They seem to be intended for use in gentlemen's lavatories.
The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
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7:46am on Saturday, 27th June, 2026:
Weird
Flying Tiger sells colouring books.
They seem to be intended for use in gentlemen's lavatories.
9:24am on Friday, 26th June, 2026:
Weird
This patch of grass at the front of our house boasts an impressive number of weeds.
I didn't even know we had that many. It's only been three years since we had it returfed.
They must know I'm not going to mow them in a heatwave, so they've all come out at once to taunt me.
8:11am on Thursday, 25th June, 2026:
Weird
If ever I discover a new variety of apple, I shall call it "Aisfor".
That way, I'll get free advertising in every book that teaches the alphabet to English-speaking children.
8:23am on Wednesday, 24th June, 2026:
Anecdote
Our inflatable paddling pool is made up of three toruses stacked on top of each other.
It seems that in the twenty years since we last used it, only two have developed leaks.
My guess is that they were punctured by bites from the monstrous insects that live in our shed.
8:47am on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2026:
Weird
Marks & Spencer have recently been giving out stickers for players of national football teams. You get one pack for every £20 you spend.
We don't go to M&S very often, but when we did a week or so ago, these are the players we got in our sticker pack:
There are fifty stickers per collection. Not all of them feature players (some are managers, some are emblems, some are "legends"), but my four did.
You will notice that the sticker for Jude Bellingham looks a little different to the others. This is because his is shiny, and that scanned badly. Shiny stickers are usually rare in collectible card sets, so I was interested to know just how rare he might be.
It turns out that there's one shiny guaranteed per pack, but there are only seven cards that are ever shiny. My chance of getting a shiny Jude Bellingham was therefore one in seven, or just over 14%..
What about a non-shiny Jude Bellingham? It turns out there aren't any. The fifty different stickers includes the shinies (or "shinnies", as the M&S web site calls them).
Hmm, so what's the chance of getting any particular other player, say Leah Williamson, the England women's captain?
There aren't supposed to be any duplicate stickers in each pack of four, and there are 43 non-shiny stickers, so the chance of getting Leah Williamson is 3/43, which is just under 7%.
The chance of getting a particular shiny is therefore just over twice as much as the chance of getting a particular non-shiny.
That's not how these things are supposed to work!
Adam Wharton has played for England only four times, three of which were as a substitute, and is not part of the World Cup squad.
8:25am on Monday, 22nd June, 2026:
Weird
Seen on the M25:
The image is a little blurry because my wife took it on her phone using WhatsApp, which compresses already-compressed images. Whatever, it shows a van operated by J W Loft and Sons, who are in the business of doing loft conversions.
It's nominative determinism in action.
8:52am on Sunday, 21st June, 2026:
Weird
A friend of my daughter's husband lives in China, and sent them a package of Chinese goodies. These included a box of Dragon's Beard Cake.
It's supposed to be the Chinese equivalent of candy floss, but it's nothing like it. It comes in solid blocks that are crumbly and taste of a mixture of peanuts and sesame; there's supposed to be some coconut in them, too, but (fortunately) I couldn't taste any of that in the ones I tried.
So far, I've eaten three of them. They suck the moisture right out of the mouth. I've had to drink something to get them to break down enough that I could swallow them.
Either:
I'm eating them wrongly.
Something happened to them during transit and they're not how they should be.
They're meant to suck the moisture out of your mouth.
Hmm, I could use the ones I have remaining to write on walls.
8:47am on Saturday, 20th June, 2026:
Anecdote
The ermine moths infesting our apple trees have really done a number on them.
They've killed one tree already and some of the others are looking as if they need the last rites, too.
Fortunately, they only attack apple trees, and we have some pear trees in the mix. This means we won't need to change the name of our house ("Orchard House") if they complete their act of devastation.
9:42am on Friday, 19th June, 2026:
Weird
Someone left a rental bike propped against a tree outside the local shop.
I hadn't realised that ants ate rental bikes, but the evidence is right there.
8:54am on Thursday, 18th June, 2026:
Weird
Two adjacent houses in our village:
I expect the neighbours are on good terms when there isn't a World Cup going on.
8:17am on Wednesday, 17th June, 2026:
Weird
From the front page of yesterday's East Anglian Daily Times:
Branded, brandished, they mean the same thing, right?
The front page....
9:44am on Tuesday, 16th June, 2026:
Weird
Hey! Someone has placed something on this piano!
They've placed a notice on it. Notices are still a thing!
8:39am on Monday, 15th June, 2026:
Anecdote
In the battle of the estate-agent boards, John Alexander beat Fenn Wright by a knockout.
8:39am on Sunday, 14th June, 2026:
Anecdote
It was our grandson's first birthday party yesterday, and the party was held at our place. This decision had nothing to do with the fact that the lift to my daughter's flat is out of order.
We bought a barbecue especially for the occasion. We'll probably use it again in 3 or 4 months' time, or however long it takes to clean the grille.
Not everyone wanted burgers, so I manfully stepped up and ate three of them, plus a hot dog, plus some fruit salad, plus a slice of this cake made by my daughter's husband's aunt:
I should maybe have cut a smaller slice than I did. It was twice the size of the ones that teashops charge £4.50 for.
As a consequence of this I was absolutely stuffed, and so ate nothing else for the rest of the day unless you count chocolate as food.
8:22am on Saturday, 13th June, 2026:
Miscellaneous
Here's Mickey Duck and Donald Mouse.
I've always wanted to do that, and finally got around to doing it.
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Copyright © 2026 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).