iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/10/2026

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Kidney Stone

Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 04/10/2026

@everyheron.bsky.social Heron near Greifensee, Switzerland, hunting frogs. Lots of Stork nests too, but the storks have gone now

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026

Cosmos didn't quite make it to #caturday. Goodbye, lovely cat

Photograph of a tortie-point Siamese Cat sitting on stairs sitting on one step with her front feet on the next step up with a wicker basket in the background

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026

An under-reported problem is the wait to transition from children's mental health services to adult services. GPs won't change ADHD prescriptions which means that people get stuck on medication that a psychiatrist needs to review for a change of prescription. We've been waiting 3 years.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026

We've got a train trip through Europe coming up (20 trains over 2 weeks) and it will be interesting to compare the experience to trains in the UK. I will have to document how it went! Some of the transfer times between services are much shorter than I would be comfortable with here.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 19/09/2026

There seem to be a lot of Sophies. Are the results being collected so we can see the overall character rankings? Should that also be a quiz question?

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 19/09/2026

It takes me back to the Penlee Lifeboat disaster, when it was regularly sung in West Cornwall. 8 volunteer lifeboat crew members who gave their lives to save others.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 16/09/2026

I've just finished reading it (probably from your last reminder). I think he might be horrified!

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 14/09/2026

He definitely had a neurodiverse imagination!

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 14/09/2026

I've just started reading the book and it will be good to update Jon's voice in my head as I am reading! Only on the first chapter but already greatly enjoyable.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 14/09/2026

Listening to the first episode took me straight back to listening to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on the radio. Douglas Adams would definitely be listening to it!

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/09/2026

@susiedentwords.bsky.social Janet enjoying her signed copy of Death Writ Large, which she confirms was very good for reading on the train. Thanks to @biggreenbooks.bsky.social for organising.

Women sitting on a yellow sofa with a hardback copy of the book Death Writ Large by Suzie Dent open on her knee with a cup of tea in her other hand

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/09/2026

I'm learning Python for the challenge, ignoring those who say that there is no need to write your own code when an LLM can do it for you. I would much rather use my own brain to find my own solutions to challenges, because that's what my brain is for. Use it or lose it!

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 29/08/2026

Motorway coffee! It seems to increase in price every time I travel and I paid £4.95 for a latte last week.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 25/08/2026

I was keeping tabs on the swift migration earlier in the year on Trektellen and marvelled at the dedication of those who spend their time watching the skies and counting birds. I've pre-ordered a hard copy and the Kobo ebook.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 15/08/2026

Well said! At best it highlights the lack of understanding on how an autistic person might respond to the expectations or demands placed on them and at worst not caring about the impact on an individual

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/08/2026

One of the justifications at the time was that the number of fires had fallen over the previous years and that firefighter numbers had not reduced. This does seem to be borne out by the data, but the number of incidents does seem to be increasing again without a corresponding increase in staff.

Chart showing a decrease in the number of incidents of fire per 1 million people in England 1999 to 2025 showing a fall in the number of incidents to 2011/12 then a levelling off. Data from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 04/08/2026

Good timing for Manchester because I think that @doctorow.pluralistic.net is there a couple of days later to tell us how to avoid AI destroying the world.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/07/2026

Excellent. The swifts here have been putting on great displays in the mornings between about 8am and 10am in the sunny weather. They are around similar hours in the evenings but photographing them then is more challenging. sw-swifts.org.uk

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/07/2026

Here on Manchester's first swift street, we seem to be having a bumper year and I counted 50 overhead the other morning.

Photograph of a swift with wings outstretched catching the sun in a blue sky

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 09/07/2026

My garden office in Manchester

Screenshot of a temperature line graph showing current temperature in a garden office of 38.2°C

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 07/07/2026

Manchester is not quite as picturesque but we do have lots of swifts. I counted 45 circling this morning.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 02/07/2026

As the director of a small business, I get far more nagging about self-assessment than I do about corporation tax returns. It would be difficult to forget your self assessment tax return, but very easy to miss Corporation Tax.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 28/06/2026

Not a direct substitute, but there are some excellent coffee roasters in the country including many small local ones. You can often buy ready ground, or turn coffee-making into mindful activity and get a hand grinder and buy beans. Look at ozonecoffee.co.uk for example but there are many more.

ozonecoffee.co.uk

Ozone Coffee | Specialty Coffee, Freshly Roasted

Specialty coffee roasters building longstanding relationships with producers worldwide. Exceptional beans, freshly roasted. Supplying home brewers and cafés.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 26/06/2026

Ours has discovered the pleasures of a fan, after she had spent an hour sleeping in the greenhouse

Photograph of a hot cat laying on a paving slab being blown on by a small handheld fan.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 01/06/2026

I now have several OneLogins and I have to remember which one to use for which service, a problem which I thought OneLogin was supposed to solve. Then there are the Government services that don't use OneLogin...

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 30/05/2026

Cosmos, a tortoiseshell Siamese, would like to show you how it's done!

A tortoiseshell Siamese cat laying on a grey fluffy cat cushion stripped from shadows from a blind

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 19/05/2026

I've been using it for over a year and I couldn't go back to using Google. I was afraid that the search results wouldn't be as good (as a UK user), but they are consistently excellent.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 09/05/2026

I really hope that they do that. Sadly, I suspect they will take the opposite view and give away the next election. I am profoundly disappointed in them.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 19/04/2026

I went to see it with my parents in St Ives, Cornwall. We were late (as usual) and missed the first 30 minutes, but stayed on and watched the first 30 minutes of the second showing. I was thinking about the film the other day and was going to see if it is still available.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 08/04/2026

I've just noticed that the cat is standing on a copy of Labels by Louis de Bernières which is about a man who makes and loses a fortune relabelling cans of cat food for human consumption

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 08/04/2026

Both our cats loved getting in behind the books on the shelves

Photo of a cat visible in the gap between two books on a bookshelf.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 06/04/2026

I have had a quick read of it and it looks great and I am looking forward to digging in. Just the explanation of the syntax was really helpful. I've got a list of projects which need templates.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 05/04/2026

Also after the storm (Manchester)

Image of a grassed area in the foreground with a horse chestnut tree in the middle of the images with several large branches lying in the ground having fallen from the tree. There are more trees in the background with pink bits of sky visible from the impending sunrise

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 26/03/2026

It is not just the financial cost because cooking takes time which many people don't have and I suspect that even people who can afford to avoid UPF don't have the time to.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 25/03/2026

And if you want to help more trans and neuro diverse young people get into Scouts the best thing you can do is to volunteer. Most groups have big waiting lists and not enough volunteers

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 13/03/2026

I agree with @rmcunliffe.bsky.social on Small Prophets being an excellent escape route. It was a wonderful series and it was filmed locally to me so I recognised some of the locations. The place where the cash van was is on one of my regular running routes.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/03/2026

I've still got some of the books I purchased from Days of Hope in the early 1980s

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 02/03/2026

There aren't many things I've watched on TV that can bring you to tears one moment and fury the next. The water companies, Environmental Agency and Government have a lot to answer for. A complete shambles that is devastating lives and the environment.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 21/02/2026

In ours, we have the following. There was also a Song Thrush at 6am, but too far away to be detected. The Moorhen was misidentified, probably. Recorded with BirdNetPi

Screenshot from BirdNetPi showing a list of birds it has heard in or around the garden this morning, including wren, Dunnock, Robin, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Parakeet and Coal Tit. It thinks it heard a Moorhen, but unlikely.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 20/02/2026

Very enjoyable episode. Ideal for listening to whilst driving up the A30 and M5

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 20/02/2026

Having driven from Manchester to West Cornwall (return) 10 times since September sorting out family things, I can confidently say that the M5 does not contain the best stretch of motorway, unless you include the slip road to Gloucester Services.

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Reposted by Julian Beach

Lauren Leek @laurenleek.eu · 16/02/2026

My brother wanted a London pub crawl. The result? My new Substack post: "Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?" How private equity reshaped the local, which pubs are most at risk and most importantly what to do about it. open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...

open.substack.com

Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They Were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?

How private equity reshaped the local and the postcode tool that shows the pubs most at risk.

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 16/02/2026

That is an inspiring piece of research, even if the conclusions are grim. Thanks!

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 11/02/2026

I took advantage of Reolink being part of Works with Home Assistant to replace my Ring doorbell with a Reolink one operating locally. It looks like my timing was perfect! As I am in the UK I suspect that the Ring video plan might fall within the remit of data protection laws and not be possible?

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Julian Beach @trink-uk.eurosky.social · 06/02/2026

@levparikian.bsky.social Herons and crows really don't get on, do they? 2 were swooping at this one, and there were 2 seagulls having a go at another who was perched on a chimney. The herons usually just fly past checking out gardens and I haven't seen them stopping there before.

2 crows, with wings outstretched, swooping at a heron perched at the top of a fit tree

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