Knitted Clanger
@knittedclanger.bsky.social
Retired communications manager who once knew a lot about banking strategy. Now mostly having a cup of tea and reading a Victorian three-volume novel.
Andrea Chénier from the Met tonight, an opera in which a woman goes on quite a journey. Act 1: Oh, I hate how scratchy my petticoats are. Act 2: Sexy assignation with poet. Act 3: I will prove my love for poet by VOLUNTARILY HAVING MY HEAD CUT OFF.
December 13, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Andrea Chénier from the Met tonight, an opera in which a woman goes on quite a journey. Act 1: Oh, I hate how scratchy my petticoats are. Act 2: Sexy assignation with poet. Act 3: I will prove my love for poet by VOLUNTARILY HAVING MY HEAD CUT OFF.
Seasonal jollity of varying degrees in the market this morning. I may possibly have bought more than one thing with the word Hog in its name, can’t confirm.
December 13, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Seasonal jollity of varying degrees in the market this morning. I may possibly have bought more than one thing with the word Hog in its name, can’t confirm.
Reading Emma and it’s a close-run thing which is more annoying, Emma’s stupidity or the banality of this cover. Why is it a chair? Why isn’t it a square pianoforte?
December 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reading Emma and it’s a close-run thing which is more annoying, Emma’s stupidity or the banality of this cover. Why is it a chair? Why isn’t it a square pianoforte?
Slightly obsessed with the industrial beauty of the location filming.
December 11, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Slightly obsessed with the industrial beauty of the location filming.
Afternoon matinee of The Man in the White Suit, a film that frightened me a great deal as a child and still does a little.
December 11, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Afternoon matinee of The Man in the White Suit, a film that frightened me a great deal as a child and still does a little.
"So explain to me again, Mr Bosch, how exactly did the pig trick you into signing the document?" Enjoyed the Gresham College talk tonight on Hieronymus Bosch and death.
December 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
"So explain to me again, Mr Bosch, how exactly did the pig trick you into signing the document?" Enjoyed the Gresham College talk tonight on Hieronymus Bosch and death.
Spirit of the season in full festive fig today in Colmore Row Christmas Market. Have just been vaxed so may be hallucinating this.
December 10, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Spirit of the season in full festive fig today in Colmore Row Christmas Market. Have just been vaxed so may be hallucinating this.
Repeating themes of grids, found objects from nature, and bullet shapes. Not sure the displays make that last one clear. Overheard others talking about phallic imagery but it leapt out to me as resembling rubber bullets used by the British Army in NI, because colonialism rhymes everywhere it goes.
December 9, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Repeating themes of grids, found objects from nature, and bullet shapes. Not sure the displays make that last one clear. Overheard others talking about phallic imagery but it leapt out to me as resembling rubber bullets used by the British Army in NI, because colonialism rhymes everywhere it goes.
How much more black could this be? And the answer is none more black. Donald Locke retrospective at the Ikon, reflecting his life in Guyana, growing up between two sugar plantations, art school in Britain, and moving to Atlanta to work.
December 9, 2025 at 3:57 PM
How much more black could this be? And the answer is none more black. Donald Locke retrospective at the Ikon, reflecting his life in Guyana, growing up between two sugar plantations, art school in Britain, and moving to Atlanta to work.
The instructions for this cake are *wrong* and I’m giving Mary Berry a very flinty look. It’s the waste of good treacle that upsets me. Doesn’t she know there’s a war on?
December 8, 2025 at 5:03 PM
The instructions for this cake are *wrong* and I’m giving Mary Berry a very flinty look. It’s the waste of good treacle that upsets me. Doesn’t she know there’s a war on?
Email from local petting farm offering a VIP Highland Cow Christmas Experience. Tempted, as I’ve never met a VIP cow, be nice to ask them about their careers.
December 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Email from local petting farm offering a VIP Highland Cow Christmas Experience. Tempted, as I’ve never met a VIP cow, be nice to ask them about their careers.
A day on which there hasn’t been any real daylight seems apt for the nineteenth century’s greatest opening paragraph, as Book Club sets off for Bleak House.
December 4, 2025 at 3:03 PM
A day on which there hasn’t been any real daylight seems apt for the nineteenth century’s greatest opening paragraph, as Book Club sets off for Bleak House.
Meanwhile in Birmingham City Council Chamber, absolute scenes as scuffles break out about the bins, but not about the shark. Can only assume that Birmingham's extremely inland nature means we don't recognise sharks as our natural predators. But we're very cross about the bins.
December 2, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Meanwhile in Birmingham City Council Chamber, absolute scenes as scuffles break out about the bins, but not about the shark. Can only assume that Birmingham's extremely inland nature means we don't recognise sharks as our natural predators. But we're very cross about the bins.
Art history class tonight on Vermeer at Kenwood has reminded me of the theft of the Guitar Player, which was a big story when I was nine. Strap in, this goes places. 🧵(1/13)
December 1, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Art history class tonight on Vermeer at Kenwood has reminded me of the theft of the Guitar Player, which was a big story when I was nine. Strap in, this goes places. 🧵(1/13)
...And also a horror film.
November 29, 2025 at 12:42 PM
...And also a horror film.
Persistent rain seems the ideal medium to spend 3+ hours indoors testing my theory that Fanny and Alexander is a Christmas film...
November 29, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Persistent rain seems the ideal medium to spend 3+ hours indoors testing my theory that Fanny and Alexander is a Christmas film...
I’ve been to the early bird show of The Fifth Step from NT Live with all the other old dears. Wasn’t sure I’d like this, as a family history of alcoholics makes me ill disposed to a comedy about AA, but it was very funny and perceptive, so a recommend if it shows up on Sky Arts.
November 27, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I’ve been to the early bird show of The Fifth Step from NT Live with all the other old dears. Wasn’t sure I’d like this, as a family history of alcoholics makes me ill disposed to a comedy about AA, but it was very funny and perceptive, so a recommend if it shows up on Sky Arts.
Enjoyed the second part of Ronald Hutton's Gresham College lecture series on 'Dodgy Deities'. Tonight: Hecate, who may have taken triple form to reflect the phases of the moon or (my theory) because she was busy looking after so many things, including gates, snakes, knives, lions and weasels.
November 26, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Enjoyed the second part of Ronald Hutton's Gresham College lecture series on 'Dodgy Deities'. Tonight: Hecate, who may have taken triple form to reflect the phases of the moon or (my theory) because she was busy looking after so many things, including gates, snakes, knives, lions and weasels.
Here’s the formula from Pliny, in case you were looking for a home-made Christmas gift. It is typical of Pliny that he tells you to use ‘these proportions’ without defining ‘these’. Also that he points out you can’t get any of this stuff anyway.
November 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Here’s the formula from Pliny, in case you were looking for a home-made Christmas gift. It is typical of Pliny that he tells you to use ‘these proportions’ without defining ‘these’. Also that he points out you can’t get any of this stuff anyway.
Delighted to learn about the Osmothèque in Versailles which archives and recreates historic perfumes. I always enjoy a reference to Pliny the Elder in the wild.
November 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Delighted to learn about the Osmothèque in Versailles which archives and recreates historic perfumes. I always enjoy a reference to Pliny the Elder in the wild.
Interesting adaptation of Hedda Gabler this evening, set in 1940s England with Hedda as an Anglo-Indian actress hiding the secret of her mixed heritage. Clearly referencing Merle Oberon, seen here wearing her special arguing negligée to express her disappointment with Leslie Howard.
November 25, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Interesting adaptation of Hedda Gabler this evening, set in 1940s England with Hedda as an Anglo-Indian actress hiding the secret of her mixed heritage. Clearly referencing Merle Oberon, seen here wearing her special arguing negligée to express her disappointment with Leslie Howard.
Annual festival of discovering I still have chestnuts from last Christmas and deciding they’ll probably be fine added to lentil soup. Must buy some more and hide them until next November. (‘Plant-based Simplicity’ sounds like she writes a beauty column for the Telegraph.)
November 25, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Annual festival of discovering I still have chestnuts from last Christmas and deciding they’ll probably be fine added to lentil soup. Must buy some more and hide them until next November. (‘Plant-based Simplicity’ sounds like she writes a beauty column for the Telegraph.)
Ooh, we’re getting a harpsichord as well as recorders. It’s Naples 1725 today at the CBSO.
November 24, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Ooh, we’re getting a harpsichord as well as recorders. It’s Naples 1725 today at the CBSO.
Lightly glazed with jam, as am I.
November 23, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Lightly glazed with jam, as am I.
*Attenborough voice* Here, we see the life-cycle of the fruit cake. #StirUpSunday
November 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
*Attenborough voice* Here, we see the life-cycle of the fruit cake. #StirUpSunday