Duncan Batey

@duncanbatey

is allegedly a gracefully ageing rocker whose life was demolished in a freak meditation accident back when he was a computer scientist but also very definitely a singer-songwriter and t'ai-chi enthusiast based in Glastonbury, UK duncanbatey.bandcamp.com

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Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· 26d

View on my walk today. Sending uplift your way ✨💫

A tower on a green hill, fence and gate in the foreground, bracketed my trees and shrubs

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jul 13

Brass bottle cap with "Huzzah!" printed on it in blue

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jul 13

Now onto Finders Keepers by Stephen King, sequel to Mr. Mercedes (which I was reading last week) - retired police detective gets into even more trouble - with the second volume of Robyn Hitchcock's surreal memoirs, Stranded In The Future, waiting in the wings.

Photo of a hardback book, white cover with author's name in black at top, title in red below, an image of an open book between the two, and what looks like blood running down from the top onto and off the open book.

A hardback book standing on a white surface.

Book cover has a pink background, central black and white photograph of upper torso and head of a young white man with shoulder length dark hair and wearing a dark jacket and a patterned open neck shirt staring intently and pointing an electric drill at the camera as if it were a gun. Numbers like a clock face around the photo. Author name and title above and below in a retro sci-fi font, black on white banners.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jul 7

Four panel cartoon. Two beings speaking to each other. One is clearly exhausted and sweating.

"Strenuous activity?"

"I despised it"

"Fortunately I was prepared"

"How so?"

"I expected to despise it"

"Foresight"

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jul 6

I seem to be wanting to have a version of this interaction with an increasing number of people lately: FORD: Zaphod, I just want you to know, that whatever happens from here on... I respect you. ZAPHOD: Thanks, man. FORD: Just not very much, is all.

Still from a TV show. Two white men with shoulder-length dark hair, one with two heads, both wearing brightly patterned clothes, in a white room.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jul 6

Oops, missed last week because migraine. But I was still reading, now just finished, Fairy Tale by Stephen King, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Next up: Stranded In The Future, second volume of memoirs by surrealist singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, due out this Thursday.

Photo of a hardback book face up on a white surface. Cover image is of a stylised forest in dark greens and blues with a path winding from foreground to the horizon, where the silhouettes of a man and a dog can be seen against a yellow and blue sky. Author name in gold above, title in white below.

Image of a book cover, pink background, central black and white photograph of upper torso and head of a young white man with shoulder length dark hair and wearing a dark jacket and a patterned open neck shirt staring intently and pointing an electric drill at the camera as if it were a gun. Numbers like a clock face around the photo. Author name and title above and below in a retro sci-fi font, black on white banners.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 26

Seen in a café in town this lunchtime, "Caffeine is non-negotiable" made me smile and think of you, @alwayscoffee.bsky.social

photo of a sign on a purple wall made in the shape of mug. Sign says "this home runs on love laughter and cup [sic] of strong coffee - caffeine is non-negotiable -"

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 25

Well quite. Something to do with a yellow jersey. Beats me. Meanwhile, talk of it rising to 39C here before the storms hit this evening. Hmm. Fortunately I have found a spot with cool breeze in the Abbey grounds.

Photo of a pair of pale bare feet in the shade of an out of sight tree, green grass leading to another tree, visible this time, and more trees behind in the distance, blue sky above

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 23

And only now do we count the true and terrible cost of yesterday's storm.

Chalk board sign in a glass cabinet reads "No ice-cream due to power cut, apologies <heart emoji>"

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 23

Another great shot of the approaching storm here in Glastonbury yesterday by Mike Jefferies

A photo of Glastonbury Tor being menaced by an approaching bank of storm cloud
Credit: Mike Jefferies

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 22

Couple of photos from local photographers: Mike Jefferies with the incoming storm, and Kev Pearson with the lightning. Amazing shots.

Photo of menacing-looking bank of storm cloud bearing down on Glastonbury Tor

Credit: Mike Jefferies

Photo of Glastonbury Tor besieged by lightning, a menacing-looking bank of dark storm cloud above

Credit: Kev Pearson

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 22

Good morning! At the moment I am reading Fairy Tale by @stephenking.bsky.social - from 2022, and yet somehow still classic King: a high school senior is helping out a local elderly recluse who's broken his leg falling off a ladder. But there is something strange in the potting shed...

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 20

If I may

Photo of a cat appearing to be sat in meditation.
Caption says:
Today I will live in the moment

unless the moment becomes unpleasant, in which case I'll take a nap

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 17

Scything scything scything Carymoor Environmental Trust, Somerset UK.

Photo from the front of a white man with a mop of dark greying hair in blue polo shirt and shorts scything a green grass lane flanked by green bushes. The lane winds off into the distance behind to a patch of green horizon and cloudy sky.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 15

Still on my re-read of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and I've just got to the bit near the end that made me think I was losing my mind the first time around, and yep, once again I feel like I'm losing my mind. Glargle buzz.

Photo of a book cover. Largely blue and watery image, with a stylised plan view of a honey bee in gold, and the title and author's name in white above and below the bee, respectively.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Jun 8

I am currently re-reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, because I realised when trying to describe it to a friend recently that most of it had disappeared from my mind leaving only vague impressions like some kind of tantalising dream memory. Which reading it again seems entirely appropriate

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· May 24

Well I would post this to Instagram, but it doesn't want to show the full height of it, so sod that - you lot can have it instead. #GlastonburyAbbey

Arches in an old ruined ecclesiastical building - the light through the central arch making an inverse silhouette of the arch shape on the grass

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· May 24

Annnnnd relax. #GlastonburyAbbey

Photo of the view from a leafy glade, a green path cut in your grass dead centre, leading out to a green parkland with plenty more trees, under a blue sky

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· May 3

The White and Red Dragons of Winter and Summer preparing to process and do battle earlier today as part of the Beltane weekend festivities in Glastonbury. (Spoiler: the Red Dragon won) Feeling proud as I was part of the Dragon-Making Team this year - I mainly painted the Red Dragon.

Photo of two silk dragons, one red and white, surrounded by costumes drummers, on a green field with tall trees in the background,

Photo of a red silk dragon processing up a street

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· May 2

Belated Beltane Blessings one and all! Shenanigans in full swing at the Fairfield on the slopes of Glastonbury Tor yesterday afternoon, with music from local folkies Maythorne 🎶🎵✨💫💚🐉🔥

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 28

Oops, lost a day. Just started Laini Taylor's Muse of Nightmares, which is a direct continuation of her novel Strange The Dreamer. More mysteries to be unfolded I suspect - she's been very good so far at revealing surprises I really didn't see coming that overturn what I had thought was going on.

Photo of a hardback book face up on a wooden surface. Cover is largely shades of smoky orange with silver print. Main image a stylised plan design view of a large bird.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 25

View walking home with shopping. Not bad.

View up a street of two-storey residential dwellings, some red-brick, lined with parked cars. A church tower is visible beyond to the left, and dead ahead a green hill with trees around the sides and a tower on top, under a pure blue sky.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 25

The most recent meme in your photo roll describes your mental state

THE BS ASYMMETRY PRINCIPLE

THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY NEEDED TO REFUTE BS IS AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE BIGGER THAN TO PRODUCE IT

(Two cartoon stick figures engage in a discussion)

WAIT! I BET THE MOON'S MADE OF CHEESE

<underneath: EFFORT (one green bar)>

WELL, SPECTROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND ORBIT CALCULATIONS SUGGEST NOT. PLUS, WE BUILT A ROCKET, TOOK PEOPLE THERE, AND THEY COULDN'T EAT IT.

<underneath: EFFORT (a full line of red bars)>

... HM, YEAH... I'M STILL THINKING CHEESE.

<other stick figure facepalms>

AKA BRANDOLINI'S LAW

Sketchplanations

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 20

Still enjoying Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor. It's become more apparent as I've got further into it that it's very much YA-oriented, but I'm not finding that detracting from the very unusual and as far as I know original storyline, not to mention the strong imagery and characterisation.

Photo of a paperback book on a cross-hatch pattern tabletop. Cover is blue with gold print and writing, main image a stylised plan view of a moth.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 14

Post your favorite film from the year you turned 18.

Still from a film: a white corridor, empty except for a nervous looking white man with short dark hair wearing a grey suit, white shirt, black tie, and carrying something wrapped with a red ribbon and bow

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 14

Quite a few towns seem to have been reviving the tradition recently. I think here it was restarted about 12 years ago, I don't remember one before the one previous to our current. I give you... Brad Crowley!

A tall smiling young white man with dark hair and sideburns dressed in a green and black town crier's outfit, ringing a bell and brandishing an open scroll

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 13

Innit tho? I think I like this Insta-style square crop even more.

Mural of an orange-hued smiling sleepy crescent moon with a lantern dangling from its top arc, on a light blue-painted brick wall. Green grass can be seen at the foot of the wall, a green plant growing up from the foot partly obscured the two arc tips of the moon mural. Above and behind the wall can be seen a higgledy-piggledy terrace of red-brick houses.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 13

Just encountered this soothing mural in a secluded part of Glastonbury while out walking. Makes me smile!

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 13

Just started Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor on the recommendation of a friend. Reading the blurb I wasn't sure it would be my kind of thing, but I'm enjoying it so far - beautiful writing and much as-yet unexplained strangeness.

Duncan Batey@duncanbatey· Apr 10