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Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

internetworker https://jay.gooby.org he/him

[bridged from https://mastodon.social/@jaygooby on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]

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Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Was hoping to watch a show about engineering and Venice, but snooker had overrun. Cats are fascinated.

Turnip has taken up residence in our Xmas tree holder cover/cat thunderdome

#catsofmastodon

Two cats sit staring at a TV showing snooker. One of them is sat inside a wicker basket which is meant to be a cover for a Christmas tree stand, but actually is used for “lovely games” where the winner takes up residence until the next cat challenger arrives

December 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Tree prep done - decorations to follow…

Past me & my daughter’s advice always welcome 😂

Cc: @law_geek

A christmas tree with just lights and a red star in the corner of a room

A letter left in the box of tree lights reads:

Future Jay,
It's Jay of Xmas past here. It's much easier
to get the lights on the tree when it's in the middle of the room and not in the corner!
Jay 2020.

Future Minna,
It's Minna of Xmas past, it's easier to put phil the pheasant on top before all other decs

November 30, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Ah yeah! @orbific’s horror advent calendar has arrived 🙌

Here’s a little taste from last year..

A Horror
Advent
Calendar

24 STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS

Welcome to my 2025 horror story advent calendar - one weird or dark tale every day through to Christmas Eve.

Most of these stories are light, but a few have gone too far. Those have been marked with a warning triangle. If you imagine that you could be the sort of person who might phone me up and say "James, what the fuck were you thinking, sharing Christmas stories like that?", then you should probably skip those ones.

Thank you to everyone who helped prepare this - Muffy for editing and the gorgeous image; to Rosy and Kate Frances for their help with the edits, and to Emma Charleston for the design.

If you enjoy this collection of stories, please do share a picture of it on your blogs or social media. You will (hopefully) be pleased to hear that a 2026 edition is planned.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
James
james@orbific.com

PS - There are more stories at
microfictions.orbific.com

December 6th

The Old Ways

Society has long been
ruined, but they do
their best to follow
the old traditions. In
the depths of Winter,
a man is chosen by lot
to be dressed in a red
suit. He is paraded
around the village's
huts and hovels. In
each place he asks for
a bed, only to be forced
to sleep in the stables.
The next morning,
the town takes him to
the Christmas tree.
It's in the traditional
shape, a long piece of
wood plunged into
the ground, with a
horizontal cross bar.
The man in the red
suit is nailed to this
tree, as the village folk
wish each other Merry
Christmas.

November 21, 2025 at 8:32 AM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

I have been stressed and v busy for the last couple of weeks, and so Andrew and the Sisters on repeat is good medicine

November 11, 2025 at 9:18 AM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Just been to see Coilguns - Swedish hardcore/noise in Brighton’s best gay club

Now awaiting Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Lambrini Girls in a slightly bigger venue 😂

The band’s frontman balances on the sound desk, holding onto his mic lead hooked over the ceiling

In the background is a booth styled as RuPaul’s werkroom

November 8, 2025 at 6:47 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

I should pin this to my profile…

An orange tea towel with a girl peering through some holes in a Swiss? cheese, captioned

Fuck,
I love
Cheese

November 4, 2025 at 9:03 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

We moved a "miniature" weeping willow from its not-really-suitable home outside our back door to a better home in the garden, over the weekend.

10/10 outdoor action.

Much better than computer touching

Raised bed where the willow used to live. A spade is in the foreground. There's a hole where the roots of the willow were

The miniature willow in its new home in the garden borders. We gave it a bit of bowl haircut too

October 27, 2025 at 2:41 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Oh, it's Thursday...

I've got a few tasks to finish. Let me just check this email...

Surely this other thing I need to deal with won't take that long...

How about this quick task before I can get on with what I really need to do today...

A large black street bin flamingly on fire

A black wheel bin under a window. Also on fire.

Yes, these are metaphors for my current task list.

October 23, 2025 at 12:02 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

@Edent Thanks ☺️

It lights up too! Cat for scale...

Professor Turnip Stripes, a pale ginger cat gazes down from the comms cabinet, with a paper parrot light next to him

October 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Temporary solution to loss of signal at the back of the house during a very critical part of a project

An Ethernet cable crosses the ceiling via a lampshade and into a white cupboard

The other end terminates at a usb network adaptor connected to my laptop

October 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Excellent reverse Poirot moustache

#caturday

A mostly black floof of a cat, sporting a perfect curly Poirot moustache, but in white

October 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Bit of a contrast to yesterday morning

Glorious sunset sky over the harbour at Shoreham Port

October 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Fogged up bus window on the top deck. Streaks of water are starting to track down. A blurred dome is backlight by the morning sky

October 8, 2025 at 5:35 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Quick bit of emergency repairing for my boy’s fav combats!

Added a patch behind what is a very threadbare area

Camo trousers with some deliberate zigzag stitching, holding a patch in place over a threadbare section

September 30, 2025 at 7:44 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Finished this (excellent) heckin’ chonk of a book yesterday (prequel to the excellent The Priory of the Orange Tree) and on @orbific’s recommendation am reading Flake

September 23, 2025 at 9:27 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Finally negative - was fortunately pretty mild, still have residual sore throat, general cold symptoms

A Covid lateral flow test showing negative

September 16, 2025 at 1:20 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

The horrible humans will not let me out! Woe is me!

Turnip (a cat) is flopped on the top of a cat tree, cone of shame drooping, whilst a front paw dangles dejectedly

September 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Pink nose, pink cone

Professor Turnip Stripes, a strawberry blonde cat is wearing the cone of shame because he has a manky ear

September 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Turnip is sad about today’s #caturday - he’s being kept in because of a cut on his ear 🥺

Professor Turnip Stripes, a blonde doofus, peeks over the top of his cat bed. One ear has a visible scab on

September 13, 2025 at 7:22 AM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

My day today has mostly been...

The sad Pablo Escobar meme showing him hanging around staring into the distance, but with the words

CI PIPELINE JOB #1
CI PIPELINE JOB #3
CI PIPELINE JOB #&

September 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Preemptive #caturday

Be as relaxed as Professor Turnip Stripes is…

Turnip, a strawberry blonde cat, snoozes with his belly exposed and not a care in the world

September 5, 2025 at 10:00 PM

Jay

@jaygooby.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Did the first alpha release for a new project a couple of days ago...

Progress that afternoon as evidenced by my desk; water, coffee, beer, another beer!