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Andrew Bowden 🐀

@andrewbowden.me.uk
173 followers 54 following 4.7K posts

Found where the Metropolitan Elite gather. Mostly Mancunian, bit Londoner, pos British, definitely European. Brews own beer. Likes the radio. Swims too much. All views mine, and only mine. He/Him. #RatVerified.

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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 18/09/2026
Was just thinking of this garage/petrol station a few miles away where their price sign is so old that they put a piece of white tape to serve as a one. But looking at Google Streetview it looks like they've simply given up selling petrol fill stop.
A very basic petrol station seen in 2023 with an old school non digital sign where the 1 at the start of the price is a piece of white tape.The same garage/petrol station seen in May 2026 with the price sign covered over.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 17/09/2026
It's 6music's t-shirt day but I'm a terrible music fan(!) and my band t-shirt collection is a bit limited. So instead I'm wearing this:
A pale yellow t-shirt.  On the t-shirt is a stylised picture of a cassette tape.  Tape is spewing forth from the bottom of it, and there is a pencil sticking into one of the spools for the purposes of winding the tape back in.  If this means nothing to you, then you're probably too young.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 03/09/2026
An abiding memory of childhood. From the ZX Spectrum game British Lowland. You had to run an ailing car company and quite often the union would go on strike... archive.org/details/zx_B...
The word "STRIKE" shown multiple times in multiple colours from a ZX Spectrum game called British Lowland.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 16/08/2026
Got home from holiday and let the chickens out as they've been "couped up" in their run for the last two weeks. Martha has decided the best place to use her new found freedom is the kitchen.
Martha the chicken standing in our kitchen
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 13/08/2026
The French franc was withdrawn in 2002 so I confess some puzzlement on finding a 10 Centime coin in the wallet I use for holidays.
A French 10 Centime coin dated 1977.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 30/07/2026
"If you don't vote, you can't whinge" says the MEN. I agree, but that won't stop people!
Screenshot from the Manchester Evening News website saying:

If you don’t vote, you can't whinge
The MEN says: The next mayor will help shape the region for years to come. We're not going to tell you who to vote for, but we do think you should vote.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 16/07/2026
And yet there's nearly 19000 people viewing that page right now.
Live. 16,958 viewing16958 viewing
Tuchel retains FA backing despite Argentina loss - should he remain England boss?
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 15/07/2026
Three weeks later... 🤔
Marple's former Coral with the sign painted over in a very glossy black paint that someone probably found at the back of the cupboard
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 08/07/2026
There's people in the comments suggesting the ball here is AI slop. I reckon it's slightly dodgy Photoshop, so I tried to get an AI flag covered football. And yeah, seriously, I stand by my belief.
A Copilot generated football where each segment of the ball is a flag.  The shapes of the football segments are not consistent sizing, the Multiple flags appears twice.  The Union Flag is just weird.  The Spanish flag has been merged with the Union Flag.  And probably other errors too.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 07/07/2026
Life Leisure, who run Stockport's leisure centres, have a new app from their new leisure centre management system provider. It's a masterpiece in usability. Take a look, for example, at the class booking timetable I see on my phone.
Screenshot of the classes timetable.  Dates are down at the top but the class names and times are not shown correctly, and only a few letters of each are shown.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 04/07/2026
This was much deserved. Although my legs are still tingling from the nettle stings.
A Pint glass of beer with Purple Moose Brewery branding on it
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 04/07/2026
My other half takes me to ask all the best footpaths.
A footpath sign surrounded by head height bracken.  If you squint you can see someone in the bracken.Head height bracken
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 02/07/2026
I don't know why I didn't think I would be able to make a cheese and onion pie in a loose bottom sponge tin, but it worked very well thank you very much.
A piece of homemade cheese and onion pie
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 02/07/2026
YouTube is weirdly obsessed with things you played ten years ago. I regularly get this appearing, along with some music videos from ages ago too. Loaded it up just now and lo, it's there.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 27/06/2026
Come to think about it, I also have a BBCi mug from 2001 that I had my hot chocolate out of last night.
A green mug with a logo on it say it saying
 BBCi
More power to your finger 
www.bbc.co.uk
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 27/06/2026
Guardian Editions app is this morning exploring new ways in being utterly crap. And no, I am not referring to references to Andrea Leadsom.
Section of a Guardian article, viewed in it's Guardian Editions app, where words including the letter f are being completely mangled and made unreadable.  The extract quote follows.

Andrea Leadsom, a former Conservative minister and founder of the 1,001 Critical Days Foundation, said: “This landmark review is a wakeup call. The evidence increasingly suggests that screens offffffer limited benefifififits for babies and may carry signififificant risks during the fifififirst 1,001 days, the most important period of human development.”
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 26/06/2026
Every now and then, I remember this.
Screenshot of the Capital Dance website from when Her Maj Queen Lizzy 2 died.  There's a picture of presenter MistaJam with his mouth wide open.  Beneath it says "Capital remembers Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II"
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 22/06/2026
Yes, well, hmm.
Screenshot from bottom of article saying the following:

The tenth edition follows previous Pubcasts produced by the Chris Moyles Show team, with listeners able to download the latest episode through Radio X.

The recording is described as the largest Chris Moyles Show Pubcast so far, bringing together presenters with different audiences and breakfast formats from across Global’s radio brands.

    Radio X has published its own article promoting the 2026 Pubcast, naming Chris Moyles, Dominic Byrne, Toby Tarrant, Nick Ferrari, Jordan North and Jenni Falconer. (Radio X)
    RadioToday UK has not yet published separate coverage of the 2026 edition in the search results checked.
    RadioToday previously reported on the eighth Pubcast in 2023, when the Radio X team recreated the format for Global’s Make Some Noise. (radiotoday.co.uk)
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 21/06/2026
"So make sure the signage is removed so everyone knows we've closed this branch and no one thinks we are still here."
Shop front of a former branch of bookmakers Coral, where the Coral sign has been removed but because it's so old and worn, you can see the word 'Coral' spelled out very clearly
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 20/06/2026
Repairing a puncture on one of my bike wheels and marvelling at the coincidence of three out of four repairs being really close to each other.
A bike inner tube with three puncture repairs all really close to each other
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 18/06/2026
Big up the community frog. www.stockport.gov.uk/marple-commu...
Working with the community

The project team continues to work closely with local groups on a range of features, including:

    a new woodland path
    relocation of benches
    updates to the Jubilee garden
    the relocation of the much-loved community frog
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 05/06/2026
There's probably a Lebanese name for what I have cooked.
A filled, toasted Lebanese flatbread with chips and salad
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 30/05/2026
Marple Scout Hut scrubs up well.
Microphones, musical instruments, all the stuff you expect to see before a gig.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 25/05/2026
I have been stood on platform two for too long now. Mystery delays for the win.
Platforms 1 and 2 at Manchester Piccadilly
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 25/05/2026
✋Wait
Information screens at Manchester Piccadilly's "lounge" for platforms 13 and 14.  Eight trains are shown. Above all but one is a red sign saying "✋Wait"
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 22/05/2026
There's a primary school near us that had a big sign outside saying "OUR PUPIL'S ARE TOMORROW'S LEADERS". But to be fair, they've removed that from their sign now...
A screengrab of Google Streetview for Ludworth Primary School in Marple from June 2019, with a banner saying "Our pupils are tomorrow's leaders"A screengrab of Google Streetview for Ludworth Primary School in Marple from 2024.  The sign is the same but with the removal of the banner saying "Our pupils are tomorrow's leaders".  It's gone.  Their pupils are no longer tomorrow's leaders.  They're just primary school children.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 19/05/2026
Had my new supermaket launch pencilled in for today anyway, but reading this, need to make a slight tweak. Anyway, happy to announce that Bowden's's is coming to the high street soon!
Company logo for a supermarket chain called "Bowden's's", spelt out in big green text, with a subtitle of "For Everyday Value" because that's what Bowden's's does.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 12/05/2026
Rather unexpectedly, I have been joined on my desk by a caterpillar.
A small, green caterpillar crawls on my desk near my Wacom stylus and keyboard.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 07/05/2026
One of the greatest albums known to human kind. Who else would go from Blankety Blank to the early 1980s theme for Top of the Pops?
Television Themes LP by Matt Berry
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 30/04/2026
Right. That's enough trains for a bit
Marple station sign
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 29/04/2026
Another day, another station
The waiting area at Kings Cross station
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 23/04/2026
According to the Inverter, our Solar Panels have saved enough CO₂ that we no longer need to plant six trees! Or would have if we - as a country - had burned all that 3.09 tons of coal to get all our electric...
Screenshot of the web page for our Solar inverter.  It shows that, at time of screenshot, 2.809kW was being generated by the panels, that our solar batter was 99% full and with 0.489kW being discharged.  Also we were using 0.398kW from the grid, and we were using 3.696kW of electricity in the house.

It also reckons we've "saved" 3.09 tons of coal being burned, this avoiding 3.67tons of CO₂ being emmited, which is the equivalent of planting 6 trees.  Which is fine except I'm in the UK and we don't burn coal for our electric...
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 21/04/2026
Get all the good hotel room views I do.
View of a roundabout and tower blocks from the 13th floor of a Birmingham hotel
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 05/04/2026
A white mug with the logo of the London Museum of Water and Steam on it, sat on my mug shelf.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 01/04/2026
What fresh new hell is this?  Taken me six goes to get past this screen.
A web browser screen saying: Before we continue, Press & Hold to confirm you are a human (and not a bot) There is a button saying "Press and Hold" and red text underneath saying "Please try again"
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 26/03/2026
Gives me chance to admire the station art. I think this is supposed to be Miss Marple but I am not entirely sure.
A drawing of a woman, or possibly an eccentricly dressed man, in a hat holding what may be the world's smallest magnifying glass, on the platform of Marple railway station.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 17/03/2026
I am in Wales. As proof here is a photo of a bus stop where the local council is unable to provide bus timetables due to the Welsh government's ever changing COVID restrictions. I kid you not - this is NOT a one off. There are loads of bus stops where apparently there are no buses serving them.
Bus stop with a bilingual message saying the council can't provide bus info due to COVID
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 16/03/2026
🤔
Road sign for road called Beach Drive.  Underneath the street name it says "No access to the beach"
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 07/03/2026
I don't do phones during gigs, so here's a pre-show photo of the New Mills Arts Theatre before The Songs Of Martin Carthy, with Eliza Carthy and Friends. A great show but I do hope Eliza's chest infection clears up soon!
The stage at New Mills Arts Theatre empty of people but with microphones, guitar cases, violins and more.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 02/03/2026
Penelope the chicken who, for reasons best known to herself, had decided to jump up and perch on my arm.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 27/02/2026
Also someone's appeared on my desk to watch me work...
The Gruffalo sits on my desk, to the right of my monitor (and a Lego Yoda who appears to be doing pushups), and to the right of a Lego museum. The Gruffalo looks like a Gruffalo.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 26/02/2026
I totally agree Allister. It really is.
A fake, autogenerated opinion piece by Allister Heath of the Telegraph, entitled "The BBC's shameful cheerleading for the Bee Line Buzz Company is a national embarrassment."
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 10/02/2026
It's Buggins's turn to prove they're crap. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Quote from a Guardian article:

Winterburn, 42, said she felt McSweeney was a scapegoat and that the scandal was further evidence that “they don’t think the rules apply to them”.

“It’s time for Reform,” she said. “We’ve tried all the others and they’ve all been crap.”
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 09/02/2026
It put me to the left of the "British Left Wing Community." Which amuses me more than it should.
A star map of BlueSky users, with @andrewbowden.me.uk to the left of an entry marked "British Left Wing Community".
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 01/02/2026
Popped into the Coop for some bits only to find they have suddenly started selling bottles of Dark Mild
Bottles of Coop Dark Bothy Dark Mild on the shelf in, err, the Coop.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 27/01/2026
When in Newcastle, pay homage to the Pink Palace.
The rather boxy BBC Broadcast Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, known by some as 'The Pink Palace' due to its reddish, pinky coloured building.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 18/01/2026
Getting so all over the place with malfunctioning websites and availability issues for the summer holiday that I almost booked a Wild West saloon themed caravan by accident.
A Wild West 'Saloon' themed static caravan
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 16/01/2026
But were they signed by the Chief Recreation Officer?! Got to love the use of a letter stencil on there as well.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 16/01/2026
Did you learn to swim the P.P.Penguin way?
Certificate saying:

P.P.Penguin
ASA Learn to Swim Scheme

This is to certify that
Andrew Bowden
has learned to swim the P.P.Penguin way and is able to swim.
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Andrew Bowden 🐀 @andrewbowden.me.uk · 16/01/2026
Apparently so. The certificate isn't amazingly clear on what it was for, but I found that a blog post from Victoria Baths in Manchester who had found some promotional penguins! victoriabaths.org.uk/the-penguin-...
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