Barra...

Licensed today: Castlebay, Isle of Barra, Outer Hebrides…

Blackwell...

Licensed today: a fireplace in Blackwell 'arts and crafts' house, near Bowness, Cumbria… 

Barnoldswick...

Licensed today: narrowboats negotiating a lock on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal near Barnoldswick, Lancashire…

Abersoch...

"To look at anything, to listen to anything, there must be complete silence. Therefore, what is more important, the object, or the silence, quietness and attention? Only when the mind is completely silent can I look and listen. Then listening and seeing and acting are the same" (Krishnamurti, from a talk in 1966).

Licenced today: the River Soch at Abersoch, on the Llyn Peninsular, North Wales…

Alresford...

Ah, well, the England batters subsided to defeat this morning. Winning the Ashes will be difficult – if not impossible – from here. But what a great game it was! And what a great advert for women's cricket, in both long and short formats. I bet no batter has ever scored 200 and yet ended up on the losing side (Tammy Beaumont, 208). And the same goes for a bowler who takes ten wickets in a match (Sophie Ecclestone: 10 for 192). Instead it was Ash Gardner, with 12 for 162, who was player of the match.

Licensed today: The morning rush-hour in Alresford, Hampshire...

Trent Bridge...

After four days the game is set up for an exciting finish tomorrow, with all results still possible...

Women's Ashes...

Back home after watching the women's test match at Trent Bridge. When the Aussies piled up 473 in the first innings, I feared the worst. But England have replied with 308, for three wickets down, at lunchtime today. It's all to play for...

Hale's Bar...

Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, was one of the five people who died on board the Titan submersible. Because the submersible was unregistered, and didn’t meet basic engineering standards, it was only able to operated in international waters. Rush had defended his company’s '“engineering focused, innovative approach” which “flies in the face of the submersible orthodoxy”. Unfortunatey, the “orthodoxy” he derided included the ability of paying customers to travel safely and come back alive.

Licensed today: a man catches up with his reading in Hale's Bar, Harrogate…

Shrewsbury...

Licensed today: the Boathouse pub, overlooking the River Severn, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire… 

The Dog Beck...

Licensed today: the Dog Beck - a Wetherspoon pub - in Penrith, Cumbria… 

Storrs Hall...

Licensed today: a sailing boat passing Storrs Hall Hotel, Lake Windermere…

Saltaire...

Licensed today: Salt's Mill and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, at Saltaire, West Yorkshire…

Duddon Valley...

Licensed today: a farmhouse in the Duddon Valley, Cumbria…

The Fleece Inn...

Licensed today: the Fleece Inn, at Bretforton, near Evesham, Worcestershire…

Ashes Eve...

Here we are, just one sleep away from the start of the Ashes. At 11am tomorrow, England will square up to the Aussies at Edgebaston. To see the first ball, on Sky TV, I may have to head for the Viking pub, just over the M62, order a full English breakfast, and settle down to watch the morning session. I can’t wait!

Licensed today: Parkhouse Hill, near Longnor, in Derbyshire… 

Classified documents...

Recenty released photographs show a toilet at Mar-a-Lago piled high with boxes of classified documents. Kevin McCarthy, House speaker and Donald Trump lackey, tried to find excuses for Trump’s behaviour, by suggesting that “a bathroom door locks”. Unfortunately, the lock on a bathroom door is only on the inside.

Licensed twice this week: a game in progress at the County Ground in Taunton…

Another sublimated scene...

Alongside a photograph of an unremarkable urban car park, which features in a Swiss photography festival, the Guardian prints this caption. “This work represent the latest phase of Tomo Brejc’s artistic oeuvre, which is characterised by sublimated scenes of the manmade environment. The work represents a new direction in the artist’s ongoing formal exploration of the photographic medium and its expressive and confessional potential.” Why do artists – or their representatives – insist on writing like this?

Another shot from Settle...

Settle...

Most of us are concerned about being caught in a lie; the consequences of even a little lie can quickly spiral out of control if we’re not careful. This is not a problem which concerns Donald Trump, who lies wantonly, brazenly and seemingly without even a hint of shame or remorse, every time he stands behind a podium. Having been indicted, for storing what looks to be a huge cache of confidential documents, in his Mar-a-Lago home, he’s now calling on his followers to turn up in Miami tomorrow. Though he didn’t promise “will be wild”, the potential for violence is explicit. Robert Reich, always prescient about American politics, expresses the optimistic view that there will be no civil war over Trump and his narcissistic ravings. I hope he’s right. 

Ye Olde Naked Man Café in Settle, a couple of days ago...

Try praying...

When we pray we are suggesting, unwittingly, that God’s “perfect” creation may not be quite so “perfect” after all. We are asking him to take another look at his blueprints to confirm that we, his unworthy petitioners, are better informed than the creator of the universe about how things should operate in this world. A viable alternative to prayer is, of course, to rely on our own intelligence and resourcefulness…

Lavenham...

Licensed today: traffic gridlock in Lavenham, Suffolk…

The Mac is back...

Hooray! The Mac, on Aire Street in Goole, is open for business again. The pub, delightfully unimproved, is redolent of a time when sailors on shore leave had needs that couldn’t be met by a glass of barley water, a bucket of fried chicken or a peck on the cheek. Seeing the door open yesterday, I called in for a pint. There was a new face behind the bar. I may be wrong – I’m not an expert in these things – but I think that someone might have given the place “a little light dusting”. I had a chat with a blind cricketer, who instructed me in the finer points of his version of the summer game…

Howden postie...

Licensed today: a postman delivering circulars, pizza menus and flyers for garden centres to the good people of Howden…

Banning books...

They are busy banning books in Utah, having passed a law last year banning books with “pornographic or indecent” content. The intention was to get rid of anything related to LGBTQ+ people or racial identity. However, in an unanticipated development, having received a complaint from a concerned parent, a Utah school district has removed the King James Bible from school libraries for containing “vulgarity and violence”. As it says in the good book, you reap what you sow… 

Licensed today: Cathedral Square in Peterborough…

Levens Hall...

Licensed today: the interior of Levens Hall, South Lakeland…

Spurn Head...

A backward glance, yesterday, from a shaggy resident of Spurn Head...

Red backed shrike...

I’ve wanted to see a red backed shrike since I was a wee lad… and my wish came true today. I was at Spurn Head, looking through my monocular, when a male shrike slipped into my field of vision and landed on a barbed-wire fence. I knew what it was straight away: the black mask, hooked beak, blue-grey head, chestnut back and the pink-tinged underparts. A handsome bird… and an unforgettable moment.

Pic: Creative Commons...

Burnley...

Licensed today: the Town Hall on Manchester Road, Burnley…

South Duffield...

The Guardian is really scraping the barrel with today’s picture feature of houses for sale. Could there be a more random theme than all the houses being pastel coloured?

Licensed today: the Manor House in the village of South Duffield, just a mile or two from Asselby…

Byrness...

Licensed today: the church of St Francis at Byrness, Northumberland…