I heard John Dipper play his solo variations on Bacca Pipes, I don't know, about 10 years ago, and when he finished I went [h↓h↓h↓h↓h↓] (you have to imagine a huge intake of air) because I had literally forgotten to breathe for about 2 minutes. He was so good.

John Dipper: Musician, composer, teacher, instrument-maker

City Life

30 years to the day since I first moved to Manchester. (Astonishingly.) Here's the City Life Student Special that I picked up on my first day.

The Bicycle Doctor — still going strong.

A bit of linguistics. Loving the 80s typesetting in this.

Le  Jive Hive , qu'est-ce que c'est?

Decoy Records! Sadly gone. Vinyl Exchange is still there.

Vegetarian restaurants. That's yer lot in 1988. On the Eighth Day is still going. As is the current incarnation of Greens, but much more upmarket now.

Band on the Wall! Open again now.

Agraman, the Human Anagram! And I remember Buzz magazine too.

It was... the '80s. A strange and distant time, but perhaps not so different from today.

On my first night I went to the International 2. I decided pretty soon after that I wasn't into clubs. Let's look at the pub reviews.

Entering the Ducie is like entering the 33rd County.

Wander slightly further up Oxford Road and you'll come to the Salisbury. Wander a little further and you're past it.

Strangest pub in Hulme is definitely the Spinners, where little drinking takes place but a deep sense of inner calm and considerable human understanding prevails.

The Lass O' Gowrie [...] Treat LOG 42 with respect!

Ah man. Happy days. The pub is still there, but they don't brew their own beer any more.

Roses are red
Bananas are bent
I'm giving up Facebook
and Twitter for Lent

Miss this trail.

Fun commute!

Lovelocks on the Rochdale Canal.

R.I.P. Ursula K. Le Guin

Only in silence the word :-(

Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88

I picked up The Farthest Shore at a second hand book fair when I was 11. Expecting standard 60s sword and sorcery, but it turned out to be an astonishing meditation on language, mental illness, addiction, the necessity of death, what it means to be good, what it means to be happy... I didn't get all this out of it at first, maybe, but it got under my skin and stayed with me.

My favourite book of hers is probably Always Coming Home. The story itself takes up less than half the book; the rest, field notes from a future culture. Is it post-apocalyptic or post-singularity? There are even recipes, which I tried. They're pretty good.

Oh 💩 yeah, taxes, thanks for the reminder.

Whew