Sarah Cole

@irny.bsky.social

2869 Followers 1035 Following

Pale. Curious. Game-maker. Writer. (de-)Archivist. Goblinesque. Demi. ADHD. She/Her. Current things: - Darkened Hill & Dale 🎲💀🏞️ - TERMINUS 🎲💀🚇 - Trick or Retreat 🎃🎲☕☺️ links.patchworkfez.co.uk

I hold a box containing a bottle up to the camera. The graphic on the box is a sketchy portrait illustration of a Victorian gentleman. The text reads: 'Can cause addiction Contains opioid J.COLLIS BROWNE'S MIXTURE Morphine, Peppermint Oil Warming relief for Diarrhoea and associated Stomach Upsets and Coughs J. Collis Browne'
In the background is an indistinct corporate office space. In the foreground, a yellow clip in the shape of a 'wet floor' sign is affixed to the top of a pair of headphones. The slightly low-resolution printed text on it reads 'Hold On Let Me ChatGPT This.'
A copy of Darkened Hill & Dale, with its Constable-like cover, atop a pile of the accompanying player handouts.
A photo-screenshot from Widow's Bay. A hand holds a card game aloft in front of some shelves. The packet on the deck of cards gives the title 'RUN'.
A photo-screenshot from Widow's Bay. A hand holds a board game aloft in front of some shelves. The title is 'TEETH', with a picture of a smiling cartoon tooth.
A photo-screenshot from Widow's Bay. A hand holds a board game aloft in front of some shelves. The cover of 'Daddy's Home' depicts a happy family gathered around the dinner table, with the wife serving a roast chicken. The father's intense expression is haunted and somewhat unhinged.
A gif of Mrs Bennett from the BBC's 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice. Languishing in a large chair, she says 'Oh, oh, fetch my smelling salts! I feel my faintness coming upon me again!'
A poorly-lit video of a field vole popping out of its burrow and then watching the camera. It is very cute. There is no notable audio.
A sign fixed to a lamppost says 'FREE SPIDERS' and has an arrow pointing towards something below.
An art installation: vertical strips of LED lights change and move beneath the branches of a large tree.
Held above the dancing crowd on an outstretched arm, a portable bubble machine blows bubbles. The bubble-making machine is branded nvidia.
Figures crowd a dark dance floor while a spray of yellow lasers criss-cross overhead.
In the background is a blue and yellow big top tent. In the foreground is the 'Museum of Manky Tea Towels', which a gazebo. Inside and outside the gazebo hang a large number of colourful (and not all that manky-looking) tea towels. Someone stands in the gazebo, but their head is obscured by signage.
A sticker on a display board advertises 'T-WOGAN RADIO DIAL 9642'. A drawn-on arrow points to it and says 'Call 88291'.
Alistair Aitcheson, in the guise of Mademoiselle Cafetière, approaches across a busy section of festival field. Mademoiselle wears a French maid outfit and clown makeup. Under Mademoiselle's arm is her beau – a floppy mannequin in a suit, adorned with a 2D cardboard face in the likeness of actor Pierce Brosnan.
A blurry selfie of Matt (in a red hoody) and I (in a stripy jumper) hurtling across a field full of tents, squashed into the pink lambo.
Jim Purbrick performs 'Remember Glaciers Live From The Pink Lambo'. Jim perches in a child-sized, pink Lamborghini while performing a restful ambient sound piece. Behind Jim sprawls a landscape of tents. A small crowd sits and reclines before the lambo to listen to the music. The scene is illuminated by a golden sunset, filtered through the silhouetted branches of a tree in the background.
It's me! I'm standing in a field where the sun-baked grass had the texture of shredded wheat. Behind me is a queue of cars. I'm standing in the shade of a large vintage parasol that's probably Chinese in origin. I'm wearing sunglasses, a hi-vis vest, and an underbust corset. The corset is less of a fashion statement and more PPE – a necessary and effective back brace to support my delicate spine while preparing to haul tents and bags about.
An indistinct and hazy space is filled with people dancing. The smoky air is cut through by colourful lights and lasers. A large screen overhead reads 'EMF 2026'.
A screenshot from the Conway Hall website. Beside a vague and misty picture, the key text reads 'The Haunted Landscape: Magic, Fairies and Old Gods – London Fortean Society – This year The Haunted Landscape, our annual folklore all-dayer, delves into the realms of magic, fairies and old gods. We will entertain the Great God Pan with Professor Ronald Hutton and Sara Hannant, meet fairies new and old with Francis Young and Jo Hickey-Hall, discover witch trials with Marion Gibson and walk Britain's haunted lands with Jeremy Harte and Fiona Robertson.'
At EMF Camp 2026, a drivable 'Chaise Long Vehicle', created by Mark Tillertson, is parked. Upon it rests a Long Furby.
It's me! I'm wearing sunglasses, and a t-shirt with Moomins on it. Behind me is a field full of tents, and a bicycle. The sun is obscured by a small, backlit cloud.
A banner-like graphic with a sci-fi style. It reads 'Cross-Collaboration; 'Stage Fright''.
It's me! I'm looking only lightly disheveled, but that's a trick of the light. I'm wearing black, and the corset is only just discernible in silhouette. I'm standing just inside a storage unit and giving a thumbs up. Behind me, the 'NO WAY OUT' piece of tiling from TERMINUS is visible.
A screenshot of the BBC News website. It reports that thermal imaging has recorded pavements being 57°C in London.
It's me in my office, which is full of random knick-knacks and detritus. I'm wearing a tank top and a hat with lumpy frozen ice packs sewn into it.
A screenshot from Amazon, showing a 'gel migraine ice head wrap' for £11.99.
A screenshot of a weather app. It states that the actual temperature is 35°C but the RealFeel™ is 42°C.
A screenshot of a Nintendo Switch 'Year in Review' page. It says that I played 2 games for a combined total of 1 hour in 2025.
A photo of a group of people gathered around a picnic bench and talking on a paved area. Behind them is a garden, and beyond that a block of 1930s flats.
It's me! I'm dressed for warm weather and lugging two big IKEA bags.
The photo is a bit smudged due to a mucky camera lens. Several items lie on black fabric; a copy of the Asher's Ridge TTRPG, the accompanying Setting Map & Location Guide, an artwork postcard, and an Ex Libris sticker.
The paper reads: 'MONOPOLY Rules for Playing the New Short Game Manufactured in England by John Waddington Limited Before commencing, the players stipulate the time at which the game shall end. At the end of the game the Richest Player is the Winner. At the start of the game the Banker shuffles the Title Deed Cards, and after having cut them, he deals two cards to each player. The players immediately pay to the Bank the price of the Property thus dealt to them. The game then proceeds in the usual manner, and at the first stroke of the hour agreed upon, the game ends. No further dealings must take place, but if a player is in actual play when the finish is announced, he is allowed to complete his move, and any transactions in connection with it. Each player then totals up the values of his possessions: (1) Cash in hand. (2) Building Sites, Utilities, or Railway Stations owned by him, at the price printed on the board. (3) Mortgaged property at one-half the price printed on the board. (4) Houses owned, valued at their respective cost prices. (5) Hotels valued at the cost of five houses. The Player with the Highest Total is the Winner.'
The 1940s rules pamphlet for Monopoly, which is printed on orange paper. Along one side are stamped the words 'NOTE Owing to wartime restrictions we have found it necessary to use a different type of token'.
A photo of a very old Monopoly box.
A thin cardboard box has been opened up to reveal fifty black biro pens, loose in the box, and the flat-packed box that the biros are meant to be inside.
It's me, in a selfie taken with a wide-angle lens that makes my proportions look weird. I'm sitting on a bench at one end of a train station platform on a sunny evening. My hair colour is pretty washed out, I'm wearing sunglasses, and I'm holding a pot of mixed fruit in my left hand. My shirt, which is very rumpled and folding awkwardly, depicts a colourful design in the Art Nouveau style and includes peacocks.
A photo, taken from Wikipedia, shows anonymous children playing a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Four plastic and vaguely hippo-shaped grabbers are poised to 'eat' the white balls in the middle of the red arena.
A photo, taken from Wikipedia, of the 1970s game Downfall. The game – a piece of vertical blue plastic with embedded white dials and player tokens – sits atop its box.
A screenshot of the classic 2016 tweet from @pixelatedboat, which reads: 'The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you the duck is racist'
The hardback edition of Darkened Hill & Dale lies atop a pile of the player handouts it comes with. The cover of the book looks like a Constable painting and depicts a moody rural scene.
A rocking chair carved to resemble a skeleton is blurred like it's travelling at speed. A red image of the skull section is superimposed to the left, with sparkling eyes and its mouth open in some kind of scream.
A trade stand with black walls, grey flooring, and white furniture. There is nobody present, and no signage apart from a small hanging sign that's been installed by the organisers and says 'Women in BIM'.
It's me! I'm standing in front of some metal panelling l. My purple-pink-blue hair colour is starting to fade a bit. I'm wearing a Black Milk dress with astronomical patterns on, a black coat, and my purple backpack straps are visible.
It's me! I'm obviously extremely tired. I'm still wearing the dress with parrots on.
It's me! I'm wearing a colourful dress with parrots in the pattern. Behind me is an expo stand covered in games and art.
It's me! I'm standing in front of my stand, which is covered in an array of books and artwork.
It's me! I'm sweaty and wearing a hi-vis vest. Behind me is a ridiculous pile of boxes and, amongst other things, a large piece of tiling that says 'NO WAY OUT'.
A large room, comprehensively littered with books and stuff.
A pile of five John Lewis hand fans – two of which are in their boxes – on a desk chair.
A small camping-style table, covered in piles of printed maps, flyers, etc.
A screenshot from the John Lewis app. The image depicts a 'handheld & foldable desk fan' in a teal colour. The information tells us that it costs £12, has a 2 year guarantee, and has a 4.5 star rating across 3512 reviews.
A fenced boardwalk curves alongside a river, surrounded by lush vegetation on a sunny day.
Atop an old wooden table is a notepad featuring a hex tile grid. The top page is covered in pencil markings, and 'War You Being Served?' is written across the bottom of the page. Across the page stand a variety of charmingly weird miniatures by Andrew May, including characters from Hieronymus Bosch paintings, medieval marginalia, and Sin Eater's folklore designs. Some purple dice are also atop the page. In the background can be seen a handful of jigsaw pieces.
A photo of a sidebar in Scrivener, showing some notes. They say: [Not in Plot Overview.] DOUBLE HELIX SPIRAL ESCALATORS! WOOOOOO! Does this need finishing?
A beautiful reading room in a Victorian library, viewed from the first floor gallery level. Carved wooden architectural elements dominate the two-storey space, with bookcases and desks visible to the sides. At the far end, tall windows can be seen. On a ledge in the foreground rests a copy of Agatha Christie's book, 'The Body in the Library'.
In the foreground, a camping table is dominated by a Georgian writing slope (also sometimes called a campaign box), fitted with a dark green leather writing surface that has pretty gold edging. Notebooks and fountain pens litter the surfaces. In the background, a grand Victorian building – the Library – is covered in scaffolding. The weather is bright and sunny.
The finished product! The writing slope is fully assembled. A green square of leather, edged with gold patterns, sits neatly in the wooden frame. A bucket of wallpaper paste with a wooden fork in it sits next to it on the table.
The same writing slope, now partially reassembled. Damage to the internal leaves of wood have been filled and sanded, and where they hinge to the rest to the box has been reinforced with tengu repair tape.
An antique writing box, partially dismantled – it looks like battered bits of wood on a table. Some wood filler and tools are visible in the background.