Owler Nook

@owlernook

Award-winning active travel campaigner Stockport and Manchester

746 Following1,922 Followers9,420 Posts

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Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 12

Dove Stones fire from Marple, casting a pall across Greater Manchester.

A large dark cloud layer across an otherwise clear sky. The sun is a deep red, forming a perfect circle through the smoke.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 11

It's hot and I've not had much sleep, so my train of thought here was 'But Polyphemus was Sicilian!' and 'I know the perfect casting choice.'

Wallace Shawn playing Vizzini the Sicilian in the film version of The Princess Bride.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 6

Marple is steadily improving for pedestrians. Here's a brand-new Zebra crossing on Hollins Lane, just north of the Asda.

A Zebra crossing, from the north looking south. The Belisha beacons are built into streetlights.

The same crossing from the south, looking north.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 5

A referee, eyes like gimlets, raises a red card.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 3

The NWRA.

A map, purloined from Wikipedia, showing the extent of Northumbria around AD 700. The southern boundary is along the Mersey and Trent, the northern boundary including half of modern-day Galloway and Edinburgh.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 2

Lest we forget Greater Granadaland.

A map of the ITV network in 1962, courtesy of Wikipedia. The pertinent detail is that the Granada TV region also covered most of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and part of north Wales.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 1

Shetland has seen the Faroe tunnels.

A meme with the caption

Jesus, I see what you've done for other people, and I want that for me.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 1

1,900 followers! To celebrate, here's a pic from today's trip to Manchester. I call it 'Docked vs dockless'.

A scene of disarray in Manchester.

Three yellow hire bicycles parked in docks are blocked in by around 20 Lime e-scooters, part of a long-running trial in Salford.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jul 1

Still waiting for my royalties.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 26

Marple by night. Note the raging moorland fire in the third pic.

A shaft of light silhouettes some geese across a canal at night.

A waxing gibbous moon sits just above and in the middle of a row of Lombardy poplars against a clear midnight blue sky.

A view of Mellor Moor at night from Marple Ridge. On the horizon can be seen a red glow from a moorland fire.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 25

badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir badgir QANAT QANAT

An image of several badgir 'wind-catchers' in Iran.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 25

Transatlantic discourse.

A still from the film War Games.

A segment of a 1980s computer screen. Pale block-caps text on a dark background.

A STRANGE GAME.
THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS
NOT TO PLAY.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 22

There should be a line under the timestamp which can be clicked to show interaction settings.

Who can interact with this post?

Only users following @andrewhickey.500songs.com, mentioned users, and users followed by @andrewhickey.500songs.com can reply.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 21

I regret to inform you that Scylla is also pretty toasty right now.

A Met Office forecast for Messina, Italy. The high is 32°C.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 15

For a profession that spends a lot of time coining new words, journalism sure does love to misuse words.

A Guardian Pass Notes headline.

Micro-staycations: why are people holidaying an hour away from home?

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 15

It's the domino meme!

Small domino: Jess Phillips hypes a tech grift in her resignation letter
Big domino: Hermit Kingdom

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 14

May 2026 (finally!) on the Oxford Road Cycleway: - a sharp fall of 9.6% on the previous May - a much wetter month This is the fifth consecutive month of negative growth, which I think may be a result of the success of the Deansgate Cycleway - more on which soon.

A bar chart showing total cycle counts for May, from 2017 to 2026. May 2026 is down by around 10% on the previous year.

Growth
Northbound -9.4%
Southbound -9.8%
Combined -9.6%

Best day
Northbound 3153
Southbound 2812
Combined 5966

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 14

One to block: kevinhewett.bsky.social

A post from @kevinhewett.bsky.social

Ha! What happens to Rich people like me who'll very nearly die laughing--at a bunch of aching pensioners from rainy, cold morning, forced onto trams or bicycles in their declining years, while I cruise by in my 7-series BMW touring sedan with the heat on full blast? I may gag from laughter!

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 13

Birgitte would never—

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 11

I was looking at their feed after reading your post, and while I was scrolling through their replies, this happened. 🤭

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 11

I refer you to the Scone Map. (Unless you're in Ireland, apparently.)

A YouGov map with the title 'How do you pronounce "scone"?'

Lots of detail, but the majority of respondents in Scotland, Northern England and North Wales rhyme with 'gone'. It gets more complicated in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, depressingly. The East Midlands are mostly rhyming it with 'bone', as is Essex and (to a lesser extent) Cornwall.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 9

Unclear if passenger was piloting plane or became werewolf.

A newspaper headline.

TUI pilot grounds Manchester Airport flight 2,200 miles away after passenger suddenly turns

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 8

Arthur Machen fans: I appear to have a choice between a Penguin Classics and an OUP edition of his collected shorts. Which is better?

Arthur Machen – The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories.

Oxford World's Classics

The cover illustration is art nouveau, depicting Pan playing pipes. The illustration uses solid colours (white for Pan's body, green for his hair and foliage, red for the background).

Arthur Machen – The White People and Other Weird Stories

Penguin Classics

The cover shows an illustration of a marble statue of Pan.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 5

"This episode we learned that memory is fickle, so be sure to check your facts before you post."

A PSA section from the original He-man cartoon. He-Man points to the viewer, while She-Ra stands by his side.

It's possible there is yet another glaring error in this alt text. Get it together, Nook!

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 5

I thought it was a familiar name...

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 5

The Matrix is glitching but benignly. I searched for a cover of a totally different book and this popped up in the search results. Sounds like it was written for me. www.penguin.co.uk/books/320041...

The book cover for the Penguin Modern Classics edition of Trafalgar by Angélica Gorodischer. The top of half is white, with a series of block-colour abstract shapes on the left and a painting of some kind of goose (black neck, white eye shape, red area above beak) on the right.

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 5

Another Toy Story 5 title screen.

'Childhood Nostalgia Forever'

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 5

Owler Nook@owlernook· Jun 3

The Backrooms (1991).

A scene from Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. The main character. Guybrush Threepwood, stands in a dark underground passage seemingly made of metal and concrete. The passages are mostly featureless.

Owler Nook@owlernook· May 29

Actually this will do