Getting there.

You call it the transfer window. I call it "very rich people making terrible house moves": Goodbye Athens, Paris, northern Spain and Bologna; hello Hull, the middle of Saudi Arabia, Moscow and Watford!

After some AI models started going rogue in tests, there are unconfirmed reports that Brendon McCullum is being lined up to coach them.

Another summer, another sporting (mis)adventure: Next month I'll be competing in a Kyrgyz belt wrestling ('Alysh') tournament at the World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan. I have never done anything even remotely like this before. 📚 Not unrelatedly, I will hopefully have another book out next year!

Think I'll stick to the home shirt this year.

Last time I saw a Brar this expensive was in Victoria's Secret. #ENGvIND 🏏

I like pink huts and I cannot lie.

If Brazil-Scotland wasn't tasty enough, next on the World Cup menu is some Czechs-Mex. #MEXCZE #CZEMEX

Whereas for England, Ollie Robinson has gone in the opposite direction.

"My dad's gone to the North Norfolk coast to sort out his ear hairs." "Trimingham?" "No I think they use tweezers."

Live scenes.

Confidently predicting #NED 🇳🇱 and #USA 🇺🇸 to make the semi-finals of the #WorldCup2026. If everyone was playing cricket instead. No surprises in a #NZL 🇳🇿 vs. #RSA 🇿🇦 final... ...but while #ENG 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and #AUS 🇦🇺 crash out in the round of 16, dark horses #GER 🇩🇪 and #CRO 🇭🇷 fight their way into the quarters.

Something else lovely has happened: my pachira tree suddenly has another little pachira tree sprouting out of its trunk. They call pachiras "money trees" – so I guess mine now has a side hustle?

[Football fans at 2am on Sunday morning watching Haiti vs. Scotland, naturally paying close attention to the Haitian players' right hips] Hey! That depicts the 1803 Battle of Vertières! How dare Jean-Ricner Bellegarde invoke revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines without Fifa's permission!

I thought the U2 goalkeeper played for Morocco?

I've spent a lot of my life measuring experiences by how far they are away from home, and I haven't been the most patriotic person. But there's something about England's little old-fashioned seaside towns that I now absolutely love. This is Cromer in Norfolk, on a drizzly June day. Nowhere lovelier.

I've just realised what bat Emilio Gay uses. Surely his sponsors can make him some customised Gay-Nicolls stickers for the next Test? #TheCricket #ENGvNZ 🏏

A nice thing happened yesterday – the Eurasian Creative Guild, who I've translated and edited some books and poems for over the years, awarded me the Jonathan Fryer Medal for promotion of Eurasian culture. I wish more Brits had a chance to see a bit of Central Asian art, and read their stories.

I've recorded a Diss track.

Thought Jamie Overton spoke really well on the @somersetccc.bsky.social #CountyChampionship live stream yesterday, about the IPL and life as an international cricketer. His co-commentator Winnie definitely has potential too... 🏏

Farmer sells his tractors as a retirement plan. He's going to put some of the money towards a ventilation device for his kitchen, because he's an ex-tractor fan.

Tuffers and Alison Mitchell for my depression treatment, but we don't judge.

I've also ridden around Kaindy Lake on a horse! I was told my horse had a long name that began with something like 'Tolga...', but maybe I misheard Kulager 😊

Sadly though the court still gave him 18 months for that hair.

Friends fear that what began as a single impulse-buy monstera plant has quickly become three more monsteras, a dracaena plant, a pachira tree, and six mini seed nurseries growing (hopefully) four different kinds of West African and Portuguese peppers. Norwich has never looked so tropical.

My adopted county Norfolk has form in this too @levparikian.bsky.social. Care to guess?

One of my cooler cricketing claims to fame is once taking 1-41 (and a boundary catch) in Ed Smith's garden.

Who is your favourite cricketer named after the Viking conquests of northern Europe, mine is Danish Malewar.