PSA: I'm winding down this account and won't post much, if at all, in future. A lot of the people I spoke to here have moved on, there are too many adverts and bots, the app keeps falling over and one keeps meeting Nazis. As the gambling adverts say, When the fun stops, stop…

One for the cricket fans out there: 125 years ago the London County Cricket club took on the MCC at Crystal Palace, a match that pitted the batting of WG Grace against the bowling of... Arthur Conan Doyle? Full details in a blog post I wrote in 2010:

I'll keep the account live, as there are people and conversations on here I still want to check in on: but the bulk of my activity is going to be elsewhere. (As to where, here's a clue from my youth: https://t.co/H6Qu0rxuyx. Same handle, same avatar.)

Quick trip into Aldeburgh this morning; here's the view down the Town Steps.

Today is the centenary of the Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.34 crash at Purley, the first fatal accident suffered by Imperial Airways and which led to the first public inquiry into a civil aviation accident in the UK:

Thinking about applying for our By-Fellowship? @satisfactory20, one of our By-Fellows this term, shares her top tips. Don't forget to send us your application by 31st December. https://t.co/RvdAW3ydOn

(If you've got access to BBC iPlayer, it's here: https://t.co/h9uHmjrWRt.)

Just accessioning a digital film of the 2024 Aldeburgh Festival production of Britten's "Curlew River", performed in Blythburgh church: being in the church as the midsummer sunset blazed through the west window onto the characters was one of the standout experiences of the year.

Incidentally, if you look at the manuscript score you'll see two distinct hands: the words are in Pears'. He would never sing this - it's for soprano - but his involvement even so in laying out the words is an indication of just how collaborative their relationship was.

(Never have I checked the overhead rack quite so carefully on arrival at St Pancras as I did on this occasion.)

On this day six years ago, a flying visit to Paris to collect a Britten manuscript we'd bought at auction. His recasting of Purcell's "The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation" travelled home in an archive box that was hidden in a French supermarket bag (brought specially for this).

High tide at Snape Maltings this lunchtime.

🎅 Take a look at some of the most delightful holiday greeting cards in our collection, created by well-known artists and anonymous senders from 1920 to the 1950s. See them yourself this holiday season in a special display at NYPL! https://t.co/Vqp0aVOm2L

The Red House from the @BrittenOfficial archive this morning.

It's properly Christmas around here, now that the seasonal post-box toppers are in position.

Orwell Bridge, Suffolk opened #onthisday 1982. The main span is 190 metres which, at the time of its construction, was the longest pre-stressed concrete span in use. Find out more https://t.co/pp1JMTlitM

A visit to our object store today, which has been taking place over the course of the year and looks better and better: twelve months ago this was an old garage full of rubbish. The sign brings absolute joy to a confirmed data nerd.

More Snape reedbeds.

View across the reedbeds at Snape after a meeting this afternoon.

On this day 7 years ago... I passed through Elmers End and saw that one of my favourite shop names was soon to be no more. Cake Expectations had sold baking supplies to me for many a family celebration, and its winding up seemed like a signal my time in South London was now over.