I'm scarifying the lawn, which I'm disappointed to learn is pronounced with a short 'a' (like 'scaramouch'), rather than a long 'a' (like 'scary'). Or even, for that matter, Scarrifying, which would presumably involve a family of pigs in lederhosen and Tyrolean hats turning up to help.

The National Theatre building turns 50 this year. It was an absolute joy to edit ‘50 Stories for 50 Years’ - memories from people who’ve acted, worked and watched shows there, across the decades. They are funny, moving, inspirational - a reminder that people are the heart of live theatre.

That time someone dumped a toy house on the cemetery wall and, when I crouched a bit, some ✨ Hollywood Magic ✨ occurred.

Saw this weather map and thought it was the cover of More Adventurous.

They were talking about languaging an idea, what you or I might call expressing an idea, finding a form of words for it or putting it into words.

Someone sitting next to me last night used ”language” as a verb and I nearly…

Books on the tube Ever After by Graham Swift The Beach by Alex Garland Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter Unidentified Karl Marx Penguins Classic (old style)

First glance at this still and I thought the brolly was a rifle. What a different film *that* would have been. Falling Down meets Severance meets Mr Bean.

Would you like to fund a bookshop established by some of the your favourite presses? You would?

Happy 90th Birthday to the one and only Brian Blessed! I wrote a book for children called 'Wed Wabbit', and based the Green Wimbley Woos (you'll just have to read it) on Mr Blessed. They're freedom-fighting commandos who inadvertently give away all their plans because they CANNOT WHISPER.

A wonderful book!

Why do you think I’m obsessively peering at people’s reading matter on my morning commute? We all live in hope.

Cont… The Yellow Dog by George Simenon James by Percival Everett Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami Unidentified green-spined Penguin Modern Classic

Books on the tube Unidentified John Gwyne Bloodsworn novel Troy by Stephen Fry They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing by Cathy Birkenstein, Gerald Graff, and Russel Durst Lost Connections by Johann Hari The Wedding People by Alison Espach Switzy by Emma Cline

In 2012, I stood on a stage with Anne Carson as a volunteer grad student to help her perform BRACKO, an adaptation of Sappho, where my job was to say the word "bracket" every time there was a bracket, which was more than two hundred times