake at 3:42 with a nosebleed. If this is my last post it’s because my phone doesn’t recognise me with tissues stuck up my nose. Also, if you want me to do a chore or help with something, I can’t hear you, I have tissues up my nose.
Back from the Royal Ballet's La Fille mal gardée. It's the one with dancing chickens, a real pony (called Oscar, who had to go home at the interval, like the children in Ballet Shoes), and Lancashire clog dancing, which it turns out is very cheery.
youtu.be/BT9naCq0fdE?...
youtu.be/BT9naCq0fdE?...
La Fille mal gardée - The Clog Dance from Act I (The Royal Ballet)
YouTube video by Royal Ballet and Opera
youtu.be
November 5, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Back from the Royal Ballet's La Fille mal gardée. It's the one with dancing chickens, a real pony (called Oscar, who had to go home at the interval, like the children in Ballet Shoes), and Lancashire clog dancing, which it turns out is very cheery.
youtu.be/BT9naCq0fdE?...
youtu.be/BT9naCq0fdE?...
Final Fra Angelico talk looked at his followers and I was particularly taken with Plautilla Nelli, or Suor Plautilla, a Dominican nun and self-taught artist, the first female Renaissance painter we know of in Florence. The wonderful tenderness of her painting.
November 5, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Final Fra Angelico talk looked at his followers and I was particularly taken with Plautilla Nelli, or Suor Plautilla, a Dominican nun and self-taught artist, the first female Renaissance painter we know of in Florence. The wonderful tenderness of her painting.
Nov 5: A bad day all round for Catholics. Not just the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 but also the arrival of William of Orange in 1688 and the bombing of the Vatican in 1943. Anyway, I've made a cup of tea and gone back to bed, just to be on the safe side.
November 5, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Nov 5: A bad day all round for Catholics. Not just the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 but also the arrival of William of Orange in 1688 and the bombing of the Vatican in 1943. Anyway, I've made a cup of tea and gone back to bed, just to be on the safe side.
Having seen my first Christmas ads of the year, it appears John Lewis are advertising vinyl records, which they do not sell, Argos are advertising creepy doll-based kidnapping and threats of violence, which they might offer, I don’t know, I’ve never been there…
November 4, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Having seen my first Christmas ads of the year, it appears John Lewis are advertising vinyl records, which they do not sell, Argos are advertising creepy doll-based kidnapping and threats of violence, which they might offer, I don’t know, I’ve never been there…
More from BMAG yesterday. When the Staffordshire Hoard was first on show it was in the state on the right, crumpled and with mud still clinging to it. And it was so exciting to see it all tumbled into a display case that you had to lean over and peer into. You shared the thrill of discovery.
November 4, 2025 at 11:55 AM
More from BMAG yesterday. When the Staffordshire Hoard was first on show it was in the state on the right, crumpled and with mud still clinging to it. And it was so exciting to see it all tumbled into a display case that you had to lean over and peer into. You shared the thrill of discovery.
BMAG continues to open up a few galleries at a time. The Pre-Raphaelites are back, with women artists from Birmingham School of Art in slightly greater evidence than before.
November 3, 2025 at 2:33 PM
BMAG continues to open up a few galleries at a time. The Pre-Raphaelites are back, with women artists from Birmingham School of Art in slightly greater evidence than before.
Favourite film and album from the year you were born.
November 2, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Favourite film and album from the year you were born.
Why did no one tell me Visconti made a four-hour film about Ludwig II of Bavaria? Only an hour in but already 20 minutes has been people being introduced by their proper titles. Trevor Howard plays Wagner like the colonel of a Berkshire regiment.
November 1, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Why did no one tell me Visconti made a four-hour film about Ludwig II of Bavaria? Only an hour in but already 20 minutes has been people being introduced by their proper titles. Trevor Howard plays Wagner like the colonel of a Berkshire regiment.
Hope everyone's swapped their Halloween costumes for their All Saints Day costumes today. It's so difficult dressing up as *all* the saints, so this year I'm just doing St Catherine, in case anyone is wondering why I have a giant wheel with me.
November 1, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Hope everyone's swapped their Halloween costumes for their All Saints Day costumes today. It's so difficult dressing up as *all* the saints, so this year I'm just doing St Catherine, in case anyone is wondering why I have a giant wheel with me.
Relieved to see these are a source of fibre and not bad for you or anything.
October 31, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Relieved to see these are a source of fibre and not bad for you or anything.
Don’t forget, Samhain starts at sunset today, so start aligning your Neolithic tomb with the sunrise now. Also, as you’ll have to slaughter a goose and sprinkle your threshold with its blood on St Martin’s day (11 Nov), today is the day to begin trying to catch your goose.
October 31, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Don’t forget, Samhain starts at sunset today, so start aligning your Neolithic tomb with the sunrise now. Also, as you’ll have to slaughter a goose and sprinkle your threshold with its blood on St Martin’s day (11 Nov), today is the day to begin trying to catch your goose.
I can recommend Nigella’s chocolate and pistachio fudge. Did I say Nigella’s? I meant mine, all this fudge is mine, OK?
October 28, 2025 at 7:39 PM
I can recommend Nigella’s chocolate and pistachio fudge. Did I say Nigella’s? I meant mine, all this fudge is mine, OK?
By happy coincidence, new Doctor and companion just revealed.
October 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM
By happy coincidence, new Doctor and companion just revealed.