Val C
@valcob.bsky.social
Keen reader and generally curious about life.
Off the top of my head, six great things:
- rain
- Radox Original Bubble Bath
- scented candles
- watching University Challenge
- Shakespeare's sonnet 116
- Faure's Requiem
- my cat
- rain
- Radox Original Bubble Bath
- scented candles
- watching University Challenge
- Shakespeare's sonnet 116
- Faure's Requiem
- my cat
Off the top of my head, six great things:
- decent pint of bitter
- Velazquez' painting Las Meninas
- 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens
- crosswords (and puzzles of all kinds)
- Autumn twilights
- cheese, wine and good bread
- decent pint of bitter
- Velazquez' painting Las Meninas
- 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens
- crosswords (and puzzles of all kinds)
- Autumn twilights
- cheese, wine and good bread
Off the top of your head, six great things.
- The first mango of the season
- A really good cup of tea
- A very sharp hand plane
- Portrait of the Marquise d'Orvilliers by Jacques-Louis David
- Ferns
- Comté cheese
- The first mango of the season
- A really good cup of tea
- A very sharp hand plane
- Portrait of the Marquise d'Orvilliers by Jacques-Louis David
- Ferns
- Comté cheese
August 30, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Off the top of my head, six great things:
- rain
- Radox Original Bubble Bath
- scented candles
- watching University Challenge
- Shakespeare's sonnet 116
- Faure's Requiem
- my cat
- rain
- Radox Original Bubble Bath
- scented candles
- watching University Challenge
- Shakespeare's sonnet 116
- Faure's Requiem
- my cat
Reposted by Val C
New immigration stats show that the numbers of asylum seekers in hotels is down to 16k - falling 50% in a year.
Small boat crossings down 23% in the year to June.
Numbers waiting for initial decision down from almost 180k to 40k.
Small boat crossings down 23% in the year to June.
Numbers waiting for initial decision down from almost 180k to 40k.
August 27, 2026 at 9:29 AM
New immigration stats show that the numbers of asylum seekers in hotels is down to 16k - falling 50% in a year.
Small boat crossings down 23% in the year to June.
Numbers waiting for initial decision down from almost 180k to 40k.
Small boat crossings down 23% in the year to June.
Numbers waiting for initial decision down from almost 180k to 40k.
Reposted by Val C
It’s Lake Ontario.
August 27, 2026 at 7:26 PM
It’s Lake Ontario.
Reposted by Val C
Surround yourself with the kind of people who support their local library.
July 21, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Surround yourself with the kind of people who support their local library.
Reposted by Val C
Reposted by Val C
I know his taste is the least of it. But his taste also tells you everything you need to know. A man who doesn’t know how to stop, who values superficial lustre over true value, whose every idea is second hand.
July 11, 2026 at 1:41 PM
I know his taste is the least of it. But his taste also tells you everything you need to know. A man who doesn’t know how to stop, who values superficial lustre over true value, whose every idea is second hand.
Re-watching "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (the Alec Guiness version, natch). Love the restraint and the superb acting. And so many shots of a grey and rainy England.
July 10, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Re-watching "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (the Alec Guiness version, natch). Love the restraint and the superb acting. And so many shots of a grey and rainy England.
Reposted by Val C
On my way, Clacton.
July 7, 2026 at 7:26 PM
On my way, Clacton.
Come on Belgium. You've got virtually the whole world cheering you on.
Tonight we are all Belgian
July 6, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Come on Belgium. You've got virtually the whole world cheering you on.
Reposted by Val C
Reposted by Val C
A busy bookshop is a small act of public reassurance.
People are still reading. Still browsing. Still thinking. Still buying books they absolutely do not have room for.
Civilisation limps on, but at least the shelves are good.
#IndieBookshopWeek @booksaremybag.bsky.social
People are still reading. Still browsing. Still thinking. Still buying books they absolutely do not have room for.
Civilisation limps on, but at least the shelves are good.
#IndieBookshopWeek @booksaremybag.bsky.social
June 16, 2026 at 2:23 PM
A busy bookshop is a small act of public reassurance.
People are still reading. Still browsing. Still thinking. Still buying books they absolutely do not have room for.
Civilisation limps on, but at least the shelves are good.
#IndieBookshopWeek @booksaremybag.bsky.social
People are still reading. Still browsing. Still thinking. Still buying books they absolutely do not have room for.
Civilisation limps on, but at least the shelves are good.
#IndieBookshopWeek @booksaremybag.bsky.social
Reposted by Val C
@ms.now live-streaming the removal of Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhm...
LIVE: See Donald Trump’s name come off the Kennedy Center as it happens
YouTube video by MS NOW
www.youtube.com
June 12, 2026 at 4:38 PM
@ms.now live-streaming the removal of Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhm...
Reposted by Val C
Every day is a great day to support your local library.
June 6, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Every day is a great day to support your local library.
Reposted by Val C
Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
June 3, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
Applicable to so many world scenarios at the moment.
This has all the makings of an absolute clusterfuck*
* apply to whichever situation is currently unfolding anywhere in the world
* apply to whichever situation is currently unfolding anywhere in the world
May 14, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Applicable to so many world scenarios at the moment.
Reposted by Val C
He's right, you know. "Speaking at the Royal Institution in his final laureate lecture, The Kids Are Not Alright, the children’s laureate linked falling shared reading rates to poverty, housing insecurity and social media."
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
Frank Cottrell-Boyce calls for children’s reading to be treated as a ‘right’, in final laureate lecture
Speaking at the Royal Institution, the author and screenwriter linked falling literacy rates to poverty, housing insecurity and social media
www.theguardian.com
May 14, 2026 at 7:05 PM
He's right, you know. "Speaking at the Royal Institution in his final laureate lecture, The Kids Are Not Alright, the children’s laureate linked falling shared reading rates to poverty, housing insecurity and social media."
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
Reposted by Val C
Surround yourself with the kind of people who find the Oxford comma to be illuminative, beautiful, and necessary.
May 5, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Surround yourself with the kind of people who find the Oxford comma to be illuminative, beautiful, and necessary.
@stevecobbin.bsky.social read this and thought of you!
I came across the most wonderful quotation from Alfred Sisley today: "Every picture shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love."
May 2, 2026 at 8:00 PM
@stevecobbin.bsky.social read this and thought of you!
Living in interesting times, huh?!
I know we've all seen it already. But I honestly think this is the defining moment of our time. Past generations couldn't have believed it would happen. Future generations won't believe it could have happened. But here we are, bang in the moment. Lucky, lucky us.
April 5, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Living in interesting times, huh?!
Reposted by Val C
British response to the film about Melania Trump: If they were screening it for free at the bottom of my garden I'd shut the curtains.
January 30, 2026 at 8:30 PM
British response to the film about Melania Trump: If they were screening it for free at the bottom of my garden I'd shut the curtains.
Reposted by Val C
January 25, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Val C
The footage that the woman in the pink coat recorded is now out there, on here. It couldn't be clearer what a callous, brutal deliberate murder this was.
#minneapolis
#minneapolis
He had been disarmed before the shooting started.
January 24, 2026 at 7:21 PM
The footage that the woman in the pink coat recorded is now out there, on here. It couldn't be clearer what a callous, brutal deliberate murder this was.
#minneapolis
#minneapolis
@oddthisday.bsky.social coincidence after your recent post!
January 10, 2026 at 8:03 PM
@oddthisday.bsky.social coincidence after your recent post!
Reposted by Val C
The news is all terrible but the fact that it’s the National Year of Reading in the UK is a glow of light in the darkness. Let’s prioritise reading brilliant stories this year, both to ourselves and to our children. Reading fiction builds self-esteem & develops empathy. 💕📚💕
January 4, 2026 at 3:13 PM
The news is all terrible but the fact that it’s the National Year of Reading in the UK is a glow of light in the darkness. Let’s prioritise reading brilliant stories this year, both to ourselves and to our children. Reading fiction builds self-esteem & develops empathy. 💕📚💕
Tick tock tick tock for paedophiles (we hope).
Wrath, envy, treason, rape, and murder’s rages,
Thy heinous hours wait on them as their pages.
Thy heinous hours wait on them as their pages.
December 23, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Tick tock tick tock for paedophiles (we hope).