Sign in

Nick

@handpressed.net
222 followers 173 following 3.1K posts

Servant of cats. Sniffer of books. Wrangler of WordPress. handpressed.net WordPress advice, fixes and tweaks for coffee. ko-fi.com/handpressed

PostsRepliesMedia
Nick @handpressed.net · 16h
"I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!" is what goes through my head before I start playing the Eagles. #NowPlaying
The Very Best of the Eagles album cover... I'm too tired to try to explain it further
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 16h
One of the [got disturbed mid-typing by Tommy the cat jumping on my keyboard seeking affection and Dreamies] brilliant best-ofs. Resuming... #NowPlaying
If the Beatles Had Read Hunter…The Singles by The Wonder Stuff album cover
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 29/09/2026
But what an album Heartbreak City is. It was one of the first albums I bought (from SMV, Swanage Music and Video) with my own money, wages earned from cutting grass at a local campsite using a small John Deere tractor, still one of the best jobs I've had. #NowPlaying
Heartbreak City by The Cars album cover. There's a lot going on... a car, stars, mechanical bits, a lady doing a backflip. It's very 1984.
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 29/09/2026
Released two days after my youngest brother was born, and six-and-half years after I was born. Facts. It would be another six years before I became aware of The Cars when Drive hit the Top 40. It would be six years more before The Cars were more than just Drive to me. Anyway. #NowPlaying
The Cars eponymous album cover. A lady with bright red lipstick and nails at the wheel of a car, open-mouth smiling, her right arm across her forehead, her eyes looking left.
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 29/09/2026
Nope. Not right.
Screenshot of a graphic showing the weather forecast - temps around 20°C overnight
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 25/09/2026
Memories of running the batteries flat in my yellow Panasonic "Walkman" while listening to music in bed... #NowPlaying
The Whole Story by Kate Bush album cover - a black and white photo of Kate Bush with 'Kate Bush' above the photo and 'The Whole Story' below it
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 22/09/2026
Chugging some Mississippi Hill Country blues before bed, before returning to Tennessee and Suttree. #NowPlaying
Too Bad Jim by R.L. Burnside album cover. Predominantly orange lettering on a blue background - a photo of Burnside sitting cross-legged on the floor with a dog and an acoustic guitar resting against the green door behind him. The photo is positioned to the right-side of the CD cover.
010
Nick @handpressed.net · 22/09/2026
Books, beer and cats - a sliver of me.
Sliver of bookshelves - books, empty beer bottles and photos of cats
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 22/09/2026
Had one of those moments where I had to stop reading and put the book down in order to absorb the writing. Cormac McCarthy, man.
THE RAGMAN laboring up beneath the mound of ripe bedding in which he had entombed himself for sleep looked like a melted candle. He sat cowled and scowling out upon the new day. A draft of dank air went among his silken chinwhiskers and a faint miasma rose off of him like heat from a summer road. [...]
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 19/09/2026
Welcome to my world.
Scene from The Big Lebowski showing The Dude, Donny, and Walter at the bowling alley reacting to Jesus Quintana's provocation (Quintana did six months in Chino for exposing himself to an eight-year-old).
191
Nick @handpressed.net · 18/09/2026
2003 seems like yesterday to me. But Mark E. Smith is dead, and I'm getting on a bit. #NowPlaying
The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) album cover. It's brilliantly colourful
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 18/09/2026
History repeating (a couple of my past Twitter posts).
The RNLI and Coastguard are mainly staffed by volunteers. My uncle and cousin (and my grandfather before them) are members of the Coastguard, and old school friends are members of the RNLI. They risk their lives to save others. Fuck the likes of Farage and Grimes. Cowards.The documentary about the Penlee Lifeboat disaster is currently available to watch on iPlayer. Tory culture warriors and Daily Mail and Telegraph readers should be forced to watch it. #RNLI
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 16/09/2026
"Quadrophenia by The Who is the greatest album of all time. No question. It's perfect!" #NowPlaying just to confirm my cider-fuelled passion down the pub earlier was justified...
Quadrophenia by The Who album cover. A black and white photo of a mod astride a Vespa/Lambretta scooter with many wing mirrors in which are reflections of the four members of The Who.
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 12/09/2026
Saturday night. It's that time. #NowPlaying
ZZ Top Greatest Hits (1992) album cover
010
Nick @handpressed.net · 12/09/2026
When you make websites for writers and are caught up in the AI scam nonsense writers are being subjected to even though you have never written a book...
Screenshot of an email from 'Anne at Blacksun' - 'Your book recommended to your target readership... who never heard of you / Imagine a reader discovering your book through a question someone else asked months ago. They have never heard your name, but now they are looking up your book title and adding it to their reading list.'
200
Nick @handpressed.net · 11/09/2026
Considered getting an early night, early for me anyway, but put this on so now I'll be up for an hour yet. #NowPlaying
Astral Weeks by Van Morrison album cover
120
Nick @handpressed.net · 11/09/2026
Current notebook setup.
Photo of a brown leather notebook cover which contains my current notebook, held closed with a brown hairband which also holds a silver Bastion bolt-action pen
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 11/09/2026
Dug out the notebook I wrote in on this day 25 years ago. The scribblings of a daft twenty-something watching TV in a state of shock.
Scribbled notes:

terrorist sunrise new york mourning, [diffused] monument[s], skeletons
[misty] through ugly smoke plumes
[where] graves mass beyond comprehensionThe notebook - a yellow 'Rhino' 100 page ruled
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 09/09/2026
We're currently losing to Leeds at home. Leeds. I'm not watching it, I'm enjoying my evening by listening to Fucked Up instead. #NowPlaying www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
David Comes to Life by Fucked Up album cover (graphic of two screw-in light bulbs in the shape of a heart)
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 09/09/2026
Just the 28 years have passed since I was sat on my bed in my room in halls at uni listening to this after returning from HMV in town... that excitement of hearing something for the first time. #NowPlaying
This is My Truth Tell Me Yours by Manic Street Preachers album cover - the lads on an expansive beach, blue sky and hills above and beyond, beach in the foreground, title written on the sky
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 09/09/2026
Coastguard volunteers in the local pub in 1954, grandad is third from the left in the back row.
Black and white photo of Coastguard volunteers in the Square and Compass pub, Worth Matravers, Dorset in 1954
010
Nick @handpressed.net · 09/09/2026
Splendid timeline juxtaposition. #Wodehouse
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 08/09/2026
It's time for bed. And here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to get in bed, and I don’t have anyone to sleep with now, so what I do is I sleep with my books ... westernflyingpost.tumblr.com/post/3565531...
Photo of the small piles of books on the other half of my bed - some favourites that keep me company throughout the night
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 08/09/2026
Straight up I'm doing something I have never done before - listening to Badfinger. There's a first time for everything. #NowPlaying www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
Straight Up by Badfinger album cover - photo of four longhairs from Wales in 1971, all hair and leather jackets with big collars
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 08/09/2026
Took a break from updating WordPress websites and listening to The Phantom Band to take part in Tommy the cat's daily funny five minutes - the most exercise I've had in a while. Usually ends in me bleeding but not tonight, cider sharp reflexes saved me.
Black and white photo of a tabby cat, Tommy, sitting atop Henry, a Henry hoover
010
Nick @handpressed.net · 08/09/2026
"And if you tolerate this, then your children will be next" Apt. #NowPlaying
This is My Truth Tell Me Yours by Manic Street Preachers album cover - the lads on an expansive beach, blue sky and hills above and beyond, beach in the foreground, title written on the sky
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 07/09/2026
Powering through a tension headache with coffee, painkillers and Primal Scream. Is it any wonder I don't feel well most mornings... #NowPlaying
Give Out But Don't Give Up by Primal Scream album cover
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 27/08/2026
Last.fm is my last link to the good Web. www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
Section of the header of my Last.fm profile showing my current profile pic and bio: "Nicholas - scrobbling since 29 March 2004"
010
Nick @handpressed.net · 27/08/2026
Music to watch mental health by. #NowPlaying
David Comes to Life by Fucked Up album cover - two stylized screw-in lightbulbs in the shape of heart on a pale yellow background
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 26/08/2026
#NowPlaying Um... by the time I added alt text to the album cover I forgot what I was going to post... something about Jimmy Buffet anyway. www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s) album cover - stylized 'Jimmy Buffet' text in red on a yellow background
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 26/08/2026
#NowPlaying H/T @nicolawriting.bsky.social
Little Sparrow by Dolly Parton album cover - black and white photo of a side profile of Dolly Parton sitting backwards on a chair with an elbow resting on its upper slat
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 21/08/2026
A memory that led to this... #NowPlaying
Led Zeppelin II album cover
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 20/08/2026
One of the great, and my favourite, biographies. Big fan of E. Jean Carroll.
Photo of my hardback edition of Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson by E. Jean Carroll (1993)
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 18/08/2026
Mood.
"Am I the only one around here who cares about the rules?" John Goodman as Walter in the The Big Lebowski, pointing a gun at Smokey who was "Over the line!"
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 17/08/2026
Without downloading any new pics, where are you at mentally?
Black and white photo of Welsh poet R. S. Thomas looking like I feel
121
Nick @handpressed.net · 13/08/2026
Overdosed on STP. Administering musical naloxone... #NowPlaying
Tension by Kylie album cover
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 13/08/2026
#NowPlaying 1992, man. Good times. When the weather was as cool as the music.
Core by Stone Temple Pilots album cover
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 13/08/2026
There's little chance I will ever be able to afford an EV (and if I could I'd hold out for as long as possible... no way I'm connecting a car to the internet). Going to run this until its wheels fall off; there's a chance I might even end up living in it.
An ageing and dusty VW Transporter T32 in blue
120
Nick @handpressed.net · 07/08/2026
Amazing blue sky and English Channel today. Quite the contrast to the brown and beige of the grass and the greens of the trees and bushes and hedges that are surviving the heat.
Photo from the South Coast of England looking out over the English Channel. Amazing contrast of blues, browns and greens.
110
Nick @handpressed.net · 06/08/2026
This guy was one of the Hells Angels at Altamont. Kinda mad that we can hear from him all these years later (and that he's the same age as my dad (doesn't look it)). www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-1B...
Screenshot of an interview with Flash of the Hells Angels on the Soft White Underbelly YouTube channel
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 05/08/2026
Listening to The Pogues is good for the soul. #NowPlaying
Red Roses for Me by The Pogues album cover
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 05/08/2026
Released on this day 41 years ago. I didn't discover it until a decade later because I was 12 and innocent. #NowPlaying www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
Rum sodomy & the Lash by The Pogues album cover.

"An altered version of The Raft of the Medusa, a Romantic-era painting by Theodore Géricault, with the band members' heads, painted by Peter Mennim, replacing those of various figures on the raft." [via Wikipedia]
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 04/08/2026
No cheating, post your lock screen. (We've had several heatwaves and no rain since I made this Hockney my lock screen.)
David Hockney iPad painting of heavy rain falling in a puddle/river. Much green.
010
Nick @handpressed.net · 04/08/2026
It's all there in the first post.
"Shocked to hear the news of the death of Glen Hansard. I met him when I was a teenager, my friends and I were the only people dancing at a Frames gig. He invited us to hang with the band after, singing songs on the guitar. After that he was always warm and friendly when I saw him. The loveliest man."

"...and it turns out that he was, by many accounts, a sleaze notorious for perving over young female fans. I feel so let down, yet again - why is basic decency so hard for so many men? (Fortunately not a hint of that when I met him, also we were a mixed gender group and he was only 21 himself.)"
020
Nick @handpressed.net · 04/08/2026
Bah to the energy I bring to Bluesky, this is the energy I bring to life.
Jeff Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski relaxing at Jackie Treehorn's house
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 03/08/2026
I am thankful I no longer run and edit a Chelsea FC website. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 03/08/2026
I remember playing this album down the phone (when phones were connected to walls) to my then girlfriend and enthusing about how good it is... a quarter century ago. #NowPlaying
Is This It album cover by The Strokes. Side shot of a hand wearing a leather glove resting on the hip of a naked woman - always assumed the hand wearing the glove belonged to the naked woman... but not so sure now
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 01/08/2026
It's still going! Welcome to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Our nonce history might be unmatched.
"hello from Britain where I'm in the pub with a group of friends and I would say we're now on minute 20 of them sharing stories about the nonce teachers they had at school"

"I've not read a single reply and don't intend to by the way, I'm not a therapist"
000
Nick @handpressed.net · 31/07/2026
Let's hope @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com has put her phone on silent and is enjoying another glass of white.
100
Nick @handpressed.net · 30/07/2026
I was going to post about Gaucho and Aja but had all sorts of grammar doubts and after some searching about grammar I'm still not sure. Grammar, man. Anyway, Gaucho's better. #NowPlaying
Gaucho by Steely Dan album cover
100