Alex
@arichards.bsky.social
Avid cartographer, part-time psephologist, amateur musician.
I've reached the point that the only place I can reliably get trousers from is a local factory outlet aimed at pensioners because nobody seems to design for people with calf muscles anymore.
December 14, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I've reached the point that the only place I can reliably get trousers from is a local factory outlet aimed at pensioners because nobody seems to design for people with calf muscles anymore.
*Clear's throat*
The flying island of Laputa. Yes it *is* actually meant to be he Spanish word.
The flying island of Laputa. Yes it *is* actually meant to be he Spanish word.
December 13, 2025 at 10:53 PM
*Clear's throat*
The flying island of Laputa. Yes it *is* actually meant to be he Spanish word.
The flying island of Laputa. Yes it *is* actually meant to be he Spanish word.
Also 'the problem wasn't that in seizing power and refusing to share it the Stalinists just replicated the excesses of the Tsarist regime, it's that they were seduced by the promises of being part of the new "in club" by the capitalists' is. I mean that's a good plot, just not *this* plot.
December 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Also 'the problem wasn't that in seizing power and refusing to share it the Stalinists just replicated the excesses of the Tsarist regime, it's that they were seduced by the promises of being part of the new "in club" by the capitalists' is. I mean that's a good plot, just not *this* plot.
I genuinely think they actually have tried to do this - Napoleon has more than a whif of Trump about it- but they've *also* tried to do it in a kid-friendly animation with Minions style humour and utterly blown up any effort at that.
December 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
I genuinely think they actually have tried to do this - Napoleon has more than a whif of Trump about it- but they've *also* tried to do it in a kid-friendly animation with Minions style humour and utterly blown up any effort at that.
Have bought it on a recent Steam sale for my week off after Christmas.
December 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Have bought it on a recent Steam sale for my week off after Christmas.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caves measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round...
[trails off into fragments].
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caves measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round...
[trails off into fragments].
December 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caves measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round...
[trails off into fragments].
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caves measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round...
[trails off into fragments].
Billy in one of his nice new sashes,
Fell in the fire and was burned to ashes
The room grew dark, the room grew chilly
But nobody cared to poke poor Billy.
(Also several other bits of Belloc's cautionary tales.)
Fell in the fire and was burned to ashes
The room grew dark, the room grew chilly
But nobody cared to poke poor Billy.
(Also several other bits of Belloc's cautionary tales.)
December 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Billy in one of his nice new sashes,
Fell in the fire and was burned to ashes
The room grew dark, the room grew chilly
But nobody cared to poke poor Billy.
(Also several other bits of Belloc's cautionary tales.)
Fell in the fire and was burned to ashes
The room grew dark, the room grew chilly
But nobody cared to poke poor Billy.
(Also several other bits of Belloc's cautionary tales.)
IIRC the guy protested a bit and then conversation just awkwardly ground to a halt.
November 22, 2025 at 11:17 PM
IIRC the guy protested a bit and then conversation just awkwardly ground to a halt.
I *genuinely* had an incident back in Secondary school where another student whose family were from Sri Lanka was casually talking about having a cousin in the Tamil Tigers and I just went 'aren't they usually considered a terrorist organisation' in a confused tone of voice.
November 22, 2025 at 11:17 PM
I *genuinely* had an incident back in Secondary school where another student whose family were from Sri Lanka was casually talking about having a cousin in the Tamil Tigers and I just went 'aren't they usually considered a terrorist organisation' in a confused tone of voice.
Doesn't help that they basically had to chuck out everything of the book Wicked at that point since it starts getting very... strange.
November 19, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Doesn't help that they basically had to chuck out everything of the book Wicked at that point since it starts getting very... strange.
What all this *does* mean is that if they end up creating a Mayoral authority for Cornwall that includes the Isles of Scilly it will actually be a very significant change for the islands 5/5.
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
What all this *does* mean is that if they end up creating a Mayoral authority for Cornwall that includes the Isles of Scilly it will actually be a very significant change for the islands 5/5.
The Rural District was then grandfathered into the post-1974 structure (with a name change to 'Council of the Isles of Scilly') as a sui generis authority without any changes to its powers or structure, and has remained the same ever since. 4/5
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
The Rural District was then grandfathered into the post-1974 structure (with a name change to 'Council of the Isles of Scilly') as a sui generis authority without any changes to its powers or structure, and has remained the same ever since. 4/5
Cornwall also features the interesting case of the Isles of Scilly, which are so remote and have so few people that the Rural District created in 1891 was given special powers, the Civil Parishes never had parish councils established, and in 1930 it was given the same powers as a county council. 3/5
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Cornwall also features the interesting case of the Isles of Scilly, which are so remote and have so few people that the Rural District created in 1891 was given special powers, the Civil Parishes never had parish councils established, and in 1930 it was given the same powers as a county council. 3/5
...most notably from the division of some of the Urban Districts and Metropolitan Boroughs - both Camborne & Redruth and St Austell with Fowey were just massive. Most obviously 2009 also saw the abolition of the districts in favour of a new Unitary Authority. 2/5
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
...most notably from the division of some of the Urban Districts and Metropolitan Boroughs - both Camborne & Redruth and St Austell with Fowey were just massive. Most obviously 2009 also saw the abolition of the districts in favour of a new Unitary Authority. 2/5
I did manage to get work to agree to me getting the *entire* Rombaldi Tintin edition shipped up from Béziers for my 10 year long service award...
November 15, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I did manage to get work to agree to me getting the *entire* Rombaldi Tintin edition shipped up from Béziers for my 10 year long service award...
Not sure on that- the neckbeards would probably have been among the legions of fans who basically bullied Conan Doyle into going back to a character he was done with.
Just dozens of replies after every tweet promoting his latest historical novel asking when the next Holmes is coming out.
Just dozens of replies after every tweet promoting his latest historical novel asking when the next Holmes is coming out.
November 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Not sure on that- the neckbeards would probably have been among the legions of fans who basically bullied Conan Doyle into going back to a character he was done with.
Just dozens of replies after every tweet promoting his latest historical novel asking when the next Holmes is coming out.
Just dozens of replies after every tweet promoting his latest historical novel asking when the next Holmes is coming out.
Do we not all have a song to sing, oh?
November 10, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Do we not all have a song to sing, oh?
They're also just way too large for people who aren't going down the obsessive collector route to have more than maybe 4 or 5 before deciding they're taking up too much space.
November 9, 2025 at 11:15 AM
They're also just way too large for people who aren't going down the obsessive collector route to have more than maybe 4 or 5 before deciding they're taking up too much space.
This is doubly confusing as many accounts do refer to a 'Lundy Island parish' and it's labelled as one on various ordnance survey maps prior to 1974, but it has been unparished since the creation of Torridge which would be a very unusual abolition to occur if that is the case. 5/5
October 29, 2025 at 11:13 PM
This is doubly confusing as many accounts do refer to a 'Lundy Island parish' and it's labelled as one on various ordnance survey maps prior to 1974, but it has been unparished since the creation of Torridge which would be a very unusual abolition to occur if that is the case. 5/5
... with the New Poor Laws. Some areas lagged in doing this however and the 1868 Amendment stated that all areas still extra-parochial were to be annexed to a neighbouring civil parish. Lundy, however, does not appear to have *ever* had a Civil parish, presumably because it had no neighbours. 4/5
October 29, 2025 at 11:13 PM
... with the New Poor Laws. Some areas lagged in doing this however and the 1868 Amendment stated that all areas still extra-parochial were to be annexed to a neighbouring civil parish. Lundy, however, does not appear to have *ever* had a Civil parish, presumably because it had no neighbours. 4/5
Most interesting however is Lundy, which may be the only surviving extra-parochial area in the country. These were common in the early 19th Century when the church boundaries often missed out more sparsely populated areas or manorial precincts, but were officially abolished in 1857... 3/5
October 29, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Most interesting however is Lundy, which may be the only surviving extra-parochial area in the country. These were common in the early 19th Century when the church boundaries often missed out more sparsely populated areas or manorial precincts, but were officially abolished in 1857... 3/5
...becoming unitary authorities in the 90s. Though notably their borders have essentially remained unchanged in the last 50 years. Exeter's saw significant adjustment at about the same time, while an earlier change in '84 tidied up the neighbouring exclaves in Teignbridge. 2/5
October 29, 2025 at 11:13 PM
...becoming unitary authorities in the 90s. Though notably their borders have essentially remained unchanged in the last 50 years. Exeter's saw significant adjustment at about the same time, while an earlier change in '84 tidied up the neighbouring exclaves in Teignbridge. 2/5