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curiouspaddy.bsky.social

@curiouspaddy.bsky.social
84 followers 1K following 502 posts
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I was 'lucky' last time. A big leak turned out to be a large piece of flashing that fell off the parapet wall (bloody London roof) and slid into the gully. New roofer was to reattach and make in good for an entirely acceptable amount of cash, but I start looking at the ceiling every time it rains.
Large piece of lead flashing that fell off the parapet wall on a London roof and slid down the valley into the rain gulley.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
You probably did, this derelict 100-foot Victorian water tower in Kennington, South London, was bought by a same sex couple and featured on the show (I recall liking the building).
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
As the Irish economist David McWilliams likes to say, "the DUP never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity". Brexit was suppose to cement their position in the UK. It did the exact opposite.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Due a compounding, and unexpected set of circumstances, I found myself in Ireland this week, and then Galway this afternoon. I did have a pint in Fitzgerald’s on Quay Street, but the highlight was finally visting the #Connacht home ground. Just a shame there wasn’t actually a game on.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
No. And as of 5 minutes ago I have to admit to having spent more over the last 7 days on books you recommend than books you wrote. If you're ever in Teddington, I owe you a beer.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
A gift my father gave me many years ago was a first, and only, edition of “Lost Lives”, a book that provided a biography of each of the 3,637 lives lost during “the troubles”. It makes for a sobering read that reminds you of the of cost before the GFA. Authors declined to allow further print runs.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
@jonnelledge.bsky.social As a “foreigner” living in London I rather enjoyed this chapter of “A History of the World in 47 Borders”. My only critique is I wanted more detail, but I’ve lived some of that history, and you had 46 other stories to fit in, so can’t argue you made the wrong choice. 👍👍
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Not sure intelligence had much to do with it, I’d just finished my book, was toying with the idea of another (pint, not book) and the 99p offer offer tipped the argument. Bloody peanuts were more expensive than the book.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Embarrassed it took me this long, no excuse now.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
still has the power to transport me back to my first job.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Well... he got the paperwork in on time. Not sure The Official Monster Raving Loony Party are taking this seriously. Three candidates! They're going to split their own vote.
List of all 34 candidates running in the Clacton by-election.

Joseph 77 (Independent)

Adham Alkhatip (The Forward Party)

Count Binface (Count Binface Party)

Nick The Incredible Flying Brick (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party)

Tony Cane (Independent)

Woke Trump Carrzee (Independent)

William Stuart James Clouston (Social Democratic Party)

Rees Cowne (Independent)

Glenn Charles Cummings (Independent)

Martin Davies (Freedom Alliance – Real People, Real Alternative!)

Andy Erlam (Independent)

Nigel Farage (Reform UK)

Attieh Fard (Independent)

Laurence Fox (The Reclaim Party)

Tony Francis (Independent)

Robin Green (Independent)

Abi Hookway (Independent)

Howling Laud Hope (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party)

Stephen Richard Ingram (Independent)

Amy Morris (Independent)

Derrick Norbert Morris (Independent)

Michael Noel O'Keeffe (Independent)

Martyn O'Brien (Independent)

Nick Pelas (Independent)

Ketankumar Pipaliya (UK VOICE safer and stronger UK)

Daniel Pocock (Independent)

James Ransley (Consensus Party Candidate)

Gerry Smith (Independent)

Kai Stephens (British Democrats)

John Stevens (Rejoin EU)

Baron Von Thunderclap (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party)

Pamela Walford (Independent)

Marcus White (Everyone is God Party)

Marc Wilkinson (Independent)
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
That is good, but I still think Siobhan Fenton's example wins, just for the photo.
Siobhán Fenton poses with a copy of the book she wrote on the Good Friday Agreement after a twitter user suggests she hasn't read the Agreement.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
From 'Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country', Klingon Chancellor Gorkon tells Captain Kirk "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon"
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Could be the reason is much more mundane.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Annoyingly for most units you have to bodge it. Find where the air intake is on the rear, and find a way to seal it to the second hose. Cardboard and duct tape are your friends, but for common models you can find 3D print files. Bubble wrapping (for insulation) the hot air exhaust hose helps as well
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Dublin hosted the Heineken Cup 3 times in 26 years... which honestly surprised me! I'd have guessed more than that. What happened to the break? We've gone from Lions, to autumn internationals, to URC, and back to a summer tour.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Lots of Train problems at #Teddington due to flooding at #Fulwell station. This was 0830, apparently I missed the 'fireworks' at 7am. 35°C last Tuesday, flooding this Tuesday.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Well, that probably explains why my #VirginMedia connection has dropped out several times in the last 20 minutes.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Richmond upon Thames; Tories on 18% got no seats. Lib Dems on 52% won every seat in the borough.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
@sturdyalex.bsky.social I know there will be weeks of analysis to come, but as someone living in this borough I can‘t help but look at the Lib Dem result in Richmond and think the current system no longer works. Tories 18% of the vote, not a single seat, Lib Dems 52% of the vote, 100% of the seats.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Lib Dems with 52% of the vote get 100% of the seats. Tories with close to 20% get nothing. As the two party system disappears FPTP is going to throw up all sorts of issues.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
iPlayer
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Ohh… reading about it at the moment.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
…and a happy Monday to you too!
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Nice, one of my favourite moments from the show. Well, not that line but the follow up.
James Brolin playing Robert Ritchie, the fictional Governor of Florida, as he delivers the icon line "Crime. Boy, I don't know" from The West Wing's season 3 episode 23 "Posse Comitatus".
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
I can make a case for the 1st being harsh, but for the 2nd Taylor was off his feet, lying on the ground at the back of a ruck, on the Scarlet's 22, and reached up to knock the ball out of Gibson-Park's hands. Make a case for the 1st yellow or the try, but that was cynical, Ref got that one right
Scarlet's Jarrod Taylor is unseen at the back of ruck as he reaches up to knock the ball out of the hands of Leinster's Jamison Gibson-Park, on the Scarlet's 22 metre line. 
Ref judged Taylor's action to be cynical and he received a yellow card.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
The 'joys' of being able to follow people all around the world.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Fans of Friends?
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
"I mean, I've offered to marry him" That's truly above & beyond! I did notice BBC Sport singled him out in their headline for the match, here's hoping it continues.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace (one for the rugby fans perhaps)
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Nope, ignore me, got the starting points total wrong in my head.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Hope you’re right… feeling more Galway than Belfast right now (but just won a nice scrum penalty in the Stade 22)
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
@craftynick.bsky.social not paid attention to the form guide, but wasn’t expecting that scoreline (only just turned it on for background while cooking)
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Probably too late for you, but I use to bring a UK extension lead with me when I traveled abroad, and fit a local plug to it, you avoid all sorts of issues like the one you hit, but it it does need some basic plug wiring skills. Here’s one I made for a Swiss friend when she was staying with me
4 gang extension board for Swiss Type J electrical socket, with a UK Type G plug fitted to the end.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
You win… or lose, not sure which. Winter finally comes to South West London.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Christ... it costs £3.40 to send a letter from London to Dublin. That's the same price as London to Sydney! Not a parcel, not express service, not signed for, a single sheet of A4 in a normal envelope and it costs £3.40. Pretty sure I've just sent my last letter across the Irish Sea. #RoyalMail
Royal Mail's Christmas 2025 Commemorative £3.40 stamp for economy international letters. Designed by Hat-trick Design
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
I only installed 26.2 yesterday evening, and I'm not convinced battery life is back to what I was getting last week, but at the moment it seems better. At the moment.
Image of iPhone 'Settings > General > About' showing an iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS Version 26.2
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Delivered by the Irish postal service to Buncrana, a town of about 7,000 people.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Couldn't find the #Cardiff vs. #Ulster game on the Premier Sports schedule, but appears it's on iPlayer. Hopefully they get some decent viewing figures, but even as a Rugby fan looking for the game I was surprised it's 'free' to view.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
OK, 4 months late to this, and I'm completely missing the point of the video, but what is a late 1990s Škoda Felicia, a small car only sold in Europe, and this one with a registration plate from Košice in Slovakia, doing on a US motorway heading towards Kentucky in June? A mystery in a great video!
Screenshot from Angela Collier's video 'backyard radio telescope: part I' at 28 seconds. She drives past a late 90s Škoda Felicia, a European market "supermini" sized car, with Slovakian registration plates.
 
https://youtu.be/GEGPIWx7dso?si=zTde1-ddwEC-KZyc&t=28
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
57 minutes, O'Gara red carded.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
The incident, 20 seconds into the game
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
As tempting as Chelmsford City vs. Braintree Town is, that’s my TNT subscription cancelled. Still, £30 for all that Rugby was worth it. Right, on to Munster vs. Stormers.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Like many people I have a drawer of batteries. Mine includes some oddballs like a box of CR2016 coin batteries. Coin batteries are famed for their long shelf lives (10 years or so), so finding they are best before June 2007 (tested them, all dead) tells me I need to sort out that drawer.
Several unopened packages of CR2016 'coin' batteries. Reverse of packages showing a Best Before date of June 2007.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Interesting at these moments to see what breaks, and how badly. This wasn’t the worst.
The Carrot app reports an error during a cloudflare outage, but falls back to alternative data source to keep working.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
I have a coffee machine that makes the coffee straight into a thermal jug. I use to put it on, get ready for work, put the jug into the car, and have fresh coffee once I got to my desk at work. Forgot to put the coffee in one morning, drove 30 miles down the M3 with a pot of hot filtered water.
Siemens TC91100 "Porsche Design" coffee machine that uses a thermal carafe to keep the coffee warm rather than a hotplate.
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Free access appears to have expired (it has for me, and logging in doesn't help). The increasing lock down of management systems in cars (frequently in the pursuit of security) is making cars harder to maintain. Disposing of useful cars because simple fixes are too difficult is becoming an issue.
Image of an article on the Economist website saying;
"You’ve just missed out—free access to this article has expired."
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curiouspaddy.bsky.social @curiouspaddy.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
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