Karis Lou Sirak

I don't actually know, I've not found a satisfactory answer...maybe there is something supernatural afoot. Maybe the plague village was abandoned for other reasons 🤔

Is there a ghostly reason the nearby church is green too? (I know there's a scientific reason, but any other offerings?)

Reading historical fiction, England in the medieval period, which just described a duvet on a four-poster bed. Can't keep reading it. I want my news distractions to be engaging and at least attempt accuracy...

Just been looking online for a book that was sat next to me on the desk, so, yeah, how's your brain doing right now?

I've just had a delivery from the most zen and ethereal postman, I feel like this parcel might unleash the magic of the realm.

A spate of double spacing is haunting this document I'm editing, and it's driving me insane. It's like it's been possessed by word processors of yore, ghost written by an old soul to curse my very existence. Why ?

Archive 81 on the webfilm is superb - like I wanted House of Leaves to be (still a superb book, just not met the full expectations) mixed with a strong dose of Lovecraft and Beyond the Veil podcast (as A81 began life). An absorbing watch.

A woodland covered in snow with a pond iced over

A path through stub to woodland covered in crisp white snow.

Snowy scenes up here on the Yorkshire Teesside Coast. #winter

A heron hunched on the edge of water in a marshand

A robin sat on a branch of a tree bare of leaves

A long tailed tit in a bush bare of leaves, but sprinkles with red berries

A female blackbird in a tree, not leaves, but the beaches are green with moss and dotted with red berries

Some Solstice birds from yesterday: heron, robin, long-tailed tit (a fluffball with a tail), and a female blackbird. I love observing these "common" beauties. #birds

In these challenging times someone might need one of them:
Childline: 0800 1111
Samaritans: 116 123
Domestic Violence Hotline: 0808 2000 247
Mind: 0300 123 3393
Age UK: 0800 169 6565
Alcoholics Anonymous : 0800 9177 650
Cruse Bereavement Care: 0808 808 1677
MH text support: 85258

Nothing surprises me anymore, but the fact that these are all still going makes me apoplectic.

a cat is sitting on a bed with its paws on a laptop keyboard . Alt: a cat is sitting on a bed with its paws on a laptop keyboard, giving judgemental side eye

Lady on her mobile in the chocolate shop: I've got a terrible cold. These are £3.95, I don't love him that much, I'll only get one.
Me:

a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat . ALT: a cartoon character is holding a piece of paper and wearing a hat .

Tried writing on an offline word processor program without any input. Whilst I was productive, I realised in editing that I am closer to being illiterate than a wordsmith. It's a good job no one needs to read my handwritten work anymore too. Without technology my writing is illegible to anyone else.

Front cover of Val McDermod's Christmas is Murder: A Chilling Short Story Collection. Although a joke, I will be reading this this weekend. The cover features a wood cut style illustration of a snowy countryside, a robin in the foreground, two shadow figures walking towards a cottage in the distance.

A lego version of myself in a Dr Who themes Christmas jumper, holding a gingerbread house.

Got this week's target editing done in the manuscript. Now to try and get some semblance of Christmas spirit over the weekend with a Christmas read, and related activities.

A pixel carton version of Gismo from the Gremlins films peeking over the logo of the Middlesbrough based street artist Xz8bit

Today is Christmas Jumper day at one of the places I work. Do you think this counts?

Well this book is an absolute blooming delight, just what's needed in December. "The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas" - Sarah Clegg. Going to try and source Clegg's previous work "Women's Lore" too. #WhatAreYouReading

Watched the Sycamore Gap Doc on Channel 4 last night on live TV like the old days. Fictional detectives are all about profiling, lab analysis, and interrogation. Real-life detectives: tip-offs, checking CCTV, and looking at a suspect's phone.

Agreed. I saw it described as someone interrupting a ritual in the woods "the moon is out..."

A silhouette of a bat human or moth human hybrid in front of a yellow moon with pink haze, with the title of the book in yellow and pink, all on a black background.

Currently feeding my longest held interests by reading Adam Allsuch Boardman's An Illustrated History of Urban Legends. It seems to be the best distraction from the world right now.

A data centre. Lots of job opportunities there...

Fungi in the frost for today's walk. Panaeolus foenisecii for the fungi fiends. #Fungi 🍄❄️

They taste disgusting and the skins are too chewy. They used to be my go to apple, but now they are just expensive filth.

A brown grey mushroom or fungi growing in a cluster in the grass. One is round like a bread bun.

Stottie fungi (barm, bap, bun, bread) growing alongside a regular route.

Was in an online meeting with terrible sound and no video, thought someone said "I've got two cats today" but they said caps, as in jobs. I would've preferred to be meeting with the cats.

Here are some recent photos of moss and fungi which I particularly like, enjoy. #Fungi

RIP Steve Wright, the daily offender.

A conversation with teenagers about social media, the fundamental difference is that they see it as entertainment, not as a means to make connections. That's what it's become, a media source, whereas us oldies are still chasing the social bit. This was a revelation to me, and feel slightly unburned.

Day 3 of sitting in very uncomfortable chairs listening to people talk about interesting things. Hoping that today is a revelation...

This week I've mostly been collecting material for my game "Corporate or Cult?" and let me tell you it's a difficulty hard rating.

Yes please. Absolutely none of the youngsters currently have any sort of love of the subject, and I cannot blame them. Rote learning passages is ridiculous.