Phil O’Rourke
@orphil73.bsky.social
Lorry-driving, cricket-loving, cricket-podcasting, cricket-commentating, Beethoven-listening, tee-totalling, bookworm.
I wrote a letter to the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, last week. Letter of the week, this week. The thrust of my letter is, in their resolve to reach our shores, migrants demonstrate a humbling vision of Britain that should shame ‘performative patriots’ affixing Union flags to lampposts.
October 19, 2025 at 6:38 AM
I wrote a letter to the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, last week. Letter of the week, this week. The thrust of my letter is, in their resolve to reach our shores, migrants demonstrate a humbling vision of Britain that should shame ‘performative patriots’ affixing Union flags to lampposts.
Currently listening to this. Absolutely superb. Spent last night in Bristol watching Bristol Classical Players do Beethoven’s Symphonies 4&5. Oh. My. God!!! It was sensational. Absolutely my favourite gig of the year, so far.
September 28, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Currently listening to this. Absolutely superb. Spent last night in Bristol watching Bristol Classical Players do Beethoven’s Symphonies 4&5. Oh. My. God!!! It was sensational. Absolutely my favourite gig of the year, so far.
Sounds like @kiaoval.com v @trentbridge.co.uk was a thriller. Another thriller in Bristol, where @gloscricket.bsky.social beat Northants by 7 wickets to go 3rd in Div 2. We lost 5 sessions to the weather, but Miles Hammond smashed the winning runs with 3 overs to go. Met an Aussie test legend too!
September 18, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Sounds like @kiaoval.com v @trentbridge.co.uk was a thriller. Another thriller in Bristol, where @gloscricket.bsky.social beat Northants by 7 wickets to go 3rd in Div 2. We lost 5 sessions to the weather, but Miles Hammond smashed the winning runs with 3 overs to go. Met an Aussie test legend too!
I’ll listen back. After watching the first session between Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire, I watched the rain drizzle, spit, and stymy for the rest of the day.
September 17, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I’ll listen back. After watching the first session between Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire, I watched the rain drizzle, spit, and stymy for the rest of the day.
It’s a frustration isn’t it?
We’ve lost a session in Bristol, but played for the vast majority of the morning.
Nowt so bleak as cricket stadium with the covers on.
We’ve lost a session in Bristol, but played for the vast majority of the morning.
Nowt so bleak as cricket stadium with the covers on.
September 17, 2025 at 2:03 PM
It’s a frustration isn’t it?
We’ve lost a session in Bristol, but played for the vast majority of the morning.
Nowt so bleak as cricket stadium with the covers on.
We’ve lost a session in Bristol, but played for the vast majority of the morning.
Nowt so bleak as cricket stadium with the covers on.
A sightscreen blew over in Bristol. Groundstaff were repairing it as we left! I think it was the one on the right at the Ashley Down Road End.
September 15, 2025 at 10:00 PM
A sightscreen blew over in Bristol. Groundstaff were repairing it as we left! I think it was the one on the right at the Ashley Down Road End.
America Is A Gun - Brian Bilston
September 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
America Is A Gun - Brian Bilston
Fascinated by the titles, I recently purchased 2 novels by @sharilapena3k.bsky.social. 2 brilliant, fast-moving novels, expertly crafted, with believable characters. Great reads. Bravo! @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social @transworldbooks.bsky.social
July 10, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Fascinated by the titles, I recently purchased 2 novels by @sharilapena3k.bsky.social. 2 brilliant, fast-moving novels, expertly crafted, with believable characters. Great reads. Bravo! @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social @transworldbooks.bsky.social
I’m currently streaming this. I love Barenboim’s recordings of the Beethoven symphonies. I’m also attending a Beethoven Symphony cycle by @bristolclassical.bsky.social in Bristol, UK. On Feb 1st, we had Symphonies 1 &3. Next Saturday is symphonies 2 & 7. A ray of joy in a very dark world.
March 2, 2025 at 11:59 AM
I’m currently streaming this. I love Barenboim’s recordings of the Beethoven symphonies. I’m also attending a Beethoven Symphony cycle by @bristolclassical.bsky.social in Bristol, UK. On Feb 1st, we had Symphonies 1 &3. Next Saturday is symphonies 2 & 7. A ray of joy in a very dark world.
Heartily agree with @brianmoore666.bsky.social .
February 28, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Heartily agree with @brianmoore666.bsky.social .
A @yougov.co.uk poll indicating that a majority of Britons would prefer Sir Keir Starmer or Sir Ed Davey as Prime Minister over Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage. Farage is by no means a shoo-in.
February 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM
A @yougov.co.uk poll indicating that a majority of Britons would prefer Sir Keir Starmer or Sir Ed Davey as Prime Minister over Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage. Farage is by no means a shoo-in.
Internationally known still as the Gulf of Mexico.
February 11, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Internationally known still as the Gulf of Mexico.
My current read. A Cold Wind From Moscow is brilliant. Chapeau Rory Clements @zaffrebooks.bsky.social
February 9, 2025 at 8:33 AM
My current read. A Cold Wind From Moscow is brilliant. Chapeau Rory Clements @zaffrebooks.bsky.social
My current read. A fabulous story.
February 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
My current read. A fabulous story.
@martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com I believe, Mr. Lewis, there is an imposter on Bluesky masquerading as you. The only difference is an extra ‘n’ in the Bluesky handle. Hope you can get it shut down. For my part I will report it. Have a good evening.
February 2, 2025 at 8:17 PM
@martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com I believe, Mr. Lewis, there is an imposter on Bluesky masquerading as you. The only difference is an extra ‘n’ in the Bluesky handle. Hope you can get it shut down. For my part I will report it. Have a good evening.
It’s not going the way they wanted…
February 2, 2025 at 1:21 PM
It’s not going the way they wanted…
Season 1 of The Day of The Jackal (2024). Markedly different to the Forsyth Thriller and subsequent film (1973). There’s a lot to like about this series, and the nod to its origins in Ep5, (The scene where the Jackal testfires his rifle), is sublime. Eddie Redmayne is magnificent.
January 12, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Season 1 of The Day of The Jackal (2024). Markedly different to the Forsyth Thriller and subsequent film (1973). There’s a lot to like about this series, and the nod to its origins in Ep5, (The scene where the Jackal testfires his rifle), is sublime. Eddie Redmayne is magnificent.
4 years off the grog, today. Go me!
January 2, 2025 at 8:15 PM
4 years off the grog, today. Go me!
Coming to the end of an excellent New Year’s Day where great food was consumed by the imperial tonne. I’m ‘movied’ out, quizzed out, and pigged out. Time for bed, as the holidays are now over and the skeletal grip of my employer beckons for a new year of menial servitude.
January 1, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Coming to the end of an excellent New Year’s Day where great food was consumed by the imperial tonne. I’m ‘movied’ out, quizzed out, and pigged out. Time for bed, as the holidays are now over and the skeletal grip of my employer beckons for a new year of menial servitude.
Watching this Hitchcock banger from 1958. Vertigo, Starting James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.
A marvellous way to spend a wet and dreary New Year’s Day!
A marvellous way to spend a wet and dreary New Year’s Day!
January 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Watching this Hitchcock banger from 1958. Vertigo, Starting James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.
A marvellous way to spend a wet and dreary New Year’s Day!
A marvellous way to spend a wet and dreary New Year’s Day!
Part one of the Shardlake series, I understand. From the recently deceased writer, C.J. Sansom. He also wrote Winter in Madrid (read in November), which is a fabulously written love story/espionage thriller set in the British Embassy in Madrid in 1940. I would heartily recommend this.
January 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Part one of the Shardlake series, I understand. From the recently deceased writer, C.J. Sansom. He also wrote Winter in Madrid (read in November), which is a fabulously written love story/espionage thriller set in the British Embassy in Madrid in 1940. I would heartily recommend this.
I’m currently reading this delightful story set in post revolution Russia. The prose sparkles with beauty. I bought it on a whim, and it’s probably my find of 2024. Dissolution by C.J. Sansom is the next cab off my reading rank. Let me read, let me read, let me read, let me read! (Let it be).
January 1, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I’m currently reading this delightful story set in post revolution Russia. The prose sparkles with beauty. I bought it on a whim, and it’s probably my find of 2024. Dissolution by C.J. Sansom is the next cab off my reading rank. Let me read, let me read, let me read, let me read! (Let it be).
Windy on the Severn Estuary too. Hatches are firmly battened-down. The curtains pulled, and anything ‘Outside’, does not exist. Beethoven’s 3rd on the Stereo and loud, glass of something alcohol-free in hand. It’s time perhaps to sleep through midnight. Happy New Year @elizabethammon.bsky.social
December 31, 2024 at 11:33 PM
Windy on the Severn Estuary too. Hatches are firmly battened-down. The curtains pulled, and anything ‘Outside’, does not exist. Beethoven’s 3rd on the Stereo and loud, glass of something alcohol-free in hand. It’s time perhaps to sleep through midnight. Happy New Year @elizabethammon.bsky.social
Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony - Staatskapelle Berlin & Daniel Barenboim (2000). Probably my favourite recording of this magnificent symphony. It’s a great way to see in the New Year.
December 31, 2024 at 11:26 PM
Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony - Staatskapelle Berlin & Daniel Barenboim (2000). Probably my favourite recording of this magnificent symphony. It’s a great way to see in the New Year.
NYE 2024 will be a movie night (probably Hitchcock). The Drink will be alcohol-free. Sleep will be sought at around 10pm. Happy New Year to all who celebrate. I’m opting for the quiet one this year.
December 31, 2024 at 6:34 PM
NYE 2024 will be a movie night (probably Hitchcock). The Drink will be alcohol-free. Sleep will be sought at around 10pm. Happy New Year to all who celebrate. I’m opting for the quiet one this year.