Phill Cook

@drphillc

Elder statesman of underachievement; brand ambassador for laziness; case study in evolutionary dead ends. Someone once told me I "sound like a fucking Wurzel". This pleased me.

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Phill Cook@drphillc· 5d

27 years. 27 years of "why are you keeping that crap?" washed away as I smuggly return old faithful to the shelf for safe storage until 2081.

The RGO book of the 1999 solar eclipse in the UK, a book that was surprisngly long for an event that could be adeqately summed up "the moon is going to pass in front of the sun and make it dark for a bit", and two contemporaneous pairs of solar viewing glasses.

p.s. In all.seriousness, it is likely unwise to continue using these glasses. They never did afford modern standards of protection outside of the visible spectrum - IR and UV eye damage is serious too - and the films only had a shirt shelf life.

Phill Cook@drphillc· 10d

I lost mine somewhere so we'll have to make do with a generic picture from the interwebs 2.0:

A picture of a mug with the words "Grammar: The difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit" written on it.

Phill Cook@drphillc· 13d

Good.

A giant scoreboard at the Aviva stadium in Dublin, showing that Real Betis has won its pre-season friendly against Arsenal. A handful of Arsenal supporters are leaving their seats below the sign.

Phill Cook@drphillc· 17d

This is Blue. She's just won 3rd place at the Umberleigh village fete dog show - dog with the waggiest tail category. Never more proud. Great foundations to build on for next year.

A picture of an award winning black cocker spaniel sitting and panting in a sunny field.

Phill Cook@drphillc· 29d

Officer Krupky from Sesame Street, the only person I'd want on the case.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jul 16

This is Penguino. As you can tell, he is Spanish and loves football. "So, why the sad face?" I hear you ask. Well, Penguino had his heart set on Spain thrashing England 27-0 in the final. Sadly it is not to be. Next time Penguino, next time. For now, just enjoy Spain beating Argentina.

A stuffed toy penguin wearing a Real Madrid bandana.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jun 8

Eroticism, 50 something woodworker style

A picture of a router bit catalogue (I've recently capitulated on my hand tool absolutism and let a palm router into the workshop) and a nice mug of tea.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Mar 2

Little things in life: Admiring what is now a single dwelling and saying "I think it was originally two, built at different times in ~C18, with the now central chimney originally on the end wall of the earlier dwelling which had a hipped thatched roof" then seeing this in the loft ...

It's a niche win, but the image is of a C18th brickwork chimney stack on top of cob mass. Yippee, date right!

More importantly, there's a clear diagonal lime mortar line from the bottom left of the brickwork upwards, showing how the stack was originally on the end of a hipped, thatched roof.

Reading a building gives me immense joy.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Feb 26

I mean, you can't fault him ...

Phill Cook@drphillc· Dec 18

I think we all know so none of us need to say it out loud.

A man on the Italian telly, doing football punditry.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Dec 16

They're banning all the fun these days.

A picture of some discarded toilets on a street in Venice, with a 'no picnics' sign on the wall behind them.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Nov 16

I've done the hard yards so you don't have to: It's in the Sun the Daily Mail, the Sun, GBNews, ... (not yet checked the Express). I now need to go and rest my eyes.

Ok, a bit of sick came up but I checked the Daily Heil and, yes, this story is mentioned there. Screenshot rather than posting a link as, well, no way I'd promote traffic there.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Sep 2

Just taken the dog for a walk and the consequences of this look devastating. If the oak mentioned is the obvious one, it's dead. If this was Arson: Wankers. Yet another stolen motorbike abandoned and torched: Wankers. Global warming: Nature's telling us. www.instagram.com/p/DN037Dj2C8P/

A blackened and burnt area of pasture from a recent fire. In the background some trees struggle on, including two oaks. One is dead, the other doean't look very alive.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Aug 8

W&G is good but surelu dino wins the day?

An orange hot air balloon in the shape of a rocket, with a picture of Wallace and Gromit staring out of a window on the side

A front on view of a jolly dragon shaped hot air balloon nestled amongst some trees. The dragon is smiling straight at the camera.

A side on view of a dragon shaped (dinosaur?) hot air balloon. The dragon is green with a thick tail. In the background there's a slightly cloudy sky. Underneath are trees. In the foreground an electric wire runs across the scene.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jul 12

In case anyone is thinking "I wonder what that path looks like from the other end?" Don't worry, I've got your back.

The same path as in the main post but from the other end.

A mown path through dry long grass. Various trees are in the distance with houses on the horizon. The skiy is sunny and blue.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jul 12

I do love a path mown through long grass. I just do.

A path mown through long grass. The grass has turned yellow as it has dried. Dense trees are in the background with some early morning blue sky poking through.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jun 22

No flies in our greenhouse.

A tray or carnivorous plants - sundews, sarracenia (pitchers) and a vebus fly trap - on wooden staging in a greenhouse. It's a sunny day through the glass.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jun 15

Our mulberry tree is small (anout 3 metres tall). It is, however, covered in fruit this year. My luck is in. Everyone else in my household hates mulberries. Not me. I've never yet managed to top out my mulberry gluttony.

Close up of mulberries growing on their tree. Some are ripe, some are not. By the time you resd this the ripe ones will be in my tummy and I'll be a sticky stained mess.

In the background there's a hint of bright blue sky.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jun 1

If I have a skill to pass on to my son, it's stone skimming - careful selection of the right stone, the explosive whip of arm and wrist as you spin it flat across the sea. My youth was comfortably double figures but now flab replaces strength. 7 or 8 will do. My son hit 5 - he'll best me by autumn.

A young boy in an orange formula 1 top (team McLaren, Lando Norris) on a pebble shoreline, throwing a stone into the water to make it skim (bounce) across the surface. This throw had to much arc and hit the swell of a wave. Just the one skip.

Phill Cook@drphillc· May 11

Itoh Peony 'Bartzella' reporting for duty.

An Peony plant with very large, bright yellow flowers. In the background there are glimpses of a stone statue and a blue sky.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Apr 30

Toasty.

A phone screenshot of my weatherstation. The outside (in the shade) temp is 28. The in-the-greenhouse temp is 42.

We're all metric round here. If you those funny Farenheit things then over to you to do the maths ...

Phill Cook@drphillc· Apr 28

By now the tree peonies have done their thing and the tulips and forget-me-nots are beginning to fade. But, for me, the garden year never truly begins until the big copper beech breaks bud. And, we're off ...

Image of a large copper beech tree. The branches are mostly bare but the first signs of leaves opening are visible. Through the branches is a bright blue sky.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Apr 9

If anyone wants to see some photos of tulips - here are some photos of tulips.

A bed of white tulips.flowering on a sunny day. The backdrop is a yew hedge.

A bed of orange and pink tulips flowering, with a red Japanese Acer and a yew hedge in the background.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Mar 18

It's been a dry spring, so much so that the underground rainwater tanks are only half full - even with only modest watering of the borders in the greenouses. 10,000 litres will be nowhere near enough for summer and falling back on tap water is a big no-no. I'm praying for rain. Lots of rain.

Photo of a digital gauge for a rainwater harvest system, showing the tanks are only 48% full.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Mar 13

It's a bit springtime-y.

Blue and white hyacinth flowers in pots, with a building behind.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jan 30

It's ok everyone, panic over. Found the dog.

A dog (black cocker spaniel) telling me to hurry up in a field.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jan 30

I'm no photographer but I do love the woods on a bright crisp January day. Next question: Where did my dog go?

Bare trees (sycamore, birch, hazel) in a wood on a bright blue sunny day. A mud path leads off into the distance.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jan 8

Dog enjoying a walk in the frost (it's -1 here). After 3 years of owning her, sunny = yes, snowy = yes, cold = yes. Rainy = I'll stay in.

Our black cocker spaniel, with a light blue harness, saying "come on" to me in a frosty field.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jan 5

For all those saying how January is just dull and grey, this was the sky a day or so ago:

A yellow Thatcher's Cider branded hot air balloon in a bright blue January sky.

Phill Cook@drphillc· Jan 4

My primary age son's science experiment is complete. The pond is *just about* frozen enough to support a jar of sugar.