Tom Freeman

@tomfreeman

Occasional editor and writer. Purveyor of half-baked opinions. Intermittently able to make my nieces laugh. (SnoozeInBrief on Twitter) My blog on usage, editing and suchlike:

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Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· 28d

Last year I heard the news that dark chocolate Toblerone, which sounds amazing but I'd never come across it, was being scrapped. Today, somehow, I saw some in the shop. Time to try it! (Only a small bar so I'll have to eat loads to get the correct Toblerone experience)

My hand holding a small dark chocolate Toblerone

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· 28d

Cygnets, ducklings, cootlings #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· 29d

Google's AI nonsense generator is now delivering search results from the future

Google AI overview from a search for "odyssey release date uk":

"Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey was released in UK cinemas on Friday, 17 July 2026, with some premium format and midnight preview screenings beginning on Thursday, 16 July 2026. The film is widely available across the country"

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· 29d

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· 29d

When you see the cygnets out of water, you get a much better sense of how big they've grown. Eight weeks ago all five of them would ride on mum's back! #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 13

Never forget.

How long has it been since you’ve seen the original “Jurassic Park”?
SAM NEILL The last time I watched it in its totality was sitting beside Princess Di at Leicester Square at the London opening. On the other side of me was my son Tim — he was 11 and completely swept away by it, but about the time the T-Rex turns up, Tim started to fart. And the draft was drifting across me to royalty! I spent the whole film in a muck sweat, thinking, “Princess Di is being exposed to the horrors of a little boy’s fart, but she’s going to think it’s me. I am going to be subliminally blamed for my son’s crimes, and I don’t think she’ll talk to me afterwards.” But she was well brought up and never mentioned it.
JEFF GOLDBLUM I love that story, Sam. I’ve heard him tell that a couple of times, and it’s just amazing the lengths that he will go to still blame the boy.

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 12

Nope, sorry, my mistake - it's a repeat of a series from a few years ago

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 12

The way the cootlings bob with the little wave created when their parents dive for food #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 11

They're also not at all keen on rats #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 11

The cygnets are far too big to be preyed upon by herons, but they're still wary of them #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 10

I love the chirpy noddy little conversations the cygnets have #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 10

The only other thing I liked about her was her fondness for her cats, and the pleasingly terrible poetry she wrote about them www.annwiddecombe.com/ann-widdecom...

Goodness gracious what is that
It’s Mr. Pugwash my black cat
Good gracious are there others?
Yes indeed my cat Carruthers!

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 9

Count Binface on Newsnight. Superimposed is the caption: "I am tired of Earth. These people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 8

Love this photo my dad took of a zeppelin over St Paul's

London skyline prominently featuring St Paul's cathedral, above which is a clear blue sky and a Goodyear zeppelin

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 8

It's very simple to explain.

Count von Count, from Sesame Street, in Oscar the Grouch's bin

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 8

"I wasn't sleeping, I was just resting my eyes!" #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 7

Turns out it's the original 1982 release. A leaden atrocity. Oh, and the notorious happy ending scene, which I can confirm is as bad as it sounds.

From Wikipedia:

The 1982 American theatrical released by the studio included the "happy ending" as well as the addition of Harrison Ford's voiceover.[1] Although several different versions of the script had included a narration of some sort to clarify the narrative, Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott had decided to add filmed scenes to provide the information. Financiers rewrote and inserted narration during post-production after test audience members indicated difficulty understanding the film. Scott did not have final cut privilege for the version released to cinemas.[6] Ford said in 1999, "I contested it mightily at the time. It was not an organic part of the film".[7] It has been suggested that Ford intentionally performed the voice-over badly, in the hope it would not be used.[1] In a 2002 interview with Playboy, he said, "I delivered it to the best of my ability, given that I had no input. I never thought they'd use it. But I didn't try and sandbag it. It was simply bad narration".[8]

The "Happy Ending" refers to the scene after Deckard and Rachael leave the apartment. Gaff spares Rachael's life, allowing her and Deckard to escape the nauseating confines of Los Angeles. They drive away into a natural landscape, and Deckard's voice-over narrative explains that Gaff's words ("It's too bad she won't live. But then again who does?") do not ring true, since Rachael does not have the four-year limit of the other replicants.[9]

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 7

New cootlings in their nest #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 5

The duckling adorableness continues. Plus a very subtle swan guest appearance #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 4

3-4 weeks later and they've grown a lot #NewRiverBirds

View looking along the river (taken from a small footpath over it), showing the swans and their five cygnets gently swimming along towards us. It's the same view as in the quoted post, but the cygnets are now quite a bit bigger.

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 3

Ducklings! Mum is making sure they stay out of the way of the giants #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 3

Some years ago I decided that regions were a less useful concept than travel zones 1-7. Obviously focused on London, which is the centre of the UK and indeed the world

Colour-coded map of the UK. Zone 1 is London. Zone 2 is the surrounding 70 miles or so, including Kent, Cambs, Oxon and most of Hampshire. Zone 3 runs from Isle of Wight to Dorset to Hereford to Lincs to Suffolk. Zone 4 takes us to Devon, east Wales, Lancs and Yorkshire. Zone 5 is Cornwall, almost all of west Wales and the rest of northern England. Zone 6 is Anglesey, Man, the southern half of Scotland and the area of Northern Ireland around Belfast. Beyond that, zone 7.

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 2

Just opposite Wandsworth Road station. Goes back over a century (this pic from 1909, London Picture Archive). From Google streetview, I see that they changed the signage at some point between 2017 and 2024... but kept the name. It has a 4.9/5 rating.

Photo of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" tea and coffee shop on Wandsworth Road in 1909. From: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=126422&WINID=1783007610366

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 2

Nice bit of crayfish. Too good to share with the kids #NewRiverBirds

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jul 1

Not entirely sure if a day when I'm feeling quite hot and drowsy is the ideal time to start a 1200-page mock-Victorian mystery saga, but heck, I'm willing to give it a go

My hand holding the book The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. It's very thick.

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jun 30

Well I did not know that

The start of Tom Cruise's Wikipedia page, revealing that his nemesis actually "Thomas Cruise Mapother IV"

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jun 30

Here's the entry from Jeremy Butterfield's 2015 edition of Fowler - it's largely a UK/US thing:

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jun 30

Fine use of the agentless passive voice by Reeves here

"It is funded primarily by reallocating budget from across government departments, with £10.3bn identified now. A further £4.7bn over four years will be confirmed at Budget 2026, in a fair and balanced way."

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jun 30

These things are always older than you think, but even bearing that in mind I was still surprised to find it going back to 1617

Tom Freeman@tomfreeman· Jun 29

Action shot.