Got our accommodation booked now, looking forward to visiting Dublin in October. (For the first time!) So what's good there?

I'm in Manchester for a weekend of quizzing (shush, it's a thing) and I had to bid farewell to Queer Brewing, a great London brewery of the last decade, whose final day of operation is today. Dykonic indeed.

Oh for real I didn't believe it but now that I am on the tube during rush hour there's really nobody using it on Fridays eh.

I'm enjoying my time in Bristol, good vibes in this town. Currently discovering a tiny little cinema called the Cube. Anyway here's a photo of a street with no cars in view.

On my way to Bristol!! Going to see some films and, I don't know, soak in some vibes. Breakfast, coffee, pub and dinner recommendations always welcome!!

I'm at some work drinks and everyone is talking about The Odyssey so I guess it's doing well. I'm obviously holding out to see it when I can do so on my phone. (I've never watched a movie on my phone but you've got to honour the director's vision.)

I am treating myself to a fancy restaurant (albeit value set lunch menu) which describes itself as serving food from an undivided Punjab. I'm not sure quite where this ranks politically, possibly just nostalgic. Are there restaurants out there dedicated to an undivided Ireland?

I am sitting next to a group of lads who keep repeating the word "shackets' (a jacket plus a shirt) and I do not know if they are joking or not. Now they've thrown in the word "shumper".

Last year at LCBF I left the high percentage beers too long and they disappeared so this year I'm starting with an, er, breakfast stout

Since I was forced to wear shorts at school I must have spent the next 30 years never wearing shorts but the last few years I've become quite comfortable in them. And some people try to argue there's not a climate crisis.

It's been a real Indian week for me at the cinema. After the two yesterday I've got a Satyajit Ray film this evening because I know how to party.

Missed the football last night as I was at a screening of a new restoration of a really cool 1988 Indian film about architecture students with the weird title IN WHICH ANNIE GIVES IT THOSE ONES. Its writer and one of the film's stars was there to introduce it, Arundhati Roy, which was pretty cool

Christ ITV sucks. I was trying to watch the world cup match without being spoilered but it wasn't there. What was there was a highlights package that literally said the result in the title. Fvcking useless channel

One of my favourite annual events, the London Topographical Society AGM, mainly because it feels so niche and dull in a splendid way, but they always produce a gorgeous annual publication for the very nominal subscription plus they do it in a different historic building every year.

I call for a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand as we mourn one of the very best human beings of the past century, who also happend to be quite a dab hand at acting. Mine is one of so many broken hearts the world over - what a fucking mensch.

Getting some appropriate listening in after that Egypt v Argentina football game last night.

The process for swapping my overseas drivers licence is legit bonkers, I need to send it via paper and enclose a cheque (who uses cheques???) or a postal order but to get the latter you need to pay in cash plus a £5 processing fee plus more to send it registered delivery so it feels like a shakedown

In deference and in honour of America 250, we are watching the most significant and important film about the country's foundation, which is, uh, NATIONAL TREASURE?

Guessing there will be a guy standing for 90 minutes like Winston Churchill at the next England match if they lose this.

I'm watching the football at a bar in Siracusa. A white guy just walked in with a bag that says "reading decolonisation in Africa" (or something like that) so I'm wondering who he's supporting.

I'm on a train that's currently rolling onto a ferry with us all in our seats. More exciting than it probably is but you don't get many train ferry experiences. Looking forward to Sicily.

I am ready to deliver my verdict on the restoration of Ken Russell's The Devils, and it's, I believe, a fairly widely held opinion, but 1971 Oliver Reed could get it.

No matter how many times I come to Italy on holiday I just can't get over the way that you can just take (or get given) baskets of snacks, bread, sandwiches during the aperitivo hours. Some places feed you enough for free with your drinks that you don't need dinner.

I guess the Ritwik Ghatak programme isn't the hot draw at Il Cinema Ritrovato but hey I have a bunch of his films I still really want to see so I'll be in the select crowd still up for a 2hr+ film at 9:30pm.

I'm watching the football on TV in Italy and, while I cannot understand what they're saying, I assume every other sentence is along the lines of "wait, *this* team made it into the World Cup, WTF guys".

Excited to go see another Ritwik Ghatak film, wish I could have fit them all in but I'll see a few more in Bologna next week.

Love to be in London on days like these, perfect mid-20s temperature, sunny, lovely. Gonna go get a half of beer and then go sit in a dark cinema for a screening of Grace of My Heart. It's been 30 years! Will I still like it? Sometimes I feel old, but only if I do the maths.

I've been listening to the complete works of Scott Walker in chronological order for the last week or so, but the new O.Rod album is out so just gonna add that to my playlist right in the middle of Tilt, and I'm sure that'll not be too jarring

I don't really know why so much of the wine we drink right now comes in cans but it's pretty good for portion size/not getting drunk so I am here for it.

Why yes I am in a cinema for Masters of the Universe. Why? Who knows why. Must there be a reason. It might be fun??