Un-best of my aunts continues to ask loads and loads of questions about what mum says, knows and understands. I long to say "you could visit her, if you want to find out", but I am not that mean to my mother. (They did not specially get on, even pre-dementia.)

It's a proper treat without being up itself in the slightest. I love it.

Small bag of crisps for cultural sustenance. (Lunch was celeriac soup, venison braise and cafe gourmand at Zédel, bless it.)

She's fine, early stage, surgery next week, all very doable. But bloody bloody bloody hell etc also.

Belated cheers #ConfinedCocktails. I was out out with old friends last night and totally forgot to take any pictures of drinks. Have Friday's Lemon Drop Martini instead.

Thoroughly enjoyed the splendid and innovative Kandinsky exhibition @philharmonie.bsky.social too- stupendous painting, wonderful musical interpretation and I loved that his palette might as well have been one of his artworks. Thanks @melindahaunton.bsky.social for flagging

Oh, brilliant! It feels like everyone going to Paris in the next few years needs to keep an eye out for the Pompidou popping up with shows in unexpected places. (I didn't even know the Philharmonie was there!) Glad to highlight it.

I think it's the wake up call, as in wake up, dead man. Definitely appel=call. But I'd be much happier if they'd mentioned what they think it means and not kept yammering about Eve.

I quite enjoyed it. Definitely wanted to have some heft as a film, but it did go on quite a bit towards the end. (And yet never came close to admitting L'eventail appel does not mean Eve's apple. Which really bugged me.)

Yeah, if everyone else relevant is dead by this time next year, I'm going to Neu-Ulm for the terrible middle ages Christmas market (founded: 2014 weihnachten.ulm.de/de/erleben/H...). It will be lovely. Maybe I will meet a lovely carpenter.

Redundant to comment how profoundly anti-feminist this stuff is. But this one is about 200% proof. Not only must you give up on your dreams for your family, you must keep right on doing that once they are fully adult and moving on with their lives. Maintain that empty family house! Tis your duty!

Ulm definitely counts as a city but there's one main station and only three or four marketplaces so maybe we can pretend? And the last family member left there in about... 1870? Before Germany. But I'm sure I'll slot right in with the old gingerbread business et al.

I also simply cannot express how weird it is to watch this schlock genre when you come from the big city, like generationally. I think the closest I can get to a weeny little hometown is a hamlet in Suffolk or a container port in Sweden. Might do better heading "home" to Ulm next Christmas.

And the smoke alarm. Which I cannot do, and I really, really wish I could.

Somewhere I can just... be quiet and not talk to people, you know? Or get on with cooking in peace?

I am helpfully going to say that I listened to a good explanation of this on The Rest is Entertainment some months ago, and have no memory at all of the answer.

So, now. What did I read at some point earlier today (45% chance in some random bit of the Guardian, but not a TV review) that told me something I might want to watch is on NowTV?

#ConfinedCocktails and having polished a piece of apple pie left over from Thanksgiving, onto Roots Revival Session IPA

It's a really, really tough year. You've been doing so much. I'm glad you get to sit quietly with a beer now x