Alexander Christie-Miller
@achristiemiller.bsky.social
Journalist/writer, formerly in Istanbul, now Norfolk. ‘To the City’ (William Collins/Pegasus). All posts have grammar/spelling errors. Retweets usually = endorsements. Opinions not my own unless stated otherwise, and even then probably still not my own.
@jo-the-botanist.bsky.social Hi Jo, I found this grass I think is Lolium giganteum, do you think that’s right?
July 21, 2025 at 10:02 AM
@jo-the-botanist.bsky.social Hi Jo, I found this grass I think is Lolium giganteum, do you think that’s right?
@tetzoo.bsky.social Any idea what this is?
July 19, 2025 at 7:24 PM
@tetzoo.bsky.social Any idea what this is?
I’ve made labels for the collection of pressed grasses I’ve assembled. I think these suitably express my deep love of Latin and English botanical names:
June 11, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I’ve made labels for the collection of pressed grasses I’ve assembled. I think these suitably express my deep love of Latin and English botanical names:
@jo-the-botanist.bsky.social I don’t suppose you could help me with this grass? Found in the dunes at Horsey Gap. I’m thinking it’s a couch but can’t work it out. Flowering spike like couch/ryegrass but leaves are hairlike, tiny ligule.
June 4, 2025 at 7:13 PM
@jo-the-botanist.bsky.social I don’t suppose you could help me with this grass? Found in the dunes at Horsey Gap. I’m thinking it’s a couch but can’t work it out. Flowering spike like couch/ryegrass but leaves are hairlike, tiny ligule.
Catabrosa aquaticum on the Bure near my home. A pretty floating grass, not common, with flower spikes like a purple-green haze over the water.
May 22, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Catabrosa aquaticum on the Bure near my home. A pretty floating grass, not common, with flower spikes like a purple-green haze over the water.
A ditch full of flowering water violets- a rare and lovely sight:
May 7, 2025 at 8:48 AM
A ditch full of flowering water violets- a rare and lovely sight:
In the past few months I’ve been taking the phrase “go touch some grass” perhaps too literally. I’ve learnt to identify about 15 or so grass species more or less by sight, and my home is covered in small piles of hay.
May 1, 2025 at 4:47 PM
In the past few months I’ve been taking the phrase “go touch some grass” perhaps too literally. I’ve learnt to identify about 15 or so grass species more or less by sight, and my home is covered in small piles of hay.
Happy to see ‘To The City’ spotted in the wild in Oxford, Mississippi, by @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social.
April 3, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Happy to see ‘To The City’ spotted in the wild in Oxford, Mississippi, by @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social.
I think I found some too (?)
March 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
I think I found some too (?)
I wonder if this is the shape of the emerging US-Russia axis in Europe? Trump using the threat of the Russian menace to shake down the continent.
February 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
I wonder if this is the shape of the emerging US-Russia axis in Europe? Trump using the threat of the Russian menace to shake down the continent.
Barn owl hunting over the meadow at dusk. Such a lovely sight.
February 11, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Barn owl hunting over the meadow at dusk. Such a lovely sight.
Starmer may not have set the world on fire in the past six months but that statement on Jess Phillips is a fucking scorcher.
January 6, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Starmer may not have set the world on fire in the past six months but that statement on Jess Phillips is a fucking scorcher.
I'm thrilled with the cover for the UK paperback publication TO THE CITY, which will be out in February 2025:
December 4, 2024 at 10:04 AM
I'm thrilled with the cover for the UK paperback publication TO THE CITY, which will be out in February 2025:
Signs of a very fresh sparrowhawk kill in the meadow next to my house. Hard to tell what the victim was.
November 30, 2024 at 10:26 AM
Signs of a very fresh sparrowhawk kill in the meadow next to my house. Hard to tell what the victim was.
Okay. Now this feels like home. @06jank.bsky.social
November 20, 2024 at 8:09 PM
Okay. Now this feels like home. @06jank.bsky.social
First of all, the trademark #Bluesky welcome: new arrivals should be greeted not with open arms but with suspicion and contempt for not having joined sooner.
November 17, 2024 at 10:43 AM
First of all, the trademark #Bluesky welcome: new arrivals should be greeted not with open arms but with suspicion and contempt for not having joined sooner.
The US edition of TO THE CITY spotted in the wild, at a branch if the New York Public Library. You can buy your copy in the US now.
November 14, 2024 at 8:12 AM
The US edition of TO THE CITY spotted in the wild, at a branch if the New York Public Library. You can buy your copy in the US now.
I just received the first US copies of ‘To the City’. Publication date October 1st. 💫💫💫
September 12, 2024 at 4:51 PM
I just received the first US copies of ‘To the City’. Publication date October 1st. 💫💫💫
Just saw the hard copy now, but lovely to see my review of Sami Kent’s excellent ‘The Endless Country’ plugged on the cover of The Literary Review:
September 1, 2024 at 6:26 PM
Just saw the hard copy now, but lovely to see my review of Sami Kent’s excellent ‘The Endless Country’ plugged on the cover of The Literary Review:
Just posted this on the other place, and so from now on will endeavour to be here more.
August 6, 2024 at 4:03 PM
Just posted this on the other place, and so from now on will endeavour to be here more.
I know they are *literally* trying to sell the book but I am still thrilled with Waterstones’ description of #ToTheCity. Out in the UK on February 15th!
January 1, 2024 at 12:12 PM
I know they are *literally* trying to sell the book but I am still thrilled with Waterstones’ description of #ToTheCity. Out in the UK on February 15th!
I can’t remember where this mug came from, but every time I see it I’m struck by how it’s the sort of thing you would surely only buy for someone you hate.
December 17, 2023 at 3:20 PM
I can’t remember where this mug came from, but every time I see it I’m struck by how it’s the sort of thing you would surely only buy for someone you hate.
Just over two months until 'To The City' will arrive in bookshops in the UK. It explores Istanbul's Byzantine land walls, their past and present, the lives of the people around them, Turkey's tumultuous recent history, the beauty of Istanbul, and the threats facing it.
December 4, 2023 at 3:01 PM
Just over two months until 'To The City' will arrive in bookshops in the UK. It explores Istanbul's Byzantine land walls, their past and present, the lives of the people around them, Turkey's tumultuous recent history, the beauty of Istanbul, and the threats facing it.