Toby Miller
@tobytram.bsky.social
Freelance video editor. Nebraskan/East Anglian, so possibly inclined towards flat lands. Once hosted a radio show about cinema, but now mainly take photos using prisms or pinholes. Being kept for my decorative seed head.
A stones throw from Cambridge.
A stones throw from Cambridge.
Watching a documentary on the making of The Haunted Mansion ride, and it’s seems to me the film to be made of this ride would have been about the building of the ride in 1968, and how real ghosts try and stop it, meaning the Disney engineers have to scare these angry ghosts with their fake ghosts.
February 8, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Watching a documentary on the making of The Haunted Mansion ride, and it’s seems to me the film to be made of this ride would have been about the building of the ride in 1968, and how real ghosts try and stop it, meaning the Disney engineers have to scare these angry ghosts with their fake ghosts.
First time on the bike this year. I always presumed I’d cycle forever, it brings me such uncomplicated joy, but last year the day long rides were uncomfortable. At 55 can I regain my fitness?
Far too muddy for the paths and the woods, but I passed through the land of gas masks and distant stags.
Far too muddy for the paths and the woods, but I passed through the land of gas masks and distant stags.
February 8, 2026 at 5:56 PM
First time on the bike this year. I always presumed I’d cycle forever, it brings me such uncomplicated joy, but last year the day long rides were uncomfortable. At 55 can I regain my fitness?
Far too muddy for the paths and the woods, but I passed through the land of gas masks and distant stags.
Far too muddy for the paths and the woods, but I passed through the land of gas masks and distant stags.
“Nice jumper” praised a stranger as I passed, the fourth such compliment this winter.
This jumper obviously casts a shimmer of greatness over me, and I now think I should run for PM. I would be great and adored leader.
But the moment I took the jumper off people would shout “this man’s a fool!”
This jumper obviously casts a shimmer of greatness over me, and I now think I should run for PM. I would be great and adored leader.
But the moment I took the jumper off people would shout “this man’s a fool!”
February 8, 2026 at 1:49 PM
“Nice jumper” praised a stranger as I passed, the fourth such compliment this winter.
This jumper obviously casts a shimmer of greatness over me, and I now think I should run for PM. I would be great and adored leader.
But the moment I took the jumper off people would shout “this man’s a fool!”
This jumper obviously casts a shimmer of greatness over me, and I now think I should run for PM. I would be great and adored leader.
But the moment I took the jumper off people would shout “this man’s a fool!”
The rain is tiresome, but yesterday I found the Fulfen Slade, usually slow ditch water between fields, back to being a babbling brook, over a bed of pebbles and flint. This is one of of the tributaries that feed the River Cam (and, eventually, the Great River Ouse)
What is the etymology of Fulfen?
What is the etymology of Fulfen?
February 8, 2026 at 10:38 AM
The rain is tiresome, but yesterday I found the Fulfen Slade, usually slow ditch water between fields, back to being a babbling brook, over a bed of pebbles and flint. This is one of of the tributaries that feed the River Cam (and, eventually, the Great River Ouse)
What is the etymology of Fulfen?
What is the etymology of Fulfen?
Bumped into my neighbours - now in their 80’s and still part of the antique trade. A week of rising at 5am to drive to an unheated venue to set up their wares. They don’t need to do this now, but it’s been their trade for half their lives, and it’s an important and a comforting rhythm.
February 7, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Bumped into my neighbours - now in their 80’s and still part of the antique trade. A week of rising at 5am to drive to an unheated venue to set up their wares. They don’t need to do this now, but it’s been their trade for half their lives, and it’s an important and a comforting rhythm.
Walking in yet more drizzle. But taken with how the orange yellow light at the railway crossing is reflected in puddles and becomes a running stitch of much needed colour.
Alt text - looking up a lane to a level crossing. The flashing light is reflected in puddles in the road.
Alt text - looking up a lane to a level crossing. The flashing light is reflected in puddles in the road.
February 6, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Walking in yet more drizzle. But taken with how the orange yellow light at the railway crossing is reflected in puddles and becomes a running stitch of much needed colour.
Alt text - looking up a lane to a level crossing. The flashing light is reflected in puddles in the road.
Alt text - looking up a lane to a level crossing. The flashing light is reflected in puddles in the road.
Oh yes, passing the English Heritage house, in the drizzle, the mist, and the incoming night.
No ghosts abroad last night, they were all here at the Ghost AGM. Ghost lanyards, and ghost networking, and a keynote by the ghost of a fitness instructor who’d written a bestseller on positive thinking.
No ghosts abroad last night, they were all here at the Ghost AGM. Ghost lanyards, and ghost networking, and a keynote by the ghost of a fitness instructor who’d written a bestseller on positive thinking.
February 6, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Oh yes, passing the English Heritage house, in the drizzle, the mist, and the incoming night.
No ghosts abroad last night, they were all here at the Ghost AGM. Ghost lanyards, and ghost networking, and a keynote by the ghost of a fitness instructor who’d written a bestseller on positive thinking.
No ghosts abroad last night, they were all here at the Ghost AGM. Ghost lanyards, and ghost networking, and a keynote by the ghost of a fitness instructor who’d written a bestseller on positive thinking.
I like both these people, so I’m not throwing shade, but I laughed at Charli XCX in her fabulous Wuthering Heights dress, stood next to Martin Clunes. You can move to LA, you can write hit songs and define a summer with your most experimental work, but you can’t escape English Sunday evening TV.
February 6, 2026 at 8:49 AM
I like both these people, so I’m not throwing shade, but I laughed at Charli XCX in her fabulous Wuthering Heights dress, stood next to Martin Clunes. You can move to LA, you can write hit songs and define a summer with your most experimental work, but you can’t escape English Sunday evening TV.
The Children of the Hydra’s Teeth, plus sleeping cat.
February 5, 2026 at 8:03 PM
The Children of the Hydra’s Teeth, plus sleeping cat.
Snowdrops in this endlessly watery weather are like characters from The Bed Sitting Room: ragtag remnants of a West End theatre troupe, putting on half an Ayckbourn to a land sodden with fallout.
February 5, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Snowdrops in this endlessly watery weather are like characters from The Bed Sitting Room: ragtag remnants of a West End theatre troupe, putting on half an Ayckbourn to a land sodden with fallout.
well past closing time last night, walking past this hairdressers, their windows fogged up after a day of talking, the hanging lights looking like a New York night rather than a north Essex housing estate. The umbrella handle the only solid shape, and evidence of a last remaining customer.
February 5, 2026 at 12:12 PM
well past closing time last night, walking past this hairdressers, their windows fogged up after a day of talking, the hanging lights looking like a New York night rather than a north Essex housing estate. The umbrella handle the only solid shape, and evidence of a last remaining customer.
There's a new doc on Disney+ on the frantic year to build the first Disney Land. 1954, when the past looked like science fiction. So much craft and engineering, but the footage also shows a culture just starting to eat itself. Fascinating: part documentation of dying crafts, part Adam Curtis warning
February 5, 2026 at 10:58 AM
There's a new doc on Disney+ on the frantic year to build the first Disney Land. 1954, when the past looked like science fiction. So much craft and engineering, but the footage also shows a culture just starting to eat itself. Fascinating: part documentation of dying crafts, part Adam Curtis warning
Made myself sad with something,
then recalled a happy thought that I couldn’t pin down: something comforting, on the tip of my memory, just out of the corner of my eye. What was it…oh yes, I’d decided it was chilly enough to make myself a hot water bottle tonight.
then recalled a happy thought that I couldn’t pin down: something comforting, on the tip of my memory, just out of the corner of my eye. What was it…oh yes, I’d decided it was chilly enough to make myself a hot water bottle tonight.
February 3, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Made myself sad with something,
then recalled a happy thought that I couldn’t pin down: something comforting, on the tip of my memory, just out of the corner of my eye. What was it…oh yes, I’d decided it was chilly enough to make myself a hot water bottle tonight.
then recalled a happy thought that I couldn’t pin down: something comforting, on the tip of my memory, just out of the corner of my eye. What was it…oh yes, I’d decided it was chilly enough to make myself a hot water bottle tonight.
Heading out earlier, on a long rainy walk, sneaking a look back through my window to see Rula fast asleep on my sofa.
The house to herself for a couple of hours, she’ll probably bake a cake, scoff it all, tidy up, and I’d be none the wiser when I returned. Or she’ll dream of doing just that.
The house to herself for a couple of hours, she’ll probably bake a cake, scoff it all, tidy up, and I’d be none the wiser when I returned. Or she’ll dream of doing just that.
February 3, 2026 at 8:25 PM
Heading out earlier, on a long rainy walk, sneaking a look back through my window to see Rula fast asleep on my sofa.
The house to herself for a couple of hours, she’ll probably bake a cake, scoff it all, tidy up, and I’d be none the wiser when I returned. Or she’ll dream of doing just that.
The house to herself for a couple of hours, she’ll probably bake a cake, scoff it all, tidy up, and I’d be none the wiser when I returned. Or she’ll dream of doing just that.
Caught up with Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby on MUBI, and the film’s soft, trapped light (the house is staged almost as a moth trap Rachel Sennott bounces around) again had me wishing I could live my life again as a cinematographer.
Or an archeologist. Or a dancer. Or a way to combine all three.
Or an archeologist. Or a dancer. Or a way to combine all three.
February 2, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Caught up with Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby on MUBI, and the film’s soft, trapped light (the house is staged almost as a moth trap Rachel Sennott bounces around) again had me wishing I could live my life again as a cinematographer.
Or an archeologist. Or a dancer. Or a way to combine all three.
Or an archeologist. Or a dancer. Or a way to combine all three.
Sorry. another cat photo. But I like it when one of them (in this case a rather unsettled Lucia) decides to stand on my lap, behind the book I’m reading, and they look like a bit of stage magic where their two halves have been separated by a wobbly saw and mirrors. Or they are half cat/ half book.
February 1, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Sorry. another cat photo. But I like it when one of them (in this case a rather unsettled Lucia) decides to stand on my lap, behind the book I’m reading, and they look like a bit of stage magic where their two halves have been separated by a wobbly saw and mirrors. Or they are half cat/ half book.
The manufacture of handmade scissors - the blades are ‘dried in a warm bath of maize and walnuts’.
That just seems wonderful. How would you even find out this was best combination (and just for scissors. I don’t believe other blades require this Cleopatra style luxury in their bath water)
That just seems wonderful. How would you even find out this was best combination (and just for scissors. I don’t believe other blades require this Cleopatra style luxury in their bath water)
February 1, 2026 at 9:50 AM
The manufacture of handmade scissors - the blades are ‘dried in a warm bath of maize and walnuts’.
That just seems wonderful. How would you even find out this was best combination (and just for scissors. I don’t believe other blades require this Cleopatra style luxury in their bath water)
That just seems wonderful. How would you even find out this was best combination (and just for scissors. I don’t believe other blades require this Cleopatra style luxury in their bath water)
A forlorn walk, shadowed by the cracks and whistles of a shooting party - from the wood to wood like a pub crawl. But I liked this weather vane traction engine, on a pole over an abandoned shed, almost lost to the overgrowth, finding a way through the bracken, building up ahead of steam for spring.
January 31, 2026 at 5:47 PM
A forlorn walk, shadowed by the cracks and whistles of a shooting party - from the wood to wood like a pub crawl. But I liked this weather vane traction engine, on a pole over an abandoned shed, almost lost to the overgrowth, finding a way through the bracken, building up ahead of steam for spring.
Got this record for my father for Christmas (and myself, as it came with a download) and he’s texted his response. 16th Century Polyphony, but from a Convent, and it’s that change in voice that has helped my father (and also me) pick out how the harmonies work together. Bits of this move me to tears
January 31, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Got this record for my father for Christmas (and myself, as it came with a download) and he’s texted his response. 16th Century Polyphony, but from a Convent, and it’s that change in voice that has helped my father (and also me) pick out how the harmonies work together. Bits of this move me to tears
January ending on a day of “Lets have a look at what you could have won!” blue sky and sunshine.
January 31, 2026 at 10:21 AM
January ending on a day of “Lets have a look at what you could have won!” blue sky and sunshine.
It’s all pretty miserable, sad and desperate.
But Rula has been to the vet for her annual checkup (her actual owner, my neighbour, took her) and has been told she is in excellent health for her age.
“Can’t I just be in excellent health”, she answered, somehow quoting from Brian Eno’s diaries.
But Rula has been to the vet for her annual checkup (her actual owner, my neighbour, took her) and has been told she is in excellent health for her age.
“Can’t I just be in excellent health”, she answered, somehow quoting from Brian Eno’s diaries.
January 30, 2026 at 7:31 PM
It’s all pretty miserable, sad and desperate.
But Rula has been to the vet for her annual checkup (her actual owner, my neighbour, took her) and has been told she is in excellent health for her age.
“Can’t I just be in excellent health”, she answered, somehow quoting from Brian Eno’s diaries.
But Rula has been to the vet for her annual checkup (her actual owner, my neighbour, took her) and has been told she is in excellent health for her age.
“Can’t I just be in excellent health”, she answered, somehow quoting from Brian Eno’s diaries.
They could have made The Beatles movie where each actor plays their Beatle from a different era (like the photos) together at once. Set in the hollow house from Help. Cavern Club Paul McCartney faced with the disillusioned Let in Be George Harrison. The band exploding and imploding at the same time.
January 30, 2026 at 4:16 PM
They could have made The Beatles movie where each actor plays their Beatle from a different era (like the photos) together at once. Set in the hollow house from Help. Cavern Club Paul McCartney faced with the disillusioned Let in Be George Harrison. The band exploding and imploding at the same time.
Again, from James Fox’s CraftLand - from the chapters on bell casting and stone letter cutting. This isn’t a connection the book is making, but I’m struck by the similarity between finding the tuning in a bell’s cast form and finding the correct serif for a letter. Both a voice of the interior.
January 30, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Again, from James Fox’s CraftLand - from the chapters on bell casting and stone letter cutting. This isn’t a connection the book is making, but I’m struck by the similarity between finding the tuning in a bell’s cast form and finding the correct serif for a letter. Both a voice of the interior.
New host, but this was reassuringly about the same. If anything it felt a little less rushed. Very interesting, especially the more casual podcast extra 15 minutes, which ends with the traditional producer popping in to ask if anybody wants “tea or coffee?”
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
In Our Time - The Mariana Trench - BBC Sounds
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exploration of the world's deepest ocean trench.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 4:58 PM
New host, but this was reassuringly about the same. If anything it felt a little less rushed. Very interesting, especially the more casual podcast extra 15 minutes, which ends with the traditional producer popping in to ask if anybody wants “tea or coffee?”
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
A man’s view of his book. As ever the responsibilities of the modern world keeping me from acquiring the freeing power of knowledge
January 29, 2026 at 11:59 AM
A man’s view of his book. As ever the responsibilities of the modern world keeping me from acquiring the freeing power of knowledge