84 Charing Cross Road

05/09/2026

Happy World Beard Day!

📸 From "A Book of Nonsense" by Edward Lear.

20/08/2026

🎨 "Spring in the Suburbs" (1925) by Francis Dodd.
Oil on Canvas, (Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens).

18/08/2026

A superb actress and a wonderful woman.

She had a career spanning eight decades, sometimes acting alongside daughters Sophie and Emma Thompson.

08/08/2026

Happy !

"A philosopher once assured me he had persuaded his cat to become a vegan. Believing he was joking, I asked how he had achieved this feat. Had he supplied the cat with mouse-flavoured vegan titbits? Had he introduced his cat to other cats, already practising vegans, as feline role models? Or had he argued with the cat and persuaded it that eating meat is wrong? My interlocutor was not amused. I realized he actually believed the cat had opted for a meat-free diet. So I ended our exchange with a question: did the cat go out? It did, he told me. That solved the mystery. Plainly, the cat was feeding itself by visiting other homes and hunting. (...) The philosopher who believed he had persuaded his cat to adopt a meat-free diet only showed how silly philosophers can be."

"Feline Philosophy: cats and the meaning of life" by John Gray.

The author of Straw Dogs, famous for his provocative critiques of scientific hubris and the delusions of progress and humanism, turns his attention to cats—and what they reveal about humans' torturous relationship to the world and to themselves.

📸 Blackwell's Bookshop

28/07/2026

Frontispiece "The Tailor Mouse" by Beatrix Potter, c.1902.

27/07/2026

Among the many treasures held at the John Rylands Library, German MS 3 (The "Sammlung Alchymistischer Schriften"), stands out as one of the most enigmatic, challenging and beautiful manuscripts in the collections.
Dated to 1767, this 18th-century volume is filled with Hermetic texts and striking alchemical imagery.

27/07/2026

A farmer buring the hoof of a horse before shoeing it in Scotland, 1921.

📸 William Reid

26/07/2026

Watkins Books, established in 1893 by John M. Watkins, is one of London’s oldest and most revered esoteric bookshops. Located in the heart of Covent Garden, this shop specializes in books on spirituality, mysticism, occultism, and alternative healing. It has served as a gathering place for notable figures in the spiritual and literary communities, including Aleister Crowley and W.B. Yeats.
Watkins Books continues to be a beacon for those seeking knowledge and wisdom in the mystical arts.

📸 realrobbentley

24/07/2026

- The 10 Rules of Biscuits -

1 When opening a packet, any broken biscuits must be consumed immediately.
2 Never dunk a biscuit for too long; you will ruin both your biscuit and your tea. Double sadness.
3 Always offer biscuits to guests, even if they claim they’re not interested (they’re probably fibbing).
4 Don’t be the person who snatches the last
biscuit of a kind unless you’re prepared to face the consequences – i.e., a new enemy.
5 Always offer a hot drink with biscuits, obviously.
6 Bring out a posh selection of biscuits (metal tin, two layers separated by a sheet of springy purple cardboard, usually called a ‘selection’) for special occasions.
7 Always pretend you haven’t seen a plate of biscuits being passed around until they’re offered to you, then act pleasantly surprised.
8 Utilise the phrases ‘I really mustn’t’, ‘Ooh, go on then’ and ‘If you’re having one’.
9 Wrap biscuits up when not in use, either by pushing the open packet up against a wall, or by using a jar, tin or box.
10 Always have more biscuits in stock than you think you need. Never run out. Running out of biscuits is like running out of air: not ideal.

From "Britain According to Very British Problems" by Rob Temple.

20/07/2026

Gladstone’s , founded in 1895 by William Ewart , the former British Prime Minister, is the only residential library in the United Kingdom. Located in the serene village of , it houses over 150,000 works, including Gladstone's personal collection of 32,000 books.
The library is a marvel of Gothic Revival architecture, with its grand reading rooms, intricate woodwork, and quiet alcoves designed to inspire reflection and study.
Interesting fact: visitors can stay overnight in one of the library’s charming rooms, immersing themselves in the tranquil literary atmosphere.

📸 Bookishbecca